On the Energy-Efficiency of Hybrid UI Components for Mobile Cross-Platform Development

Kurzfassung

The increasing use of mobile apps in everyday life has led to an increased demand for efficient and cost-effective mobile development methods. One such method is mobile cross-platform development (MCPD), which enables the creation of apps from a single codebase for multiple platforms. However, previous research has shown that MCPD approaches can have higher energy consumption than native development approaches. In order to address this issue, this paper proposes the use of Hybrid UI components, which are a combination of native and web technologies, as a means to improve the energy efficiency of cross-platform UI components. Four selected Hybrid UI components were implemented and evaluated regarding their energy-efficiency against native and hybrid mobile development. Results indicate that for two UI components, a substantial increase in energy-efficiency was achieved. However, for the other two UI components, no improvement, and in one case, even a degradation in energy consumption was observed. The study concludes that Hybrid UI components are a promising approach, but further research is needed to ensure their energy-efficiency in all cases.