Carefully consider the Flash Lite version required by your application and the mobile devices on which you want to run the application. The UI and functionality of your application largely determine the minimum Flash Lite version and the available devices.
For a design example, see section Defining the Sudokumaster target platform.
For applications that support touch input, use Flash Lite 2.0 or newer. While Flash Lite 1.1 is supported on all Flash-enabled Nokia devices and thus allows for the widest range of target devices, it does not support touch interaction as fully as newer versions. The drawbacks of using Flash Lite 1.1 include:
You can only use Buttons and the on() event handler to manage touch interaction. This combination does not offer
the same robust input functionality as using button
event handlers and mouse
event handlers supported by Flash Lite 2.0 and newer.
You cannot locate the exact position of a touch event outside a Button.
You cannot implement drag and drop interaction.
You cannot create menus, since Flash Lite 1.1 does not support
the trackAsMenu property
for Buttons.
Flash Lite 1.1 does not support anti-aliasing. If your application uses bitmap graphics that are scaled for different screen resolutions during runtime, the resulting image quality can be poor.
Flash Lite 1.1 does not support in-line text input or dynamic loading of external multimedia files.
Flash Lite 1.1 does not support the System.capabilities.hasStylus property, which allows you to check whether
a device supports the touch UI. Without this property, you cannot create a
dynamic UI that adapts itself to the input method available on the device.
None of these drawbacks apply to Flash Lite 2.0 and newer.
Based on the UI design and functionality of your application and the target Flash Lite version, select the devices for which you want to develop the application.
Being familiar with the capabilities of each device gives you a good overview of your target devices. This allows you to group the devices into subsets, which in turn allows you to define the different layouts and any customized functionality you want to implement. For each target device, check the following features:
Device platform (S60 or Series 40)
Supported user input methods (hardware keys, touch screen, or both)
Screen resolution
Color depth
Support for the fscommand2() commands
you want to use, if any
Support for the S60 Platform Services you want to use, if any
For detailed information about devices and their features, see Device Specifications at Forum Nokia. Adobe Device Central is also an excellent resource, since it includes a searchable library of device profiles that allows you to easily determine the features supported on different devices and to filter devices based on specific features such as Flash Lite version, Flash Lite application type, and screen resolution.
If you want to create customized functionality or UI elements for different Flash Lite versions and device platforms, you need to detect the Flash Lite version and device platform during runtime, and then program the application to behave accordingly. For more information, see the following sections: