You have developed a mobile application and probably have
tested it on an emulator and a browser or two and now you think it’s ready for
release. Before this is done, let’s consider the state of the application. At
this stage, the mobile application not only appears to function correctly,
which most probably is a good thing, right?
Can an emulator really show you how a real device should
work when used with a mobile application? Certainly not. A web browser can show
you what you mobile app will look like on a real device, but there are many
important areas of functionality that it cannot show you like the memory usage,
the CPU difference, the touch screen functionality.
There’s merely a slight difference between the ‘expected’
and the ‘actual’ behavior on a real device. So once you have decided to test on
a real device, there are some important things you should be considering:
Which
mobile devices are needed?
There are numerous hardware versions and operating system
versions associated with each device. This initially boons a dilemma, but we
can exclude older firmware (operating systems) and hardware, why? As per facts,
99% of the users will upgrade to the latest firmware whenever possible to gain
the benefit of and new enhanced functionality and fixed bugs.
Yet again, you can exclude older versions of hardware, mainly
if it is several years old and no longer supports the latest available firmware.
Most users with these types of devices will upgrade when their device appears
to be out of date. To be brief, aim to test on the latest firmware and hardware;
this basically gives you a longer period of mobile App endurance.
What if you
can’t afford to buy real devices?
Most carriers usually offer mobile devices at cheap prices
if you sign a lengthy contract with them. This does not seem to be a viable
option as you just want to use it for testing. Devices can be bought without
contracts too, but that’s an expensive bet again, especially when you are to test
iOS apps.
The most economical testing solution is to use devices of
the company you do are testing the apps for. They already have made huge
investments in purchasing the hardware, so you can definitely use their
devices.
Should I
get a certified App test done before its release?
As a developer, you are just one set of eyes. It is really
important to get every app tested before its release. Get it done by your
peers, and then by in-house or outsourced software testers. This is vital as
once your app is released and out, you cannot really do anything about it, and
if may have diverse effects on the feedback and your sales.
The pluses of using a professional app testing service is
that they have experience of testing a variety of techniques, such as Functional,
Performance, Usability, security testing etc. on many other applications
formerly. These professional testers will know where to look for the defects in
your app and provide you with an all-important degree of confidence which you
will get only by an experienced tester.
Which
network providers should I use?
It is contingent to the country where the testing process is
being carried out. As a matter of fact, as long as the testing takes into
account network specific testing, the carrier should not matter at all.
For instance, an application tester will customarily test on
poor, medium and good signal strengths to test the behavior of your app under
some conditions. Hence it doesn’t really matter if these tests are carried out
only on Wi-Fi networks but also on a 3G carrier providing network.
Therefore, to conclude, you’ll certainly have to spend a
fortune so as to get efficient results for mobile application testing. With some prudence, you can meritoriously reduce the number of
real devices you need for the testing purpose and not have to pay your riches
to ensure the quality of your mobile application.
Bugraptors is a
professional web and mobile testing company providing the best testing services
around the globe.
