Decide if PhoneGap is for you as your mobile platform selection

1. DECIDING MOBILE
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
FOR COMPANY
MOBILE DEVELOPMENT
Salim Bhonhariya
[Email address]
Which Cross-PlatformFrameworkshould weusefor Mobile strategy?

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Contents
Let’s begin with the purpose ...............................................................................................................1
Decide what types of mobile app you want to build?............................................................................2
Web Applications ......................................................................................................................2
Hybrid applications .....................................................................................................................2
Native Applications.....................................................................................................................2
HTML5 .....................................................................................................................................2
Phonegap....................................................................................................................................2
Xamarin......................................................................................................................................2
Mobile Platforms comparisons:...........................................................................................................5
Factor to consider before you decide your mobile application development strategy. ............................7
Performance survey:.......................................................................................................................7
User Experience:.............................................................................................................................8
Time to decide:...................................................................................................................................8
Which technology to user to develop the Mobile app...........................................................................9
Platform Pros and Cons.....................................................................................................................10
PhoneGap ..................................................................................................................................10
Xamarin ......................................................................................................................................11
Plugins supported for all platforms ................................................................................................12
Telerik plugins ..............................................................................................................................12
Cordova plugins............................................................................................................................12
Demo...........................................................................................................................................12
Resources:.......................................................................................................................................12
Visual studio tools for Apache Cordova/PhoneGap.............................................................................12
Let’s begin with the purpose
First, the basic idea emerges and the list of goals for the application is created. Such goals can be purely
marketing, engineering or a combination of both. For example: to attract new and increase loyalty among
existing users, to simplify the process of leading the customer from the first acquaintance to purchase, to
optimize the online store’s interface for mobile devices, to identify the main target audience, to increase the

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coverage of the target audience. The business goals should dictate the choice of technology, not the other way
around.
Decide what types of mobile app you want to build?
Web
Application
s
Hybrid
applications
Native Applications
HTML5 Phonegap Xamarin
If the application does
not require the deep
interaction with the
device features or the
offline mode, you can
consider implementing
it as a web service. The
user needs only to
know the URL to
access the application
through a web
browser.
Many applications the execution of the
advanced features, such as reading
files from and writing to the SD-card,
taking pictures via cameras, receiving
the system events messages, etc., is
extremely important. The usual web
applications, being run in the browser,
give no such opportunities.
http://www.ymedialabs.com/hybrid-vs-
native-mobile-apps-the-answer-is-clear/
While 79 percent of consumers
would retry a mobile app only once
or twice if it failed to work the first
time, only 16 percent would give it
more than two attempts. Poor
mobile app experience is likely to
discourage users from using an
app again.
This option is well
suited for the
applications that
require the constant
presence of an Internet
connection and do not
impose special
requirements to
graphics and the
device’s hardware and
is called the HTML5
mobile app
development.
As a result, the tools that allow
developing the application’s business
logic and interfaces with the use of
JavaScript and HTML5, while having
access to device resources, appeared.
Almost all the mobile platforms’
SDKs provide a special browser
component for native integration -
WebView in Android, UIWebView in
iOS, etc. This is the same web browser
with the ability to transfer native code
calls to the web application (written
with the use of JavaScript), as well, as
dispatch JavaScript messages back to
the native part of the application.
Therefore, web applications,
"wrapped" by a native code, can get
access to all of the device’s hardware
resources. That’s what hybrid mobile
app development means.
Native applications have the
best performance, highest
security, and best user
experience.
Mobile web
applications are
developed with the
help of the tools that
are classic already.
A special case of hybrid applications
are tools for multi-platform mobile
development such as PhoneGap. The
result of their work is the web

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HTML is used to
markup the interface
elements, CSS – to
describe the visual
component and the
relative position of
controls and widgets,
JavaScript – to
implement the
application’s business
logic.
application with the native language
wrappers.
Pros of hybrid applications
• Allows using the platform-specific
features in the already existing web
application. If thisisnot an issue,
PhoneGapisthe best.
• Relatively quick and inexpensive
ideas implementation given the fact
that most of the hybrid frameworks
are open source. If thisisnot an
issue,PhoneGapisthe best.
Cons of hybrid applications
• Roughly the same as the web
applications, as part of the app is an
actual web application – performance
issues and non-native user experience.
Not a rich user experience
Speed performance. If thisisnot an
issue,PhoneGapisthe best.

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Prosof web
applications
• Webapplications
run on devicesof
every form-factorand
can easilybe ported
to any device (no
additional
tools/licenses
needed).
• Little orno
differencesinterms
of securityand
smartphone functions
access between
differentdevicesand
browsers.
• Unified
development
platform- HTML5.
Consof web
applications
• Scant accessto
advanceddevice
features:accessto
cameras,geolocation,
gyroscope andother
gadgetsisnot
possible.
• Webapplications
can manifestthe logic
that is
uncharacteristicfor
the specificplatform.
• Lesserperformance
than that of native
applicationdue tothe
browsers’JavaVirtual
Machine high
resource
consumption.

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JQuery mobile renderingdoesn’t
lookgreaton IOS devices. If thisis
not an issue,PhoneGapisthe best.
Update to an app:
Witha hybridapplication,unlessa
companyadds a completelynew
feature thatdramaticallychanges
the userexperience,the user
doesn’tneedtoupdate the appin
the app store.If the update in
questionisona page that is loaded
fromthe server,asthe user
navigatesthroughyourapptheywill
instantlysee the update.It’sthat
simple.
Update to an app:
In contrast,for native applicationsthe
userneedstoupdate the app to see
the changes.For mostuserswhoset
up auto-updateswhentheirphones
are on Wi-Fi thisisacceptable,butit
doesn’tworkforeveryone.Nobody
wantsto exasperate theiruserby
havinghim/herupdate the appevery
monthor so. It attracts unnecessary
negative attentiontothe appwhich
couldcause the userto simply
uninstall it.
While deciding the explicit implementation methods, such as the integrated development environment, SDKs
and third-party libraries, can be chosen depending on secondary factors – target audience, project budget.
Mobile Platforms comparisons:
However, if the desired time to market is less than six months, then hybrid could be a better
alternative(PhoneGap) because the app can be built in one source code, can be released across platforms, and
development time and effort is considerably less as compared to that of native applications.

