Java NFC (JSR 257)

Question

I developed some small applications for the Nokia 6131 that supported NFC. The SDK was special for this device, and it implemented the JSR 257.

Now, I see different mobile platforms with proprietary SDKs, each one proposing different features (Android ICS, Meego, iOS).

I would like to know which platform still support JSR 257? Also, I want to know if learning JSR 257 is still interesting or which way I could take? NFC is currently expanding, and it would be interesting to know which are the standard tools to develop for this technology. I do not want to learn a new framework, and then see that in two years is completely obsolete and unsupported.

Answer 1

JSR 257 is targeted at Java ME platform, so one can not expect its direct support on other platforms.

Android and iOS plaftorms are definitely different from Java ME:

• J2ME VS Android VS iPhone VS Symbian VS Windows CE

As far as I can tell, Meego is a different platform, either.

I want to know if learning JSR 257 is still interesting

Per my recollection answer to above is no, unless one is comfortable with idea to be locked within a limited range of phone models, mostly from Nokia. Please note here I am referring to JSR 257 API, not to NFC in general.

• In past project, I was assigned to review JSR 257 API analysis done by my colleague. His conclusion (to which I wholeheartedly agreed back then) was that JSR 257 API was quite poorly designed and that it would be quite difficult to write portable NFC applications using it.

Answer 2

The only device that I am aware of that has used JSR 257 lately has been the NFC version of the Samsung S5230 (Tocco Lite). Apart from the Nokia specifics you might have used, your application should work on that. But that's about only device out there.

If you are planning to port the applications to other platforms, I'd start with Android as it will be the most familiar one to J2ME and thus the most easy one to port to.

Answer 3

This is a list of all the Nokia devices that ship with JSR-257 API. I do not think you will be able to cover all the devices with NFC support with a single API. Depending on your target market, you may want to look at the Android.