Cross-device compatibility

[Ulrik Rasmusen]

Hey,

I was wondering how much thought there's been put into making applications for 
OpenMoko compatible across different devices. Imagine in a couple of years, 
when OpenMoko has been put on 10+ different types of phones, all with 
different features. For instance, some will have GPS (like the NEO), some 
will have a big screen, while others will have small screens. Some will have 
touch-screens, while some will have a lot of buttons instead.

Since we will be using GTK+, I can imagine that the composition of the 
interface will be totally up to the developer. What will then happen when we 
move these applications from a 480x640 screen to a much smaller one? On 
devices that use J2ME, the rendering of the different controls and menus are 
decided by the host device, which makes it possible for the developer to 
target a big range of devices with different display capabilities without 
putting much thought into the UI. Would it be possible to do the same on the 
OpenMoko platform?

Also, since the applications for the Neo will use the touch-screen, there 
should be some usability guidelines, so developers makes their applications 
usable by keyboard-based phones too.

What do you think?

-Ulrik Rasmussen