We often do mobile application testing on three platforms IOS, Android and Windows. Share your experience as in the difference you see using these platforms and are there a basic step or approach for each of them.

When there are different mobile OS are available for testing then one thinks about the different UI and user experience provided by them. An application's look and feel changes dramatically when tailor made for different OS platforms. Example: Facebook on Windows Mobile OS, iOS and android is completely different, in that cases the gesture testing, UI transitions are to be considered in mind as it might become too flashy for customer/users. Using what’s App on windows mobile OS gives you a completely different experience all together as compared to the Android, when user sends any voice note from windows os the "mic" icon is displayed on the left hand side however in android it is available on the right. Although it is not a bug but keeping these things in mind can help in making an approach towards testing the products according to the platforms.

Mobile application testing requires testing in all OS available like windows, Android, IOS, but major thing lies in finding the difference in each of them. Same application behaves differently in different OS. These differences are in User Interface, Security Issues, and Speed etc. When we talk about Android, applications are more user friendly compared to windows. Applications like watsapp, Facebook can be customized in android in a much user friendly way unlike windows. When we talk about mapping feature Windows phone uses Bing maps whereas android and IOS use Google maps. This difference creates a different user experience for each of them. This application is found best in windows when we consider Indian maps. While android and IOS Google maps are found better when we consider maps around the globe. Windows OS is best for corporate people who rely on Office to work on their assignments away from office. They provide an instant access to important documents. Considering design issues IOS has such a simple design that even toddlers successfully navigate between menus.

These all issues need to consider as first approach for testing as compatibility issues exist with same application across different OS.

Mobile application testing is a very challenging and dynamic job. Applications need to be tested on different browsers combinations. It is very difficult to say that if a particular and tested application works properly on a device than it will also work as same on another device even it is the same as previous one. This could be because of memory, resolution, hardware and screen resolution. Mobile application must satisfy the industry standards and should be accepted globally without any error.

Many types of testing needs to be done on mobile application as, usability testing, compatibility testing, interface testing, services testing, low level resource testing, performance testing, operational testing, security testing.

The main challenges and risks in mobile applications testing can be mitigated by adopting various tools and strategy. The tools help us in measuring security and compatibility compliances.

What we’re going to see is a radically new and different approach to mobile application testing.

In this age when applications are developed rapidly and world of technology is ever changing there is always going to be the scope of new mobile applications available to the users with choice of contrasting range of mobile OS.
We talk of new approach with the understanding of the need behind providing excellent product in the market with minimal amount of defects in mobile app.
Example to shared is, when user plays a temple run on iOS or Android it has gone through a series of check and validation and then a good product is available to the specific user.
Now the same mobile app is been built for Windows mobile platform (which is new in the market), there are great chances of code break, crashes at different areas, compatibility issues with the OS and in the end increase in the number of issues.
So new things give us the opportunity to understand new approach with radical techniques to break into the mobile application and provide good product to the end user.

 Every month a complete new range of mobile handsets launch in the market thus making it challenging for QA professionals. Lakhs of mobile applications are already there in the market, so its next to impossible for testers to test these apps on every single mobile device. For this best way is to perform testing using cloud computing and thus ensuring cost effectiveness of the project as well.


Also increasing cyber-attacks in mobiles is also a topic of worry, considering, now a day’s all bank transactions can be done through mobile apps. Since budget for testing in case of mobile technology is around 10 percent only so in the coming time a new type of approach or process needs to be there for mobile application testing.

Nowadays, we are observing that mobile technology is advancing exponentially to merge real and digital world together so that user would be able to interact with the digital world using gestures and voice commands.  Some of the examples of such technologies are Google Glass (Head mounted display), Samsung Galaxy Gear (Smart Watch). So to test applications which are used under such technologies we need to device new and different approaches. 


Thus we can say, in the coming days, we are going to see radically new and different testing approaches of mobile applications. 


http://www.linkedin.com/in/mobiletestingqainfotech

Social Local Mobile (SoLoMo) application and challenges faced by Managers

In today's world there are lots of platforms available for mobile application development and also there are challenges with the different network operators. Device orientation is another factor which has to be well tested before developing every page in application. Different hardware and software combinations make is a bit hard to test the application. Unpredictable user inputs make is a challenge for the tester to do manual, integration, Unit testing. As the usages of the mobile applications are increasing, make a challenge for the performance testing of the application.

SoLoMo also known as 'Social Local Mobile is a new emerging trend for mobile devices. As the name suggests the technology is based on the location of the object and user generated reviews.  In today’s world we cannot deny that most of the people turn to smart devices to find a near-by store, restaurant etc. SoLoMo is just another upcoming facility which is much more powerful if used efficiently. These applications are widely being used in promotions and advertisements and testing them is a great challenge.

Today the use of mobile devices to access social media and business/e commerce sites is increasing at a very rapid pace. The hope of social is mobile and as the use of mobiles/smart phones is increasing, users are becoming more dependent on mobile apps. Companies launching the mobile apps for end customers want their application to be fully tested. But with wide variety of browsers and operating systems available in the market for the users it becomes very challenging for the QA to certify any application. To overcome such issues, need of mobile testing labs with all facilities is very important. SoLoMo apps are certainly going to be the future hence the testing of these applications is also going to be more challenging but yet interesting opportunity for the SQA firms.

Let’s analyses some of the challenges that we come across while testing such applications:

1) Variety of smart devices circulating in the market creates a lot of issues as performing compatibility testing on all the available devices in every cycle is next to impossible. To overcome this issue from a tester’s point of view we analyses the market share of the devices and distribute our testing accordingly.

2) Testing these applications  with intersection of other applications, e.g. if we are accessing any SoLoMo application and we have a phone call in between or a text message comes, then how does the application performs whether it resumes correctly or is   interrupted. The answer to this is Crowd-source testing.

Mobile Testing at QA InfoTech

Mobile Testing, Mobile-device testing or Mobile Application testing are in great demand and it does require domain experts to ensure quality.

As a testing company, we have built our niche in testing applications that need to be supported on various devices and operating systems. We specialize specifically in testing applications on Android and iOS devices.

Our Smart devices testing scope spans smart phones, e-readers, tablets, PDAs, notebooks as some of the major categories. With these evolving devices and underlying technology, we strive to bring in our specialized test and domain knowledge to test applications and content on devices. Our frameworks empower us to extend additional test coverage for applications built with latest mobile and web technologies including HTML 5, CSS 3. Some major categories here include:
•Testing for learning content on e readers touching upon areas such as functionality, performance, usability, accessibility, instructional design
•Testing for BFSI specific applications on smart phones covering functionality, performance, security, usability
•Testing enterprise level deployment of devices (e.g. e-readers or notebooks in large scale deployments such as governmental organizations) and associated applications primarily focusing on functionality, performance, security
•Testing common end user applications (in domains such as retail, media, gaming) on devices such as smart phones, e-readers focusing on functionality, performance, usability, accessibility

To Know more: http://www.qainfotech.com/mobile_testing_services.html

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