The 2012 AT&T Developer Summit will take place on January 8-9, at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year’s event will focus on about emerging technologies, and will bring some nice opportunities to network with the industry’s top professionals and experts.

You can find the Developer World team in the Sony Ericsson booth at the Summit Expo on Jan 9, between 11AM and 3PM. Here you will also get to see and get demonstrations of all our latest products, and maybe even the chance to win a cool prize!

See you in Vegas!

More information:

• Learn more about the 2012 AT&T Developer Summit.
• Stay connected with us and all our latest CES news through Twitter (@SonyEricssonDev).

Magnus Persson, Position Specialist at Sony Ericsson.

My name is Magnus Persson, and I work as a Positioning Specialist at Sony Ericsson. Over the years, my colleague Erik Zivkovic and I have enthusiastically been driving the idea of creating an indoor map service at Sony Ericsson. We wanted to do this because of three main reasons. First of all, we wanted to do it as a benefit for the company and for all the employees who have trouble finding conference rooms and desks of colleagues, especially since our collection of Sony Ericsson’s office buildings in Lund, Sweden is quite complex. Secondly, we were eager to try out some ideas on how to do this on a technical level.

And thirdly, and perhaps most important, we thought it would be really fun to create such a service. If you’re thinking of doing something like this at your workplace or building, we encourage you to read further, see what we did, and try it out for yourself. You don’t have to be the owner or facilitator of the building (even though you might have to get some permits) – in fact, most facility owners should be really happy to get someone to drive this kind of initiative.

Aren’t the major map companies doing indoor maps already?
It is true that several of the big players working with maps, navigation, and location-based services are already looking into the concept of indoor maps, but in most cases, they are limited to public buildings. There are several buildings where these companies will not and cannot create maps. One reason could be because the building owners or renter does not allow public access.

But it can also be because the map providers do not find it interesting enough to do the investment to create the maps due to the limited amount of people accessing the buildings. However, it might still be important for the people working in these building to have some sort of navigation tool. And if you work in such a building where an indoor map would be useful, then you have the chance to do something about it yourself.

Can my company save money on this?
Now the next question is obviously if this is worth doing – is there a business case in creating indoor map services for these limited amounts of people in closed buildings? Well, I think there are two things to keep in mind here. First, we have the obvious math. Consider that one person is ten minutes late to a meeting with five colleagues due to not being able to find the meeting room. In the worst case, it equals one hour lost working time for the company. If that happens regularly, then there could be considerable cost savings in having an indoor map service.

Secondly, there could be a value in doing this that is much harder to measure up front in money, but it can create long term positive effects. I’m talking about a rather common scenario where delays and late colleagues create a frustration, which in turn leads to less effective meetings and collaborations. Having a positive climate without apparent wastes of time and energy will create a more productive working environment.

One major solution to these problems is to create a fast, reliable and environmental friendly service to help people find their ways to meeting rooms, and other venues in the building.  

Indoor maps at Sony Ericsson
At Sony Ericsson, we have created two different apps for indoor maps. The first one, SemcMap, was created by my colleague Erik Zivkovic , who was tired of getting lost all the time. It’s a light-weight app with maps built up by polygons and which supports panning and zooming on different floors, as well as searching for meeting rooms and having them displayed on a map. It also has an online Wi-Fi® positioning solution that I will explain later.
 
The second app, Indoor Finder, was developed together with Ericsson Research. The Indoor Finder app supports getting walking directions, voice guidance, an augmented reality view and much more. But the most important difference is the more advanced way to handle the map creation, maintenance and distribution to the app developed by Ericsson. The Indoor Finder application has a local positioning engine using Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth™.

Will people use an indoor map service?
Looking at the statistics for our Sony Ericsson apps gives some interesting facts. But before that, I’d like to point out some details about the user group who tested our apps.

At the Sony Ericsson buildings in Lund, there are about 3600 employees. I think we are slightly more technology-oriented than your average business office, and the penetration of Android phones is also a bit bigger. But on the other hand, people here change phones very often since we’re trying out new phones and software all the time, and when doing that, we need to re-install all apps. Hence, most employees end up with only a limited set of favourite apps that are worth re-installing.

