As a moderator on the Ionic forum and also a blogger, I have some tips and tricks to share with you.
Regardless of the framework you choose, low-level Android smartphones can pose a challenge. However, most issues can be resolved.
The most common CSS3 features that cause performance issues include:
- shadows (especially box and text shadows)
- opacity
- gradients (although less problematic than the others)
It is advisable to utilize CSS3 hardware-accelerated features to offload processing to the GPU, freeing up the CPU for other tasks.
I have written an article on this topic which you can find here.
In addition, two major challenges on low-level smartphones are view animations (transitions) and list performance.
If you have a large list, consider using collection repeat feature in Ionic. For smaller lists, classic ng-repeat with native scrolling enabled can enhance user experience.
To improve view transitions, you can use the Cordova Native Transitions plugin for nearly flawless results. Check out a demonstration with video examples here.
For reference, see below:
Classic CSS animations (poor performance):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/niHxogcq2F8
Native Transition animations:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mJifdqoIJ_s