PhoneGap - Android Programming IDE Overview

Review PhoneGap, one of the top rated Android IDEs for developers.

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PhoneGap is Adobe's implementation of the Apache Cordova open source mobile development framework. Like Cordova, it allows mobile developers to write cross-platform mobile apps using Web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, but Adobe claims it is easier to install and use than Cordova. Making things a little more confusing, as mentioned above, the Cordova product used to be called PhoneGap. Adobe claims that PhoneGap "has been downloaded millions of times and is being used by hundreds of thousands of developers." It has a command line interface or an optional GUI, plus a mobile app so that you can develop applications right on the type of mobile device that will be running them.

Developer/Owner:Adobe

Key features:

Command line, desktop or mobile interface
Access to native device APIs
Cross-platform development capabilities
Integrates with PhoneGap Build to package apps
Simplified installation
Large open source community
Large plug-in library and support for third-party tools

Programming languages supported: HTML, CSS, JavaScript

Target operating systems: Cross-platform, including iPhone and Android

Runs on: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Windows Phone

System Requirements:

Windows or macOS
Command line version requires Node.js and git

Target audience: Web developers who want to create mobile apps

First production release: 2011

Most recent update/stable release:Version 7.0.1 (August 2017)

License:Apache 2.0 License

Price: Free

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Have you used PhoneGap? Share your favorite feature in the comments below!