Another thing is that we didn’t publish these applications on Android Market™ for various reasons, among them being that we wanted to see how much people really wanted this kind of application and what they would be willing to do to get access to them.

Due to the constant changes of phone and multiple downloads to each phone, we haven’t looked at the normal metrics for applications, phone installations and downloads. Instead, we have used SIM card information to identify a unique user.

For the first SemcMap application, 2700 out of 3600 potential users had downloaded, installed and launched the SemcMap application until first of October 2011. That equals more that 75%!

The number of users per day is also a very interesting figure. It is quite stable at 220 unique users per working day that start the application to help them find their way to a meeting room or particular office location. When it comes to the number of activations, we can see about 350 starts per day. That means that each active user starts the app on average 1.5 times per day.

The Indoor Finder application was launched about one year later and shows similar trends as the SemcMap app in number of installations. The usage of the application is however not increasing as fast, most likely because SemcMap is more focused on the key use case to find a meeting room, and it was launched first.

Getting started: selecting a positioning technology

Criterias for selecting a positioning service.

So if you’re thinking of setting up our very own indoor map service, there are several aspects to think about when selecting among the numerous different technologies available to perform indoor positioning. In our experience, we found the four most important aspects to consider for an Indoor Finder type of application to be:

• Availability – Is the infrastructure needed already available? Is everything that is needed already available in the devices that will run the applications or do we need new devices or even wait for next generations of devices?
• Time – How much time will it take to setup the positioning system? And just as important, how much time is needed to maintain the system, changing batteries and so on?
• Accuracy – You need to evaluate what kind of accuracy is actually needed by the application to get a good user experience in that specific building, but you also need to make sure that you don’t overdo it. Once you have proposed setups and systems, it is important to find out what kind of accuracy can be achieved by each proposed system.
• Cost – Obviously it is important to value both the initial cost and maintenance cost in relation to the benefits achieved.

Setting up Wi-Fi® positioning
The SemcMap application uses online Wi-Fi® trilateration positioning. The locations of the already existing Wi-Fi® access points in the buildings were stored on a server in advance. A device that wants to know its position performs a scan for access points, and sends their IDs and signal strength to the server that returns a position estimate. This works quite well and delivers a reliable positioning solution that is not affected by reorganizations in the buildings as long as the access points are not moved. The main two drawbacks with the solution are the speed and the accuracy.

The speed problem is mainly caused by the delay in the communication with the server, where you want to have position updates as often as every second. This was solved in the Indoor Finder application by creating a local positioning engine instead, which downloads the Wi-Fi® database for the current building to the device in advance.

The accuracy limitations are a bit harder to address. A lot of research papers show that if you want to have good accuracy using an existing Wi-Fi® infrastructure, then fingerprinting is a good way to go. With fingerprinting, the mobile device is used to listen to signals from surrounding networks. Then the unique signal strengths are used to identify a specific spot indoors. The problem with fingerprinting is however that you need to collect a lot of reference data. If we wanted to use a basic fingerprinting algorithm, we would need to gather more than 6000 reference points, instead of the just getting the location of the 50 access points. This was too much for our resources, and we instead looked at other technologies to complement the Wi-Fi® trilateration system, and be able to achieve room level accuracy.  The decision led to a technology that is available in even more devices than Wi-Fi®, namely Bluetooth™.

Modified Bluetooth™ beacon.

Setting up Bluetooth™ positioning
To achieve room level accuracy, we plugged a small Bluetooth™ beacon (in our case a rebuilt LiveView ™ unit) into a power outlet in each major meeting room, and stored their IDs and locations on the main indoor map server.  The phone performs a Bluetooth™ scan and as soon as one device of type beacon is found, the scanning is cancelled, and the location of the beacon is looked up locally or on the server. We created this setup so that only one Bluetooth™ beacon at a time could be in range at any location in the building. This turned out to work really well since a complete Bluetooth™ scan can take up to seven seconds to perform, but since we knew that only one beacon could be in range, we cancel the scan once a beacon is found. This was a key to get a reasonable position update speed.