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Factor to consider before you decide your mobile application
development strategy.
Performance survey:
If this isnot an issue,PhoneGapisthe best.

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User Experience:
If this Isnot an issue, PhoneGapisthe best.
Time to decide:
If you think, if this is not an issuestatement is true for all the options then above
then PhoneGap is for you.
 CrossPlatformHybriddevelopmentsoundsgreat.
 Single code base acrossmultiple platforms.
 Don’thave to update each appin the app store to waitfor approvals.

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 You can use your existingwebtalentanddon’tneedtobringonadditional resources.
 Don’tneedto doany APIdevelopmentsince it’sall handledviathe web.
Whowouldn’t you use Hybrid?
 You know whowouldn’twantyouto follow ahybridapproach?The customersusingyourapp.
Theydon’tknowwhat a hybridmobile appis,buttheydon’tlike it.
Which technology to user to develop the Mobile app

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Platform Pros and Cons
PhoneGap
PhoneGapisan opensource andsimplestcross-platformframeworkcomparedtoXamarinand
Titanium.Itallows creatingmobileapps utilizingWebAPIs,i.e.itwrapsupwebapplicationsinanative
app shell andthenimplementsthemonnative storesfordifferentplatforms.Itusesa cloud-based
service called'Build'withwhichyoucancompile appsforseveral operatingsystemswithoutthe needto
install SDKsof eachplatform.
AnyPhoneGapapplication issimplyacollectionof HTML pageswhichisrenderedasa WebView.To
developapplicationsinPhoneGap,youneedtouse HTML5, CSS andJavaScript.

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Pros
 Small andsimple native APIsetsenable easyportingtodifferentenvironments.
 Highreusabilitywith HTML5,CSS and JavaScript.Anythingwrittenasawebpage canbe easily
wrappedupas a native mobileapplication.
 Supportsall platformsandoperatingsystemswhichincludesiOS,Android,WindowsPhone8,
Blackberry,Firefox OSandUbuntu.
 Developerswho are accustomedto HTML/CSS/JavaScript,finditeasytostart workingwith
PhoneGap.
Cons
 Lowerperformance of appsas the original codesof the app remainsthatof a webappand
launchesviaa webbrowser.Thismeansthe performance of PhoneGapappsdoesn’tcome close
to native apps
 Too manyfragmentedlibrariesandframeworksataverybasic level
 User interface of appvariesdependingonthe qualityof WebView rendered
o See more at: http://www.cygnet-infotech.com/blog/phonegap-or-titanium-or-xamarin-
which-cross-platform-should-you-choose#sthash.X3vWghyi.dpuf
Xamarin
Xamarin,originallycalledMonoTouchisanothercross-platformframeworkthathaspickedupthe
developmentmarketwithitsownIDE.It workson C# within.NETframeworkandallowsyoutocreate
native appsbyutilizingnative APIsandUIsof eachplatform.
XamarincomeswithXamarin.Formslibrarywhichallowsyoutowrite native UIsforonce and thenshare
and convertthemto platform-specificUIs.XamarincurrentlysupportsiOS,AndroidandWindows
platform.ItalsoallowsdevelopingappsforBlackberrybycompilingAndroidapps.
Pros
 Xamarinhas TestCloudwhichallowsyoutotestyourapps automatically
 Provides100% code reuse withXamarin.FormsUIdevelopmentusingsharedcode base and
logic.Thissavesa lotof time andresources
 Supportspatternslike MVCandMVVM
 Xamarin.AndroidsupportsGoogle Glassdevices, AndroidWear,andFirephone
 Learningcurve isrelative.If yourteamknowsC#,it iscomparitivelyeasytogetstartedwith
Xamarin
Cons
 Doesnot provide accesstocertainAndroidspecificUIcontrols.
 Impactsloadtime as it has itsownruntime
 Doesnot supportsharingof codesoutside Xamarinenvironmentfornative orHTML5
development

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Thisis justa backgroundanalysisof the technical andbusinessdifferencesbetweenPhoneGap,Titanium
and Xamarinwhichclearlysays – there isno perfectworld.The selectionstill dependsonthe purpose,
scope and resource availability.
Plugins supported for all platforms
http://docs.phonegap.com/plugin-apis/
Telerik plugins
http://plugins.telerik.com/cordova
Cordova plugins
https://cordova.apache.org/plugins/?platforms=cordova-android%2Ccordova-ios%2Ccordova-browser
Demo
http://phonegap.com/
Command Line tool from PhoneGap
http://docs.phonegap.com/references/phonegap-cli/
Resources:
http://www.cygnet-infotech.com/blog/phonegap-or-titanium-or-xamarin-which-cross-platform-should-
you-choose
http://blah.winsmarts.com/2014-2-HTML5_vs_PhoneGap_vs__Xamarin_vs_Native.aspx
http://devgirl.org/2014/04/09/phonegapcordova-cli-adding-plugins/
Visual studio tools for Apache Cordova/PhoneGap
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/features/cordova-vs.aspx
Create firstmobile appinvisual studio
https://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/get-started-first-mobile-app/
Manage pluginsforappsbuiltwithVisual Studio
https://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/manage-plugins/

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