>>>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/technology/publishers-straddle-the-apple-google-app-web-divide.html
>>>
>>>I lean toward the browser myself.
>>>I don't see how the app stores add value.
>>
>>Hmm. A well designed app will usually beat a well designed website. And designing a website that will work well across multiple devices is not 100% effective - although Bootstrap or similar can help.
>>
>>Also, the article is primarily about content publishers. Building a good website for other purposes such as business application is even harder - for example access to hardware services such as GPS, orientation etc. still has a way to go with HTML5
>>
>>My 10c....
>
>Thank you for the 10c Viv
>
>My clients are generally looking for remote data capture and inquiry, so a browser does quite well and doesn't have all the overhead of an app.

I think the problem with apps is that you really need both an Apple and an Android version - at least (with a few tweaks) a browser based version avoids that.
I worked on what might be a similar requirement to yours last year - data recording on a browser based app which also recorded GPS data. WIth HTML5 we had pretty good off-line capability (using local storage and cached pages). Biggest headache was designing a good navigation UI for small screens.

>Christof stopped by at the VFP Philly group en route to SW Fox and gave a fascinating talk on how to capture those sensors in .NET and VFP.
>It's quite hairy, but he can do it.

System.Device.Location has been in .NET since v4; SystemSettings.ScreenOrientation since WindowsCE

>Going way, way back, there were a similar conflict between the dumb terminal and the smart terminal.
>Michael Bloomberg bet his career on the (very) smart terminal and made billions, but just about every airline is still using dumb (comparatively) terminals, as are most ATM's.

I guess devices that only need to support a browser can be pretty dumb :-}

Off topic, out of curiosity I bought a new 'smart watch'. To my surprise it actually works quite well - touch screen, throws up messages, makes phone calls, controls the camera. Also include a thermometer, barometer, altimeter, stop watch, calendar and pedometer...

Cost: $15 on Ebay !!