Ocasta

Last night an ex-colleague said to me that he envied the resources that Google must have for handset testing to allow it to launch Java phone apps across so many handsets. From my experiences with the Gmail midlet, he need envy no more. This midlet confirms all my prejudices against handset apps and the mass market.

For a number of reasons I was looking forward to trying the Gmail app. Unfortunately, so far I have been unable to do so. My first attempt with a Motorola SLVR first failed when entering the download URL the browser failed to display the page at http://gmail.com/app. This isn't uncommon with the SLVR and trying again the next day did show the page containing the download link. Download and install completed without hitch and I entered my username and password. I was asked if I wanted to connect to the data network, select yes and waited. The next message to be displayed was that the network was unavailable and I required a data connection to use the program. I have a data connection, I just downloaded the app and haven't moved. Returning to the browser surfing worked fine. Handset 1 failed.

Onto handset 2 - a Samsung SGH-D600. Download and install seemed to work well, as did startup and account info entry. Then something magical happened. My phone reset itself. This isn't a one off, it does it everytime I try to sign-in with the app. In my naivety I thought that Java ran in a sandbox and couldn't affect the device. How wrong I was.

As an early adopter and part-time geek, I gave the app more time and attention than many would. So I have no Gmail midlet to try - I don't know how it compares to browser access. Don't get me wrong. I don't blame Google one iota for this. There are too many phones and too many firmware release to truly test an app before it gets to the customer. I still wouldn't want to be in a company that relies on client applications for its revenue.