Native mobile app dev vs. HTML5: Why not both?

The ongoing debate over how to best get applications onto mobile devices — either through native deployments or writing a mobile Web application — is going to remain a front-burner question for developers to ponder, given the pros and cons of both, developers say.

Developers see benefits to both approaches, as well as to hybrid applications that mix the two. Some application builders are using dev tools like Appcelerator Titanium, which compiles Web-based mechanisms like JavaScript to native code. Web-based, or HTML5, development provides a quick way to get some applications to multiple devices, developers say. But native development, such as with Objective-C for Apple iOS and Java for Google’s Android devices, offers access to the full breadth of a particular device’s capabilities, which is often worth the cost of having to develop the code (though not the underlying logic) independently for separate platforms.

The native experience is second to none

“The Web and HTML5 have come a long way, but they have not gotten to the native experience — the UI, the multitouch, what users expect from an application — yet,” says Jesse Newcomer, mobile development manager at Homes.com.

Freelance developer Ketan Majmudar finds problems with the offline nature of mobile Web applications compared to native applications — applications either have to talk to an online Web service to pull down data or need a data store bundled with them. “HTML5 as a technology is not mature enough yet. It’s nearly there, but there’s a lot of hoops you have to jump though,” such as with data downloading, he says. Native applications, meanwhile, can have data stored in a bundle when an app is downloaded. “The majority of your data is in place.”

“Native development will never go away. Objective-C developers will always be required,” Majmudar says. Adds developer Paul Nelson, a systems engineer and Web developer at logistics services company Morgan Supply on Demand: “I notice speed and the ability to control memory more when you do native.” He says Facebook made a “huge mistake” in creating an HTML5 application for iOS (an effort that did not succeed). “They have the money and the resources to make a native app.”

Plus, native development sometimes is just necessary to access certain features, such as the Siri voice-command capability in iOS, says Jonnie Spratley, director of product design at mobile experience provider AppMatrix. “There will always be a need just because of certain features,” Spratley says.

HTML5 and hybrid approaches take hold

Although developers concur on the strengths of native development, they can’t overlook the easy option of Web development or hybrid development. “It’s a spectrum — not a binary — choice,” says Kyle Simpson, a JavaScript architect at Getify Solutions. “The spectrum of how much native you embrace versus how much Web you embrace is very different, depending on the company.”

Recompilation technologies like Adobe PhoneGap and Appcelelerator Titanium let developers leverage Web development efforts on mobile platforms, Simpson notes. But well-liked tools like Titanium aren’t perfect. “Titanium does have its quirks that you have to work through,” such as to get UI pieces to work well, Homes.com’s Newcomer says.

AppMatrix’s Spratley says he is not fully comfortable with Titanium’s conversion of JavaScript to native code because input is different than output, which can make for difficult debugging. Says Simpson, “It’s not without its shortcomings, but it does help us get more applications out faster [and is] easier to maintain all of our applications.”

At e-commerce site CNV.com, HTML5 development was the obvious solution. “Because we are an e-commerce platform, there’s back and forth to deal with, and security when you handle credit cards,” says CNV.com developer Daniel Lashua. “We thought the most-secure solution would be something Web-based, so all that information is based on our servers. We don’t have to deal with distributing an app to multiple handsets or deal with security on each handset.” But CNV.com used Appcelerator to access native device features, rather than deliver a pure HTML5 app.

At the Placer County (Calif.) Water Agency, the HTML5 option simply makes it easier to get software to multiple devices, especially because the popular smartphone of choice keeps shifting, says Bryan Heath, an information systems analyst and developer for the agency. Having to use API toolsets for Android and iOS “doesn’t sound like much fun,” he says.

Web deployment is not without its drawbacks, however, Lashua says: “Users don’t always get the experience they want.” For example, it is a little more difficult to have a single icon to launch the company’s website, and the HTML5 application cannot be used offline. But an e-commerce application like CNV.com’s would not be useful offline anyway, he notes.

HTML5 development set to keep catching on

Although there will always be developers who adhere to the native paradigm for all or some of their development, the HTML5 and JavaScript combination are too enticing to ignore. “Native should be best, but [it involves] too much cost and too much time,” says Kazauki Konno, vice president at Quad Elements. Performance of native applications is of course very good, but tools like Titanium also create fast recompiled applications, he says.

HTML5 development clearly opens up mobile devices to the multitude of JavaScript developers, even if the die-hard native developers have an edge in which functionality they can access on specific tablets and smartphones. Enterprises and commercial software developers will continue weighing which option best serves their needs — and you can expect most will pick both options, or a hybrd approach.

Why? Because the it turns out the question is not whether you should go native or HTML, but when.

This story, “Native mobile app dev vs. HTML 5: Why not both?,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.