Authors Response: "However, I quite happy to write my apps once in HTML5, knowing that there will be some issues" If those issues ruin the user experience, I

Authors Response: "However, I quite happy to write my apps once in HTML5, knowing that there will be some issues" If those issues ruin the user experience, I wouldn't be happy. Laggin app on a powerful device with very few other things running is such an issue which often happens on HTML5 apps and if you go to a less powerful device it becomes worse. Not sure what you were looking at but Foursquare looks like all other native apps on both iPhone and Android, so your example does not stand. The idea is to build apps that use familiar controls and UI patterns. This helps new users find their way around quickly with almost no learning curve.