Getting BTS cell ID with Java ME and SonyEricsson mobile phones

We all know that in many devices it's impossible to get some useful network informations such as cell ID, RAT, network status using Java ME technology.

With the newest SonyEricsson mobiles, it'an extremely easy task!


You just have to call

using a set of dedicated SE keys.

For instance, you can get the cell ID invoking

System.getProperty("com.sonyericsson.net.cellid")

I've tested it with a couple of properties (cell ID, RAT, net status) on SonyEricsson W910 with a Vodafone card and it works just fine.

W910 is a JP-8 phone, so it's quite recent; SonyEricsson claims these properties are also implemented on some JP-7 phones, but on versions from 7.3 on.

You can try them yourself on your SE phone. In case you don't know the platform version of your cellphone, which can sometimes change depending on the firmware version, you can call System.getProperty("com.sonyericsson.java.platform")

The list of available system properties available for the latest SE phones, is available in the developer guidelines document.