back to article Lollipop unwrapped: Chromium WebView will update via Google Play

Android 5.0, codenamed Lollipop, has introduced a key change to the WebView component, used by app developers to display HTML 5 content within their apps, making new features more readily available. WebView — based on the open source Chromium project (Chrome without the proprietary bits) — will now be updateable via Google's …

  1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

    About fucking time.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. ThomH

    PhoneGap and Cordova are the same thing

    The former is the name of a distribution of the latter.

    I'm not a fan.

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: PhoneGap and Cordova are the same thing

      Genuine request: better alternatives for a HTML5 app?

      1. Spearchucker Jones

        Re: PhoneGap and Cordova are the same thing

        Depends. If you're doing something with a lot of features, or security, or on- and offline (store and forward messaging or sync), a better alternative for an HTML5 app is a native app.

        If you're doing a basic create, read, update, delete app for a single-table with look-up data, then there is probably no better alternative than HTML because efficiency. Write once, deploy everywhere.

        The native approach is a ton of work, and most people (manager types) don't appreciate that a relatively complex native mobile app often needs more effort than the equivalent desktop app written in Windows Forms or similar.

        1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

          Re: PhoneGap and Cordova are the same thing

          I was after an alternative to Cordova for HTML5 apps, not an alternative to HTML5.

          HTML5 is a bit spotty but, with care, the same codebase can run on Windows' desktop (as a Chrome packaged app) and iOS and Android. And I can do that as one dev. I could never do that if I was writing native for each. There are some compromises, but we're broadly happy with them.

          But writing for mobile is definitely harder than for the desktop. Your app could run 24/7 or be killed suddenly. And people expect extra functions and integration they wouldn't expect on a desktop, but less CPU, GPU and memory to handle it. And then there's the reach. 100,000 users? Mobile stretches my codebase way more than desktop. (Also, I miss C++. *sigh*)

  4. Irongut

    So where does this leave Amazon and the like? Non-Googly versions of Andorid don't have the Play Store.

    Nice way to acheive lock in disguised as a feature Goog. Now where have we seen that before?

    1. ThomH

      If I dare suggest it: Google's vague, thin version of open source (we'll write it in private, according to our priorities, then show you when it's done: the cathedral model, but they'll sell the bibles over in the bazaar) served its purpose, of getting a certain kind of press for a certain audience when Android wasn't yet at critical mass, but is just no longer necessary. As the runaway winner in smartphones, with a mature and well-received product, Google no longer needs to play to that audience and doesn't otherwise desire to.

      There's a bit of devil's advocacy to that statement; I'd love to hear the contrary viewpoint.

    2. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Well as Chrome is also open-source-ish, Amazon et al could, presumably, supply updates via their stores or ship their OS with a fixed version. (IIRC, Amazon Fire already uses Chrome in preferences to the Android Browser.)

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        Anything KitKat uses Chrome as it *is* the "Android Browser" now. I had to disable Chrome as it kept ignoring my preference to use Dolphin or Firefox instead.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Amazon's problem

      You buy your tablet or phone from Amazon, and it's upto them to support it with the latest updates. Given they dont give a crap, you have to wonder who buys Amazon bastardised Android products.

      My Nexus devices are all bang upto date. My Nexus5 is running the latest 5.0 build and it's fantastic. Really smooth, looks fantastic. for a phone that's half the price of a Apple, and 10x better.

    4. Craigness

      They can provide their own web view because it's open source and there is no lock in. They have their own browser, don't they?

  5. Paul 18

    I bet they still didnt unbreak wordwrap / text reflow.

    It's the 5th biggest "WorkingAsIntended" issue at https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/list?can=1&q=Status:WorkingAsIntended&sort=-stars&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars

  6. petur

    Now do this to the rest of the OS

    Would be great if they would manage to only have the HW-specific bits fixed for the device (HAL, BSP, whatever you want to call it), and have the rest of the OS upgradable so that a security issue is the OS can get fixed.

    By now it is clear that handset vendors are not the party to look at for updates.

    Another reason why this gets urgent: just like happened with PC and laptop, the phone and tablet category is reaching a maturity where a current device will have enough horsepower for several iterations in the coming years. So more and more people will find out that their phone or tablet is just as usable in 5 years (if they have a user-upgradeable battery), and having them buy a new one just for the OS is bad for this planet.

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: Now do this to the rest of the OS

      Agreed. But they're already going that way - a lot of Google's libraries (I forget what they call them) update already. And the browser is the biggest outstanding vector.

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