Disclosure: I work here and I'm super proud of the diabolical machine we built which transpiles the JSON config created by the visual builder into RN/React apps for iOS, Android, web, macOS and Android TV. :)
AppGyver dev here! The core of Supersonic is framework-independent, so we're not at a risk of becoming stuck with an old version. We're monitoring AngularJS 2.0 closely, and will bring all relevant components up-to-date when the time comes to switch over (or we'll keep providing legacy support if that seems like its required).
As an example: unlike e.g. Ionic, our navigation is not built on top of AngularJS, but leverages the native navigation stack instead. Angular can be used to enhance the core Supersonic bits (as we do in many places), but it's not a lock-in.
AppGyver dev here – I hear you, the build service wait times are a real pain, especially when you are debugging a custom plugin and need to iterate quickly.
However, local builds are on the pipeline – can't give a date yet, but you'll definitely be able to build your AppGyver apps with Xcode/Android Studio. (We'll provide the AppGyver Wrapper code as a library you can include in your project.)
AppGyver employee here! The QR code sharing is just icing on the cake (tasty icing, but yeah) – the basic functionality of creating a stand-alone IPA/APK and sharing it via TestFlight or TestFairy is still there, just as strong as it is with Cordova/Ionic.
Good point about a whitelabel scanner, though – we'll consider options to make the flow of sharing a prototype/development version even better.
Yup, Polymer is doing exciting stuff – the declarative native UI components in Supersonic are actually implemented using web components (meaning they're really framework independent), and we utilize their polyfill since the web component spec is not supported in browsers yet. You can see the source code at https://github.com/AppGyver/supersonic/tree/master/component...
We didn't embrace Polymer more fully for various reasons (like it being a very WIP project still), but the Polymer web components should all work fine with Supersonic apps.
The big unique thing is the native UI and navigation – instead of running a single WebView and doing everything in the DOM, we actually shuffle around multiple WebViews by leveraging the native navigation controllers (and native UI elements like navigation bar).
This means that you can e.g. have your details view running in the device memory even when it's not visible. Then, when you click on a link on your index page, the details view animates into view using a hardware-accelerated, native transition. Same for tabs – switching between them is instant, since no DOM needs to be redrawn. It's a whole separate WebView being brought onto the screen.
AppGyver employee here – the part from Ionic we forked is the great CSS defaults, so it's more like "Ionic CSS + AngularJS + Cordova + AppGyver stuff". What we bring on top of the CSS framework is native navigation, native UI components, data etc.
Come build the future of no-code with us, so that only those so inclined need to learn how to exit Vim.
(Also looking for React Native/React artisans to join the team building our client runtime, full description coming soon!)
https://www.appgyver.com/careers