Native application or web application

Having an android device, makes sense mainly if you have Internet access all the time. So if we can suppose everyone access the net, it is obvious to think, that a mobile optimized site/web application can be used instead of a native application. As I see the main advantage of a web based solution is platform independence, the same code can run on on any mobile phone . I'd like to make an overview of the possibilities, and defects of a web based solution.

Possibilities:

It has been a while since is possible to create complex html and JavaScript based web applications for PC browsers. You can check out for example the YUI Library which helps building a rich user interface for such web applications.
The present smartphone browsers are capable of running these, they have enough brandwith, screen resolution, processor capacity!

If you want the web app to be present among other installed native applications you can compile a simple apk with a webview, to hardcodedly display the proper webpage. This way you can be present on the android market too.

Deflects:

The possibilities are promising, but the browser based solution has a lot of serious deflects, for example you can not:
- vibrate the phone
- use GPS
- use local database
- access accelometer
- access camera...

And there are even more device specific features, like notifications on android that can not be accessed from a browser.

Of course the application won't be usable in offline mode, and even online the browsers don't do such a delicate caching like you can implement in a native app, so it can affect speed.

Solutions:

HTML5 is one of the promising coming solution for most general problems. For example the HTML5 specification contains:
- database handling
- GPS using
- delicate cache control
- 2d and 3d graphic acceleration...

Unfortunately we have to wait a little more for this, the current browsers have not enough HTML5 support, to start to relay on them right now.

Check out your browsers HTML5 compatibility level here.

The other thing, helping the developers, are projects like PhoneGap. This project offers access from JavaScript to device specific possibilities, supporting many platforms.

Summary:

Even now, we often can see applications which somewhere solves some part of the functionality using a webview, because thats the best way. In the future, as web will continue to develop, and will be used more in smartphone development too.

Check out www.dialaphone.co.uk today and see what packages are available on the top new mobile phones.