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Testing Requirements for Mobile Applications

Testing Requirements for Mobile Applications. Dennis Soh Article authored by: Valéria Lelli Leitão Dantas, Fabiana Gomes Marinho, Aline Luiza da Costa, Rossana M. C. Andrade. Background. Explosion of mobile technology 60 million smartphone users in US in 2009

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Testing Requirements for Mobile Applications

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  1. Testing Requirements for Mobile Applications Dennis Soh Article authored by: Valéria Lelli Leitão Dantas, Fabiana Gomes Marinho, Aline Luiza da Costa, Rossana M. C. Andrade

  2. Background • Explosion of mobile technology • 60 million smartphone users in US in 2009 • Expected to grow to 142 million by end of 2011 • iPad, other tablets growing in popularity

  3. Background • Android, iOS, Palm WebOS, Windows 7 among mobile OSes • Each has unique properties, including unique development environment, programming language support, etc.

  4. Problems • Testing software on mobile devices has unique challenges • These must be considered early in development

  5. Key factors • Mobile Context • Environment limitations; e.g. screen, (lack of) keyboard, etc. • Mobile User • On-the-go; not sitting at a desk • Mobile Application • Different aspects of the device that the software can interact with; network operator, I/O interfaces, etc.

  6. Any test plan needs to consider these factors!

  7. Research methodology • 2 questionnaires, sent to 40 professionals at 15 companies • Professionals worked on >1 mobile app, >3 months experience in mobile app dev. • Questionnaire 1: for developers • Questionnaire 2: for QA

  8. Proposed Testing Requirements

  9. Testing Requirements • Development process model must focus on testing process • Incremental process most popular; used by 70% of professionals surveyed • Test process should consider mobile context; 85% of professionals not using test process designed for mobile

  10. Testing Requirements • Mobile applications must be tested on both emulator and real devices

  11. Testing Requirements • Test reports must document details about the test environment (emulator/device, device model, OS version, etc.) • Testers must verify that application does not harm any existing applications • Interruptions (e.g. someone’s calling you) must be handled appropriately

  12. Testing Requirements • Applications must be tested according to their targeted mobile context limitations • Memory, CPU, screen size/resolution, power, etc. • Test process must differentiate between features to be tested in controlled environment and features to be tested “in the field.”

  13. Testing Requirements • Usability testing specific to mobile applications must be included in testing phase • 56% of professionals perform usability testing, only 18% do so in field • Mobile user must have a clear sense of the state of the application. • What have you already done? What can you do now? Can you undo actions?

  14. Testing Requirements • Application must support change in device orientation • Portrait/landscape format • Application must ask for permission before making connections • What if user doesn’t have unlimited data? Lawsuit!

  15. Testing Requirements • UI layout must be appropriate for mobile devices • Minimize scrolling, appropriate contrast in background/text, appropriate text size, etc. • Important/irreversible actions should require confirmation • Easy for user to make mistakes due to screen size/imprecise input

  16. Testing Requirements • Sound (if present) should be useful and be integrated with device’s sound controls • Buttons should act in manner appropriate to the device • E.g. don’t bind the “exit” or “back” key to positive actions such as select and “OK”

  17. And the Survey Says… • No real consensus on the “right” way to test mobile • Very limited adoption of automated test tools (only 10% of professionals surveyed)

  18. Testing the Tests • Researchers applied test requirements to a mobile shopping app • Test requirements were found to be beneficial in highlighting areas of concern specific to mobile apps

  19. Conclusion • Testing for mobile has unique challenges • Vastly different spread in hardware configs • Mobility • Hardware constraints • Recent proliferation of mobile devices -> lack of consensus regarding development • Companies are “winging it”

  20. Conclusion • Proposed requirements offer a “starting point” • No comparison point because this is presumed to be better than “winging it” • In future.. • Requirements should be refined and prioritized • Requirements specific to certain categories of applications should be defined

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