Windows Mobile 6 SDKs are now available!

The button was pushed and the Windows Mobile 6 SDKs are now available – you can download both “Windows Mobile 6 Standard SDK” and “Windows Mobile 6 Professional SDK” here!

Please, read carefully the download page details to learn about the new naming and emulator images, requirements and know issues. Make sure to also read the What's New for Developers in Windows Mobile 6 white-paper.

The table shows which SDK must be used when targeting the old Smartphone and Pocket PC categories:

Previous Categories New Categories Windows Mobile SDK
Windows Mobile for Smartphone Windows Mobile Standard Windows Mobile 6 Standard SDK
Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Windows Mobile Classic Windows Mobile 6 Professional SDK
Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition Windows Mobile Professional

What’s new in the Windows Mobile 6 SDK?
Here is a quick overview of the new SDKs.

Better discoverability
Everything is installed (by default) under C:\Program Files\Windows Mobile 6 SDK. We also “share” the common content from both SDKs, for example, there will be only one help collection, only one set of common samples, tools, etc., even if you install both SDKs. Readme files are also better, go to Start Menu, Programs, Windows Mobile SDK and check the main readme file as well as the tools and samples ones.

Help Collection
The help is now integrated with DocExplorer, but you can still access it through the Start Menu if you want/need to.

Samples
We have samples! A lot of them! Check the Samples readme file to learn about all sample collection.

New Tools
There are also a nice number of new tools with this release. Here is a quick list with a brief explanation of each one:

Cellular Emulator v1
Cellular Emulator is a software-based emulator to aid developers and testers in developing and testing their software under the Windows Mobile platforms. The design goal of Cellular Emulator is to replace the radio module in both development and test environments. The advantage of Cellular Emulator is that it provides not only voice but also data connectivity. Moreover, Cellular Emulator is a powerful tool to test various applications under different wireless network conditions in GSM/GPRS and/or UMTS networks.

In other words: it is your own Mobile Operator running on your desktop :-). You can call your device emulator, send and receive SMS, play with AT commands, SIM cards, etc. How cool is that?

Device Emulator v2
Yes, it is here – install the SDK and have Device Emulator v2 up and running on your machine.

Local Server Framework
The Local Server Framework allows users to develop custom server applications running over localhost. Components of Windows Mobile powered devices must communicate with external services running on external servers. Lack of control over the external server inhibits the ability to comprehensively test client side code. Additionally, varying network conditions in build labs introduce multiple points of failure in test code that are often unrelated to code under test. The server framework allows development of test application servers that run locally over localhost on the device, alleviating these problems. The Local (or Fake) Server Framework allows users to develop either full-featured servers or application-specific servers that communicate with their respective clients.

FakeGPS & GPS Settings
Do you want to develop a GPS-enable application but don’t have a real GPS device? FakeGPS is the answer! Just drop and install the FakeGPS.cab file into your emulator or device and you are ready to go. FakeGPS will set the GPS Intermediate Driver to read the NMEA strings from a text file instead of using a real GPS device.

And what happens if you want to sell your GPS-enabled applications to WM 6 Standard users? You can use GPSSettings to enables Windows Mobile 6 Standard users to configure the GPS intermediate driver, it works in the same way as the built-in GPS settings applet on Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Windows Mobile 6 Classic – better yet, you can even redistribute GPSSettings.exe with your applications!

Hopper
Hopper is a software test tool that simulates input stress on Windows Mobile powered devices. Hopper will stress all applications that are available through the menu system by rapidly sending keystrokes and screen taps in a random fashion. By sending a large number of user inputs very rapidly, Hopper can quickly isolate troublesome scenarios and find bugs in your applications.

It works like this: you setup Hopper to test your application and let it run. It keeps clicking around randomly on your application going through “code paths” that you would not usually test, and of course, it finds bugs!

New Emulator Image
A brand new “Windows Mobile 6 Professional Square QVGA (320x320 pixels - 128 dpi)” emulator image!

CabSignTool
CabSignTool signs a .cab file and all its executable content (.exe, .dll) with the specified certificate – it unpacks the .cab file, signs all .exe and .dll files, pack the .cab file again and sign it, in one single pass.

How do you like it? Stick around as I will continue posting about the SDK, tips and tricks, issues, etc. And let me know your comments and feedback.

Enjoy the new Windows Mobile 6 SDKs!