Announcement: Mentat BlackBerry Client
The form has been chosen!
We’ve been getting great use out of Mentat’s iPhone support but have always known that we were going to add in support for other handheld devices, too. The big problem was figuring out which platform to support first, and our user’s have helped us make that decision.
We decided that the first handheld Mentat client we would develop would be for the RIM BlackBerry, based on input from our poll and internal discussion. Although the PocketPC had more votes than any other potential client, the combined votes for BlackBerry and a regular J2ME client were almost double that amount.
BlackBerrys applications are only written in J2ME, which means that most of the code written for the Mentat BlackBerry Client will end up being used in the regular J2ME version as well. The primary difference between the two is that RIM provides enhancements to the J2ME API set that will allow us to provide a rich user experience specifically tailored to the BlackBerry, instead of a generic client intended to run on an arbitrary set of J2ME-enabled devices.
Current Status
Our Mentat BlackBerry client is currently able to log on to the Mentat server, display all of the projects you are currently a member of, and browse through the tasks in each project. By the end of the day it should be able to create, close, and delete tasks as well.
All of this was made a lot simpler by our RESTful client api set. We intend to use this same API to create additional handheld clients and desktop applications. Once the API has been wrung out by a few client development iterations we will publish it for use by 3rd parties.
As the week progresses we will add in the ability to edit task settings, add comments and notes, and various other features as well. I’m also considering added a cache and synchronization mechanism that will allow for offline use, but that is probably going to be off a ways in the future.
It is worth pointing out that our Jott integration and SMS support already allow you to use your BlackBerry to create tasks (via a voice call to Jott) and receive SMS notifications of new or updated tasks!
Beta Testing and Feedback
Any users interested in beta testing the Mentat client should let us know via the Mentat support form.
Filed under: mentat by Daniel
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[…] The Mentat BlackBerry Beta client is currently able to log on to the Mentat server, display all of the projects you are currently a member of, and browse through the tasks in each project. It should soon be able to create, close, and delete tasks as well. We will let you know when the software is released but if you are interested keep your eyes pealed on their website. […]