The performance of these kinds of systems will increase a lot when the next version of Bluetooth™ is supported, including Bluetooth™ Low Energy. This is because the scanning will be much faster, but also because the beacons can be battery powered and does not have to be plugged in a power outlet. However, they are still quite time consuming and boring to setup. And since another radio needs to be running, it might make more sense to use additional Wi-Fi® transmitters as beacons instead.

Another option: sensor positioning
Another option for positioning is sensor positioning. Motion sensors in the device are very attractive to use, since they don’t require any infrastructure, and they are available in most smartphones. The problem with the motion sensors is that the accuracy and resolution received is not enough to create an indoor map service that operates solely based on the motion sensor data. And of course, any sensor based systems needs to be fed with the initial location before they can start estimating the current position.

In our tests, we have found the sensors to be very valuable in helping generate Wi-Fi® based positioning. Both in creating automatic collecting methods (check out this master thesis for more information on using smartphones to localise Wi-Fi® access points), but also when acting as a filter for the reported positions.

Key takeaways
So, what have we learned from doing this? What is important to think about, if you would like to create a similar indoor map service? Well, our best tips and conclusions are:

Anyone can do it! – It doesn’t have to be the building owner of facility manager. In fact, it may be better if it is not. Anyone who thinks this sounds fun and has the basic knowledge needed can do it.

Right formats – Before you do the work to translate a fire map or similar into a digital map, it is important to spend some time making sure that you select the right tools and formats for storing the map data. Then you make sure that the time you put into this will not be in vain, in case you would like to use the map data with other tools or for other purposes in the future.

Good enough positioning – Don’t create a positioning system that provides sub meter accuracy unless you really need it. Wi-Fi® trilateration provided a good enough experience for us with very limited setup and maintenance effort needed.

Time – Make sure you select tools that are easy and fast to use. We are confident that it should not take more than two days to create a complete map and positioning solution for a normal size office building.

I hope that this has given you the inspiration to try this out. At finally, a very good tip to get started on is Ericsson Labs new Indoor Maps and Positioning API. It contains a lot of useful tools, documentation and videos helping you to create your own indoor map service.

If you have any questions about our work in this area, feel free put in a comment below. Good luck with your indoor map service!

Magnus Persson
Positioning Specialist
Sony Ericsson

More information

• Learn how sensor equipped smartphones can be used to localise Wi-Fi® access points.
• Check out Ericsson Labs’ Indoor Maps and Positioning API.

Read more after the jump.

Over the past few months, we’ve been giving you some important information and tools to help you learn about Timescape™ extensions, including articles on how to develop Timescape™ extensions and use the Extension Development Kit, along with special sections on Developer Word dedicated to Timescape extensions and the Extension Development Kit (EDK). In case you missed all of this, you will get a new chance now as Robert Helmbro will guide you in how to create your very own Timescape™ extension – an excellent way to get visibility in Sony Ericsson phones. 

Starting with the 2011 Xperia™ phones and the updated software on the Xperia™ X10, you’ll be able to develop your own extensions for the Timescape™ application, Sony Ericsson’s unique feature that displays Facebook™, Twitter™, text messages, e-mails and alerts from your contacts as a flowing column on the home screen. And to help you develop your own Timescape™ app extension, we’ve got the Extension Development Kit (EDK) that includes all the necessary tools and documentation.

Robert Helmbro, Software Engineer at Sony Ericsson

If you already have a bit of Android™ development knowledge, you’ll find it fairly easy to create your own Timescape™ extensions. If you’re still a bit new to Android™ development, no worries, just familiarise yourself first with the Android development documentation mentioned below.

What is a Timescape™ extension?

For those of you who are new to the Timescape™ world, a Timescape™ extension is an Android™ application that provides Timescape™ connected UIs with content through a specified API.

The API is called Event Stream API, which can be thought of as a database of time-centric content. The extensions put content into the database. Then the visualisation application, such as the Timescape™ application, Infinite view or Timescape™-widget, presents the content to the user in an integrated way.

Prerequisites for creating a Timescape™ extension

You should have basic knowledge about Android™ application development. Such things as intents, broadcast events and content providers are central concepts in extension development. It is also assumed that Eclipse with the Android development tools (ADT) plug-in is up and running.

