Are there any pros to using PCL profile 158 over 78 for Xamarin and MvvmCross?

Question

I am working on a cross-platform Xamarin app targeting iOS and Android, using Stuart Lodge's excellent MvvmCross framework.

Microsoft recently released new versions of their Portable Class Library BCL packages, and Stuart describes how to setup a project with these in http://slodge.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/quick-run-through-using-pcls-in.html.

When using PCL profile 158, one has to add the BCL async package and do some tweaking in order to make the iOS project work.

When using PCL profile 78, this seems to work automatically, with no need for the BCL packages.

Why would one use profile 158 over profile 78?

Answer 1

Profile158 supports more platforms. Specifically it can run on Silverlight 5, where as Profile78 can't. Also, Profile158 uses the "older" reflection APIs, so if you have existing code which uses reflection it's likely to be easier to port to Profile158.

All else being equal though, I'd recommend using Profile78 unless you have a reason not to. It should work on Xamarin, if not then report it as a bug. :)