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Sep 28, 2023

Android SDK vs Apache Cordova

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Android SDK
25.4K
19.6K
+ 1
798
Apache Cordova
699
888
+ 1
216
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Android SDK vs Apache Cordova: What are the differences?

Android SDK: An SDK that provides you the API libraries and developer tools necessary to build, test, and debug apps for Android. 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: Platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. 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.

Android SDK belongs to "Frameworks (Full Stack)" category of the tech stack, while Apache Cordova can be primarily classified under "Cross-Platform Mobile Development".

"Android development" is the top reason why over 280 developers like Android SDK, while over 31 developers mention "Lots of plugins" as the leading cause for choosing Apache Cordova.

Apache Cordova is an open source tool with 766 GitHub stars and 327 GitHub forks. Here's a link to Apache Cordova's open source repository on GitHub.

According to the StackShare community, Android SDK has a broader approval, being mentioned in 1084 company stacks & 907 developers stacks; compared to Apache Cordova, which is listed in 96 company stacks and 45 developer stacks.

Decisions about Android SDK and Apache Cordova
Omran Jamal
CTO & Co-founder at Bonton Connect · | 7 upvotes · 510.4K views
Shared insights
on
Android SDKAndroid SDKNode.jsNode.js
at
()

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.

See more
Aleksandr Filatov
Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft · | 2 upvotes · 371.8K views
Shared insights
on
Apache CordovaApache CordovaProGuardProGuardReact NativeReact Native
at
()

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.

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Aleksandr Filatov
Contract Software Engineer - Microsoft · | 2 upvotes · 101.8K views
Shared a protip
on
Apache CordovaApache CordovaPhoneGapPhoneGapProGuardProGuard
at
()
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!

See more
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Pros of Android SDK
Pros of Apache Cordova
  • 288
    Android development
  • 155
    Necessary for android
  • 128
    Android studio
  • 86
    Mobile framework
  • 82
    Backed by google
  • 27
    Platform-tools
  • 21
    Eclipse + adt plugin
  • 5
    Powerful, simple, one stop environment
  • 3
    Free
  • 3
    Больно
  • 47
    Lots of plugins
  • 35
    JavaScript
  • 26
    Great community
  • 24
    Easy Development
  • 18
    Easy to learn
  • 15
    Cross platform
  • 7
    Open Source
  • 6
    Easy, fast, not buggy in my experience with my code
  • 6
    Lots of descendants; PhoneGap, Ionic, Intel XDA etc
  • 4
    Can use CSS3
  • 4
    Rich HTML 5
  • 4
    Easy debugging
  • 3
    HTML, CSS and JS
  • 3
    Fast and hot reload
  • 3
    Rich css ui
  • 3
    Use what you code in your browser
  • 2
    Need a light system
  • 2
    Native Web Technologies
  • 2
    Without extra tooling needed
  • 2
    One code base everywhere

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Cons of Android SDK
Cons of Apache Cordova
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 2
      No native performance
    • 1
      Hard to install
    • 0
      Hard to install

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is Android SDK?

    Android provides a rich application framework that allows you to build innovative apps and games for mobile devices in a Java language environment.

    What is Apache Cordova?

    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.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    Jobs that mention Android SDK and Apache Cordova as a desired skillset
    Mobile Engineer University Grad (USA)
    Pinterest
    , US
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    DreamKotliniOS+7
    Mobile Engineer Intern 2024 (USA)
    Pinterest
    , US
    View Job Details
    DreamKotliniOS+8
    IT Project & Program Manager I
    Pinterest
    San Francisco, CA, US
    View Job Details
    DreamQueueWindows+4
    Director of Notifications Engineering
    Pinterest
    San Francisco, CA; , CA, US
    View Job Details
    DreamChannelsiOS+5
    Staff Android Software Engineer, Video Foundations
    Pinterest
    San Francisco, CA, US; , CA, US
    View Job Details
    DreamKotlinAndroid SDK+4
    Software Development Engineer in Test (Android)
    Pinterest
    Mexico City, MX; , MX
    View Job Details
    DreamKotlinMockito+5
    API Engineer
    Pinterest
    Mexico City, MX; , MX
    View Job Details
    DreamGraphQLiOS+6
    Android Software Engineer
    Pinterest
    Dublin, IE
    View Job Details
    DreamAndroid SDK+2
    What companies use Android SDK?
    What companies use Apache Cordova?
    See which teams inside your own company are using Android SDK or Apache Cordova.
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    Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

    What tools integrate with Android SDK?
    What tools integrate with Apache Cordova?

    Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

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    What are some alternatives to Android SDK and Apache Cordova?
    Android Studio
    Android Studio is a new Android development environment based on IntelliJ IDEA. It provides new features and improvements over Eclipse ADT and will be the official Android IDE once it's ready.
    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.
    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.
    Flutter
    Flutter is a mobile app SDK to help developers and designers build modern mobile apps for iOS and Android.
    Xamarin
    Xamarin’s Mono-based products enable .NET developers to use their existing code, libraries and tools (including Visual Studio*), as well as skills in .NET and the C# programming language, to create mobile applications for the industry’s most widely-used mobile devices, including Android-based smartphones and tablets, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
    See all alternatives

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