Comparison of selected network communication methods on the Android platform

This paper is devoted to comparing three communication methods between mobile applications and servers. The analysis encompassed the results of six tests conducted using HTTP and HTTPS protocols, and server-socket technology. All sending times of data with various sizes between the client application and the server, and the impact of this operation on the processor load and battery use, were evaluated. The experiments consisted of sending and receiving a form, sending and receiving a large photo, and ensuring continuous communication to assess device use. To perform the analyses, an Android application was created to support the researched technology, while the server side was composed of programs written in Java, running on a Tomcat server. The conducted research made it possible to establish the best solution, which is server-socket technology.