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Comment by ryanwaggoner | Hacker News Reader

This is such nonsense. I just went to phonegap.com and installed the top showcase app (Localeur). You've got to be kidding If you're going to tell me it's impossible to tell it's not native. Scrolling is janky, taps don't feel as responsive on some elements, weird UI glitches, etc.

It's a fine app if you don't care deeply about UX, but certainly not indistinguishable.

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> This is such nonsense.

Not going to discuss why picking a random app from a listing doesn't make all the apps built with a similar technology equally bad.

Next time, before shouting "nonsense" try something built with Angular2/Ionic2.

http://ionicframework.com/docs/v2/components/

Having finished an app using Ionic2 I can tell you that the performance on Android is appalling (outside of like the current Samsung/HTC top of the line or its predecessor). IOS is pretty indistinguishable though baring the odd touch problem that I deemed not worth the trade off in time investment.

I agree, but I think that's Android's problem. I found that it's janky no matter what you use. I first thought it was the webview thing and built a native java program, but it isn't so much better. I honestly don't understand how most Android users cope with this.

I just downloaded the first two featured apps on that site to my iPhone, Chefsteps and Sworkit. Both are not bad but it's still fairly noticeable even to a non-developer that they don't behave like native apps. Controls look a bit off, animations are different, and some UI bugs here and there.

I'm sorry, it's not fair to evaluate the technology based on the top app from their official showcase page?

I did the same thing with Ionic; the top app on their showcase page is ChefSteps. It's definitely better, but sorry, not indistinguishable. Not even close.

I stand by my claim that saying that "2016 hybrid" apps look and feel 100% native is nonsense. It's fine to use those technologies, but be honest about your reasons.

Parent didn't pick a random app, they picked the "top showcase app". Since you don't want to discuss it, despite parent's attempt to select the best example, let's pick something you might discuss: what is your choice of showcase app that few would know it's not native? If it's $5 or less, I'll go download it even if it doesn't interest me. I'll state ahead of time that I've yet to see a non-native app on Android or iOS that wasn't obviously non-native, so I'll be viewing the chosen app with some degree of bias that I would try to keep to minimum. And, hey, if it's any good I'll be happy to rethink my stance, and probably go learn a new framework.

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