Mobile crossplatform application: HTML5 vs Flash

I have to create a mobile application which will work on diffrent mobile platforms: ios, android, windows, symbian and others

The application will use google maps a lot and some dialogs with user: several chechboxes e.t.c. No complex graphic

I see two ways:

1)Flash: write application on actionscript. However it additionaly needs AIR libraries on client mobile phone. I have no exact information how these applications works on ios. Some sources of information says that now AIR permit flash apps to work fine on ios.

2)HTML5: maybe hasn't so many possibilities as Flas开发者_Go百科h, but as I think, html5+javascript can do all I need. If I choose this option, I'm going to create a very simple shell for each mobile platform which will open html5 page.

So I'm interesting in your opinion in this question: maybe I missed some details, nuances. What is more perspective, better for application with described functionality?

Or maybe you have anouther, third option?

Maybe you want to check out jQuery Mobile. It's still a beta but it promises a nice solution to build a web app suitable for both phones and tablets on almost all mobile/tablet platforms. Check out http://jquerymobile.com/

Since AIR can't support all the platforms you target and it has some other issues like file size (especially an issue on android) and performance I would select HTML5. Please note that full HTML5 support for Windows Mobile is announced in the form of IE9 for somewhen this year, meaning it's not supported yet.

As for wrapping your HTML5 app, I would suggest you checking out PhoneGap which allows you access to the underlying OS. There's an inofficial PhoneGap package for WM7 but I yet have to use it, so can't give you any details on the restrictions it has.

Check out http://www.phonegap.com/about/features for a list of features supported on different platforms. Phonegap can be extended with plugins and self written native code in case you miss a feature.

Check http://savagelook.com/blog/portfolio/appcelerator-vs-phonegap-vs-adobe-air for a comparisson of AIR, PhoneGap and Appcelerator.

HTML5 since this is better for SEO and iPhones /iPads don't support Flash. I think chrome or Firefox will be available @ WP7 soon so then you will have HTML5 supp there too.

HTML5 would give you a broader reach, specially since you want to use the Google Maps API, that currently can't be used in AIR apps on iOS (as I understand it).

Using AIR, you can currently develop apps for Android, iOS, and BlackBerry Tablet OS (not Windows Mobile or Symbian).

you need AIR if you need to communicate with the SO, if you need to save files in local device, etc...

Of course the good thing in Flash is that you don't need to take care of the rendering output, it will be the same in every device, but you should find problems for the support (I don't know if it's still supported in Symbian). AS3/Flex in FlexBuilder it's a really good environment to develop, it saves a lot of time.

If you look for html5/js probably you will be able to support more devices, but probably you will spend much time on testing in different devices...

When your app is really web-app (you said Google Maps, that works online only...), and you plan to have common/light graphics design, probably html5/js is the best for you.

F.