Another look at phoneGap

Finally got around to completing the Getting started guide with Android  from phoneGap, so have a bit of feedback on the process.

As a concept this is basically how it shapes up,

• Eclipse is the favoured development environment for phoneGap to integrate with, and maybe android too, although I am sure there are others around.
• Android SDK basically the bits and pieces that make it possible to develop for android, I am assuming this includes the emulator and drivers etc.
• ADT Plugin this I think is the plugin which links Eclipse software to the Android SDK and needs a little config to get it working.
• Finally we get to Cordova which is the java and javascript which in my mind is 'phoneGap'

Android SDK Manager, you will see this screen a lot asking to update items, I suggest you do!

Ok so the concept there, how easy is it to get going, Eclipse is easy, a compressed file which you can extract to anywhere in your computer, same with Cordova. Android SDK is a simple install, most difficult part is the ADT Plugin, but the instructions are easy to follow.

Eclipse after install and attempt at multiple HelloWorlds

I had no problem at all running through the HelloWorld program and deploying to the simulator/emulator for android. The index.html rendered and all was good in the world definitely felt like a native app.
The virtual android device I set up was a Samsung Galaxy S2 4.0.3 but my computer was running it fairly slowly, so I would suggest you either have a decent computer with a good video card or it may struggle. I didn't want to test with a simulator anyway as I have a HTC Desire phone to play with.

Virtual Device Manager for Android, create all the phones/devices you want.

Problem was that all the documentation was saying that it should be displayed as an option after you switch on USB Debugging on the phone. I checked in device manager (im running windows 7) and found an odd device called 'ADB' which had an ominous exclamation mark next to it, indicating there was a problem with the driver. After a bit of searching I found a great article with a link to the HTC driver after I updated and installed Eclipse could see my device, yay!

I ran the helloworld app on the device it worked. A simple native app deployed and tested without knowing one bit of android code. Next is to see how far I can push the loading of the app using kendo UI really interested to see how it performs.