Question

I am currently working on an application using Cordova PhoneGap.

I am now concerned about the expandability of my app in the future. What are the limitations of PhoneGap for iOS and Android projects?

I did see this list: http://phonegap.com/about/feature , about all the hardware/physical functions, but what about the code based functions?

Is there anything that I can write in HTML/CSS/Javascript that PhoneGap will not be able to handle?

and in general,

Are there any significant iOS/Android features that PhoneGap notoriously cannot achieve?

In addition, as a little side question, can PhoneGap handle Audio Input/Output for iOS or Android? (an important feature for the project)

Answer 1

As for the first part of your question, Phonegap should be able to handle all HTML/CSS/JS

https://stackoverflow.com/a/11422251/1618363

PhoneGap achieves platform compatibility by embedding a webview within your application. Therefore you can apply your knowledge in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and it additionally provides ways to interact with native features (e.g. camera, gps, …).

With PhoneGap you write one general web app, tweak parts for the specific platform (sometimes you do not have to this at all) and build it for that platform. The latter can be handled with PhoneGap Build service: It takes your webapp and bundles it for the mobile operating systems out there (Embeds it within a Java app on Android, an Objective-C app on iOs)

PhoneGap is able to communicate with a server hosting a PHP script just as every other web application. Trying to dynamically load resources from remote sites can be quite a hassle but this is another question.

Part 2

Phonegap is limited in it’s functionality and would be slower than writing in native code, where it shines is that it can be used cross platform. You would be able to create interfaces and write forms and work with databases but if you want to create a game or an app that requires features that are beyond a web app you will be better suited writing a native code application.

Part 3 – A little side question

Phonegap (Cordova) can handle audio for both iOS and Android. Have a look at : http://docs.phonegap.com/en/1.0.0/phonegap_media_media.md.html#Media

I hope this helps 🙂 let me know how it goes. Personally I find native code much better to program in but that’s just a preference.