“Why is PublicEye built natively for iOS, Android, and Windows 8, and not as an HTML5 app?”
This is a question we get often. After all, HTML5 has a reputation for cheaper and faster development. While this is sometimes the case, there are many situations in which a native app is the better option. The decision to develop PublicEye as a series of native applications, custom-built for each platform, was a simple one: PublicEye would not be as fantastic a product if it were not a native app.
Building PublicEye in native code is a demonstration of our commitment to creating the most advanced, intuitive, and streamlined public safety mobile solution on the market.
Intuitive User Experience
Native developers work within the platform’s design norms, creating a cohesive experience for the user. When an iOS user opens an iOS native app for the first time, they will immediately recognize its familair layout and design. The placement of the icons, and the way the user navigates through the app, is consistent. The same is true for users accustomed to Android or Windows platforms; native apps provide intuitive user interfaces and design.
HTML5 apps are, by nature, generically designed. Instead of adhering to the graphical user interface of each individual platform, the developers must try to create a one-size-fits-all interface, taking bits and pieces of design from iOS, Android, and Windows. The result is a final product that is awkward for most users.
PublicEye’s beautiful user interfaces were tailor-made for each platform. We like to say, “If you know how to use your device, you’ll know how to use PublicEye!”
Superior Performance
Native applications are built to optimize memory within the device. Because they are built specifically for each platform, they are faster, more responsive, and optimize memory usage.
To optimize speed and memory in an HTML5 application, the logic for each platform must be built in. In the end, this logic can defeat its own purpose. Users running an HTML5 app on their Android phone are using their device’s limited memory to store the logic for every other platform on top of their own. This leads to slower and less effective applications, with limited ability to process large amounts of data. Developing this multi-platform coding within an HTML5 application is time-consuming and costly, resulting in added cost to the consumer.
With PublicEye, our team wanted to create performance that was smooth, reliable, and fast. The native solutions were developed to give first responders the best possible access to their time-critical data in the field.
Improved Features
Many of the features that make PublicEye unique would be difficult to achieve in an HTML5 application. From mapping nearby points of interest to streaming video between devices, many of its most useful capabilities rely on direct access to device hardware. Most importantly, achieving FIPS/VPN compliance would have been next to impossible.
Building PublicEye as a native application allows us to offer you a more comprehensive product, without the significantly higher costs of developing it as an HTML5 application.
PublicEye was designed to be the ultimate mobile solution for public safety. Our commitment to delivering this to our customers is best fulfilled through a native app.