I'm not going to look at how simple it is to write a "hello world" app, as that might be very easy, although the framework might be horrible. It's pointless to compare a framework based on "hello world".
For each framework I'm going to look at the following key points:
- Is it easy to get started?
- Is it easy to extend the library? (If some functionality is needed cross-platform)
- I'll briefly investigate these features, as they are needed for my current project:
- Drag and Drop
- Text to Speech
- Basic image manipulation
- Basic access to camera
- Drawing/painting
- JSON support
- HTTP(S)-request support
- Custom user interface placement
- Custom user interface elements
- Audio playback (simple)
- Deployment to supported platforms
- Pricing (Yes, I think pricing is important to look at, although there is always a hidden cost for a "free" framework: usually workload )
- Direct access to platform APIs or are they wrapped? (sometimes, you need to dig deeper than the framework wants you to....)
The frameworks in details:
