Software Update for S60
Software Update for S60 allows mobile device users to update the Flash Lite Player on their Nokia device. For those devices that support this feature, the Flash Lite Player version is no longer tied to the S60 platform release version. In practice, this means that the Flash Lite version supported by a device cannot be known based on the device model. The device model only tells you the version the device supported when it was first released. Individual devices of the same model can therefore support different Flash Lite versions depending on whether the users have updated their device.
On devices that support Software Update, when the user opens a Flash Lite application or Web page with Flash Lite content, the player automatically checks whether updates are available. If an update is available, the player prompts the user to install the update. If the user accepts, the update is downloaded and installed. The user can also manually check for and install updates by using the Software Update application from the Applications menu of the device.
Software Update is currently supported on selected S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 and S60 5th Edition Nokia devices. Software Update is not available for earlier and Series 40 Nokia devices. To find out if your target devices support Software Update, check Device Specifications on Forum Nokia. If a device supports this feature, "Software Updates" is listed under Extra Features.
Software Update can be used to update Flash Lite Player 3.0 and newer versions. Earlier player versions cannot be updated using this feature.
Developing for devices that support Software Update
Different Flash Lite versions support different features. If you are developing your application for devices that support Software Update, you may need to check that a device runs a Flash Lite version that supports the features required by your application. For example, if you are developing a Flash Lite 3.1 application for S60 5th Edition devices, you can program the application to check that a device on which it is run has been updated to Flash Lite 3.1.
Note, however, that starting a Flash Lite application triggers an automatic update check in the background, and if an update is available, the user is prompted to install the update. If the user accepts, the Flash Lite Player on the device is updated, and the supported version is no longer an issue, since Flash Lite content is backwards compatible. If the user declines the update, there is no way for you to force the update from your application. In addition, after declining the update, there is a time-out period before the user is prompted again. If the user starts a Flash Lite application during the time-out period, the player does not display the update prompt.
Figure: Software Update prompt during application start-up
If you consider the automatic update an insufficient means of ensuring that a device supports the required Flash Lite version, program your application to check the version and, if necessary, inform the user about updating:
In the first frame of the application, check that the device supports the required Flash Lite version. Make sure that the content in the first frame is compatible with Flash Lite 3.0, since all devices with Software Update support at least this version.
For instructions on how to check the supported version during runtime, see section Detecting the Flash Lite version on a device.
If the device does not support the required version, display a message prompting the user to update their device, and allow the user to exit the application. If you are using a separate frame for this, make sure that it too is compatible with Flash Lite 3.0.
For an example code snippet that checks the Flash Lite version on the device, see this example.