22-Oct-2019
Mobile Application Testing - Emulators Vs Simulators Vs Real Devices
By Suraj
22-Oct-2019
By Suraj
A simple definition of mobile application testing would go like this “Mobile application testing may be a technique by that associate application code developed for hand-held mobile devices is tested for its practicality, usability, and consistency. Mobile application testing could also be automatic or manual reasonably testing.”
To go forward assuming to test a mobile application for an online flight ticket booking system we would take the following in note.
• Functional Testing
• Compatibility Testing
• Localization Testing
• Laboratory Testing
• Performance Testing
• Stress Testing
• Security Testing
• Memory Leakage Testing
• Power Consumption Testing
• Interrupt Testing
• Usability Testing
• Installation Testing
• Uninstallation Testing
• Updates Testing
• Certification Testing
Suppose we have a tendency to developing an associate application for a flight price ticket booking system. Once the product is entirely developed, as vicinity of mobile application testing, we want to visualize if the application is functioning for sure with all the majorly used devices like automaton phones, iOS and alternative different types of tablets and iPads.
To do this type of testing, we want to acquire every device and so we will test if the applying behaves as per expectation. Affirmative!!! You thought right, as a product owner one can rebelliously notice this terribly big-ticket to obtain such an outsized variety of mobile devices and do testing. Thus is there any good alternative available?
The solution to the current drawback is to use Mobile Simulators and Mobile Emulators. These are primarily software programs designed to supply simulation for vital options of a smartphone. They’re terribly similar in nature, thus typically, they're used interchangeably.
Let’s compare however testing on associate Emulator/Simulator is totally different from testing on a true device –
| Real Device | Emulator / Simulator | |
| Price | Getting real devices can value you a lot. | It's nearly free, we have a tendency to simply got to transfer and install them. |
| Processing Speed | It has quicker processing, but network latency could also be traditional. | It's slower as compared to actual devices. It’s discovered less latency than real devices connected to the native network or within the cloud. |
| Debugging | Debugging isn't that straightforward. | It provides a bit-by-bit debugging of the associate application. Also, it provides associate economical means for capturing screenshots. |
| Web-app Testing | Testing Web applications may be tested in a normal way. | Testing an online application is far easier. |
| Reliability | Testing on a true device includes a major advantage that it forever provides correct results. | It cannot simulate all kinds of user interactions; thus it's going to cause false results typically. Thus it scores low once it involves dependableness. |
A simulator/emulator cannot mimic the subsequent options.
• Mobile device battery
• Mobile device’s camera
• Difficult to mimic interruptions like incoming calls and SMS.
• Not the most realistic simulation for mobile device memory usage.
Let us currently perceive a lot of regarding mobile emulators and mobile simulators. There are subsequent table lists the foremost distinction between a simulator and an mobile device emulator for testing.
| Emulator | Simulator | |
| What it mimics | Mobile device software Mobile device hardware Mobile operating system |
Internal behavior of the device. It doesn't mimic hardware. |
| How to get it | It is usually provided by the device manufacturer. | It's typically provided by the device manufacturer or another company. |
| Internal structure | It is written in machine-level programming language | It's written in application-oriented language. |
| Debugging | It is a lot of appropriate for debugging. | It’s not appropriate for debugging purpose. |
| Performance | Emulators are extremely slow. Emulating the particular hardware typically makes the software run slower than it would natively. | Quicker than emulators. |
| Example | Google’s Android SDK | Apple’s iOS Simulator |
So, what's the most effective selection for mobile app testing? Best follow indicates that, whereas actual development is current, we must always use an associate emulator or a simulator for mobile testing. Before finalizing the product, there ought to be a sanity check from chosen real devices. As an example, there's an enormous variety of automaton smartphone users, therefore the good selection is to possess a sanity check for the most recent automaton device and regression may be conducted over simulators.
Suraj
Suraj is an ISTQB certified Automation Test Engineer at BugRaptors. He is responsible for Automation testing on Web and Mobile application and API Automation. He is also aware about RPA Automation using UiPath Automation Tool. He has working knowledge in Selenium Web driver(Web application), Appium(Android and iOS), API automation (Rest-Assured).
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