Now that WebOS died, which is the best development crossplatform for iOS, Android, RIM and WP7?

Yes, the excellent WebOS is defunct, and it will never be the mainstream player as, at least technically, it deserved. For all of us developing for the mobile world that don’t have the time or budget to develop natively in all the mainstream platforms, its one less player to target. Myself, personally, am deciding/evaluating available options for true cross-platform development targeting iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.

My requirements are:

  • Native UI components must be used – maintaining the native look and feel for each platform is important (PhoneGap is out of the picture because of this);
  • The same code base (or at least most of it) must be used in all platforms;
  • The UI must scale well between Phone and Tablet formats and screen densities (DPI);
  • The application must perform smoothly, speedwise, even in lower end devices;
  • Some access to the device’s hardware: GPS, sensors, camera.

I have found some platforms so far:

  • Titanium Mobile: this is my current number one, but i don’t think Windows Phone 7 will be supported. Plus, the Android implementation is a bit clumsy: the JavaScript core is not interpreted by the OS, so a java JS interpreter is included- this makes the application big and slow. In iOS this problem does not exist, as the system’s javascript interpreter is used. On the plus side, native UI components are supported and a very nice, Eclipse based, IDE is provided;
  • PhoneGap: this one also uses JavaScript, but is completely HTML/JS based: the application runs inside a WebView, and has no bindings to native UI components, it relies on third-party JS libraries to build the UI, such as Sencha Touch or jQuery Mobile. It’s a browser on steroids basically, and doesn’t float my boat.
  • RhoMobile: haven’t tested or reviewed this one yet, opinions anyone?

So, i need your opinion about these or other development tools: are they any good? Have you used them in a project? Comment below.


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6 responses to “Now that WebOS died, which is the best development crossplatform for iOS, Android, RIM and WP7?”

  1.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Disqus was offline until right now! #$%#$%! Apparently, it is working fine again. Add your comments below: what is the best mobile cross-platform… platform?

  2. Adam Blum Avatar

    I think you mean Windows Phone 7, which is actually a distinct operating system from Windows Mobile entirely.  FWIW Rhomobile Rhodes (http://rhomobile.com/products/rhodes) is the only crossplatform framework to support Windows Mobile.  More importantly Rhodes is the only framework with:
    – support for the Model View Controller pattern
    – sync (synchronized data for offline and disconnected use, important for most enterprise scenarios)
    – industrial capabilities such as NFC, realtime barcode, signature capture
    – an Object Relational Manager to insulate you from writing SQL for data intensive apps
    – an app generator

    1. Manuel Gomes Avatar
      Manuel Gomes

      What about native UI?

      1. Tony Lukasavage Avatar

        Appcelerator is the only solution available that delivers native UI.

        1. Manuel Gomes Avatar
          Manuel Gomes

          That’s too bad… the android implementation is not as good as it could be, and i suspect Blackberry is not any better… but that’s the decision i have to make. Anyone knows if Windows Phone7 is will be supported by Appcelerator in the future?

    2. Manuel Gomes Avatar
      Manuel Gomes

      And, yes, you’re right, i meant Windows Phone, not Windows Mobile…

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