Question

We know that in monotouch we have 2 solution for developing a project for both iPhone and iPads.

First is using Montouch iPad Application projects for iPad, and Monotouch iPhone Application projects for iPhone and create two separate project for each of them.

Another solution is using one Universal Projects for both o them.

The question is: what solution is better and with witch one the result has more quality?

Answer 1

Pros and cons of Universal app.

Pros:

• One place to fix bugs in app’s business logic;
• Convenient to users (after install on one device it could be automatically installed on other device);
• Marketing costs could be half as much;

Cons:

• It could be too many if -blocks, which are checks for UIDevice.CurrentDevice.UserInterfaceIdiom;
• Bigger app size;
• Some of the features (mostly in games) do not fit well on iPhone’s display.
• If you used XIB-based interfaces, you must make separated XIB for iPad OR update XIB content layout in UIViewController’s ViewWillAppear event (in which iOS updates View frame according to display size);
• If your app is not free, you couldn’t release “HD version” with bigger price.

Basically, universal app is better for users, but harder for developers and designers.