No surprise that testing of mobile applications is a much more painful task than testing the Web ones. Mobile phones can differ from one another dramatically, and this will radically change the way people see and use mobile applications and websites. There are a lot of different cases and dependencies that need to be considered for every single mobile device. I’ll point out several of them to cast some light on the problem scale.

First of all, it’s all about the application type – it can be native, cross-device, sms-powered, and a web application. Then, we need to consider carrier, handset manufacturer, model, OS and a browser. All these can give us the information about screen size (small vs. large), screen layout (portrait vs. landscape), input device (numeric keypad, QWERTY keypad, touch-screen), etc.

Here, at Cogniance, we experience each type of mobile applications testing, but the most exciting and bright experience was with Native applications development/testing. The application under test was Brew Mobile Client connected to the social network. It was developed for a predefined range of devices under Verizon Wireless carrier. I’m not going to describe the whole testing process and methodology, but the main bottlenecks were numerous certifications, signature files, application testing under a real network, using DeviceAnywhere Studio to cover required set of devices, and a lot of other extremely expensive procedures.

I would suggest moving towards the mobile Web applications. Think about it: If you’re creating a website, you don’t have to get permission from a carrier. You don’t have to get something certified by anyone. You don’t have to beg for being placed on the deck, and you don’t have to pay half your revenue to a reseller. In fact, the carriers, handset and OS vendors probably won’t even be aware of your existence. It will just be you and the user, communicating directly.

“The business of making native apps for mobile devices is dying, crushed by a fragmented market and restrictive business practices. The problems are so bad that the mobile web, despite its many technical drawbacks, is now a better way to deliver new functionality to mobiles. I think this will drive a rapid rise in mobile web development, largely replacing the mobile app business. This has huge implications for mobile operators, handset companies, developers, and users.” Michael Mace, a product planning and marketing executive in Silicon Valley.

Written by Alexey Koval

Tags: mobile testing, Quality Assurance

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Mobile technologies, Quality Assurance and testing.
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6 Responses to “Mobile Applications Testing (Part 2)”

• Roman says:

  August 13, 2009 at 3:48 pm

  very good article
• Denis says:

  August 14, 2009 at 10:42 am

  there, at Cogniance you should try testing mobile version of your site))))

  j2me actually has concepts that answer many questions, but the bad thing is that every manufactor deploys java machine wich contains additional features, which are widely used by developers therefore. but this causes mulfunctioning of compiled apps on other platforms, which do not have features of original platforms used by developers.

  so i consider sun corp concepts to be improved and way to build real cross-platform apps should be defined strictly, for java vm not to be modifyed anyhow, and for developers to be qualified enough to develop apps which will run on every(!) java-powered device

  maybe, VMWare will be another player on this market. or, maybe, citrix. we’ll see later)
• shubhangi says:

  August 15, 2009 at 4:52 am

  i am shubhangi working as a Qa freelancer.i want to know the process & testing methodologies about mobile application testing please let me know.
• How do i synch ipod touch applications and games to my ipod touch? | Ipod Touch says:

  August 24, 2009 at 2:17 am

  [...] Mobile Applications Testing (Part 2) | Cogniance [...]
• wow power leveling says:

  September 1, 2009 at 2:13 am

  Excellent tips .I really appreciate all these points, and I agree completely…
• do i have to transfer my ipod touch applications to new pc itunes? | Ipod Touch says:

  September 14, 2009 at 8:14 am

  [...] Mobile Applications Testing (Part 2) | Cogniance [...]