I agree that when every possible an application should be a web app that works well (or at least adequately) on a mobile device. This is the approach that I’ve taken with nderground. However, there are some things that can’t be done via a web app.
For example, exact location information may be difficult to access via a web application. A web application does not have full access to local files. For example, an alarm clock application may be built to play music that the user has downloaded to the device.
A web only application may use more network bandwidth than a device application. This could be a problem when there is poor cell network connectivity.
The answer may be a combination of device application and web features. This is the direction we may go for nderground in the future since I’d like to have features like location check-in. This would allow a user to “check-in” to explicitly check-in to their group when they arrive at a location (we will never have check-in by default).
