Mobile Device Testing – Types

Let’s look into the details of different types of testing that we can perform on the mobile devices.

Network Connections

The following table provides a checklist of network connection tests that can be performed for a mobile device.

Sr.No.Description
1Does the app behave according to specification if connected to the internet through Wi-Fi?
2Does the app behave according to specification if connected to the internet through 3G?
3Does the app behave according to specification if connected to the internet through 2G?
4Does the app behave according to specification of the app is out of network reach?
5Does the app resume working when it gets back into the network reach from outside reach of the network?
6Update transactions are processed correctly after re-establishing connection.
7Does the app still work correctly when tethering or otherwise connected to another device?
8What happens if the app switches between networks (Wi-Fi, 3G, 2G)?
9Does the app use standard network ports (Mail: 25, 143, 465, 993 or 995 HTTP: 80 or 443 SFTP: 22) to connect to remote services, as some providers block certain ports.

SD Card Interactions

The following table provides a checklist of checking premiere functions of the SD card interaction with a mobile phone.

Sr.No.Description
1Can the app be installed on the device?
2Does the app behave as designed/desired if there is an incoming call?
3Does the app behave as designed/desired if there is an incoming SMS?
4Does the app behave as designed/desired if the charger is connected?
5Does the app behave as designed/desired if the charger is disconnected?
6Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device goes to sleeping mode
7Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device resumes from sleeping mode
8Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device resumes from lock screen?
9Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device is tilted?
10Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device is shaken?
11Does the app behave as designed/desired if a local message is coming from another app (think of: calendar reminders, to-do task etc.)?
12Does the app behave as designed/desired if a push message is coming from another app (think of: twitter mentions, Whatsapp message, wordfeud invitation, etc.).
13Does the app interact with the GPS sensor correctly (switch on/off, retrieve GPS data)?
14Is the functionality of all the buttons or keys on the device defined for this app?
15Verify that buttons or keys which have no defined function have no unexpected behaviour on the app when activating.
16In case there’s a true “back” button available on the device does the “back” button take the user to the previous screen?
17In case there’s a true “menu” button available on the device, does the menu button show the app’s menu?
18In case there’s a true “home” button available on the device, does the home button get the user back to the home screen of the device?
19In case there’s a true “search” button available on the device, does this get the user to some form of search within the app?
20Does the app behave as designed/desired if the “Battery low” message is pushed
21Does the app behave as designed/desired if the sound on the device is turned off?
22Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device is in airplane mode?
23Can the app be de-installed from the device?
24Does the application function as expected after re-installation?
25Can the app be found in the app store? (Check after go-live)
26Can the app switch to different apps on the device through multitasking as designed/desired?
27Are all touch screen positions (buttons) working when a screen protector is used.

Bluetooth Testing

Bluetooth devices can communicate only within the radius of the 10 meters. Such devices can be keyboards, the mouse, wireless headphones, etc. The following table provides a checklist of Bluetooth tests that can be performed −

Sr.No.Description
1User can able to search all available devices on the range.
2Both data and voice transmissions can be sent through the use of short range networks.
3Both data and voice transmissions can be received through the use of short range networks.
4User can able to disconnect any time.
5While closing Bluetooth ask to disconnect the present connections.
6Bluetooth maximum range is 10 meters.
7Through mobile phone, you can send pictures, videos, exchange business cards and also transfer files to your PC.
8(Device paired) this is a message used to confirm that a user has successfully paired two Bluetooth devices.
9Non-discoverable mode, a device that will not respond to discovery requests.
10Non-discoverable mode, a device that will not respond to discovery requests.
11Non-pairable mode, a device that will not accept pairing is said to be in non-pairable mode.
12Passkey, a passkey is a user-defined password needed to connect to a device from any other device. It is strongly advised to use passkeys wherever possible to avoid unauthorized access to your Bluetooth devices.
13Authentication − The process of verifying the identity of the other end of a communications link. In Bluetooth technology this is achieved by the authentication process based on passkeys and pairing.
14Devices not found, this is an error message which may appear if a search for other devices in range does not find anything.
15Idle Mode, a device is in idle mode when it has no established links with other devices. In this mode a device may discover other devices.
16Known Device testing, a device which is already known about by another device. Either the devices have been paired in the past or some information of the known devices is stored.

