Overalltheme:

Betterperformance
Simplierconceptsandcode
Fastertobuild
Modularity
WebDevelopersalreadyhavetheskillstoquicklybuildhighqualityapps
Betternavigationcontrol

JSandTypescript
Bydefault,youregivingJSfile,butitssupereasytoswitchtotypescript
BenefitsofTSisthatyoucangetmoreinformationwhenwritingyourcode.
Ionic2itselfiswritteninTS,soyoucangetcodecompletionandintellisenseforfree

Components
ItsjuststandardizedclassesandES7decorators.
WithJSclasseswereabletofollowUIpatternscommonlyseenfromotherlanguages,
andplatforms,suchasiOS,Android.
WhatsgreataboutAngular2isthatwereusingstandardJS,andnotmakingupnew
patterns.

Navigation
Usesamorenativeinfluencedpush/popnavigationsystem
IonicisnottiedtoanyexternalroutersortheURLbar.
URLSeparationgivedevelopersmuchmorepowerinhowtheycreateandmanage
views
Allowsdeveloperscreateanavigationstackanywhere
InsteadoflinkingbyURLs,youpushanewviewintothenavstack,andpoptogo
back
Youcandynamicallycreateyourappshistory
ThebrowsersURLcanstillbeupdatedtorepresenttheappscurrentstate,toallow
viewstobelinkedtoandapprefreshed
AnIonicViewisnottiedtoonespecificUI.Forexample,thesameViewcomponent
couldbeanormalview,oritcouldbeamodalthatslidesit.TheViewcomponentitselfis
unawareofhowitllgetdisplayed.

Animations
Useswebanimationsapi
https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2014/05/WebAnimationselementanimate
isnowinChrome36
https://w3c.github.io/webanimations/
ChromeandAndroid5.0comeswithitbakedin
Provideshighperformance,hardwareacceleratedanimationsthatareeasytocreate,
customizeandmaintainwithinJS

PolyfillforiOS/Safariprovingtobeasolidpolyfillofferinghighperforminganimations

PlatformsandModes
Structuredfromthegrounduptoadjusttotheplatform
Outoftheboxprovidestwodifferentmodes:iOSandMaterialDesign
MorethanjustdifferentCSS,butalsoprovidesdifferentinteractionsandtransitions.
Forexample,thesidemenuforiOSandMaterialDesignactcompletelydifferent.
Itsnotaboutemulatingthevariousplatforms,itpurelyaboutmakingsureyourusersare
immediatelyfamiliarandcomfortableusingyourapp,becauseithasthesamelookand
feeltowhattheyreuseto.

Colors/Themes
EasilyprovideyourowncolorsinaSassmap
Addandremovecolors
Createyourowncolornamesifyouwant
Easilycreateandapplydifferentthemes,suchasadarkorlighttheme
Simplestartingpointtoreallycustomizeyourapptofityourbrand
http://ionicframework.com/docs/v2/theming/

IconswithIonicions
Over800readytogo800icons
Simplemarkupusingthe<icon>directive
Automaticallyadjusticonsaccordingtotheplatform
AddsappropriateARIAattributesforaddedaccessibility
Fonticonshaveproventoperformbetterinlargescrollablelists
SVGfilescanalsobeusedjustaseasilywiththesamedirective

NativePlugins
IonicgetsyoualongwaywiththeUIandinteractions
However,werealizedCordovawasthenextlargepainpointwithwhichdevelopersare
stillstruggling
WecreatedngCordova,andithelpsIonicv1usersdrastically
Butwithv2,wewantedtomakeiteveneasierbyprovidingmanyofthecommonlyused
plugins.

Modularity
Sass,ES6andCordovapluginshaveallbeensetuptotakeadvantageoftheir
modularity
Ioniccaneasilybebuiltuporbrokendowntojustthepartsanappneeds

IonicStarter
ES6introducesnewchallenges,suchastranspilingES6codetoES5,andbundling
modules.

Ionic2usesnpm
Ionicstartersalreadycomewiththesetupfilessocanjustrunnpminstall&&gulpwatch
Useswebpacktobundlefiles,alreadysetuptogo
BuiltwithinIonicCLI

PreAlpha
Angular2isstillinalphaandisnotproductionready
AngularteamhasfirstfocusedondevelopingwhatthecoreofAngular2"is"
Angular2filesizehasnotbeenoptimizedforminificationyet
Angular2bootstraptimehasnotbeenoptimizedyet
AsAngular2reachesbetatherewillbesignificantstartuptimeimprovements

Simplicity
Ionichandlesalotofthecomplexitythatcomeswithng2
Thingslikebootstrappingyourapphasbeenreducedtoatag
IonicCoreDirectivesandServicesareautomaticallyinjectedforyourapplication.