MonoDroid VS Java in android development?

Question

I know C# rather well and just love Visual Studio as IDE. :) Yet now I want to start developing for android...

I found out about MonoDroid and wanted to ask if it has any downsides to it that would make Java more preferable, or should I uninstall Eclipse and dive straight into MonoDroid?

If I understand right, MonoDroid deploys/compiles native android applications and does not need any additional .net-like framework or anything?

Are there any significant limitations to what I can do with MonoDroid? For example, having the app run in the background or using some external .net libraries for image editing, etc. ?

Answer 1

I've been worrying about the same thing - productivity in C# instead of playing with an unfamiliar language, vs developing how the OS developers intended it to be.

Its easy to list pros vs cons -

pros (of monodroid, for C# developers)

• familiar dev environment, can develop using Visual Studio
• C# instead of Java
• Reusable code assets - you can use a lot of code in your iphone project or Windows phone 7 project using monotouch and the WP7 SDK.

cons -

• debugging could be difficult, due to lack of api documentation from Google. Will have to depend solely on monodroid documentation.
• there could be a lag when it comes to latest cutting edge features - safe to assume that the monodroid team will require some time to wrap around the latest android features every time there is a new OS release
• availability of libraries - I am not sure how you can use the open source libraries that would have evolved around the android platform, that could cut down on development time