Statista estimates that the global number of app downloads in 2020 was 218 billion, meaning that mobile app testers will have to do more testing and optimization.
In addition, testers are constantly looking for services that provide real device cloud or virtual testing platforms for testing their apps on various devices.
Testing mobile apps poses difficulties for the testers and team. Hence, your testing shapes your final product at each stage. Hence, a lot of factors come into play. First, the user’s behavior and prior analysis can affect the CTA button’s placement.
Point-By-Point Analysis
1. User Interface
94% of people form their first impressions of a brand’s website based on its design. A good user interface is critical for web and mobile applications. As a result, thorough testing is also essential.
Because there is no hardware involved, Real device testing platforms perform well when testing user interfaces, so for complete accuracy real device testing tool is the best to go for.
2. Network Conditions
The issue with network conditions is that they change. While most people now use 4G networks, maintaining consistent connectivity remains difficult.
Users may also operate on various bandwidths, which we cannot predict. For example, mobile device testing focuses on offline data management.
Almost every testing option includes a network bandwidth throttle, which allows you to tighten or loosen the bandwidth numbers.
Network conditions include hardware, software, and network reception issues, among other things. A simulator will not provide you with accurate results. Real devices are accurate and can aid in testing.
3. Sensors
Many sensors are available on mobile devices; if your app uses any of them, you must test them. Among the well-known sensors are:
- Light
- Accelerometer
- Proximity
- Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Magnetometer
Temperature and relative humidity sensors are also included in mobile devices. Because sensors involve hardware, testing sensors on real-world devices is critical. Therefore, testing accuracy is crucial because we must meet user expectations.
Certain games, for example, may use the gyroscope sensor to allow users to play by tilting the screen. Users anticipate that their game will respond to the sensor. Any lag or delay can cause users to abandon the game.
Testers use emulators to test sensors during the early development and testing stages. Once you’ve reached the final stages of development, real devices will assist you in gathering accurate, valuable insights into the operation of your app.
These insights will assist you in resolving any sensor issues.
4. Performance
Performance testing is essential if you want to know your application’s stability, scalability, responsiveness, and speed. Performance analysis assists in locating problems with the software and enhancing its quality.
Developers use this test to assess an app’s processing speed, network bandwidth usage, workload efficiency, and application output, which enables them to identify areas that need improvement and resolve them. Here is more information on performance testing.
Identifying the load time on devices, network condition parameters, and traffic bandwidth threshold are examples of specific benchmarks in performance testing.
The load time and traffic bandwidth threshold can be tested using simulators, but many of these benchmarks can be tested on actual hardware. Real testing of mobile devices produces precise and thorough results.
5. CPU Usage
A single app can manage hundreds of processes at once; however, mobile devices may become hotter due to increased CPU use, further reducing battery life.
Metrics related to memory and GPU usage also affect CPU usage. As a result, simulators are unable to test controlling CPU usage.
Therefore, testing on real devices is necessary to obtain precise readings that genuinely assist.
Simulators have benefits; in some situations, using them in the early stages of development can be beneficial. However, as we’ve seen, it’s evident that testing apps accurately is best done on real devices.
6. Battery
Despite their best efforts, mobile device manufacturers cannot prevent all battery-sucking apps from being installed on mobile devices. Therefore, when creating your app, it must not drain the battery. This must be completed on a real device cloud.
A highly developed simulator cannot simulate various device battery drain scenarios or app behavior. Therefore, you must conduct your testing on actual hardware to obtain reliable and insightful test results.
7. Device Management
100 to 300 (or 500) different devices can be invited to a mobile application test matrix.
While purchasing many devices can be expensive, maintaining them can cost much more. As a result, older devices continue to be phased out as new ones enter the market.
Maintaining your device lab includes investing in new ones regularly. But on the other hand, you must always keep each device’s operating system, firmware, and other components up to date. All of this takes a lot of time, which costs a lot of money when multiplied by 300–500.
Your issue can be resolved with real device cloud testing because you won’t have to worry about device updates. Instead, the service providers handle all maintenance work.
Why Is Real Device Cloud Testing A Better Option?
The real device cloud is a mobile testing environment that lets users connect to real devices and test their apps on various Android and iOS devices directly from a desktop browser.
Using real device cloud testing, you can test your native apps for functionality, compatibility, and reliability.
If you can afford to buy devices and hire people to build the device lab, you should, but the cost of implementing this is the primary concern, and it is undoubtedly one of the factors you should consider when deciding to build your own device lab.
So with a device lab, you need to pay more for coverage, unlike real cloud device testing.
Why Testgrid Public Cloud?
You Can Perform Cross Browser and mobile app Testing With TestGrid Public Cloud.
Users can test their websites on real devices in the cloud using various desktop and mobile browsers or OS combinations to provide their customers with the best UI/UX.
1. Mobile App Testing
You can Test mobile applications on thousands of real devices connected to carrier networks and increase sales by creating a cutting-edge mobile app for your users.
2. Performance Testing
A single-stop platform for end-to-end application performance testing.
3. API Testing
TestGrid API Testing is a lightweight, web-based API development suite with a minimalistic UI that is 70% faster than traditional API automation.
4. Network Level Testing and more
Users can simulate their networks and test them in various conditions on the TestGrid public cloud, gaining real-world user experience.
Conclusion
I believe that real device cloud testing is preferable if you use real devices because it is more convenient. They are not like renting a data center from AWS, where the costs eventually reach millions of dollars.
Real Device Cloud maintains competitive pricing with a range of plans for various teams and customized enterprise plans.
They are cost-free and allow your teams to concentrate solely on testing. Each organization aims for increased development cycles and quicker and more timely software delivery as the end result.
