Future of Mobile testing

What is the future of Mobile testing? This is a question I have been asking myself for long time, but before that do we all know the power of a mobile device. I am sure many of you would agree with me that mobile is one of the best inventions which gives liberty to communicate with anyone around the globe at anytime and smartphones are like icing on the cake.

Mobile -

Mobile being a very innovative and a powerful medium of communication has grown lot more than just being a medium of communication, it acts as a storage device, an important and powerful mode of being connected to the rest of the world. The smartphones are smarter than ever, you can do almost everything using a smartphone – shopping, banking, ticket booking, social/professional connectivity, music, stay updated with world news, browse the World Wide Web, etc. The list is growing every day and mobile devices are becoming more and more powerful.

Mobile has opened up new markets for software applications, the whole new powerful technology is in the hands of a new segment – people who did not have access to computers or internet. Vast no. of applications available on “iTunes” and “Play store” has increased the usability and expectations in terms of quality and performance. Application complexity, higher user experience expectations, multi-channel integration, and external integration with peripheral devices have increased software sophistication and quality standards.

Dependencies on Smartphone in today’s world:

• Communication: SMS, Phone calls, Social Media
• Entertainment: Games, Video and Music
• Utilities: Banking, Payments, Shopping
• Capacity: Alarms, Notes, Email
• Tools: Calculator, Camera, Documents

Trends in Mobile market -

• Everyday increasing expectations on quality – Any defect is a big defect and is totally unacceptable in today’s world as the user doesn’t have time to juggle and live with bugs, the immediate response of the user is to delete the application which does not work as expected.
• Use of HTML5 – HTML5 which is specially designed to deliver rich content without the need of additional plugins and extra amount of work and is enabling mobile app developers and organizations to provide great user experiences with high performance.
• Unlimited options in Mobility – Not just smartphones, it has grown to connected appliances, automated homes and other devices like google glass.
• Retail and Social media – Social Media and online Retail has grown multiple folds as mobile has given power in the hands of each individual to buy products online on competitive prices, make payments, do online transactions with ease and stay connected to the rest of the world with a small handheld smartphone device.

Challenges in Mobile Applications:

Platforms: Each of the platform has its own standards as follows:

• Application interface
• Programing language

Application: Mobile applications have its own limitations and complexities:

• High Interruptions
• Complex data entry points (keypad, touchpads, voice etc)
• Limited size.
• Interaction with other native and third party applications.

Users: Each user is unique and have preferences and other limitations.

• User Preferences: each customer has their own personal preferences.
• Attitude: Emotions implied by the customer's actions and logistics
• Location: Altitude, environmental conditions and even speed

Device – No standardization of devices and form factors, Following can affect the application functionality:

• Screen Size and Resolution
• OS version
• CPU

Network

• 2G, 3G, 4G and WiFi connectivity
• Compatibility with WAP-enabled as well as HTTP-enabled devices.
• Unpredicted latency

Automation: Selection of the right automation tool for Mobile testing

• Gesture based testing support.
• Same code can be executed on various devices

Security:

• Improper Session handling
• Weak Authentication algorithm
• Insecure WiFi network
• Client side injections

Various Testing approaches Organizations can follow:

• Real Time mobile device testing: This approach is the best and safest approach but comes with higher cost. But is the best because you catch most of the issues at your test environment and do not let it expose to customer, hence less post UAT or post production rework.

• Emulators: These are freely available and come in handy to use anywhere, you do not need to carry the device and don’t actually have to depend on and external features like availability in market or battery drains out etc. But most simulators do not exactly function as a real device. Many device specific issues might get missed.

• Cloud devices: These are better than Emulators but not as good as real time devices that you feel in your hand and play with it in order to test the functionality with minute details. It has a cost involved and you can actually pay for only devices that you would be using. For example ‘Device Anywhere’.

• Rapid Rollout schedule: Should always work with rapid rollout of small features to UAT and get customers feedback so that you can fix issues before production cycle.

• Automated Testing: Testing should thus consider the automated testing techniques and tools that can be integrated into agile software development methodologies that enable the constant release and testing of new application functionality.

Thus to achieve high quality in mobile applications the testing practices are made in such a way that it can be opted for vast range of mobile devices with in a shorter span of time.