How Can Flutter Help Android App Developers?

Flutter is Google’s latest open-source, multi-platform, and free framework, which can be used for creating mobile applications. It uses Dart as its programming language, which is heavily inspired by languages like JavaScript and Java.

One of the most important advantages of Flutter is that it helps provide reactive views without requiring the need for a JavaScript bridge which greatly contributes to the performance.

The flutter mechanism consists of 3 major components:

1. Flutter Engine: Flutter makes supports by making use of the Google skin graphics library. This also allows you to avail of interface platform-specific software development kits similar to the ones provided by Android or iOS, written in C++.
2. Foundation Libraries: Foundation libraries in Flutter are written in Dart and help provide basic classes and functions used for creating an application using Flutter.
3. Presence of Design-Specific Widgets: Design-specific widgets help express the part of the user’s interface in a mobile application. The material design consists of widgets that help implement the design language of Google with the same name.

Is Flutter on the verge of replacing Java and Kotlin?

The above-mentioned qualities shall be the advantage of any top Flutter app development company. Besides that, Flutter has not failed to deliver quality standards for iOS and Android. This has helped it become a strong contender for hybrid applications and is strongly considered a strong alternative to Java. It is mainly because of the following reasons:

• Better productivity: Comparison studies obtained through development endeavors taken at BrainMobi has indicated that it takes an average of 3 months for 3 engineers to bring out an application for Android. While using Flutter, the same result was obtained in 3 months using just one engineer, that too for both Android as well as iOS. Not only had that but the quantity of code comprised just one-third compared to that written in any other language.
• Easy Layout and Backend: Android comes with a separate layout for Java/Kotlin files using which a developer gets a reference to views, after which he is able to alter them for the backend files. Flutter addresses this using a single dart language for design as well as the backend and uses a native framework that eliminates the reference to widgets.
• Dart Influence: Java has been in the store for a long time, and it’s due to get outdated with the evolving features. Dart consists of a lot of features taken from various popular languages without losing the native familiarity of Java or any other similar language and still making it more versatile.
• Flexible Single-Code Base Mechanism: Using common widgets which can be executed separately for Android or iOS helps save a lot of coding time for developers. In the case of using Kotlin for iOS or Java for Android, it was fairly difficult and hectic to monitor your code when working separately. The single code base can be easily executed for Swift and android studio in tandem.
• Quick Compilation Time: Besides incorporating quick measures to obtain smooth execution in terms of compilation. This is what contributes to giving a similar standard of performance when both iOS and Android are put to comparison. This can be compared with the standards of a native approach undertaken with Java/Kotlin.

How Flutter Assists Android Developers?

Both Android and Flutter belong to Google. Flutter was launched in 2017 and until then a lot of drawbacks in Android had been discovered. While it comes to the advantage of an Android developer in several ways, let us look at the primary 4 reasons that contribute the most.

1. Presence of Flutter Widgets: Owing to their immutability, Flutter widgets are fairly lightweight. It consists of its own separate material components library and adheres to the material design guidelines. Material design contributes a lot to flexible design systems that are optimized separately for Android as well as iOS. This aids in business application development as developers can exercise the flexibility and abundance of design choices.
2. Flutter Libraries: Flutter aids platform-specific functions using call actions on the platform side. Prior to this, it was implemented on platforms using native languages in their corresponding platforms. Flutter has an abundance of platform-specific libraries that lets a developer create applications as per the performance standards of a particular platform.
3. Flutter Architecture: When it comes to managing applications with large classes, inconsistent naming schemes, mismatching, or missing architectures, the native approach of application development can bring a lot of burdens to the process. Flutter, on the other hand, provides a lot of flexibility when it comes to deciding how to organize and develop rapid applications. This assists with the advantage of a mobile application development company that is at times faced with the responsibility of managing a volume of complicated tasks.
4. Intuitive Design Capability: Application design trends in modern-day standards bring in a lot of demand from designers and developers for motion-rich UIs and mobile-first designs. Flutter is optimized to drive pixels instead of OEM widgets. Utilizing the same renderer, framework, and single set of libraries for a particular UI, Flutter helps to achieve quicker and faster app development missions.

How Does Flutter Compare Alongside React Native & Xamarin?

There are plenty of ways in which Flutter competes with React Native and Xamarin. Let’s take a few points into consideration that override the development capabilities of Xamarin and React Native.

• AOT Compiled Language: Flutter makes use of Dart, which is an ahead-of-time compiled language that lets applications communicate directly to a native platform. Whereas React Native makes use of a JavaScript bridge that helps compile the code for the respective platform. This affects compatibility and allows Flutter developers to build complex applications without compromising much of the startup and performance time.
• Hot Reload: The hot reload is a feature that instantly helps a developer examine his/her code to the pace of a web page. More importantly, it is stateful which means developers do not need to restart the application for every minor change. In comparison to React Native and Xamarin, this assists greatly in saving time and contributing to the quality and test routines of a code.
• Unique Widgets: Flutter is independent of any platform-specific UI components and rather has a widget of its own. It consists of material design widgets for Android, and it also offers Cupertino widgets for iOS. This helps developers craft custom solutions to the UI requirements of Android or iOS. Unlike the case of React Native or Xamarin, which relies on external widgets hence excluding the case for custom solutions.
• Device Compatibility: Mobile applications made using Flutter offer a diverse range of device compatibility. Its native widgets are compatible with the operating system version starting for Android iOS 8 and Android jelly bean. This won’t affect much, even if Android and iOS come up with a new set of widgets, either. This is fairly fading out in the case of applications built using React Native or Xamarin.
• Extended Packages: Flutter comprises several packages, which include tools for handling images, HTTP requests, Web socket connections, various net protocol clients, push notifications, and embedded databases for accessing device sensors and cameras. This was done keeping in mind the kind of requirements that would erupt in the future. Pre-existing platforms like React Native and Xamarin.

Conclusion

Owing to the properties of widgets and independent libraries, Flutter exhibits a lot of development advantages in comparison to React Native or Xamarin. With the upgrades that shall be witnessed in the subject of upcoming mobile hardware, it shall be really crucial to know what a particular language can help you avail.

Flutter, as of yet, seems to be prepared for all the upgrades as it seems to care less about the pre-existing functionalities in the current frameworks. Thanks to our endeavors in the mobile application development field, we have given critical thought to every potential problem that your mobile application can face and look to address it as well.

Besides all of the above advantages, Flutter holds great risk for applications developed using React Native. This is attributed to the fact that Google is making significant strides with Fuchsia to have in store with other competitors. As a result, Flutter app developers shall be a much-required asset for any mobile business application enthusiast. If you have any queries or ideas for a mobile application that seeks some long-term sustainability, feel free to write to us at sales@brainmobi.com.

Guest Author: Ashish Sharma is a content specialist at BrainMobi and contributes towards building its business. As a keen enthusiast in technologies and software, Ashish aims to keep its readers constantly updated with current breakthroughs and advancements in the mobile domain. He aims to bridge the communication gap between coders and aspiring mobile app developers by lending them the best insights and information that could be valuable to them in terms of keeping updated with the current trends in the field of this particular knowledge.