Documentation and sample code

Now, let’s get to the heart of this tutorial. First, download some documentation and code examples. This is, and more information about it, is available from the EDK developer section on Developer World. Download the Timescape™ code examples and documentation to get started. Once you’ve extracted the zip file, you’ll find the following content:

• RSSExtension – A sample extension with some attached documentation, intended for RSS type of extensions.
• SocialNetworkSample – A sample extension with some attached documentation. This sample is made to give an example of how a social network example can be made.
• SampleExtension – A sample extension with some attached documentation.
• EventStream_API.zip – Javadocs for the Event Stream API.
• Introduction_Timescape_extensions.pdf – Contains some basic information.
• SEMC_Xperia_Events_overview.pdf – Documentation about the visualisation application Xperia™ Events.
• Timescape_icon_design_guideline.pdf – Guidelines about icons needed in an extension.

A good starting point is to read the Javadoc for the Event Stream API. Extract the EventStream_API.zip. Go to the EventStream_API folder and open the index.html file in your favourite browser. Read carefully about the EventStream class. This will give you a good overview of how Timescape™ extensions work.

Downloading the Extension Development Kit

You are now probably excited for some hands on programming. Maybe you’re ready to look at the sample extensions and start modifying the code to try out your ideas, but hang on a little while longer.

As mentioned before, Sony Ericsson has created the Extension Development Kit (EDK) that can be used while developing extensions. The EDK consists of an emulator add-on containing, among other things, the Event Stream API and two visualization applications – Xperia™ Events and Infinite view. You can find out more about these applications later in the text. To install the EDK and create an Android Virtual Device (AVD), follow the “Installing the EDK” instructions on the EDK developer section.

You should now be able to start an emulator with your newly created configuration (AVD) by following the steps below:

1. In Eclipse, press Window > Android SDK and AVD Manager.
2. Select your new AVD and press Start.
3. Wait for the emulator to boot up and then scroll the main menu and you will find the application Xperia™ Events.

Xperia™ Events is a tool for testing Timescape™ extensions. Events are shown in a similar way as they will be shown on a real device. Now launch Xperia™ Events. You will only see an almost empty screen, since there are no extensions installed yet.

 Using the Social network sample extension

In order to fill Xperia™ Events with some content, let’s try out the Social network sample extension.

1. Browse to the SocialNetworkSample folder from EdkSnsSampleApp1.zip.
2. Create an Android project in Eclipse: File > New > Project… > Android > Android Project.
3. Set the ‘Create project from existing source’ checkbox and navigate to your recently extracted folder containing SocialNetworkSample.
4. Check EDK 1.1 as Build Target and press Finish.
5. Install the SocialNetworkSample to the emulator by right clicking the newly created project and press Run As > Android Application.

Now launch Xperia™ Events in the emulator again. A new tab should be present. Follow these steps: 

1. Press the new tab and then press Add account.
2. Press ‘SNS Sample extension – Register your account information’. Enter any user name and password you like and press Sign In.
3. Press back to see the dummy stream of events generated by the extension.

Try to press an event to see the detail view of it. At the bottom of the screen, it is possible to scroll all data in the database for this event entry. This is really useful when developing extensions. Also try to press the Infinite icon at the top right corner. What you should see now is the Infinite view. Infinite view is the detailed view of a contact. This shows everything related to the selected contact collected. For example, your extension gets its own tab with all events from the current friend.

Time for coding

Similar procedures could be done with the RSSExtension and SampleExtension. Some documentation is attached to all sample extensions. If you would like to create your own extension by modifying one of the sample extensions, I would recommend selecting the RSSExtension since it is most complete.

Hopefully, this has given you enough information for you to start a prototype of your own extension. When you’re ready, download the EDK and give it a go. If you have any questions, just post them in the EDK thread on Google groups, which we will monitor and get back with answers as soon as possible. Happy coding!

More information

• Learn more about Timescape extensions.
• Download the Sony Ericsson EDK.
• Download the Timescape™ extensions code example & documentation kit.
• Get an overview of the Sony Ericsson EDK.
• Ask a question though the EDK thread on Google groups
• Check out the EDK Frequently Asked Questions.
• Read more about Android application development.

