This document summarizes the differences between Adobe PhoneGap and Apache Cordova. Both PhoneGap and Cordova allow developers to build hybrid mobile apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. While PhoneGap and Cordova provide the same core APIs, there are some differences in commands, default configuration files, and available versions. Overall, PhoneGap and Cordova result in apps with the same capabilities, but Cordova provides more flexibility in customizing native code.

1. Adobe PhoneGap
&
Apache Cordova
MASAHIRO TANAKA
FOUNDER & CEO, MONACA
Tales Of JavaScript Meetup, July 1 2014

2. Who am I?
Masahiro Tanaka
Founder & CEO, Monaca
Twitter: @massie
E-mail: masahiro@asial.co.jp
Recent books and magazines:

3. A PhoneGap company.
Official docs
translations.
#1 PG community
In Japan.
Cloud based IDE

4. Monaca: A PhoneGap IDE
 Cloud-based PhoneGap/Cordova development environment
 Supports iOS, Android, Windows 8, and Chrome Apps
Firefox OS support is coming in near future
 Starts from free pricing
 Has live-reload debugger
 Lots of docs / sample apps
http://monaca.mobi/

5. Android Native Layer
What is a hybrid app?
HTML
Content
iOS Native Layer
HTML
Content
iOS App Android App

6. Browser comparison
Mobile Browser Hybrid App
Browser Engine
iOS:
Safari or UIWebView
Android:
WebView, Chrome, etc...
iOS:
UIWebView (Nitro disabled)
Android:
WebView
HTML5, CSS, and JS
Support Level
Same
Extend JavaScript APIs ✓
Same-Origin Policy
Controlled by CORS
header
Not applicable.
Controlled by access origin
configuration.

7. Hybrid apps are...
Mostly the same
as the mobile Web apps.

8. Comparing to native apps
Wholly different application structure.
Native Layer
HTML
Content
Hybrid App
Java
or
Objective-C
Native App

9. Two popular frameworks

10. What is Cordova?
?

11. A street.

12. In Vancouver, Canada
Nitobi

13. History of PhoneGap / Cordova
 Nitobi folks developed PhoneGap.
 Adobe acquired Nitobi.
 PhoneGap became a product of Adobe.
 And PhoneGap source code transferred to Apache
Foundation.
 Nitobi team wanted a name that had a meaning to them.
 So they re-named it "Cordova"

14. Difference between
PhoneGap and Cordova?
Conclusion
SAME
(if we talk about the API sets)

15. Difference ① Command
phonegap uses cordova command.

16. Difference ① Command
Action Option cordova phonegap Description
create ✓ ✓ Create a new project
serve ✓ ✓ Run on local Web server (Used by Developer App
etc.)
build ✓ ✓ Build
install ✓ Install on connected device
run ✓ ✓ Run on connected device
plugin ✓ ✓ Add / remove / search Cordova plugin
prepare ✓ Generate a build image
compile ✓ Do compile from prepared build image
emulate ✓ Run in emulator (same as run --emulator)
remote
login/logout/build/install/
run
✓ Commands for PhoneGap Build integration
local build/install/run/plugin ✓ Commands for local development

17. Difference ② config.xml
Cordova's default config.xml

18. Difference ② config.xml
PhoneGap's default config.xml

19. Other differences
 Available Version
 Cordova: 3.5
 PhoneGap Build: 3.4
 Native-code customizability
 Cordova: You can customize code in any where
 PhoneGap Build: Only Cordova plugins are supported
 PhoneGap has more features
 PhoneGap Enterprise
 PhoneGap Developer App

20. Cordova and its family
PhoneGap
Monaca
Ionic Framework
MS Visual Studio
Google Chrome
Apps Mobile
IBM Worklight
All these tools will create the same types of apps, essentially.

21. Common problems
 User interface
 Delivering smooth native-like widgets and transition
 Overall performance
 More faster JavaScript
 More faster rendering
 Security
 Encryption of the source code (HTML and JS)
 Device API / native functions
 You need to wrap every Android or iOS native API calls

22. Recent trends
 New enhanced browser engines
 Cordova-compatible Blink-based WebView
 WKWebView coming in iOS 8. See my article here.
 Modern HTML5 based UI frameworks
 Based in AngularJS: Ionic Framework, Onsen UI
 Optimized to CSS3 rendering: famo.us
 Cordova Plugin Registry

23. New Android WebViews
 Intel Crosswalk Project
 Based on Chrominium.
 Supports Tizen and Android.
 Ludei WebView+ (Cocoon JS)
 Browser engine with WebGL enabled.
 Great for 3D games.
 Amazon Silk
 Browser engine for Kindle Fire.
 Only available through Amazon HTML5/Web Apps Store.

24. New WebView benefits
 No fragmentation in Android version anymore
 Same HTML5/CSS3/JS for all Android 4 devices
 Ease of debugging
 Supports USB debugging via Chrome Dev Tools
 JavaScript breakpoints, profile, network...
 Less device testing
 Increased performance
 Can use the latest Blink engine
 Tradeoffs:
 File size getting big (8MB～15MB)
 Slow startup

25. iOS 8 WKWebView
iOS 8
WKWebView
iOS 8
UIWebView
iOS 7
UIWebView
WebGL 3D Graphics ✓ ✓
IndexedDB ✓
HTML5 Coverage
Score
440/555 427/555 410/555
SunSpider
Benchmark
949.8ms 4249.6ms 3659.5ms
CSS Shapes ✓ ✓
4x
Faster!

26. Modern JS UI Framework
 Ionic Framework (http://ionicframework.com)
 UI framework based on AngularJS.
 Onsen UI (http://onsenui.io)
 AngularJS + Topcoat. Supports tablet and Android 2.3.
 Famo.us (http://famo.us)
 Super-quick rendering using CSS3 tricks.

27. Cordova Plugin Registry
http://plugins.cordova.io/
 Cordova core and plugin are separated as
of Cordova 3.4.
 APIs are now implemented sa plugins.
 Plugin registry like npm
 Install with command
 User can submit their own plugins.

28. Monaca demo
if time allows.
http://monaca.mobi/

29. Thank You!
P.S. AND PLEASE CONSIDER USING MONACA.
Presented by:
Masahiro Tanaka
@massie
masahiro@asial.co.jp