You've heard that Facebook switched from HTML 5 to "native" apps on iOS and Android recently to "speed them up." That pissed off the developers from Sencha http://www.sencha.com/
So they built a Facebook app completely in HTML 5 that's even faster than the native Android and iOS apps that Facebook released.
Sencha builds HTML 5 programming tools and the video discuss the market for app developers and the choices they have to make.
I've high hopes for HTML 5! A little caveat though - this is a promo for Sencha. But still...
If they can make an HTML 5 web app that is/can be faster than native apps, then why can't we? Practice time!
Native apps > HTML 5 in terms of responsiveness. Also some native functionality will not work with just HTML 5. Native apps will still have the full capability to access the phones hardware and make full use of it.
Didn't James Pierce of facebook worked on Sencha? (something doesn't make sense). Maybe he did, but if he did, there's no connection! Pierce does developer relations for Facebook, not product. He did say he did give feedback to the main engineering team when he was in Manila (maybe just a spiel I guess).
From what I could figure out, the Sencha software architect guy came up with an out of the box solution. The Facebook guys were still thinking in the box in this case At any rate Fastbook was released before the last Android build of FB - havent seen a performance comparison of Fastbook and that new FB build yet!
1. Webview vs browser performance is a different story
2. In the video, Sencha preloaded the threads vs FB loading on the fly
3. They used high end/faster phones so the delay won't be that noticeable
4. You also encounter the limitations of the functionality of Sencha platform
5. It is also important to know that Sencha is NOT a free product
6. Since it's webview/browser based, different browsers Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE treats layouts differently.
7. Some HTML 5 frameworks use native calls like list view just to make it work faster but if you just coded it directly that wouldn't be an issue
8. HTML 5 apps have problem with memory handling which is a big issue in terms of performance
9. HTML 5 apps crashes once it gets to big ... native simply has to unload it
10. HTML 5 are have a lower chance of getting approved in the AppStore (based on experience)
Just downloaded FastBook (android) - it's really fast. As far as a proof of concept goes, it's really impressive. Handset used to test was a Galaxy Nexus.
Can anyone report if its working on windows phone ... It's not working on my Nokia Lumia 710 maybe just a glitch or its for Android and iOS platform only, maybe. But they said it's working on Windows phone but there's a little strange.
