Xamarin is a new cross-platform development tool which is based on the Microsoft Technology stack, which allows some of the major platforms to share around 90% of the code. With the Xamarin tool, mobile apps can share a single language, C#, while still possessing all native features.
Ultimate Advantages of Using Xamarin:
- Native Experiences:
They claim that if you want a quality app, then you must develop it natively, that has become outdated. Many of the big companies such as Pinterest, Coca-Cola, Siemens are using the Xamarin to develop their apps. Xamarin gives you an ability to develop apps for the Android, iOS, and Windows phone with shared C# UI Code and shared C# logic.
- Cost part:
There is no need for separate resource working on the app. Thus, reduces the costs for developing and expenses for maintaining the app.
- Hardware:
Xamarin allows for a native level functionality. It offers support for the hardware features such as the camera and other sensors with the special plugins and platform-specific API’s.
- Maintenance:
Because the app is being developed with a codebase that is shared across the different platforms, you can even avoid many bugs in the code and decrease the time and expenses for maintaining the app.
Disadvantages of Xamarin Platform:
- Some of the hardware functionality, such as geolocation tracking, multi-touch events, gestures, etc., have more restricted for the longest time period. Moreover, because Xamarin is an open-source, more and more developers create new plugins and API’s.
- Xamarin apps are heavier: An app that is developed natively will even occupy fewer megabytes than a Xamarin app.
- Xamarin community is small as compared to any other platform. This leads to setbacks in developing new features and API’s. It was the reason many considered Xamarin a cheap alternative for app development compared to the proper native approach. But due to the facts that Xamarin SDK is open source and a free tool within the Microsoft Visual Studio, it keeps growing. Some of the new plugins and API’s are even being developed every day, and many issues that Xamarin previously had have already been solved.
