Java Runtime 2.1 Beta for Symbian is available from Nokia Beta Labs. This beta release can be installed to S60 5.0 devices mentioned in the Beta Labs pages. This same JRT 2.1 release will also ship later this year in Symbian^3 devices. During that time Symbian plans to release final add-on SIS package to S60 5.0 devices via Forum Nokia.

With the beta release developers can trial their Java applications on the new Java Runtime with existing S60 5.0 devices. This will provide early info for developers on how apps will behave on upcoming Symbian^3 devices. Some of the new features of course are dependent on Symbian^3 devices’ new OS and hardware features. In beta labs pages we list only features that work in S60 5.0 devices via Java Runtime but in Forum Nokia Java Runtime 2.1 Release Notes page we list all features highlighting the ones that are dependent on Symbian^3 device features.

As listed in the above links there are a bunch of new and long-waited developer features available in this release. Documentation for them can be already seen from Java Developer’s Library rel 3.4 and we are refreshing that next week with rel 3.5 covering JRT 2.1 more in depth with examples and tutorials covering the new features and APIs. Nokia is also soon releasing alpha SDK for these new developer features.