Forum Nokia's Remote Device Access (RDA) technology provides developers with remote access to mobile devices over the Internet. The service consists of a device pool connected to a server. Developers then connect to the server over the Internet to make use of devices in the pool. Once a developer has connected to a device, the device's screen can be viewed on the developer's desktop in real time. In addition, developers can install applications on a device, transfer files, and analyze log files in real time. This allows developers to test their mobile applications and services on a wide range of Nokia S60 devices without the cost of aquiring the devices themselves.

The requirements for using the service are a standard Web browser and Java™ Web Start, which typically comes with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Currently the following devices are available; Nokia 5500 Sport, Nokia E60, Nokia E61, Nokia E65, Nokia E70, Nokia N71, Nokia N73, Nokia N80, and Nokia N95.

I have been a long-time enthusiast of this service, because it allows developers to test their applications and content in target devices, even if they don't own those devices. RDA has been a Forum Nokia PRO-exclusive service for quite some time, and now it has been opened up to all developers, for free. I've not used the service in a few months, so I decided to try out the public version with my own Forum Nokia account.

Logging in

Following the information given on the Instructions Page, I pointed my browser to http://apu.ndhub.net/webui/. If you are not logged in to the Forum Nokia web site, you'll be prompted for your username and password (which are the same as your Forum Nokia account's), otherwise you can just click the "Reservations" link and reserve a time slot on your preferred device; my choice was a Nokia N95. Click the "Start RDA" link and you'll be prompted to install a Java application that will act as the client to your remote device.

Connecting

Once you have installed the application, you'll see a screen like this:

Figure 1. RDA client - click to enlarge

Here you can check the device specifications, by right-clicking a device and choosing "Device Properties", as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Device properties

When your reserved time slot starts, right click the device of your choice and click "Connect". You'll be connected to the remote device, and you're ready to use it remotely, over the Web.

Using the device

After you have connected successfully, you'll see the device screen along with a full-fledged keyboard, similar to the real device, with which you can interact with the phone. Figure 3 shows what it looks like.

Figure 3. Device screen - click to enlarge

There's a lot of nice things you can do once your session has started: install and test your applications, manage the device's files, upload content files and test them on the device, connect to the Internet (using a Wi-Fi connection), and browse the Web using the fantastic Web Browser for S60, among others. Just click the "Tools" menu and you'll see all the funcionality provided by the client. In Figure 4, I'm installing the S60 Internet Radio application, which can be found at Nokia's open source web site: http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/index.html.

Figure 4. Installing an application - click to enlarge

Next I uploaded a video to watch on the device. Clicking "Tools" will take me to the File Manager (as shown in Figure 5), with which I can send files back and forth between my computer and the device. I send a *.3gp file to "C:\My Data\Videos", then open the Gallery application and watch my video using Real Player (as shown in Figure 6). I had some problems in getting the video to play, I believe this due to the slow network transfer rate. The image is a little blurry because I set the color depth to 8-bit in order to speed up the transfer.

Figure 5. File manager - click to enlarge

Figure 6. Video player - click to enlarge

Last, I connect to the Web using the Web Browser for S60 and a Wi-Fi connection, created following instructions found in the User Guide. I can browsed a web site in both portrait and landscape orientations, just like I would using a real device.

Figure 7. Web browsing in portrait orientation - click to enlarge

Figure 8. Web browsing in landscape orientation - click to enlarge

Conclusion

RDA (Remote Device Access) is a cool service provided by Forum Nokia to the whole developer community, free of charge. As you can see, you can do some interesting stuff with it, and I strongly recommend you trying it out. If you want to test your application or content on a range of real device, without the cost, it's a well worthwhile service. Be sure to check the User Guide in order to find out about all things RDA can do for you.

To access RDA go to the service page: http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/technical_services/testing/rda_introduction.html.

Fopr futher detials on using RDA the instructions page is here: http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/technical_services/testing/rda_instructions.html.

Daniel Rocha persoanl blog can be found at www.rawsocker.org