Overview

Android SDK

Stacks27.4K

Followers20.7K

Votes800

Apache Cordova

Stacks704

Followers892

Votes218

GitHub Stars955

Forks345

Android SDK vs Apache Cordova: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Android SDK and Apache Cordova

Android SDK and Apache Cordova are two popular frameworks used for developing mobile applications. While both frameworks have their own strengths and weaknesses, there are several key differences between them:

Language: Android SDK uses Java as the primary programming language, while Apache Cordova uses a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Native vs. Hybrid: Android SDK allows developers to build native applications that are specifically developed for the Android platform. On the other hand, Apache Cordova allows for the development of hybrid applications that can be run on multiple platforms, including Android.
UI and UX: Android SDK provides access to native UI components and design guidelines, allowing developers to create applications that closely follow the Android user interface and user experience. Apache Cordova, on the other hand, relies on web technologies and may not offer the same level of native look and feel.
Performance: Since Android SDK allows for native development, applications built using this framework tend to have better performance compared to those developed using Apache Cordova. This is because native applications can fully utilize the device's resources, while hybrid applications have some overhead due to the interpretation of web technologies.
Access to Device APIs: Android SDK provides direct access to various device APIs and features, allowing developers to create applications that can interact with hardware components such as the camera, GPS, and sensors. Apache Cordova also provides access to device APIs, but through plugins that need to be installed and integrated into the application.
Development Environment: Android SDK requires a specific development environment consisting of Android Studio and the Android Software Development Kit (SDK). Apache Cordova, on the other hand, can be developed using any text editor or integrated development environment (IDE) of choice, making it more flexible in terms of the development environment.

In summary, the key differences between Android SDK and Apache Cordova lie in the programming language used, the type of application development (native vs. hybrid), the user interface and user experience, performance, access to device APIs, and the development environment.

Advice on Android SDK, Apache Cordova

Omran

CTO & Co-founder at Bonton Connect

Jun 19, 2020

Needs adviceon

Kotlin

We actually initially wrote a lot of networking code in Kotlin but the complexities involved prompted us to try and compile NodeJS for Android and port over all the networking logic to Node and communicate with node over the Java Native Interface.

This turned out to be a great decision considering our battery usage fell by 40% and rate of development increased by a factor of 2.

622k views622k

Comments

Aleksandr

Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft at Microsoft-365

Dec 23, 2019

Review

What is Proguard?

ProGuard is the most popular optimizer for Java bytecode. It makes your Java and Android applications up to 90% smaller and up to 20% faster. ProGuard also provides minimal protection against reverse engineering by obfuscating the names of classes, fields and methods.

How to use it in Cordova app?

I didn't find any plugins for it. So I've implemented it by myself and shared it on GitHub.

Feel free to use!

119k views119k

Comments

Aleksandr

Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft at Microsoft-365

Dec 23, 2019

Needs advice

I've done some Hybrid Mobile apps with both technologies Apache Cordova and React Native and described my experience in my blog.

In a few words, I would suggest to use each technology in accordance what what is your current code base and what do you want to achieve.

React Native is a great option if you need that extra edge in performance with multi-threading and native UI rendering. Or you already have a web app based on React which you want to port to mobile.

On the other hand, if you have an existing web application code and you want to reuse some or all, including the ability to use web third-party libraries, then Cordova is the best option.

428k views428k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Android SDK	Apache Cordova
Android provides a rich application framework that allows you to build innovative apps and games for mobile devices in a Java language environment.	Apache Cordova is a set of device APIs that allow a mobile app developer to access native device function such as the camera or accelerometer from JavaScript. Combined with a UI framework such as jQuery Mobile or Dojo Mobile or Sencha Touch, this allows a smartphone app to be developed with just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
-	Cross-platform (CLI) workflow;Platform-centered workflow;Hundreds of plugins
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 955
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 345
Stacks 27.4K	Stacks 704
Followers 20.7K	Followers 892
Votes 800	Votes 218
Pros & Cons
Pros 289 Android development 156 Necessary for android 128 Android studio 86 Mobile framework 82 Backed by google	Pros 48 Lots of plugins 35 JavaScript 26 Great community 25 Easy Development 18 Easy to learn Cons 2 No native performance 1 Hard to install 0 Hard to install
Integrations
Java	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Android SDK, Apache Cordova?

Node.js

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Rails

Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

Django

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

Laravel

It is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.

.NET

.NET is a general purpose development platform. With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build native applications for web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more.

Ionic

Free and open source, Ionic offers a library of mobile and desktop-optimized HTML, CSS and JS components for building highly interactive apps. Use with Angular, React, Vue, or plain JavaScript.

ASP.NET Core

A free and open-source web framework, and higher performance than ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft and the community. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET Core.

Flutter

Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.

React Native

React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.