Mizi Research has updated its graphical user interface framework for consumer electronic devices like mobile phones. Prizm 3.0 has switched to Python as its main application programming language (from Qt), and has gained modern visual effects such as “dragging, sliding, fading and accelerated smart scrolling,” the company said. Their devices usually sell in Korea in Samsung touchscreen phones.
Mobile Linux UI Gains Fancy Visual Effects
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Qt isn’t a langauge and Python isn’t a UI toolkit.
So I suppose they have switched from C++ and Qt to Python and some custom toolkit.
Interestingly, the article makes no mention of Qt.
I added the Qt info, just because I wanted to add the information as to what they used before. Readers here know what is what so they would be able to make the distinction between a toolkit and a language. I wanted to add the info because Mizi was keep bitching about Qt in the past that it’s too slow and not flexible enough and that they wanted to move away from it.
“I wanted to add the info because Mizi was keep bitching about Qt in the past that it’s too slow and not flexible enough and that they wanted to move away from it.”
So did they create their own UI toolkit for Python or what?
I wanted to add the info because Mizi was keep bitching about Qt in the past that it’s too slow and not flexible enough and that they wanted to move away from it.
OK. So let’s get some insight into that, quoted above:
“Qt has some advantages. It is good at multimedia support. But we are building own own GUI toolkit that will run on X Windows.”
So let me get this right. They’re rolling their own toolkit, on top of X windows(!) and they’re doing it in Python – and they expect this to be faster, and more flexible?! They also still think that Qt is good for multimedia.
Mizi hopes a new slimmed-down GUI will help its stack support single-core mobile phone designs in the future, it says.
That’s a highly flimsy reason for coming up with what will be a complex piece of software, in house. Sounds like technology wanking to me. Coming up with and maintaining your own toolkit is not to be entered into lightly, and I’m not too sure why they’re not just bypassing X windows and using framebuffer as Qtopia does.
Edited 2007-05-18 19:05
you sure they didn’t just move to pyqt – the python wrapper for qt, making *development time* quicker than c++ (although python *execution speed* would be slower).
otherwise, did they use pygtk, wxpython, tkinter, python-fox or a homebrew toolkit?
Edited 2007-05-18 12:46
seems they indeed are trying to get rid from Qt, I did see this in the Prizm 2.5 announcement:
Prizm’s 2.5’s graphics stack is based on TinyX, along with a Qt GUI toolkit. However, the company plans to move to an in-house GUI toolkit for a future Prizm release. Lee explains, “Qt has some advantages. It is good at multimedia support. But we are building own own GUI toolkit that will run on X Windows.”
Mizi hopes a new slimmed-down GUI will help its stack support single-core mobile phone designs in the future, it says. Other features under development include customization tools and documentation for solution partners, and “network convergence” features, including WiFi support. Lee says he expects to demonstrate an “interim version” of Prizm 3.0 during Q3 of 2006.
If they want to slim down their environment I wonder why they don’t just move to Qtopia, and cut out the X server. Instead they are removing Qt and keeping X.
X and Qt are both very well optimised, that said on a mobile device X is only so much dead weight. I wonder why they think they will get any appreciable performance gains.
I also cringed at their use of the “X Windows” term.
Hopefully this’ll help with openmoko and improve software for the Neo1973, I can’t wait for that to be released.
Python and “some mysterious toolkit”… It is probably gtk. Pygtk is a breath of fresh air for any interface developer. As much as QT has some really nice features for the developer, C++ is not near as easy to develop and test as python is. GTK seems to be fairly popular in the embedded/mobile space.
How well do the pyQT bindings stack up to the pygtk bindings?
How well do the pyQT bindings stack up to the pygtk bindings?
I’m not sure about pyGTK since I haven’t used it, but pyQt is very complete. Probably the best language binding for Qt. On par with the officially supported C++ and Java.
I don’t think going to Python + GTK from C++/Qt would get you any benefits. Certainly not execution speed. I would guess that they wrote their own lightweight toolkit. Kinda makes sense anyway. Why they didn’t use Qtopia or a homebrew thing in the first place is beyond me.
Python and “some mysterious toolkit”… It is probably gtk.
I doubt it, because they’d just be trading one set of problems for another. They’re still using X windows for heavens’ sake. It does seem from their announcement that they’re doing their own internal toolkit with some sort of Eclipse based framework.
GTK seems to be fairly popular in the embedded/mobile space.
Sorry, but it isn’t. Very, very, very few embedded or mobile devices use GTK and I don’t see any device running it in any mobile shop I’ve seen. It also has some pretty fundamental performance issues that need to be solved. Qt is pretty scarce as well, but many devices sold in the Far East use it quite a bit.
How well do the pyQT bindings stack up to the pygtk bindings?
PyQt is exceptionally complete, and has been for some time. When you’ve got PyQt available there’s no way you’d want to drop it for PyQTK, but their reasons for doing what they’re doing seem to be muddled at best.
Oh come on. They announce fancy new animated effects and give us still pictures. Where are the videos?
What I’d like to see first are Linux smartphones that don’t have slow as molasses interfaces first, THEN give us the effects. On my A780, adding an event to the calendar is an exercise in patience. How excited should I be for extra crap like this that’ll likely slow things down rather than a responsive UI?
This is why they got rid of Qt Embedded. The A780 uses Qt Embedded, just like the old version of Mizi.
Wouldn’t DirectFB + EFL be optimal for these kind of devices?