Researching the State of Mobile Apps
I have been doing some research on different ways to build mobile apps. There are a lot of options beyond just getting dirty with native code first. Objective C is a somewhat to-dense language for me to understand. I am looking at other options, including web apps, hybrid apps, and frameworks that compile into native code like the Xamarin IDE with Mono Touch (http://xamarin.com) which is nice because I already know C#.
Why HTML5 Apps?
http://www.sencha.com/blog/the-making-of-fastbook-an-html5-love-story/
What is a Mobile Hybrid App
An app that runs on the HTML/JS runtime inside a browser view.
That browser view is actually embedded in a native app that’s packaged and distributed through the app store.
These web views can look just like a native app since there is no normal browser chrome.
Pros - Why should I build one?
It’s so simple, even a web developer can do it.
One code base for all platforms.
** Cons - What sucks?**
Almost like a native app but visibly different (inferior) to users.
Not really just one code base.
Seems like there are so many little tweaks necessary you end up with different code branches for each platform anyways.
Seems like a lot of work still.
Clearly not a magic bullet for creating mobile apps.
Maybe it’s just as much work to create a “real” native app.
Why a Native App
Performance
https://github.com/ftlabs/fastclick (are you kidding me!?)
Perfection
You can’t get everything perfect if you are using a different abstraction than other people. What they call being “close to the metal”.
User Experience
I asked this question, and it generated a lot of discussion. http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/39262/any-research-on-user-experience-perceptions-of-native-apps-vs-web-or-hybrid-apps/39295#39295
What do the users think? http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2208676