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New to Ionic. Trying to decide if it is a good choice for my project. However, I can't find a good answer to one particular question.

How does the Ionic Framework render an app in an android device?

Does the Ionic Framework produce a private browser session and disguise it as a native app, or does cordova actually render the app in a more native way?

Any guidance is appreciated.

Frub
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Ionic does create something of a "private browser session" (more akin to simply using the HTML and JS to run a web app while maintaining a "native app" feel and look), while Cordova mostly deals with how the application interacts with native APIs (like the Camera or the Splashscreen, for example).

It is worth noting that Ionic's main feature is to provide a mobile-friendly front-end experience.

Gabriel Lovetro
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  • Do you think Ionic is a good framework for developing tablet applications also? For example, a tablet app that would be the device's primary use? – Frub Mar 15 '17 at 16:41
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    Yes, it scales to tablet as well. And you can have customized styles for tablets as well. Really, you can do everything possible in the device's browser. – Prashant Ghimire Mar 15 '17 at 22:09
  • As @PrashantGhimire said, it works 100% for tablets as well. In fact, I helped develop such a tablet-oriented application using Ionic myself. – Gabriel Lovetro Mar 16 '17 at 11:16
  • What would you say it can't do (or it is not good at). Security? Graphics? Slow performance? – Frub Mar 21 '17 at 13:37
  • Latest updates have focused on improving performance and by now it's mostly the same as a native (there are a few exceptions, of course, depending on the app) - older versions used to generate apps that were visibly slower (in all manners) than native apps. Aside from that, the fact it needs Cordova to access native features means that you will depend a lot on Cordova plugins. If there aren't any that do what you want to do, then you will need to develop your own (which involves native code). – Gabriel Lovetro Mar 21 '17 at 13:54
  • That said, there are a LOT of plugins and other npm/bower libraries that do all sorts of things. Just be aware of things like Ionic 2/Angular 2's Typescript (there are some plugins or libraries that are in Javascript only and need typings to work with Typescript). And I am not knowledgeable enough about security issues to tell you if it's worse or better than native - just know that the only thing keeping folks from looking into your source code is uglify and simplify scripts (compressing and making the code generally unreadable by humans). – Gabriel Lovetro Mar 21 '17 at 13:58
  • The app that we have to build is going to be 'always on' (its an in-store app for a business). Does Ionic drain battery much more quickly than native android? – Frub Mar 23 '17 at 20:40
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    I did a quick search through SO and found this answer, which might help you: [link](http://stackoverflow.com/a/24291017/7468384) – Gabriel Lovetro Mar 24 '17 at 11:11