Lately, RIM initiated several developments for the BlackBerry platform. The wireless solutions’ provider recently announced enhancements to the BlackBerry Application Platform, enabling developers to rapidly develop rich content and applications.
The enhancements include support for OpenGL ES for the development of 3D games and graphics, an upcoming Java GUI builder for the rapid development of user interfaces for BlackBerry applications and BlackBerry Theme Studio for designing themes for BlackBerry smartphones.
“We are making it easier than ever for developers, hobbyists and content providers to build graphic-rich experiences for BlackBerry smartphones. These new features will help drive a multitude of engaging themes, games and applications for BlackBerry smartphone users,” stated Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platform at Research In Motion.
OpenGL ES support enables Java developers to create 3D games and graphics for BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 5.0 and higher. It is available through an update of the BlackBerry Java SDK. Further, with the integration of GUI builder into the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse, developers will now be able to build user interfaces for BlackBerry applications effortlessly and quickly. They will be able to rapidly create and localize complex user interfaces with a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) view and drag and drop capabilities.
Additionally, the GUI builder facilitates developers to easily preview their user interface design on different BlackBerry smartphones. RIM also revealed a free suite of theme design, illustration and animation tools known as BlackBerry Theme Studio that would help in creating custom interfaces for BlackBerry smartphones driven by BlackBerry OS 4.2.2 and higher, including the new BlackBerry Storm2 and BlackBerry Bold 9700.
The BlackBerry Theme Studio is inclusive of BlackBerry theme builder as well as BlackBerry composer. The theme builder can be used to customize a smartphone’s user interface like the home screen layout, fonts, icons, message list colors, cursors, dialog boxes and home screen application icons. However, the BlackBerry composer is an illustration and animation tool employed to create animated SVG graphics, used to add animation to theme buttons and backgrounds. It can also be used to animate web sites and applications for BlackBerry smartphones.
RIM also announced that themes for BlackBerry smartphones can now be submitted to BlackBerry App World. A beta version of the BlackBerry Java SDK 5.0 including OpenGL ES support is available at BlackBerry’s official website. The GUI builder for the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse is expected to be available in mid 2010.