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PhoneGap – Effective Tool for Hybrid Mobile Development

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The number of smartphone users who actively use phone applications has reached 88% in 2015 [1]. This trend brings a challenge to developers who have to come up with the ways of reaching more target audience, yet keeping the development cost low. To achieve this goal, developers are leaning more and more towards hybrid applications development. The reason for hybrid application development becoming more popular is that it has the ability to cover several platforms without the need to develop separately for each one. No matter how great this development approach may sound, it is important to look at its specifics.

The main disadvantages of hybrid applications are lack of native look in UI/UX design, and difficulty when it comes to integration, which may require third party cloud options.

What makes hybrid application development an appealing approach is the ability to attract more users. Cross-platform development is also very cost effective and time-saving, since one team can develop hybrid application across multiple platforms.

One of the most popular frameworks for hybrid application development is Adobe PhoneGap. It is an open source framework with the following features:

  • It utilizes HTML, JavaScript and CSS for creating and building cross-platform mobile applications.
  • All the build can be done on the cloud-based server without the need for Systems Tool Kits.
  • This framework can run on iOS platform, Android, BlackBerry, WebOS, Symbian, and Windows Phone 7.
  • The APIs for PhoneGap include sensors: geolocation and mapping, camera, accelerometer; data APIs (file system), connection and network, storage and notification APIs, etc.

To understand the specifics of PhoneGap framework better, it is important to review its pros and cons.

Pros that are unique to PhoneGap:

  • Platform Coverage – allows deploying the project in almost any platform.
  • Free of Charge – PhoneGap is an open source and free.
  • Simplicity – easy porting of PhoneGap to various environments.
  • Development – JavaScript or libraries like Sencha Touch, JQuery can be used to facilitate the development.

Cons of developing with PhoneGap:

  • Graphic Performance – third-party services may be required for the development of advanced graphics; inability to use native widgets badly affects the visual.
  • Documentation – insufficient documentation.
  • Pricing – complimentary tools are not free.

Nevertheless, combining a good framework and developers’ professionalism will guarantee delivery of a satisfying solution.

For more information, please stay updated with PSA news to get an upcoming white paper about PhoneGap tool in developing cross-platform applications. Subscribe to our blog, and keep up with the latest news!

Sources:

  1. http://digiday.com/publishers/5-charts-explain-apps-vs-mobile-web-battle/

PSA Marketing Team

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