Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless

First developed in 1999, as a platform for wireless applications on CDMA-based mobile phones, it debuted in September 2001.

[1] The BREW runtime library is part of the wireless device on-chip firmware or operating system to allow programmers to develop applications without needing to code for system interface or understand wireless applications.

For software developers, Brew MP was a full set of application programming interfaces (API) that enables making software and applications in C, C++, Java, and was supported (platform) by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

It was the first version of BREW to have major changes and it has a vast majority of features for mobile phones, such as WiFi connectivity, OpenGL ES 1.0, support for 3G, GPS, QWERTY-based keypads, and support for mobile screens that are higher than 176x220.

This release also marked the move to BREW's own real-time kernel, instead of utilizing Qualcomm's REX OS.

The Brew MP developer page was shut down on July 23, 2021, after eight years of inactivity.

Another signature verifies that an application has passed True BREW testing and is bestowed through Intertek.

The individual telecommunications operators configure the handsets to either enforce or ignore the presence and verification of this second signature.

Qualcomm makes applications that have passed testing available to BREW-enabled wireless network operators.

Once the application is downloaded OTA via a BREW-based carrier, the .sig file will automatically generate an electronic serial number to its installed handset.

During the "Restore" operation, the .bar, .mod, and .sig files are downloaded from the carrier's mobile store, and the previously disabled application will have full functionality remaining.

Since March 2006, the least expensive digital signature package for developers costs US$400 for 100 application submissions.

However, this comes at a cost to the end-user as there is less competition to develop the best solution at the lowest price to the end user.

[citation needed] One of the initial advantages of BREW was that Verizon made it easy to purchase applications from the phone, while most Java ME carriers did not.

(3D rendering API) and DoJa/Star by NTT Docomo) are available, but not popular and successful outside Japan (particularly device adoption).

For 3D games, Java ME uses JSR 184 (M3G), which 3D games that are developed on Java ME are slower (which results in 10 frames per second on some/most handsets) and have limited graphics, while BREW uses either software rendering (if the BREW handset does not have a 3D acceleration chip) or OpenGL ES (which it can take advantage of its performance).

[4] Unlike the Java ME, when the BREW application crashes, the phone will cause a reboot due to BREW can't handle and recover while the application crashes, it creates "$SYS.EXCEPT_(4-Digit Number)" into the "except" folder on the root of directory, then the phone will automatically reboot by itself, when the Java ME application crashes under BREW, Java ME will handle correctly and recover them from phone rebooting by itself.

This error may vary depending on your activity, for example: The probability of this variant to occur is very rare, as a reboot of death is more common.

Qualcomm BREW is used by Sprint Nextel, metroPCS, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Syringa Wireless, Cricket Wireless, and AT&T (in the HTC Freestyle) in the US, KDDI in Japan, KT and SK Telecom in South Korea, China Telecom in China, MOVILNET and BellSouth Chile in Latin America, Sistema Shyam (now MTS) in India, and by the 3 network in much of Europe, the UK and Australia on many mobile phones produced especially for their network.