Metrowerks have released a lower cost version of their IDE for the P800 SDK. Its called the Personal version 2.0. Its is limited to supporting only UIQ and Symbian 7. Currently this means only the P800, but may mean it will support a future Motorola device. Either way its cheaper than the professional edition retailing at $395 instead of $1395. Thanks to Klarisma for the heads up. Read the full story for some comment.

You can find out more about the Personal Edition here.

It seems that Metrowerks have been listening to people in their sedire for a cheaper version of their product. It is cheaper, but it still can't be described as entry level development.

People see UIQ as a for cost SDK, it is not. UIQ SDK is free its the IDE that costs money. For the Series 60 you get the SDK free but if you want to use an IDE you need to buy one - for example MS Visual C++. This isn't always clear and the problem Metrowerks and Sony Ericsson face is many people already have the MS tools and for them Series 60 development is effectively free. The same can not be said for the P800, almost everyone is going to have to buy the Metrowerks IDE if they want an IDE. This extra costs is inevitably going to effect P800 development; it will drive away novice developer or those who simply want to play.

The UIQ SDK is availble for free from here. According to Sony Ericsson you use the UIQ SDK to build applications for the Sony Ericsson P800/P802 phones. The SDK contains library files, documentation, sample code, tools and utilities for building P800 applications in C++ and for creating installation files of C++ and Personal Java applications. It also includes a UIQ emulator, which requires CodeWarrior Development Studio for Symbian OS to run C++ applications.

What this means in practise is that easy C++ development means you are going to have to by the Metrowerks in some form or other. If you interested just in the P800 the Personal version above seems a good bed, but if you are more focused on Symbian OS generally then the professional version is a good idea. The professional version also offers the benefit of being able to debug on the device.

And if you're interested in Java? Well, things look better. There is an entirely free route as descibed by Sony Ericsson: The UIQ SDK includes support for both Personal Java and J2ME CLDC/MIDP and can be used with Integrated Development Environments (IDE) for Java such as Java ONE Studio 4 (Mobile Edition required for J2ME CLDC/MIDP and Community Edition required for Personal Java) or CodeWarrior Wireless Studio. Use the IDE to build the executable Java file (.JAR file) and then test it in the UIQ emulator or in the IDE’s Java emulator.

The Sun Java ONE Studio 4 is available for free.

Hopefully that clears a fews things up... Remember all the Symbian SDK's are free, the IDE's are what cost the money. In reality Metrowerks might be better value having been specifically designed with Symbian in mind and with future Symbian development being strongly inclined this way. Series 60 on the other hand relies on MS Visual C++ (now discontinued, though some people have got everything runnin under .NET), an IDE not designed with Series 60 in mind, and an IDE which does cost. Ask yourself this questions - would you use an IDE designed for what your developing for or or one where the SDK is effectively bolted on the top. Metrowerks makes developing for Symbian easier, its going to be a painful transition getting there, but one there the developer expereince becomes much better and the true power of the Symbian OS can be better utilised. Bare this in mind when making your decisions!

Disclaimer: Rafe (me) isn't a programmer but I hope I know what I'm talking about somewhat.