DISIM | University of L’Aquila

Ivano Malavolta

These mobile apps will let you totally rethink

hybrid app development

Introduction

How many times have you heard claims like these?

PhoneGap apps are slow...

Native apps are more beautiful than web apps...

Hybrid apps are simply web sites distributed in the app stores...

Native apps are better than hybrid apps: they can save data, they can manage files, etc.

etc.

Introduction

10 REAL EXAMPLES

OF HYBRID APPLICATIONS

IN THE APP STORES

In this presentation I will try to rebalance those (mis)-beliefs by showing

REAL EXAMPLES

NOW

Frascati Scienza

QR code scanning

In-app RSS feed reader

Maps

Non-linear layouts

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/frascati-scienza-scienziati/id686974321?mt=8

Lancia Y

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/lancia-ypsilon/id433904305?mt=8

360° rotation with zoom

panoramic, first-person views of interiors with accelerometer

smooth flippable chapters

Feedly News Reader

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/feedly-your-google-reader/id396069556?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devhd.feedly&hl=it

swipable menus for options, saved articles and search

swipe-based navigation among articles

Khan Academy

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/khan-academy/id469863705?mt=8

fast search with auto-complete

video support with bookmarks and automatic sync between text and video stream

Rormix

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rormix-discover-emerging-music/id700740840?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rormix

In-line video playing

Search with suggestions

Styled menus

Evernote

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/evernote/id281796108?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rormix

Contents visualization with animations

Text editor with attachments and images markup

Amazon

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/amazon-mobile/id335187483?mt=8

Full e-commerce features

native-like dynamic tooltips

Linkedin

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/linkedin/id288429040?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linkedin.android

Scrollable upper menu with smooth navigation

All the features of the official LinkedIn platform available

Musixmatch

https://itunes.apple.com/it/app/musixmatch-lyrics-player/id448278467?mt=8

Audio recording

Sync between played song and its lyrics

POP

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pop-prototyping-on-paper/id555647796?mt=8

Draw on canvas + dynamic events "Classical" side menu Sharing via social networks

and email

Conclusion

Those apps are really good, but in my experience I also saw A LOT of poorly developed apps

Main traits (of failure):

• no separation of concerns, no architectural reasoning

• no reasoning about performance (many many many DOM reflows and queries)

• Javascript code can have memory issues too

+ 39 380 70 21 600 Contact Ivano Malavolta | DISIM

iivanoo

ivano.malavolta@univaq.it

www.ivanomalavolta.com