Sophia Cradle Releases Upgraded BREW App Development Environment SophiaFramework

Now Supports BREW 2.1 and QVGA. Special Kit for Game Developers Available for only 100,000 yen.

Abstract

KYOTO — November 19, 2003 — Sophia Cradle Incorporated (Headquarter: Kyoto; CEO: Kazunori Sugiyama), an innovative developer of mobile phone software, today announced a significant update to SophiaFramework as version 2.1 [*1], which supports BREW 2.1 [*2] and quarter video graphics array (QVGA) [*3]. A promotional package for game developers has been made available from this version at a price of 100,000 JPY.

Full Story

SophiaFramework is a development environment for BREW applications, which is composed of graphical user interface (GUI) framework, C++ class librariy and C++ wrappers. There are six KDDI official applications "Ez Appli(BREW)" so far that are implemented over SophiaFramework, including the top-selling "Cho-Search" application.

The new SophiaFramework vesion 2.1 supports all application programming interfaces (APIs) that are added in BREW 2.1 such as camera, three-dimentional drawing and TCP/IP. The enhanced SophiaFramework is also suitable for QVGA handsets. In addition, Sophia Cradle releases a new Game Developer Edition (GDE) for SophiaFramework, which is a set of functions specially selected for BREW game application developers. The GDE includes C++ class libraries for string, memory control, drawing graphics and color arithmetic, and C++ wrappers of BREW APIs for drawing, graphics, sound, file and communications.

Pricing and Availability
The license system has become more customer-friendly, with a new license that enables small purchase from one application units (/english/form/order_sf.html). Moreover, you can switch to an unlimited license by paying only the difference if purchasing during this year.

Free evaluation version is available at the Sophia Cradle web site.
/english/form/trial_sf.html

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Terms

[*1] SophiaFramework

Middleware released by Sophia Cradle in August 2002. It runs on BREW and consists of three layers: graphical user interface (GUI), C++ utility library and C++ wrappers. SophiaFramework helps a developer create a high-quality BREW application in a short period of time. The technology of SophiaFramework is used in many of the top-selling BREW applications in Japan.

More about SophiaFramework: /english/products/sophiaframework/index.html

[*2] Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW)

The standard of mobile phone software developed by QUALCOMM Incorporated, released in January 2001. BREW applications work fast no matter what the underlying system software in the handset is. A user can download a compiled BREW application from the Internet and use it with any BREW-enabled handset. The worldwide spread of BREW is so remarkable that there are many network operators that provide BREW services, including Japan's KDDI which started offering it in February 2003.

[*3] Quarter video graphics array (QVGA)

Resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, which is a quarter of VGA. KDDI, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone have adopted QVGA liquid crystal displays since 2003, and thus they are becoming a standard resolution in the handsets industry.

* Trademarks associated with QUALCOMM Incorpotated and BREW are trademarks and registered trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated.

About Sophia Cradle

Sophia Cradle Incorporated is a mobile phone software developer which currently specializes in BREW C++, GUI middleware and mobile Java. Founded in 2002, Sophia Cradle aims to render services to the improvement of everyone's quality of life by creating innovative mobile Internet technology. For more information about Sophia Cradle, please visit www.s-cradle.com/english/.