5 ms·

Most of the argument should be native apps versus browser based apps and history really has answered this for us even though we are talking about a different cl

Most of the argument should be native apps versus browser based apps and history really has answered this for us even though we are talking about a different client in the form of a smartphone.

rsandhu 16y ago
Right, but the desktop web apps typically did not require any access to hardware devices such as the webcam. If they did, Flash solved that problem and we all know what direction that model is heading into. Mobile apps are interesting because of the access to GPS, camera, accelerometer etc. Until all hardware is accessible through HTML5 providing an excellent UX, the app trend will continue in my view.
- stevenwei 16y ago
  Not to mention the performance penalty you'll pay by trying to process that data (camera images, video feeds, accelerometer data) in Javascript. Some types of apps might work okay as a mobile web app (Facebook comes to mind), but there are definitely many native apps that simply aren't feasible to do in HTML5. Can you imagine Word Lens being implemented as a web app? Yeah, I didn't think so.
  - Getahobby 16y ago
    That is pretty much why I said "most". There are some legitimate native apps out there. You named one.
  - code_duck 16y ago
    Of course I can imagine Word Lens being implemented as a web app. Perhaps not at this moment, but within 5 years? And what about technologies like NaCl? It is shortsighted to take such a view of applications that exist within a browser.
    - dusing 16y ago
      And in 5 years where will native apps be?
      - 6ren 16y ago
        Yes, they'll be even faster; but the question is whether that performance will still be in demand in 5 years (over, time-to-market, say). Native apps haven't been in demand on the desktop for a while, and smartphones are getting faster all the time. It seems that will be dual core, 1 GHz this year. How long before performance becomes a non-issue?
        benologist 16y ago
        Quad core this year. Saw it on Mashable the other week.
        6ren 16y ago
        http://mashable.com/2011/02/14/qualcomm-snapdragon-2011/# http://mashable.com/2011/02/14/qualcomm-snapdragon-2011/# Quad core is inevitable, it's just a question of when. They say 2012 for the chips in that article; but not when for devices using it. Dual core devices are scheduled early this year. They also mention 2.5GHz - the big issue is power usage. I guess you you can turn off 3, and underclock when not needed.
    - rsandhu 16y ago
      In 5 years? Well that is an eternity in the mobile space and you are probably right, there is likely going to be a shift to a standard approach to app (web or native) development. What if a virtual machine such as the JVM existed for both Android and iOS was standard/consistent enough to write cross platform apps? This topic is very popular amongst hackers lately. I find the web developers in particular resist the native app trend, to avoid Objective-C (iOS) and Java (Android). Typical web developer lives in Javascript and a chosen high level language (Ruby, Python) on the server side.
laf2019 16y ago
I think there is also a veil of saftey / easiness through using native apps through an app store for the lay user. It is purchased through apple and is physically on your phone and has a nice little icon on your background. It is "apple approved" so it is safe. You don't have to go through safari to some random site. I think phonegap was trying to solve this by wrapping websites within their framework but I don't know how much traction they have gotten.

Most of the argument should be native apps versus browser based apps and history really has answered this for us even though we are talking about a different client in the form of a smartphone.

rsandhu 16y ago

Right, but the desktop web apps typically did not require any access to hardware devices such as the webcam. If they did, Flash solved that problem and we all know what direction that model is heading into. Mobile apps are interesting because of the access to GPS, camera, accelerometer etc. Until all hardware is accessible through HTML5 providing an excellent UX, the app trend will continue in my view.

stevenwei 16y ago
Not to mention the performance penalty you'll pay by trying to process that data (camera images, video feeds, accelerometer data) in Javascript. Some types of apps might work okay as a mobile web app (Facebook comes to mind), but there are definitely many native apps that simply aren't feasible to do in HTML5. Can you imagine Word Lens being implemented as a web app? Yeah, I didn't think so.
- Getahobby 16y ago
  That is pretty much why I said "most". There are some legitimate native apps out there. You named one.
- code_duck 16y ago
  Of course I can imagine Word Lens being implemented as a web app. Perhaps not at this moment, but within 5 years? And what about technologies like NaCl? It is shortsighted to take such a view of applications that exist within a browser.
  - dusing 16y ago
    And in 5 years where will native apps be?
    - 6ren 16y ago
      Yes, they'll be even faster; but the question is whether that performance will still be in demand in 5 years (over, time-to-market, say). Native apps haven't been in demand on the desktop for a while, and smartphones are getting faster all the time. It seems that will be dual core, 1 GHz this year. How long before performance becomes a non-issue?
      - benologist 16y ago
        Quad core this year. Saw it on Mashable the other week.
        6ren 16y ago
        http://mashable.com/2011/02/14/qualcomm-snapdragon-2011/# http://mashable.com/2011/02/14/qualcomm-snapdragon-2011/# Quad core is inevitable, it's just a question of when. They say 2012 for the chips in that article; but not when for devices using it. Dual core devices are scheduled early this year. They also mention 2.5GHz - the big issue is power usage. I guess you you can turn off 3, and underclock when not needed.
  - rsandhu 16y ago
    In 5 years? Well that is an eternity in the mobile space and you are probably right, there is likely going to be a shift to a standard approach to app (web or native) development. What if a virtual machine such as the JVM existed for both Android and iOS was standard/consistent enough to write cross platform apps? This topic is very popular amongst hackers lately. I find the web developers in particular resist the native app trend, to avoid Objective-C (iOS) and Java (Android). Typical web developer lives in Javascript and a chosen high level language (Ruby, Python) on the server side.

laf2019 16y ago

I think there is also a veil of saftey / easiness through using native apps through an app store for the lay user. It is purchased through apple and is physically on your phone and has a nice little icon on your background. It is "apple approved" so it is safe. You don't have to go through safari to some random site. I think phonegap was trying to solve this by wrapping websites within their framework but I don't know how much traction they have gotten.