Rhomobile vs. Phonegap considerations
I'm debating between Phonegap and RhoMobile for cross platform mobile application development. I'm a web developer with experience in Ruby as well as the traditional web technologies (HTML, CSS, and Javascript). The backend of this application will be accessed via a web browser and built with Rails. What are my chief concerns when choosing between these platforms? Which would you recommend I go with and WHY?
Thank you
Answer
Personally, I'd recommend PhoneGap because (at the time of this writing) PhoneGap has a website dedicated to it's development while Rhodes does not, and support for PhoneGap (Documentation, community, etc) is more readily available. Both frameworks can do just about the same thing by providing your phone's Web View with HTML tied to native features with JavaScript APIs. In terms of performance, they are identical because the only indicators of performance are the capabilities of your phone's web view. Plus, PhoneGap's branding is stylish and modern.
Comparing with Adam Blum's answer point by point:
- No one is stopping you from implementing a Model View Controller arrangement of your code in PhoneGap.
- No one is preventing you from using an Object Relation Mapper (or similar) with PhoneGap. Try googling for "backbonejs" or "angularjs".
- PhoneGap has an app generator called "Build" to publish apps to all platforms easily, which is free for open source apps and up to one proprietary app, $9.99/mo for up to 25 commercial apps. http://build.phonegap.com
- PhoneGap supports a large number of devices, including Windows Mobile. http://phonegap.com/about/feature
- PhoneGap has a plugin for Near Field Communication (NFC) that works on Android. iPhone 5 doesn't even have NFC. http://phonegap.com/2011/09/26/building-an-nfc-enabled-android-application-with-phonegap/ This will get you started with barcode scanning in PhoneGap: Phonegap Barcode Scanner
- No IDE for PhoneGap. You'll have to use PhoneGap Build or use platform-dependent IDEs to test apps.