Comparing ANDROID to J2ME
If you are familiar with J2ME you might understand that Android provides a similar development platform but with a much nicer and richer UI components than J2ME (JWTI)and obviously much better than LCDUI.
I am attempting to make a comparison with J2ME and Android in the following table:
|
Android Building Block |
J2ME Comparable |
Description |
|
Activity |
Midlet |
Activity is one of the so-called “Building blocks” on Google Android’s architecture. An activity is then comparable to a midlet in J2ME. |
|
View |
Canvas or Form |
A View is a displayable class in which elements can draw on the screen components. This concept is similar to a Canvas or a Form (LCDUI) |
|
Intent |
Platform Request |
An Intent is used to move from screen to screen. A “request to do something” could be easily matched to a Platform Request call on J2ME. In fact a URI is used as an equivalent concept An Intent Receive is therefore a way or mechanism to be called as part of a more generic way to replace “Platform Request API” on J2Me |
|
Service |
Permanent Midlet |
A service is nothing bog a Long-lived App, without a UI. There is no clear match on J2ME but some proprietary implementations using permanent midlets, however this type of midlets may still have a UI. This is not supported by most platforms except in a few like “Motorola iDEN” |
|
Content Provider |
RMS or Record Store |
Android uses SQLLite database to store data from Activities, which is rather similar to RMS storage using a midlet framework |