This document discusses mobile application testing. It begins with an introduction to the author's experience in mobile development and quality assurance. It then covers trends in mobile technology and applications. The main sections discuss approaches to testing mobile applications, including requirement analysis, challenges for different mobile platforms, and focus areas for testing like performance, security and compatibility. Automated and manual testing strategies are also outlined.

1. Introduction - Mobile Testing
Rakesh Kumar Jha
Sr. Consultant – Mobility
M.Tech, MBA

2. Contents
• Introduction
• Mobile Trends
– Mobile Evolution
– Top Ten Trends
– Mobile Ecosystem
– Smartphone Trends
• Mobile Application Testing
– Application Option
– Approach to QA
– Challenges
– Implementation

3. Introduction
• 10+ years of experience working in the IT
industry providing solutions and
outsourcing services focused in the areas
of application development, quality
assurance, mobile application
development, and business intelligence.
• 6+ years working with Mobility. serving in a
variety of capacities including current
position as SSE, Lead, Sr. Consultant.

4. Introduction
• Experience working with clients to identify
major challenges faced within their
organization and implementing customized
business solutions that are cost effective and
centered around increasing productivity,
company revenue, and streamlining
processes.
• Active member of PMI, HIMMS, Mobile Apps
User Groups, and Hadoop User Group

5. Mobile Evolution
• An average consumer spends 127
minutes a day on the mobile phone
• There are 4.5 times as many mobile
devices in use as there are PCs
• 79% of mobile users in the US now
have smart phones and this number
is going up at a very rapid rate

6. Mobile viewpoint: Top Ten Trends

7. Mobile Ecosystem Framework

8. Smartphone OS Marketshare

9. Mobile Application Options
9
Weak User Experience Superior
Low Development Complexity High
SMS/Text
•Simple functionality
•Does not support complex
interactions
•Ubiquitous access
Mobile web
•Standardization issues
•Varying form factors
•Needs continuous connectivity
•Inconsistent implementations
On Device
•Rich, fast client
•Best UX
•Offline capabilities
•Development challenge
•Platform fragmentation
•Resource intensive to develop, test
and maintain
Mobile Web 3.0

10. Mobile Portals Vs Native Applications

11. Approach to QA
• Requirement Compatibility Analysis (RCA)
– RCA is the most important step for mobile
application testing, as it gives supported
networks, media content types, file transfer ports,
supported file sizes, accessibility of file structure
of devices, memory limitation for the application
available in the devices, etc.

12. Approach to QA – Challenges
• iPhone/iOS:
– The testing matrix is a bit simpler as there is only one device manufacturer - The challenge is still to
make sure the iPhone applications work across iOS versions.
– This challenge, along with Apple's strict limitation on UDIDs, has made testing a major hassle for
developers
• Android:
– Is more complex in terms of its testing matrix - Each new app - and each new app version – has to
function as expected on multiple device models from various manufacturers.
– Functionality on mobile devices with touch screens vs. physical keyboards.
– Performance on various Android OS versions - .
– BlackBerry:
– Even more complex in terms of its testing matrix as applications need to be tested on various
devices.
– Functionality on mobile devices with touch screens vs. physical keyboards ; and a number of OS
versions
Note - BB & Android allow running multiple applications in background

13. Approach to QA – Test Planning and
Strategy
• Test Plan and Strategy
– Devised custom mobile test strategy based upon the
business requirements.
– Based on the requirements of the mobile application,
finalized the best applicable approach out of Full
Automation, Partial Automation or manual testing to
test the mobile application and also develop a suitable
framework for the automation testing
– Test strategy specifies the test approach and the best
framework.
• Unit and Integration Testing ; Functional and System Testing ; Compatibility
Testing ; Network Connectivity Testing ; Performance Testing; Security Testing ;
UI Specifications in Cross-mobile OS ; Acceptance Testing.

14. Mobile App Testing - Areas of Focus
• Application Launch
• User Interface
• Functionality
• Stability
• Security
• Connectivity
• Personal Information Management
• External incoming communication
• Voice Call Handling
• Performance

15. Mobile Apps – Manual & Automated
Testing Approach Types of Testing Manual Testing Automation Testing
Devices Emulators
Standard Testing
Integration Testing No Yes No
System Testing Yes No No
Regression Testing Yes No Yes
Special Type of
Testing To Address
Specific Challenges
Compatibility
Testing
Yes No Yes
GUI Testing Yes No No
Types Of Testing
More Relevant for
enterprise Mobile
Applications
Performance Testing Yes No Yes
Security Testing Yes No Yes
Synchronization
Testing
Yes No No

16. Mobile App Testing
– Usability testing: Usability testing should happen as soon as the
basic stable for the application is ready. This is also true in order to
test whether the application UI is user-friendly or not, or whether
some part/functionality of the application is easily discoverable or
not. Also, usability studies should be done for the different types of
devices, such as touch screen devices, since the user has different
experience for the same application on these devices.
– Some Key Criteria:
• Device specific UI guidelines
• Text entry
• Finger sized targets
• Well organized work flow
• Consistency
• Call handling
• Response times

17. Mobile App Testing
– Performance testing: Performance testing is key criteria
for the application success on the market. It may happen
that application testing is carried though wi-fi network
under which application might perform well, but it also
happens that application has the poor performance for
the end-user who are accessing site through the mobile
carries. Application must be tested with different devices
+ carries wise mix depending on the county and region.
– Some Key Criteria
• Network
• Battery
• Volume
• Rendering

18. Mobile App Testing
• Compatibility testing: Compatibility testing assures that a
given application works as intended with selected devices
with different screen sizes, resolutions, and internal hardware
(memory size, processor speed, and button/input
differences).It defines the feasible compatibility combinations
of devices and interfaces for a specific testing assignment, in
concurrence with the customer’s requirement.
• OS
• Device
• Screen resolution
• Synchronization testing: This testing focuses on data
exchange and synchronization among different mobile
devices, PDAs, and PCs using infrared frequency and USB
ports.

19. Mobile App Testing
• Security testing - All the tests relevant to a thick
client application can be applicable to mobile
applications.
– Authentication checks
– Input Validation checks
– Session Management checks
– Encryption checks
– Application checks
– SQL injection checks
– LDAP injection checks
– XPATH injection checks

20. Testing Process
• Ensure functionality of the site is stable – Test
mobile applications on the desktop browser
• Test on device emulator to get the
browser/platform coverage
• Test on the device itself to find the device
specific bugs

21. Tools and Resources Used
– Test Automation
– Mobile Interactive Testing Environment (MITE)
– SQUISH (http://www.froglogic.com/)
– 3rd Party Testing Labs
– Perfecto Mobile (http://www.perfectomobile.com/)
– Device Anywhere (http://www.deviceanywhere.com/)
• Crowd Testing
• Challenges:
– There is no one automation testing tool to cover all the mobile
devices
– GPS can't be tested on ALL the targeted devices in 3rd party test
labs
– 3rd party testing at test labs is very slow compared to physical
testing

22. Conclusion
• Scope Definition
– Device/OS selection, keeping track of ever-changing trends
– Requirements Compatibility Assessment
• Investment to build expertise in specific areas of expertise in
Mobile space
– Areas of Focus/Critical to Quality Areas
– Tools and Technologies and Resources
• Comprehensive Test Strategy - judicious mix of manual and
automated testing