When it comes to the pace of mobile app innovation, there are a couple leaders in the field that need to be watched on a regular basis. Foremost among them is the PhoneGap, also known as Apache Cordova these days. Call it the leader of the leaders. Today the company announced the newest version of its platform, PhoneGap 1.4.0. In addition to fixing many of the bugs found in version 1.3.0, the PhoneGap Build cloud service will be fully supported in the new version. Check out below to see what is new in the platform.
The biggest aspect of PhoneGap 1.4.0 is definitely the integration of PhoneGap build. The service compiles developers HTML, JavaScript and CSS in the cloud and then delivers the app as a ready-made for the Apple App Store, Android Market, webOS, Symbian and BlackBerry. It is one of the more powerful functions of PhoneGap and a great resource to developers looking to build hybrid apps. As we have noted in ReadWriteMobile before, hybrid apps are a good way for the cost-conscious developers to release a native applications to the various popular apps stores.
Here are the highlights of what is new in PhoneGap 1.4.0 as broken down by each platform.
Android
- Work-around Feature for Classic PhoneGap 320×480 resolution
- Add compass demo for Android
- IllegalArgumentException if it is not a JPEG nor a PNG
- Adding JUnit dependency
- Fixing issue with FileTransfer.upload when the passed in url contains a ?
- Allow internal SD Card to be used as storage
- Fixing a timing issue with the web view history not being cleared properly
- Making preference reading code more robust
- Using preference=fullscreen for fullscreen view
BlackBerry
- #124: Adding Battery events to the PlayBook.
- #153: Default for camera destination type changed from DATA_URL to FILE_URI.
- #CB-122: native JSON writer class needs expandable char buffer
- Fixing playbook plugin manager
Note: These are not the BlackBerry highlights. That is literally all of the new documentation for BlackBerry in PhoneGap 1.4.0.
iOS
- Added stand-alone PGViewController (Cleaver – PhoneGap as a Component)
- Added ‘How to Use PhoneGap as a Component’ doc to the .dmg (as a PDF)
- Added for legacy support of deprecated PhoneGapDelegate, in core plugins
- Updated the app icons, splash-screens, and template icons for the Xcode template to Cordova ones
- Added Battery core plugin to PhoneGap.plist
Windows Phone
- Compass API fixes
- Added VERSION file to be like other platforms
- Updated phonegap.js to include XHR updates
- Fix for single document – multipage layouts
- Changed default destination to FILE_URI
- Acceleromter fix #CB-141 – InvariantCulture
There were a lot more bug fixes in PhoneGap version 1.4.0 than in earlier releases. It also comes a little more quickly than previous versions though the update schedule is about once every five or six weeks or so. That would put PhoneGap on par with Firefox, which also is a company that sets the pace of software innovation.
Does the newest version of PhoneGap solve your development problems with the platform? What are you still waiting for to be fixed? Let us know in the comments.
