4 ms·

I think we've lost focus here. Web pages as apps are silly, but there are just things you can't do from a web page on a mobile phone, like interface with the c

I think we've lost focus here. Web pages as apps are silly, but there are just things you can't do from a web page on a mobile phone, like interface with the camera, GPS, compass, local caching, etc... That's where apps come in (or should).

jlongster 15y ago
The only reason you can't do that from the web is because nobody's build the APIs yet. You can certainly do it from the web once they are available, and they are about to be: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI
politician 15y ago
PhoneGap exposes those features to JavaScript through Device APIs.
- Spearchucker 15y ago
  Lol, was about to mention PhoneGap.
rmc 15y ago
you can't do from a web page on a mobile phone, like interface with the camera Not yet. GPS Geolocation: http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html compass Slightly related, gyroscopes & device orientation http://slides.html5rocks.com/#slide-orientation http://slides.html5rocks.com/#slide-orientation local caching Loads of ways to locally cache things: http://slides.html5rocks.com/#offline-storage-title http://slides.html5rocks.com/#offline-storage-title 2½ out of 4. Not bad
billions 15y ago
A Qualcomm tech showed me a picture taken from the web browser in android. Said should be out in a year
arethuza 15y ago
You can use an application to enable web apps to get access to images from the iPhone camera: http://picupapp.com/ http://picupapp.com/
IanDrake 15y ago
These are all excellent points. I'm sure we'll get there, but there's going to be major differences in browser compatibility for a long time (3+ years, I think). I've been using PhoneGap for a while now. It'd be really cool if similar API's were available without the native wrapper. BTW, the browser caching link is helpful, but I experienced some limitations with what's currently available... http://zikkir.net/tech/102558 http://zikkir.net/tech/102558

jlongster 15y ago

The only reason you can't do that from the web is because nobody's build the APIs yet. You can certainly do it from the web once they are available, and they are about to be: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebAPI

politician 15y ago

PhoneGap exposes those features to JavaScript through Device APIs.

Spearchucker 15y ago
Lol, was about to mention PhoneGap.

rmc 15y ago

you can't do from a web page on a mobile phone, like interface with the camera Not yet. GPS Geolocation: http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html compass Slightly related, gyroscopes & device orientation http://slides.html5rocks.com/#slide-orientation http://slides.html5rocks.com/#slide-orientation local caching Loads of ways to locally cache things: http://slides.html5rocks.com/#offline-storage-title http://slides.html5rocks.com/#offline-storage-title 2½ out of 4. Not bad

billions 15y ago

A Qualcomm tech showed me a picture taken from the web browser in android. Said should be out in a year

arethuza 15y ago

You can use an application to enable web apps to get access to images from the iPhone camera: http://picupapp.com/ http://picupapp.com/

IanDrake 15y ago

These are all excellent points. I'm sure we'll get there, but there's going to be major differences in browser compatibility for a long time (3+ years, I think). I've been using PhoneGap for a while now. It'd be really cool if similar API's were available without the native wrapper. BTW, the browser caching link is helpful, but I experienced some limitations with what's currently available... http://zikkir.net/tech/102558 http://zikkir.net/tech/102558