To be fair, browser apps do have their advantages:
- text is selectable
- content is zoomable
- you can have an ad/nuisance blocker
- page source is open
While native apps have their own advantages:
- much smoother experience esp. navigation, scrolling, animations, etc.
- better overall performance (JavaScript will always lose to the native binary)
- access to hardware opens new possibilities; audio, video accelerators etc.; there's a ton of things you can't do in the browser with audio for example
- widgets, some of them are nice and useful too
- for publishers: an app icon on the home screen is a reminder, a "hook" of sorts; this is the main reason they push apps over web versions
- text is selectable
- content is zoomable
- you can have an ad/nuisance blocker
- page source is open
While native apps have their own advantages:
- much smoother experience esp. navigation, scrolling, animations, etc.
- better overall performance (JavaScript will always lose to the native binary)
- access to hardware opens new possibilities; audio, video accelerators etc.; there's a ton of things you can't do in the browser with audio for example
- widgets, some of them are nice and useful too
- for publishers: an app icon on the home screen is a reminder, a "hook" of sorts; this is the main reason they push apps over web versions