Two third year students of the Department of ComputerScience and Engineering of Dhaka University have come up with a mobile e-mailer programme that can send and receive emails directly through a cell phone using the short messaging service (sms).

Gazi Mashfiqur Rahman and Farzana Yasmeen, with help from their teacher Md. Asif Hossain Khan, have developed this mobile e-mailer.

"Through the sms emailing system, we have already received very enthusiastic response from various corners of the country," said Asif Hossain Khan.

Within twelve days of promoting the system, over 1,500 short messages had been received, converted to emails and sent to the addresses of desired recipients.

The latest application can send and receive emails via a servlet directly from a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and Post Office Protocol (POP3) server

using a Java 2 Platform Micro Edi-tion(J2ME) technology.

"Since J2ME is being used worldwide for such purposes, we have therefore chosen this medium for better flexibility," explained Mashfiqur Rahman.

Such emailing services have not yet gained popularity in this country due to the absence of the Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) technology, which is considered the standard protocol for exchanging data over networks via portable devices like cell phones.

Most mobile service networks did not entertain the idea because of its extremely slow speed and the huge expense involved with it. But this problem can be solved with the J2ME application the students have developed.

"The application can only be implemented on Mobile Information Device Profile-2 (MIDP) supported mobile phones which are available everywhere in the city now," said Farzana Yasmeen.

"The overhead cost of sending such emails would be reduced since the

slow loading and sending of web pages like WAP would no longer be necessary," she added.

The e-mailer would provide users with the option of using a graphical interface while sending emails. Also, there will no longer be a limitation on the number of characters per mail, which was a constraint with the 160-character limit of the sms.

The application can be installed in a mobile device via a data cable linked to a computer or may be downloaded from the provider's site. The program can be easily updated or uninstalled.

The group is also working on a fullblown mobile e-mailer but are frustrated by the apathy shown by concerned quarters towards their effort.

"I have talked with officials of various mobile phone companies in the city and even though they had good words for what we were doing, they have not yet shown the willingness to formally give our programme a try in near future," lamented Khan.