Start developing widgets: The Maemo 5 Beta SDK is out

Nokia has released the Maemo 5 Beta SDK today enabling now also the development of widgets for the Maemo 5 Desktop. The Maemo 5 Beta SDK includes now also a first draft of the Development Manual. A new version of the Modest email client has been released both as open source project and as example of an application optimized for the Maemo 5 UI. The Beta SDK offers a frozen API and contains the basic information and tools developers need to get their applications ready.

Maemo 5 is the next major release of the Linux platform developed by Nokia in collaboration with some of the best open source community projects. The key new features are:

• OMAP3 support.

• HSPA data connectivity.

• High definition camera support.

• Hardware-based graphics acceleration.

The SDK still includes a simplified UI implementation of the Desktop and the Application Menu. The Desktop Edit Mode is now enabled in order to ease the development and testing of desktop widgets.

The APIs published with the Alpha release included novelties like the location API, City Information, Time management, Vibra service and Device orientation. These APIs are frozen now and application developers are encouraged to use them.

This release comes with the first draft of the Development Manual. Also a new example application and desktop widget are provided to help developers getting familiar with the new UI style driven by finger touch interfaces.

The developer documentation, including new code examples, will be updated regularly independently of new SDK releases. Even if the current SDK resembles a single-application environment, the final Maemo 5 release will be a multitasking platform as usual.

Since the Alpha SDK was released on March there have been about 50 applications developed by community developers and available in the Fremantle extras-devel repository. This is the recommended location for unstable software targeting Maemo 5. Developers are encouraged to use this repository to expose their work and gather early feedback. eCoach, OMWeather and OSM2Go can be found among the remarkable community projects reaching the alpha stage.

Mozilla/Maemo Danish Weekend

All developers interested in Maemo 5 are invited to join the Mozilla/Maemo Danish Weekend in Copenhagen on May 30-31. This hands-on developer meeting is all about getting software ready for end users. Both Fennec and Maemo 5 will be in a solid beta stage by that time. Sponsorship opportunities are offered to cool community projects with Maemo 5 proof points willing to get together for a sprint.

Code, test, fix, improve... and have fun!