I bloaned (blog/moaned) last week about the lack of a central resource for developers to access information about handset models.
Mobile Weblog reader, Gideon, left a comment that I thought deserved a wider platform. So if you’re a developer, you might find this useful.
As one who has been spending the last few weeks learning the A-Z of mobile web development and dealing with serving files to phones, etc. I can tell you that there ‘is’ a site and project that is doing something close to what you are talking about – it’s called WURFL: Wireless Universal Resource File.
In short, WURFL is a HUGE XML file that has the specs for over 400 devices. Plus – they’ve built in a scheme for ‘fall back’ devices and a generic device profile – all of which can be used by a developer to understand what they serve to what device, what sizes, methods, etc.
What they don’t offer, is a proper ‘web’ view of this data nor a way for one to search the XML file directly – you’d need to use a standalone java app, or you’d need to set the whole thing up and use the API to create some type of public interface.
For me, I was on the search for all phones that supported mp3 ringtones so I could integrate this into a music site/service I run: ArtistServer – I was quite surprised that this info was not found on the Web – that I had to comb through many sites to compile my a list. So far, I’ve identified over 150 mp3 ringtone phones – some of which aren’t even listed in WURFL.
So there’s still room for a someone to take on the role of providing a common location for all mobile device profiles.
It should be accessible by a query, by drill down browsing, by web services and… you should be able to generate extracts from the result sets.
To do all this, one would need to import the XML file into a database – then spend a good week collecting images of all the phones – 3-4 weeks of coding – a domain name and the whole thing would be ready to rock.
In terms of keeping it up to date – I just don’t see the phone manufactures or the carriers spending their time submitting the data.
Another site that is ‘close’ but not there either, is PhoneScoop – here they have the data – they have photos – they even know what phones are with what carriers… but can you search the data? Yes, but it’s a tricky search tool and if you try to actually find something like, “All phones that are mp3 players” you’ll get the info… but it will take a long time. They only display 20 results – which means you have to be tricky about how you search in order to ‘really’ get what you want.
So I agree with you 100% – this is a dire need – and if someone reads this, and has a few weeks – build the site – do it – you’ll find it will be a busy place within the next year.
btw – i just found your blog today, I’m adding it to my RSS reader – keep up the good work 
- Gideon
http://www.ArtistServer.com
Has anyone else any useful resources to add, in this area?
Image from Fury.com.
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