Android Studio is indeed the go-to Android App Builder Software for creating Android applications with Java or Kotlin. Since applications built with Java and Kotlin provide full native app development and all the available features, it really provides long-term success. Moreover, the community around Java and Android Studio is vast, and if there are issues that arise, there is a hundred per cent guarantee you can find the solution easily.
But there are some cases where the Android Studio with Java or Kotlin cannot be a solution.
Android is very likely the most popular operating systems for mobile and portable devices with the flexibility to deploy primarily any device that can handle it. It is projected to grow and dominate not in just mobile, tablets, PCs, cars, set-top boxes, smartwatches, home appliances, and more.
For these reasons, learning how to create Android applications is a must, but choosing the proper Android development framework and a programming language is tricky with its app development ecosystem. For instance, you can see an Android developer using Android Studio but also looking for other options to develop apps with more productivity.
I help you select the right Android app builder and the proper framework for your projects.
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How to compare Android app builders and Frameworks?
It really depends on the company. For instance, start-ups use hybrid app development technologies mainly because they are free and open-source but, in reality, do not provide much productivity and higher security over your code.
Numerous Android app development frameworks share many identical characteristics. But with their certain unique features, creating specific types of projects can be more accessible. Moreover, the app builder environment also plays a significant role. For instance, one framework can be used to create e-commerce apps which have easy to integrate solutions for third party services but lacks graphical user interface development. Or it requires you to work with XAML to design UI, which is not productive and not intuitive at all.
Here are some criteria you should know to compare framework and Android app builders:
- Cross-platform capability
- Popularity and resourcefulness
- Easy & Fast UI Designing
Choosing a cross-platform framework where you can build native but cross-platform applications with one codebase is no news in the current state of technology. But not all framework and development platforms support this power with the ideal architecture.
FireMonkey framework, with its RAD Studio app development ecosystem, you can get all the modern features and environment to build any application that can run on major platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux. Additionally, you can create business-oriented web applications.
The best thing about the RAD Studio development environment is that you can prototype and design applications 5x faster than most other app builders. It gives you the low code app development platform and traditional software engineering ecosystem.
Why should you select RAD Studio for your Android app development?
First of all, I recommend you try out the Delphi Community Edition or RAD Studio trial version to build various types of applications. When you install the IDE with its framework and libraries, you get a set of sample applications. You can see how simple and fast to create different applications with the RAD Studio platform.
Official support for recent updates of OSs
The Delphi 11.1 release adds official support for Windows 11, macOS 12 Monterey, iOS 15 and Android 12. This means you can deploy and keep up with operating system requirements. Moreover, Delphi and C++ Builder IDEs constantly make new milestones to give modern features and best practices to develop various types of applications with backward compatibility.
Rich Data & Cloud Aware Components
Connect to over 20 databases natively with FireDAC‘s high-speed direct access, including InterBase, SQLite, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, DB2, SQL Anywhere, MongoDB, Firebird, Access, Informix and more. So, with Fire Data Access Components, you do not have to worry about connecting to databases.
Moreover, Delphi and C++ Builder provides their set of components to work with cloud services. Additionally, its underlying architecture is built to utilise the platform’s HTTP library, which can give a performance boost.
The REST Client Library is the key to connecting any REST service without writing any code line and applying LiveBindings Designer functionalities to create apps like in the low-code development platforms but with a promise of flexibility and customisation options.
Here you can see how easy it is to integrate StackOverflow REST API into FireMonkey cross-platform and native applications.
Compile and Deploy High-Performance Native Apps with Delphi
I have experienced several difficulties with specific Android development platforms while deploying or building cross-platform applications. But with RAD Studio, you can quickly deploy and create installable applications with multiple clicks.
- Provision your apps for Windows 11 with integrated MSIX support!
- Support for Microsoft’s WebView 2
- Go from Ad Hoc to App Store fast – Produce application bundles that can be deployed to Windows Store, Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
- Compile & Build for macOS (M-series Apple Silicon) and Android API 30 with the latest platform-tools
- Define files to deploy by platform and build configuration. Specify specific files and deployable libraries depending on the selected platform
- Quickly deploy files directly to Android, iOS, Linux, Windows and macOS from the Delphi IDE.
Design Beautiful Mobile and Desktop App UIs with Delphi FireMonkey
FireMonkey framework is known by millions of developers and its fabulous architecture. It is one of the best and most stable visual frameworks for cross-platform responsive UI development. As you know, Microsoft is also developing its new visual framework for cross-platform development. It is currently in development, and it has similar underlying architecture. But as you can see, we have had the FireMonkey framework for over a decade, and it got matured and become a vibrant framework with its visual and non-visual components.
Moreover, the third-party components and libraries have become the key to 10x productivity.