Mobile Applications are split into two broad categories:
Web-Based: These types of applications are accessed using browsers in mobile devices. The mobile development interface uses a collection of templates based on the jQuery Mobile framework. This framework is designed to seamlessly run and correctly deliver mobile web application on varied mobile devices with different operating systems. Because of a single codebase, a mobile web application can be accessed from any mobile device, irrespective of operating system. The process of accessing such applications is very simple. All that is needed is to have the correct URL, that you put into the mobile browser, and respective id with password. The application code is not stored on the device but is delivered by the application server. This way you can easily handle application updates. You only need to update the application on the server, allowing potentially thousands of users to enjoy the latest version. The second advantage to this approach is that you are not required to send updates to every client (as required in native applications), which ensures that the accessed application is current with all provided features. Oracle Corporation provides a simple free tool called Application Express (APEX) with its database that allows you to rapidly build web application that can be accessed on the desktop, a mobile device, or both. To build a mobile application in APEX, you use SQL and PL/SQL code. Here are some pros and cons to web-based applications:
Pros:
- Updates are uploaded only to the application server and become instantly available for all platforms and devices.
- Same application code for all browser-enabled mobile device.
- Use of same application building procedures and core web technologies.
- Doesn’t need app store approval.
Cons:
- To access these applications you need a reasonable Internet connection.
- Slower than native applications because these applications are based on interpreted code rather than compiled code.
- Not available in the app stores.
- Cannot interact with device hardware such as camera, microphone, compass, file uploading etc.
Native (On-Device): These applications are on the other side and are built for specific mobile operating system, such as Windows Mobile, Android, iOS, or BlackBerry. Native mobile applications are written for a specific target operating system in its own supported language. For instance, to develop an application for Windows device, you’ll use C# (C Sharp), for iOS devices it is Objective-C, and for Android, you need to be a master of Java. This means that your app is tied to a specific platform and won’t run on another. Native applications are downloaded and stored locally on the device. Because of this capability, these applications are considered better performers. Additionally, these applications have the biggest advantage to interact with different device hardware (camera, compass, accelerometer, and more). Using a local data store (SQL Lite), these applications can even work when disconnected from the Internet. As a developer you have to handle version discrepancies because updates of these applications are downloaded manually. Let’s see what pros and cons this category has:
Pros:
- Being native, it performs better than its counterpart.
- Offline availability.
- Complete access to device’s hardware.
- Can be added to and searched in an app store.
Cons:
- Expensive to develop.
- Single platform support. Need to build a separate app for a different OS, which means additional time and cost.
- To get space on the device’s app store, your app is required to undergo an approval process.