Greetings!
Anyway, My question, If you want to experiment developing for a Windows Mobile device, how would you go about testing your applications? I know there is a emulator but is not really ideal.
Is there anyway, without paying a stupid astronomical cost, to get a development phone? Akin to what Google did with the android and I guess Apple did with the iPod touch. Ideally pay as you go so you could test connection features.
Thank you in advance.
I am not aware of any way to get a development device and I would be surprised if there were one. Keep in mind that Microsoft doesn't produce devices, they just license the OS. So you would need to get a device from a manufacturer and I don't think they would be much interested to support developers.
I am not aware of any development reductions for calling, SMS or data services either. The emulator has nice features for SMS sending/receiving. For data services you could connect to your PC through ActiveSync and use your internet connection. It isn't the same as a GPRS or 3G network, but you can test data connectivity on the device without cost.
For experimenting, the emulator is fine, unless you have to interact with actual hardware in the device. And even there you have the Cellular Emulator (for call management, SMS and data connections, both GPRS and 3G, with change from one to the other) and FakeGPS (to simulate GPS data to the intermediate driver) from the SDK. The emulator should be a fine start for experimenting, really.
You can get WinMobile phones sim-free a lot cheaper than Android Dev phones.
Have a look at something like the Samsung I200 - WinMobile 6.1 Pro and £160 sim-free in the UK - half the price of the android dev phone.
Sim free phones are ideal, you can use the free PAYG sim cards all the networks give away these days.
EDIT: Even £160 is a lot - try the BenQ E72 (WinMobile 6) for £100 or Samsung i300 (WinMobile 2003 SE) for £70
I suggest getting an unlocked phone on eBay or Amazon used. From Amazon you can get the AT&T 8525 for about $60, which is the device I use on a daily basis. It is fairly peppy and integrates just fine with Visual Studio. I've written a few apps for it, and to stave off your next question: OpenNetCF's Smart Device Framework. Really. All your trivial things will work just fine, but when you want to do something non-trivial, you'll suffer pain, but chances are it's already in OpenNetCF's code.
Unlike what the other posts say, you don't need a "SIM-Free" version of a windows mobile phone to develop for it. A SIM Free phone just means that the phone is not sim locked to a mobile operator.
What really matters is the security mobile enabled on the phone. All smartphone (non-touchscreen) devices have a restricted security model enabled. Some touchscreen devices have a restricted security model enabled, it's up to the mobile operator if they want to have there devices sold with a restricted security model enabled.
What does "restricted security model enabled" mean?
Basically it means that unsigned code can not be run on the device. So you need to sign your code with a certificate that is trusted on the device. Most Mobile Operators support the Mobile 2 Market certificate, some operators do not like Orange.
What does "restricted security model disabled" mean?
It means that unsigned code is normally prompted the first time it's run or installed then given full trust (privileged) rights if the user says so. This can be configured somewhat but registry settings.
There are two types of certificates you can be signed with:
Unprivileged: - Has access to all API's except Privileged API's. Also some DLL's and all Drivers need to be Privileged signed.
Privileged: - Has access to all API's.
There are lots of hops to getting privileged signed but it can be done.
Here is a FAQ on the WM5 Security Model. It's the same for WM6, WM6.1. WM7, when it comes out, has a completely new security model.
So for someone to develop on the WM platform, all they need is a device that has the security model disabled. This allows you to develop anything (including privileged API use). When it comes to selling WM applications, look into being signed by a Mobile 2 Market certificate, in which case you can be sold to devices that are locked down.