Rhomobile vs. Phonegap considerations [closed]

Question

I'm debating between Phonegap and RhoMobile for cross platform mobile application development. I'm a web developer with experience in Ruby as well as the traditional web technologies (HTML, CSS, and Javascript). The backend of this application will be accessed via a web browser and built with Rails. What are my chief concerns when choosing between these platforms? Which would you recommend I go with and WHY?

Thank you

Answer 1

Personally, I'd recommend PhoneGap because (at the time of this writing) PhoneGap has a website dedicated to it's development while Rhodes does not, and support for PhoneGap (Documentation, community, etc) is more readily available. Both frameworks can do just about the same thing by providing your phone's Web View with HTML tied to native features with JavaScript APIs. In terms of performance, they are identical because the only indicators of performance are the capabilities of your phone's web view. Plus, PhoneGap's branding is stylish and modern.

Comparing with Adam Blum's answer point by point:

• No one is stopping you from implementing a Model View Controller arrangement of your code in PhoneGap.
• No one is preventing you from using an Object Relation Mapper (or similar) with PhoneGap. Try googling for "backbonejs" or "angularjs".
• PhoneGap has an app generator called "Build" to publish apps to all platforms easily, which is free for open source apps and up to one proprietary app, $9.99/mo for up to 25 commercial apps. http://build.phonegap.com
• PhoneGap supports a large number of devices, including Windows Mobile. http://phonegap.com/about/feature
• PhoneGap has a plugin for Near Field Communication (NFC) that works on Android. iPhone 5 doesn't even have NFC. http://phonegap.com/2011/09/26/building-an-nfc-enabled-android-application-with-phonegap/ This will get you started with barcode scanning in PhoneGap: Phonegap Barcode Scanner
• No IDE for PhoneGap. You'll have to use PhoneGap Build or use platform-dependent IDEs to test apps.

Answer 2

I will just add that these are the major differentiators of Rhodes versus PhoneGap (or Titanium):

• Rhodes is the only framework with support for a MVC (Model View Controller) pattern
• Rhodes is the only framework with both synchronization and an Object Relational Manager, making it ideal for data intensive applications
• Rhodes is the only framework with an app generator
• Rhodes has broader OS support (including the only one with support for Windows Mobile)
• Rhodes supports more device capabilities. It is the only framework with Near Field Communications support, realtime hardware-based barcode scanning and signature capture
• Rhodes has true full IDE with an integrated debugger and a device independent simulator (something PhoneGap does not)

If you go to the google group, I think you will see that few bugs are reported there. But make your own judgement after reading the content and executing the RhoStudio tutorial (which should take less than an hour of investment). Also regression testing is executed continuously on all Rhodes checkins.

If you judge the framework by the ability to create a native app with HTML and make some device calls, PhoneGap and Rhodes are both pretty much the same. And both have few issues with bugs, as this low bar is fairly simple.

The differentiators listed above (which I summary as "modern development techniques for information intensive apps") have an inherent complexity to them. With the help of the community and a large dedicated QA staff from our new owner Motorola, these differentiator features are all now quite mature, and do not exist in other products.

Answer 3

Really just my two cents, I tried both (and also Adobe Flex, Corona SDK, etc), and I prefer PhoneGap, similar to @Stephan Branczyk, I had quality issues with Rhodes.

Answer 4

I have also observed that Phonegap applications tend to be slow on Android while Rhodes apps work fine on pretty much all platforms. Also, Rhodes supports Symbian S40 as well, something which Phonegap lacks for now. Although the support for S40 might not be required for modern apps but still if you consider the enterprise scenario then this might be a possible usecase.