Have you developed a killer game or app, but need help getting it off the ground? Don’t let your game or app languish in obscurity – get it in front of the crowd! Karl-Johan Dahlström, Head of Developer Relations at Sony Ericsson, can show you how at the upcoming AnDevCon in Silicon Valley, California.

About the session

Led by Karl-Johan Dahlström, the session Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – Building Success with Xperia™ PLAY is designed to show Android™ developers how to get promotion, top placement and increased revenues through Sony Ericsson’s marketing efforts.

– I hope a lot of people will get some valuable inspiration and thoughtful facts from this session, Karl-Johan says. I’m going to showcase how game developers can stand out with Xperia™ PLAY. Also, I’ll share some remarkable statistics that I hope will inspire developers to new levels of business success.

Sleepy Jack gameplay on the Xperia PLAY

Nate Smith, CEO of SilverTree Media, will join Karl-Johan on stage and share how his independent game development company has been able optimise, launch and maximise revenues with their latest title, Sleepy Jack, on Xperia™ PLAY.

The session takes place on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM. If you haven’t registered for the event yet, as a bonus for our readers, you can use the code sonyericsson to save $200 US off a 3 day conference pass.

About the event 

What can developers expect to get out of AnDevCon? Alan Zeichick, conference chair of AnDevCon II, says, “Developers can look forward to learning in an incredible environment that’s 100% focused on Android. With more than 80 hands-on workshops and technical sessions taught by everyone from Google engineers to independent app developers to representatives of carriers and handset manufacturers, AnDevCon II covers every inch of ground.”

The Sony Ericsson team will be in full force at AnDevCon. Come to our booth (#902) on the exhibition floor to book some face time with one of our Business Development Manager, or if you have technical questions, speak to anyone in our Developer Support group. In addition to the speaker session, check out our booth to demo all the latest Xperia™ smartphones, and try out Sleepy Jack and all our latest games available for Xperia™ PLAY.

BZ Media’s AnDevCon™ II, November 6-9, 2011, in Burlingame, Calif., is the independent conference for software developers building applications for Android smartphones, tablets and other devices. Learn more at http://www.andevcon.com/, or follow on Twitter @AnDevCon. 

More information

• Read more about AnDevCon on our Developer World Event Calendar.
• Get signed up on the AnDevCon Registration Page to attend this exclusive Android event.
• Learn more about the benefits of the Stand out from the Crowd program.
• Find out all about the Xperia™ PLAY Android mobile phone.

Anupam Nath

Back at Google I/O, Google had announced plans to add several capabilities to help developers manage their products more effectively on Android Market™. In particular, a very helpful publishing option – multiple APK support – is now available. With multiple APK support, you can have different versions of an APK file under the same product listing. The APKs file versions are completely independent APKs that share the same product name, but contain code and resources targeted for your particular set of customers. 

This feature also resolves some of the questions and comments we frequently get from developers, such as:

• Can we use an SDK lower than 2.3 and still support Xperia™ PLAY (which runs on Android™ 2.3)?
• We want to create high graphics textures for Xperia™ PLAY but other devices don’t support it and we don’t want to upload a separate application on Android Market™. What should we do? 

The multiple APK support option helps you manage all the above tasks without uploading a separate application to Android Market™ with a different package name for Xperia™ PLAY, or other specific devices. Leverage this feature to support various devices (such as phones and tablets), Android platform versions, or screen sizes, all while keeping the application builds inside the same package and product name.

Setting up Multiple APKs 

If you’re new to publishing on Android Market™, I’d recommended first going over the Preparing to Publish checklist and publishing on Android Market page on the Android Developers reference site to understand what you need to do if you plan to publish your application. Also review the publishing concepts for Android Developers. Here you’ll find a good explanation on key concepts regarding how the Android Market publisher site works, including descriptions on active APKs, simple mode versus advanced mode and the difference between “publish” and “save”. Most importantly, this page explains exactly how multiple APKs work.

