PhoneGap, the popular open source framework for building cross-platform applications, has released its second major version.
PhoneGap has been in active development for a while, and is currently in the process of transitioning to the Apache Foundation as Apache Cordova.
This is a framework that any mobile or web developer should know about, as it allows developers to write web applications using web standards that can be packaged for multiple mobile platforms. The web apps have more access to native features than they would in a web browser. So a simple enough Cordova / PhoneGap -based application could be packaged as is for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, bada, Symbian and webOS.
The latest release of Cordova adds a number of interesting features to the platform. First and most important is the ability to integrate Cordova inside non-Cordova applications. Cordova can then be part of the view of a larger application. This is different from a standard WebView as in this case Cordova APIs are also available to embedded content.
Also added are the new command line tools for creating building and debugging Cordova projects.
Among other features is a improved apps framework for iOS, support for Windows Phone, and a unifies cordova.js file that works across all platforms. The documentation for the site has also been improved.
You can find our more about this release over at the PhoneGap blog.
