There are certain valid reasons
to consider the usage of emulators as a means of testing. There are many free
emulators available in the market that offer various screen resolutions or
device mimicking that allow you to view what your product shall look like on a
specified device. Another reason for the use of emulators is that the typical
user interface issues, like screen sizes, can be found and alleviated on real
devices only. They further allow real time data extraction, which provides the
developers with the necessary information required to debug issues.
However, we believe that they are
not sufficient enough for the final testing of a product purely because they
are not able to cover all the functionalities that need to be tested to ensure
the compatibility of the product. From our own experience, testing on physical
devices provides most accurate, clearest results. By doing so, you avoid a
common pitfall of using an emulator which is finding inaccurate results.
Although it is completely impossible to cover the full range of devices
available, below are some key reasons to why we feel that you should use real
devices:
The Look and Feel
Emulators cannot guarantee the
look and feel of an application. It also cannot adequately judge the
responsiveness of the applications on a particular device via emulation. The
other look and feel drawbacks of using emulators are that you will be unable to
test the brightness of the display, the color scheme, and the pixel density
under the varying lighting conditions or while moving around.
Device orientation is another key
reason for using physical devices. Emulators are not reliable enough to authorize
how your application shall respond when the device is being switched from the
portrait to landscape view, or to replicate the actual user experience.
The Usability
An emulator may not be able to
replicate the real user experience of a touch screen device. Traditional
computers utilize the power and precision of a mouse control, something that is
not used in the everyday lives by those who use mobile phones and tablets to
access applications. With the continuing increase of handheld devices over
traditional computers for accessing information, execution is more commonly
performed by hand now. This is slower and less accurate; hence, it is important
that the UI reflects this form of operation.
The Connectivity
Testing with emulators does not
provide an accurate account of the conditions and the scenarios the
applications will face when being accessed by a user who is moving around. They
are unable to account for the real world effects such as the location, signal
strength of the carrier, or simply the different between the indoor and the
outdoor conditions.
The Software
Despite being new to the
industry, the mobile sector is much more fragmented, with the key providers
being iOS, Android and Symbian. The developers have to work in multiple
development environments, which complicates the development and the testing
processes. The newer operating system will have the capability to support the
newer functionalities, actions and render something that the older operating
system versions shall not. Emulators are incapable to describe this difference.
The Hardware
Memory related issues are
commonly found in mobile compatibility testing. Device fragmentation has
increased significantly over the past year with more than 4000 device
configurations found this year. Emulators have difficulty in replicating the
user experience between the low and the high end devices. This is because the processor
of the PC is 10 times more powerful than that of a given android device.
While the emulators are able to
test some major functionality, they are highly limited and need a physical
device to ensure if the application is tested completely. There is no other way
other than using the physical device itself for testing the power consumption
and proficiency of your application. If the application causes stark strain on
a user’s device, then they are highly suspected to continue using it.
Final words
One of the key reasons organizations opt for using emulators
over physical devices is the cost of procuring abundant devices. But, any real
physical device testing is preferable over none. Emulators are a useful tool
for testing devices, and certainly have their place, but to provide accurate,
realistic evaluation of the user experience and an in-depth analysis of the
functionality.
A probable solution to this can be to hire an external test
lab like the one provided by
BugRaptors.
BugRaptors is a CMMi5 certified
quality assurance company with an extensive experience in
Compatibility Testing
and various testing services. Visit the website for more insights.