Once you’ve made the decision to use multiple APKs on Android Market™, take the following facts into consideration:

• You will have just one entry in Android Market™ for your application, and different devices might download a different APK.
• You maintain one set of product details (app description, icons, screenshots, etc.). This also means you cannot charge different prices for different APKs.
• All users see only one version of your application on Android Market™.
• If you publish different APKs for different versions of Android, then when a user’s device receives a system update that qualifies them for a different APK you’ve published, Android Market™ automatically updates the user’s application to the appropriate APK.

Publishing multiple APKs

Assuming you’ve already prepared your application for publishing (including signing and versioning your application), you should be ready to publish on Android Market.

To activate multiple APK in the Developer console for Android Market, ensure you have the following settings:

1. In the Product details tab of Edit Application screen, an Upload new APK window opens when you first begin uploading your software. Click the Choose file button to navigate to and select the APK file.

2. When your APK file is uploaded, click the Save button.

3. Go to the APK files tab of the Edit Application screen.

4. Click Switch to advanced mode.

5. Click the Upload APK button and select the additional versions of the APK file to add. Select the Activate link to activate the APK.

6. When you are finished adding all the versions of your APK files for your application, click the Publish button to publish the APK files to Android Market™, or click the Save button to save your files.

The description circled below indicates which devices running a particular version of Android (in this case, API level 10 or 8-10) will be able to download this APK. The information shown in the description is automatically extracted from the manifest file.

Let us know…

We hope you take full advantage of the publishing options that the multiple APK support feature provides. If you have any questions, let us know through the Comments link at the end of this post.

More information

• Learn about multiple APK support in detail on the Android Developers site.
• Review the Preparing to Publish checklist and publishing on Android Market page on the Android Developers site.
• Read about multiple APK support on the Android Developers Blog.
• Get familar with our Xperia^TM game developer recommendations.
• Check out all of our game developer tips and tutorials.

Read more about this important recommendation after the jump.

Background

As you are readying a build for your game, it’s important to keep application versioning in mind, as part of the upgrade and maintenance strategy for your application. Users will want specific information about the application version that is installed on their devices, as well as the upgrade versions that will be available for installations.

This is also important if your application is tied to other applications, such as a published suite of applications, since other applications may need to query your application for its version, to determine compatibility.  Finally, publishing services through which you will publish your application may also need to query your application to also determine compatibility and upgrade/downgrade relationships.

Special considerations

You can set the version in the application’s Android Manifest manifest file. The version should be updated in the Android Manifest file with every new APK update. The game and APK version should be appropriate to the release.

More information about Versioning your application can be found on the Android Developers website at http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/versioning.html.

Example

Here’s an example manifest that shows the android:versionCode and android:versionName attributes in the manifest element.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.package.name"
android:versionCode="2"
android:versionName="1.1">
<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
...
</application>
</manifest>
In this example, note that android:versionCode value indicates that the current .apk contains the second release of the application code, which corresponds to a minor follow-on release, as shown by the android:versionName string.

The Android framework provides an API to let applications query the system for version information about your application. To obtain version information, applications use the getPackageInfo(java.lang.String, int) method of PackageManager.

 About the Game developer tips

The Xperia^TM game developer recommendations offers guidance in developing games for Xperia^TM devices such as Xperia^TM PLAY.  The tips in this series provide additional information about some of the significant recommendations in that document.  Each tip provides the following information:

• Background. This is a fuller description of the recommendation. It answers the questions “why should I follow this recommendation?” and “when or where should I follow this recommendation?”.
• Special considerations. This describes any special considerations, such as device-specific considerations or application type-specific considerations that pertain to the recommendation.
• Examples. This shows screen captures or code snippets that further illustrate or explain the recommendation.

More information

• Check out the full list of Xperia™ game developer recommendations.
• Read our third game developer tip on saving large APK files to the SD card.
• Read our fourth game developer tip on displaying game keys and buttons.
• Get additional guidance and tips in building high-quality games on the Xperia PLAY developer page.

