Native vs. Hybrid
We think end-users and some of developers confused about native, hybrid and web apps (mostly known HTML5 apps). That’s why we’re trying to explain you these environments development and usage differences and some commons.
Let’s start with a few words about what types of apps are they:
Native apps; are specific to a given mobile platform using the development tools and language that the respective platform supports. Xcode IDE and Objective-C language for iOS, Eclipse IDE and Java language for Android. Visual Studio IDE and C# language for Windows Phone. Native apps looks like as users get used to, fluid and performs well.
Hybrid apps; make it possible to embed HTML5 apps inside a thin native container, combining the best (and worst) elements of native and HTML5 apps.
HTML5 apps; use standard web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. This write-once-run-anywhere approach to mobile development creates cross-platform mobile applications that work on multiple devices. While developers can create sophisticated apps with HTML5 and JavaScript alone.
Hybrid Apps
Pros+
Quicker development, especially if you’re a longtime web developer.
One language can be used on every available platform. This, of course, requires a Phonegap wrapper. You don’t need to learn Objective-C, Java, or C# to do any development. You need only to understand the basics of the Phonegap implementation. You will need to give attention to above-mentioned languages a bit but you don’t need to know all of them exactly. Also Phonegap offers some native capabilities for iOS and Android native components.
Lower budget costs and a big community support.
A hybrid app offers many of the advantages of both approaches access to the most common device APIs, and broad device coverage while not requiring the specialized skills, bigger budgets and longer time to market that are more typical of fully native apps.
Con-
It takes lots of time to learn platform, literally and metaphorically.
Mobile phones (even today’s tablets) are not fast enough to smoothly run a hybrid apps, needs more power. Android platform is very hard for developers for many reasons. Page transitions don’t work smoothly not to mention lacking CSS/CSS3 implementation. If you think native Android 2.X and 4.X have differences. iOS fares better but still has a lacking CSS3 implementation and much better page transitions.
You will spend much more time fixing the app then building it. Creating an app for each and every platform is a pain in the neck. Browsers on different platforms do not uniformly support all the latest HTML features and APIs, which can make developing and testing a challenge. If you don’t have a good designer, don’t even try to build an app; looks are everything.
If you don’t know what are you doing there’s a good chance your app will not get permission for Apple app store. Even Google Play Store will ban your app if they discover a 3rd party Phonegap PayPal plugin.
Security will be a big issue for web apps. Mostly opens for hack attacks and this will be a big trouble when you need secure apps.
Different type of engine customizations for web apps will result on segmentation problems. Some customer needs match with your development engine but some not and that’s why it’s hard to configure needs and solutions.
Native Apps
Pros+
A native mobile app can produce the best user experience — fast and fluid, can give you the best access to device features, and can be discovered in the app stores.
Without a doubt, native apps have full access to the underlying mobile platform. Native apps are usually very fast and polished, making them great for high performance apps or games. This is more than enough.
Con-
Bigger budget. You will need at least a person/s with Java and Objective-C knowledge. Java may be comes easier than Objective-C but Objective-C is a world of its own. It has a rather uncommon syntax.
It might take you a longer period of time to develop all of them and time is money. This depends on the complexity of the apps.
Native |
Hybrid |
HTML5 |
|
| App Features | |||
| Graphics API | Native | Complicated | Complicated |
| Look, Feel, Sense, UX | Native xml | xml Interpreter | Web or native make up |
| Performance | Fastest | Fast enough | Kindly slow |
| Device Sensors | Yes | Depends on tech | Depends on tech |
| Offline Storage | Device storage | Limited device storage and shared web storage | Limited device storage and shared web storage |
| Connectivity | Online and offline usage | Online and offline usage | Mostly online usage |
| Development Environment | Objective-C, Java, C#, JS (Smartface) | HTML5/JS/CSS | HTML5/JS/CSS |
| Security | Most secure | Depends on tech. Mostly secure | Opens for attacks |
| Device Specific Features | Yes | Depends on tech | Depends on tech |
