Android :: Mobile 'Web Wrapper' Framework Allowing Device Access To A Remote Site?

When I first ran across PhoneGap, I was excited because I envisioned simply dropping in the URL of a mobile site and simply updating the mobile site to use the devices capabilities when available.

Alas, it seems it is not that easy.

From what I understand (and I could be incorrect), any HTML/JS access to the device's hardware is limited to local 'pages'. So essentially create a HTML/JS local 'web' app to access the 'real' mobile web app by AJAX like calls. It seems a little redundant (at least to me) when the point is to simply extend the interface an existing mobile site.

Not trying to knock PhoneGap here, just wondering if there's a similar framework that allows a remote site to access the phone's hardware directly. Or if I've missed how that can be done with PhoneGap.

(Sure, I know "allows a remote site to access the phone's hardware directly" sounds scary - but the URL is hard-coded in the app, and HTTPS could provide authenticity. Of course, security is probably why this isn't supported by PhoneGap.)