We therefore decided to assist a group of developers called “FreeXperia”. The overall open developer community is important to Sony Ericsson, and we hope to learn from it, and share knowledge ourselves. The FreeXperia group was supported with devices and technical know-how, and they are now in the process of creating custom ROMs based on the CyanogenMod for several of our latest Xperia™ phones, including Xperia™ PLAY and Xperia™ arc.

Karl-Johan Dahlström, Head of Developer Relations, explains more after the jump.

Important note: By unlocking your phone and running a custom ROM you may void the warranty. See your phone’s warranty statement for details.

Back in the spring of earlier this year, Sony Ericsson announced and released the option to unlock the boot loader for 2011 Xperia™ phones. We then moved on to explain how to build your own Linux kernel. As a third step, we have now supported the FreeXperia group. The reason for this is that we firmly believe in the openness of Android™, and we are really impressed by the huge activity shown in our products. By being supportive and open, we hope to both learn from the open community, and also share knowledge when that is possible. 

During some time now, the FreeXperia group of independent developers have been working on the CyanogenMod custom ROM for our latest Xperia™ phones. From a Sony Ericsson Developer program perspective, we were impressed by the passion shown and decided to help out with some bits and pieces, since we are aware that Sony Ericsson phones have been somewhat difficult to work with from an open developer point of view. A few proprietary solutions needed to be explained and we helped them with that. This included the camera, where we provided debugged and rebuilt camera library binaries, which we will soon make available on Developer World under a special EULA license. We also supported the group with approximately 20 devices, to make their work easier.

However, please pay attention to this important and legal fine-printed text that you should not skip. We once again must make it clear that if you unlock the boot loader, and put a custom ROM on your phone, you may void your warranty. Sony Ericsson does not guarantee any functionality of your phone while going down this road. This is for advanced developers only, who are aware of the risks involved and have the knowledge to minimise the risks. For normal consumers, we strongly recommend NOT to unlock the boot loader and use custom ROMs, as it is not needed. We are proud to deliver great phone experiences through our rigorously tested and official software releases.

Overall, we do think the initiative to support these independent developers is a way for Sony Ericsson to show our support to the open developer community. We truly hope to make a difference in the world of Android™.

Karl-Johan Dahlström
Head of Developer Relations
Sony Ericsson

Read more about the Playstation® Suite SDK after the jump.

The PlayStation® Suite SDK supports C# as the programming language, and can run programs developed in C# on virtual machines equipped on both PlayStation® Certified devices and PlayStation® Vita. This demonstrates a obvious benefit to using the SDK – you are supporting development for multiple devices, you are creating certified hardware, and you are utilizing libraries to create new content that is not just limited to the Xperia™ PLAY, but to the entire suite of PlayStation® Certified devices, instead of relying of several different SDKs.

Another benefit that Sony Computer Entertainment is providing through the PlayStation® Suite SDK is helping you to further expand your business opportunities (as a developer or a publisher) to Android™-based portable devices. Detailed information of the PlayStation® Suite SDK, including how to download, will be announced through a dedicated PlayStation® Suite section on Sony Computer Entertainment’s official website.

In addition, by this October, Sony Computer Entertainment plans to provide content and service for PlayStation® Certified devices through the PlayStation® Store on PlayStation® Network, starting with original PlayStation® One games.

More information

• Read the official Sony Computer Entertainment press release.
• Download the Xperia PLAY white paper for the technical specs.
• Read our Xperia PLAY developer tips, tutorial and recommendations on Sony Ericsson Developer World.

Check out all the pictures and key takeaways from VDC 2011 after the jump!

As a major sponsor, Sony Ericsson had their own Developer Lounge on the main floor to show off the latest titles for the Xperia™ PLAY. On both days, we held a competition to see who could get the highest score in Asphalt 6: Adrenaline. Several attendees spent hours trying to achieve a top score, and in the end, we awarded three Xperia™ PLAYs to the highest scoring winners at the end of both days.

Anupam Nath from Sony Ericsson presenting at the session "Learn how to standout with Xperia PLAY" at VDC 2011.

