Mobile Apps Testing

These days you're very unlikely to find someone who still doesn't own a mobile device, and practically everyone has access to gadgets of some kind. We have become so used to mobile devices that our daily tasks seem more difficult without these useful assistants at hand. It doesn’t matter whether you’re making a phone call, writing a note on the go, reading your e-messages, checking the news or stock market quotes, or perhaps you just want to play your favourite game during the odd spare moments - all of these options are available through your mobile device. One consequence of the enormous versatility of mobile technology is that more and more companies are developing software for mobile platforms, and demand for a mobile applications testing service is rising too — the product needs to be perfect, right?

The market for mobile devices is so large, and there are a great number of platforms catering for these devices, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and the less popular Symbian, MUI, Palm, Open webOS and, of course, BlackBerry which is still on the market. You can see how difficult it is to choose one, and this is before we consider the myriad manufacturers out there!

Mobile app testing is our life — performing well-orchestrated activities to achieve goals with minimum losses, but maximum gains!

There is a lot of work to do before the actual hands-on testing: we need to study the individual project and all its peculiarities, particularly focusing on the client’s needs and specifications. Next we have to write down a test-plan and other test documents - these will form our road map for testing. Finally we demonstrate any bugs and system inconsistencies, and complete a detailed report on product quality.

Many people ask us about the types of testing that should be included in mobile app investigation. Well, let’s take a look.

While testing mobile apps it's important to take into account the unique nature of the platform you’re working with, to understand its running principles in different situations. These mobile platforms and their different versions are so dissimilar, and sometimes the sheer number of things to think about can be a little intimidating!

…but we are NOT afraid of these beasties, having already domesticated them. Each of us has chosen a favorite platform and since then has been successfully developing relevant skills, but that’s another story... :-).

Some things to remember while testing mobile apps

1. While testing you should always remember about the individual quirks of each version of a mobile platform.

2. It is very important to keep up-to-date with the latest hi-tech news so that you’re aware of, for instance, the appearance of new mobile platforms, such as Win Mobile OS and Chrome OS.

3. Look around! There are a lot of web-enabled devices and gadgets on the market. Tablets, phones and all kinds of multimedia devices are built upon different hardware platforms and have different display resolutions, which you should pay close attention to.

4. It’s crucial to check the interoperability of your app and those already used by the system, keeping in mind third party applications. Running them together shouldn't impair their operation or cause any system failures.

You should consider these types of testing:

  • stability testing — long standing running test; memory leak detection;
  • stress testing — product test for severe impacts;
  • functional testing — test for compliance with requirements;
  • localization testing — built-in language packages test;
  • usability testing —product's ease-of-use test;
  • smoke testing — basic functions test (if it works at all);
  • regression testing — product changes test.

Because we are talking about mobile apps, we have no other option but to consider stores’ requirements towards app approval. Once again, we must always keep in mind our client’s expectations and do our best to fulfil them :-)

What exactly were phones originally meant to do? Run messengers and games — nope, they were designed for making calls! So the last bundle of tests targets interruptions to phone calls:

  • incoming calls/SMS/MMS;
  • connecting to a computer;
  • charger plugging and unplugging;
  • WI-FI/3g connection/disconnection;
  • handling signal from alarm clock/reminder/push-notifications;
  • player play/stop;
  • sleep mode.

Anyway, the most important thing in our work is the passion for success,self-improvement and new challenges.

That’s all for today,

to be continued…

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