Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka fördröjningsskillnader inom användargränssnitt mellan native­utvecklade appar (utveckling till varje plattform) och appar av typen generated apps. Eftersom arbetet syftar till att bidra med information om prestanda ansågs en experimentell metod vara det bästa valet. Mätning av laddningstider gjordes med hjälp av en videokamera som filmade utförandet av experimenten vilket gjorde metoden simpel och liknar det som en användare kommer att uppleva. Avgränsning till plattformarna Android och iOS gjordes där Xamarin valdes som ramverk inom tekniker som skapar generated apps. Mätdata från experiment som undersökte laddningstider, experiment med användare som hanterade listors respons samt undersökning av CPU­ och minnesanvändning tyder på ett återkommande mönster. Xamarin Forms med XAML är den teknik som presterat sämst under experimenten som sedan följs av Xamarin Forms. Xamarin Android/iOS hade inte lika stora prestandaförluster jämfört med native­utvecklade delar. Generellt hanterar Xamarin Forms telefonens resurser sämre än vad Xamarin Android/iOS och native gör. Resultat från studien kan användas som beslutsstöd vid val av teknik. Studien bidrar även med data som kan användas vid vidare forskning inom området. / The purpose of this study is to examine differences in delay during calculation and presentation of interfaces executing on different techniques. Specifically between native developed apps and generated apps. Since the work aims to contribute with information regarding performance, an experimental method was considered to be the best choice. Measurements of loading times was made with a video camera that captured the execution of the experiments which made the method simple and captures what the users would have experienced. Demarcation to the platforms Android and iOS was made and Xamarin was chosen as the framework for creating generated apps. Data from experiment that examined loading times, experiment with users that dealt with the responsiveness of lists and the analysis of CPU and memory usage indicate a recurring pattern. Xamarin Forms with XAML is the technique that has performed worst during the experiments, followed by Xamarin Forms. Xamarin Android/iOS didn’t have as big performance loss. Xamarin Forms does not manage the phones resources as efficient as Xamarin Android/iOS and native developed apps does. The results from this study can be used as material for making decisions witin organisations when choosing technology for creating apps. The study also contribute with data that can be used by other researchers.

The primary purpose of this study is to determine in which technology we have to develop an application depending on the features that we would like to include, in order to deliver the best value for a good price to the customers. Consequently, in this research we have described the capabilities, performance and limitations that we have found while using the different technologies. The empirical part of this study was conducted in the first semester of 2014/2015 at the Linnaeus University in Växjö (Sweden), supported by Softwerk Company. In conclusion, the thesis shows that the user experience with native apps is always better than using the web-based technologies, especially using maps, although the time and effort spent to develop them is higher. Cross-platform solutions can be very useful for simple apps, and also if the developer does not have a lot of time to develop them. The problem with this last kind of applications is that the performance is less than the native ones.

Today, there are a handful of different platforms for mobile phones. Writing an application natively for each mobile operating system is time consuming and expensive. This situation has created a need for using cross-platform frameworks, that allow programmers to create an application once and run it on all platforms. The problem is that it is not certain whether cross-platform apps can fully replace native ones, or if by using cross-platform tools some desired qualities are lost. Investigating this issue would allow to find out which one of these two application development methods is better, or in which situation it is better to choose one over the other. Such knowledge would allow to decrease development time and costs. Companies that create mobile applications on a daily basis have expertise in this area. Thus, thirteen interviews were done with thirteen distinct businesses in order to research this problem. The results showed that native development produces higher quality applications, but there are some situations where it might be better to use cross-platform frameworks.