Samsung has launched a new developer forum today, just for its Android application developer community. The forum, linked to from Samsung’s existing developers website (http://developer.samsung.com), will include “additional features and functionality,” according to the handset maker. Currently, the forum is offering news, updates, technical advice and support, plus many other development tools and SDK plugins.
Among the development tools available are SDK plugins for apps using Augmented Reality (AR) and Location-based Services (LBS). Samsung is also making available a dynamic Theme Tool, a Sensor Simulator and Remote Test Lab.
Remote Test Lab (RTL), one of Samsung’s more unique services, is designed to reduce development costs by providing real-time, online access to actual devices for remote testing purposes. The lab is available to all Samsung Mobile Innovator community members free of charge, and uses a credit system to manage the length of testing times available per day.
What’s on the Forum?
The forum homepage, available here, doesn’t immediately look like a traditional forum, offering categories that include “Tools & SDKs,” “Knowledge Base,” “News & Events,” and “Notices.” And clicking on the links themselves takes you to articles that look more like blog posts than forum posts. But click on the “more” link next to the items, and you’ll be taken a more typical forum layout, with columns and rows where you can see view and comment counts next to the thread name and description.
Samsung’s Developer site also offers content for non-Android developers, including those building for platforms like bada, Windows Mobile or Java. Each platform has its own dedicated subsection, too, available from the Samsung Developers homepage.
