Transfering data from a server to an Android Mobile application: a case study

Nowadays, due to the incredible grow of the mobile devices market, when we want to implement a client-server applications we must consider mobile devices limitations. In this paper we discuss which can be the more reliable and fast way to exchange information between a server and an Android mobile application. This is an important issue because with a responsive application the user experience is more enjoyable. In this paper we present a study that test and evaluate two data transfer protocols, socket and HTTP, and three data serialization formats (XML, JSON and Protocol Buffers) using different environments and mobile devices to realize which is the most practical and fast to use.

The authors would like to acknowledge FCT, FEDER, POCTI, POSI, POCI and POSC for their support to GECAD unit, to the project PSIS (PTDC/TRA/72152/2006) and for the PhD grant (SFRH/BD/70248/2010).