limitation of PhoneGap:Build

Question

Phonegap:build sounds like a dream come true, code once release on all mobile platforms.

But what are the limitations? Issues?

I'm looking to develop a QR scanner application, this requires jquery QR api, and some ajax. I will also need access to most of the hardware on the phones(camera, geoloc, flash, etc)

I know that phonegap:build is still in beta, but are there anything I should know about it before starting on my project with it?

Answer 1

Another limitation with PhoneGap Build that hasn't been mentioned yet is the size of the file that you are allowed to submit.

The new limits are 50MB for free tier users, 100MB for standalone users and 1GB for Creative Cloud subscribers.

Answer 2

Well PhoneGap Build doesn't currently allow you to add in your own plugins and if you want QR code support you'll need to add the BarcodeScanner plugin.

Android BarcodeScanner on GitHub

BlackBerry BarcodeScanner on GitHub

iPhone BarcodeScanner on GitHub

So you'll need to build your application using Xcode or Eclipse if you need this type of functionality....

Answer 3

Camera: All except BB 4.6-4.7

Geolocation: All

Check the matrix here. Check against your main target platforms.

Read documentation, see if there is any more special notes for the features you want. You do not need to read whole documentation before you start.

Also, check showcase of existing apps developed using PhoneGap, this will give you an idea what you can surely do.

Answer 4

specifically for your QR scanner app, flash (LED) and live camera access is not there yet in PhoneGap, at most you can take a picture with the native camera API, which I guess is subpar compared to for example Google Goggles app

but otherwise (for apps less dependent on hardware) it's awesome, I used it successfully for some projects. see http://docs.phonegap.com/