Flutter Heroes

New post on /r/flutterdev subreddit:

Why do I not like Flutter user experience?
tl;dr: This post will compare React Native and Flutter, again... I would like to clarify my ideas instead of only reading "Flutter is best, it is the future" and other market predictions. I know that Google has more money than Facebook.I was recently looking for the best Framework to build cross-platform apps (Android, iOS, and if possible desktop and web). I made my research trying apps built with different technologies:Ionic 5 is a "webview": it is slow and heavy (and has a limited access to the native API), I have quickly forgotten it.React Native: it is still heavy, but I love how it feels like native apps. I already tried it, in Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud and Discord.Flutter: This new trendy technology appealed me, of course. I did not find any app in production from big company, in Occident. I tried the Flutter Gallery. It was terrible, it was like "Flash" as I red somewhere else. This was my turn-off, and why I ended with React Native.How Flutter Gallery runs on my Samsung Galaxy S9 (video is at 60fps): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_g0slGVuM It is jerky, especially when I push on the top-right menu.Some people experience the same difference of feeling.I made other research and I found that Flutter is actually using its own renderer, Skia (and redraws — emulates — all Material and Cupertino elements). On the opposite, React Native use actual native elements from OS.What I have understoodReact Native is called native because it is using OS API to draw interfaces. It is built with a JavaScript engine, on top of native code (I mean, Java or Objective-C). This JS engine is heavy and slow, but most of the UI do not rely on it to be drawn.Flutter is native because it uses a language compiled to ARM machine code. It also uses its own renderer. This renderer is also compiled to machine code, but still, it is stand-alone and not using OS API. So it directly (?) relies on the CPU or GPU capability of the smartphone, independently of the hardcoded optimizations on which some constructors count.In my opinion, Flutter bet on the last flagships raw performances to make smooths app, leaving old smartphones behind and accelerating planned obsolescence. Even if Flutter apps are slightly smaller than RN apps, is it worth to have a light jerky app on an cheap/old smartphone which does not have enough space? Or is it necessary to reduce app size in flagship which has already hundred of gigabytes memories?BUT Flutter appeals me more and more, especially with its trend. Flutter has now more stars than React Native on GitHub.I like developing with React Native. I am accustomed to this framework and I like the community. However, there seems to be a consensus on how it is better for developers to deal with Flutter, and I red several times "that most real users either won’t notice or won’t care about the animations not being 100% native" (debatable argument, according to me). And also, "beautiful" and "fast" are the keywords for Flutter. But I am still looking on how these "beautiful" and "fast" are pertinent for most of apps.Do I miss something, staying with RN? Is there really a choice between UX and development experience?

April 22, 2020 at 12:51PM by nrsldr
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