From Sony Ericsson, Aaron Duke and Anupam Nath hosted a speaker session called “Stand out from the crowd with Xperia™ PLAY”. Attendees received an explanation of the benefits for developing for the Xperia PLAY, as well an overview of guidelines and recommendations for game developers. In the Q&A session that followed, Aaron and Anupam took lots of great developer questions from the crowd. Several developers asked about the games launcher, including whether or not Sony Ericsson takes a cut of the revenue (we do not!). In the end, we also handed out an Xperia™ PLAY to a lucky audience member – Kenneth Ng (pictured above in feature image). Thank you to everyone who visited our booth and attended our session. We look forward to seeing you at the next developer event.

Don’t forget to check our Picasa album with pictures from VDC!

Featured band "Cake" performs at VDC 2011.

Scott Tsumura.

How did you get started as a game developer?

In 1976, I started as a developer for arcade games and helped to bring several notable products to market, such as Moon Patrol and Kung-Fu Master. I also was responsible for bringing Japanese titles to the U.S. and conversely, introducing U.S.-made computer games to Japan, including Lode Runner. I attribute Lode Runner, a game that I encountered while temporarily working in the U.S., as the catalyst for moving here and driving my passion for gaming.

What first got you interested in mobile gaming, and what do you think the future of mobile gaming is?

Travelling back and forth from Japan for business, I was constantly carrying mobile phones, which at the time were very bulky and heavy and had no display for games. As mobile phones got smaller and cheaper, their popularity grew and mobile gaming began.  Today, smartphones have the screen resolution and processing power to play console games.  So, I believe the future of mobile gaming will be based on strong multiplayer experiences.

Can you tell us about your history with Lode Runner?

The original game, called Kong, was invented as a PC game by Doug Smith in 1982, and became published under the title Lode Runner. I was responsible for gathering a team of developers, and worked directly with Doug to publish several versions for Japan. In 1984, I helped developed the arcade version and numerous sequels, which marked the first-ever PC game to launch as an arcade version. At Tozai Games, I have continued to oversee the development of Lode Runner versions to other platforms. Now, I’m excited to be working closely with Southend Interactive to develop Lode Runner X for the Xperia™ PLAY.

How was the game ported from console to Android™ mobile?

We are working with Southend Interactive to build Lode Runner X. They used their own in-house game engine called the PBX. The engine provides support for a diversity of platforms including native Android, XBOX 360 and PS3. Utilizing this compatibility, they are able to transfer the gameplay logic without rewriting anything. Rendering, controls, sound playback and menus needed to be adapted for the PBX Android interfaces to complete the port. All assets needed to be updated as well. Texture resolutions and the level of detail of models needed to be decreased slightly, as well as changing texture and sound compression.

Are there any special features or new levels planned for Lode Runner X?

Lode Runner X for the Xperia™ PLAY will have the full journey mode and all the single player puzzles of the console version, including all of the environments and special features. But, the puzzles were so well received that we are considering adding some brand new puzzles to this version.

New level on Lode Runner X.

Do you have any final comments about developing Lode Runner X for the Xperia™ PLAY?

Developing to the Xperia™ PLAY doesn’t differ from developing to any other Android device. Sony Ericsson provides libraries and source code for utilizing the Xperia™ PLAY controller as well as how to display an Xperia™ PLAY compatible game in the Xperia™ PLAY Game Launcher. As the Xperia™ PLAY device is Android 2.3 enabled you also have the possibility to utilize the “Native Activity” library. This renders all Java code obsolete, making the games pure C++ code, which increases performance and simplifies the work flow.

We (at Tozai Games) are really pleased to be working with Sony Ericsson to bring Lode Runner X to this newest platform. The playability of the game on a mobile device with dedicated controls will be really exciting for a wide range of gamers. It’s a great opportunity to bring the most enjoyable gaming experience from console to mobile.

Thanks so much, Scott-san! Developer World appreciates your time.

And if there are other classic arcade games (Moon Patrol, R-Type or Kung Fu Master perhaps?) that you’d like to see for Xperia™ PLAY, let us know!

More information

• Read the official Lode Runner press release.
• Learn more about Tozai Games.
• Get more information about Southend Interactive.
• Download the Xperia PLAY white paper for the technical specs.
• Read our Xperia PLAY developer tips, tutorial and recommendations on Sony Ericsson Developer World.