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React Native for Android

code.facebook.com

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Re: React Native for Android

#71

Post by rhodysurf »

jbob2000 wrote: post #9

Yes! I've been working with React-Native on a side project for a few weeks now. WHAT A GODSEND! Before this, I was using Titanium, which is heavy, slow, and difficult to integrate with. React-Native felt like home. On a related note; Why is it up to Facebook to develop something like this? Why aren't Apple and Google making it this easy to develop apps? ObjC is a nightmare, 90% of apps out there don't need that level…

It really isnt hard to write iOS or Android apps. I think you just like Javascript.

Re: React Native for Android

#73

Post by oblio »

A sort of strange question. Has anyone tried Qt as a cross platform toolkit for mobile? What was your experience with it?

I ask this because I'm thinking about creating a cross platform app, desktop + mobile and I'm wondering which would be the best way forward. Qt? ReactJS + web browser + React Native? Something else?

Re: React Native for Android

#74

Post by Bahamut »

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #33
pbreit wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the promise is not "write once, run everywhere". It's 1) write in a familiar way and 2) reuse a substantial amount.

Which is unlike using Ionic Framework, where I've gotten about 98% code reuse between platforms. The only place that I usually end up making platform-specific changes is where Ionic has an iOS-specific layout change that breaks the look of a custom component on iOS. That and sometimes native-only features like Push Notifications that need to be handled slightly differently on each platform. But the latter is about a…

I have had performance issues using Ionic myself, and I have been intensely dissatisfied with Cordova & its ecosystem. In addition, I have had some pain with Ionic when trying to implement special behavior, mainly due to how the internals work.

React Native is much more a step in the right direction IMO, although the Ionic team's work on Ionic 2 with Angular 2 could provide an interesting paradigm to compete on that front.

Re: React Native for Android

#75

Post by rhodysurf »

joshgachnang wrote: post #43
onedev wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it does have incentive for app developers on other platforms to port code to their own platform.

They incentivize people porting to iOS by being a great platform with tons of customers, many of which are willing to pay. That's why so many apps launch on iOS first (much to my dismay as a diehard Android user). Why Google hasn't done this, I don't know. Seems like it is in their best interest and something they're already doing internally. They use the shared web/Android/iOS code concept for Inbox (but not HTML/JS…

Dont they use this j2objc? https://github.com/google/j2objc

Re: React Native for Android

#76

Post by myko »

mrinterweb wrote: post #45
icpmacdo wrote: post #6

The general feeling on HN is that it is better to focus on Native development on both platforms because Cordova hybrid apps have a overall bad user experience. Is this still the case with React Native or is it becoming the most effective option?

I believe Cordova apps being associated with a "bad user experience" is related to the amount of effort developers put into their Cordova app. I've seen some terrible Cordova apps. I've also seen a couple good ones. I've been developing a Cordova app using Ember.js and it works well in Cordova. There are a couple places in my app that need to be better optimized for Android, but overall, a non-discerning user would l…

> One trap that I've seen many apps do is to try to emulate the UI of native apps.

This is one of the strengths of React Native. Don't emulate the native UI - use it, just access it via JavaScript.

Re: React Native for Android

#77

Post by jbigelow76 »

aianus wrote: post #57
jbigelow76 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple probably doesn't concern itself with any developers that don't want to be on their platform. In fact they probably find the notion so inconceivable that they wouldn't see any value in that developer's app. Are there any "unicorn" apps that are Android only and intend to stay that way?

> Are there any "unicorn" apps that are Android only and intend to stay that way? Chrome? Also Gmail, Google Now, and Facebook Messenger on iOS are garbage compared to Android.

Chrome?

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure I am typing this response in Chrome on a Windows box right now, so maybe not the best example of an Android only app.

Re: React Native for Android

#78

Post by s73v3r »

mjohnston4 wrote: post #39
edgyswingset wrote: post #5

Why are there only iOS screenshots in an Android blog post? I want to see the results of creating an Android app. EDIT: screenshots were added :)

We've updated the post with a comparison of screenshots, sorry about that!

Not to nitpic, but could you edit it to put the screenshots of the same thing next to each other? So I can see side by side what the iOS version of a screen looks like next to the Android version of a screen?

Re: React Native for Android

#79

Post by aianus »

jbigelow76 wrote: post #77
aianus wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are there any "unicorn" apps that are Android only and intend to stay that way? Chrome? Also Gmail, Google Now, and Facebook Messenger on iOS are garbage compared to Android.

Chrome? I could be wrong but I am pretty sure I am typing this response in Chrome on a Windows box right now, so maybe not the best example of an Android only app.

I figured we were talking in the context of Android vs. iOS.

Re: React Native for Android

#80

Post by arbesfeld »

Really exciting to see an effective way to do cross-platform mobile dev, this has been a long time coming.

Shameless plug for my own project, AppHub: https://apphub.io

React Native makes it easy to write cross-platform JavaScript, we're trying to make it just as easy to deploy to every platform.

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