The official blog of the Ionic team, covering the Ionic mobile framework, Angular 2, Ionic Native, and progressive web apps.
HN links it for Ionic release announcements, and commenters cite it when choosing Angular 2 because Ionic 2 shares code with web front ends.
We've been working on the next version of Ionic with Angular 2, and I've been really impressed by it. No more two-way data binding and going crazy with ngModel, scope oddities are gone, etc. Scope is replaced by component instance data, and controllers by component constructors and methods, just like it should be! Building components is a lot easier than directives, and they can be extended and composed in a more OO fashion. It's way more accessible and easier to learn than v1 was.
Also, it's actually a lot closer to being ready than people think. We've had relatively few roadblocks despite the alpha status. It tries to do less than v1 did, which we appreciate as a framework extension.
So, obviously we are heavily invested in Angular, but we also see the v1 design issues firsthand and are the first to admit Angular can, and should, be better (though people are building amazing applications with it today). I'm convinced v2 is going to be great for the project and switching costs won't be as terrible as previously predicted.
Plus, it's going to make v2 of Ionic a lot faster and better, so I'm all for it.
(also, we are starting a series of posts on how Angular 2 works, if you're interested: http://blog.ionic.io/angular-2-series-introduction/)
One of the reasons behind this is because people mostly consume content on mobile devices. But there is also another reason.
To install app you first need to open play/app store, then find app you need, then download/install it and then find it in your list of apps when you need it.
"40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load"
Installing app takes at least 30 seconds. I hate it when i visit website and it load native app, let aside installing new app.
This is one of the reasons why i believe Progressive Web Apps will replace most of native mobile and desktop apps in near future.
Hybrid mobile apps are just a step in that direction. Browsers just need to implement all APIs for access to device native functions, and Google is already pushing in that direction. Some of functionality already exist via Service Workers.
You can actually build Progressive Web App today:
http://blog.ionic.io/what-is-a-progressive-web-app/
Sworkit was supposed to be an example of a complex app for ionic, not sure what else is out there. I've used that app and can say it seems pretty solid (no crashing, locking up my phone, etc.)
http://blog.ionic.io/built-with-ionic-sworkit/
I did a pet project using the vibration feature and it worked pretty well, but haven't tried on an iphone.
I can't speak for pushing the limits of the hardware though.
One specific reason I am personally choosing Angular 2, is that the Ionic2 Framework also uses Angular 2 [0].
So I can re-use code from my front end website on my native mobile apps for the new startup I'm launching. Much less code = quicker time to MVP, and lower cost of development.
[0] http://blog.ionic.io/angular-2-ionic/
Agreed. Amazingly, we released our version of this within the hour: https://reploy.io. And many other frameworks are doing the same thing. http://blog.ionic.io/announcing-ionic-deploy-alpha-update-your-app-without-waiting.
What I could find:
https://github.com/driftyco/ionic/issues/3311
http://blog.ionic.io/angular-2-ionic/
It will happen but no solid ETA. Would be nice to find the code.