The most important feature of NS Basic/App Studio 1.1 is support for PhoneGap.
PhoneGap is an HTML5 app platform that allows you to author native applications with web technologies and get access to APIs and app stores. It takes your NS Basic/App Studio app and packages it so that it is acceptable for Apple’s App Store, Google’s Marketplace and other platforms.
It also provides additional API functions not found in NS Basic/App Studio.
Depending on platform, these can include:
- Compass
- Camera
- Contacts
- Files
- System Information
PhoneGap is free.
Here are a couple of tutorials to help you get started.
Distributing apps using PhoneGap is much more complex than webapps. Android/PhoneGap has a complex installation procedure. While iOS is easier to get going, the 4+ gigabyte download and the complications of the App Store make it at least as complex an undertaking.