Wi-Fi Testing

Testing your mobile phone WiFi connection is a great way to make sure your Internet is operating at the speed promised by your service provider, but you aren’t limited to running those tests on your desktop computer. Mobile phone WiFi testing is a perfect way to test the power of your WiFi signal at various places in your home or office. Given below is the Wifi testing checklist for a mobile device.

Sr.No.Description
1Does the app behave according to specification if connected to the internet through Wi-Fi?
2Does the app behave according to specification of the app is out of network reach?
3Does the app resume working when it gets back into network reach from outside reach of the network?
4What happens if the app switches between networks (Wi-Fi, 3G, 2G)
5Does the app use standard network ports (Mail: 25, 143, 465, 993 or 995 HTTP: 80 or 443 SFTP: 22) to connect to remote services, as some providers block certain ports.

How to Run a Mobile Phone WiFi Speed Test on your Smartphone

Running a WiFi speed test on your smartphone is a simple task. Most convenient are the speed tests that run in your smartphone’s mobile web browser. Just follow the simple on-screen prompts to begin the test. If the online test doesn’t save your results, take a screenshot after the finished test to provide a history.

Some tests are available as apps for both the iOS and Android platforms. To use these, download the app you want. Then follow the instructions to run the test and save your result.

Tools to Perform Speed Test

Speed Test SpeedSmart WiFi & Mobile Network Speedtest − It is compatible with Apple iPhone and iPad. It is a paid application. SpeedSmart is the ultimate iOS speed test utility for evaluating your cellular (3G, 4G, and LTE) and Wi-Fi connection on all your iOS devices. A global server network and a smart speed test method ensure accurate results.

WiFi Speed Test − It is compatible with Android phones. It is a paid tool. With this tool, you can test the speed of your local (LAN) network. Testing can be done on wireless (WiFi) or wired network.

Localization & Globalization

Please see the checklist below to have an idea about localization and globalization testing for a mobile device.

Sr.No.Description
1Text is translated.
2Translations meet the standards of native speakers with respect to grammar and accuracy of terminology.
3Dialog boxes are properly resized and dialog text is hyphenated according to the rules of the user interface language.
4Translated dialog boxes, status bars, toolbars, and menus fit on the screen at different resolutions. They do not wrap and are not cut off.
5Menu and dialog accelerators are unique.
6Visual layout is consistent with the native edition’s layout. For example, dialog elements are in the proper tab order.

Database Testing

There are different ways you can store data in Mobile Apps. In case of Android, you may choose to store your data over server, shared Preferences or SQLite.

SQLite is a lightweight database which is commonly used in Android and other operating systems as well. In order to view data in SQLite, you may need to root the device or you can use emulators for testing. There are some tools in Android Playstore which would help you extract data from this database.

The following types of tests should form a part of your mobile database testing −

  • Database validation testing.
  • Database integration testing.
  • Database performance testing.
  • Procedure and function testing.
  • Trigger testing.
  • CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete) operations testing to make sure they will work on the database.
  • Testing that the database changes are shown correctly on the UI of the app.
  • Search and indexing function testing.

Recovery Testing

Recovery testing is used to ensure that operations can be continued after a disaster. Recovery testing not only verifies the recovery process, but also the effectiveness of the component parts of that process.

Recovery testing is the activity of testing how well an application is able to recover from crashes, hardware failures, and other similar problems. Given below is the checklist for Recoverability testing.

Sr.NoDescription
1Adequate backup data is preserved.
2Backup data is stored in a secure location.
3Recovery procedures are documented.
4All media file has been recovered from the restore point
5All contacts have been recovered
6All the applications has been restored successfully

Concurrency Testing

We generally take the help of concurrent testing to make sure that multiple users can concurrently access a program at the same time. While applying concurrency testing for a mobile device, as such there will be only single user. So it eliminates the need of concurrency testing for a mobile device.

Usability Testing

Generally you get a rig where mobile phone and a web cam can be adjusted to record the usability assessment session.

There are tools available like Applause. They provide a targeted group of survey participants who are handpicked to test your app. What separates Applause from other such services is that you can have a consultation with an expert at Applause, who then chooses the ideal participants based on the consultation.

Given below is the general checklist for GUI testing.

Sr.No.Description
1Can the app be installed on the device?
2Does the app behave as designed/desired if there is an incoming call?
3Does the app behave as designed/desired if there is an incoming SMS?
4Does the app behave as designed/desired if the charger is connected?
5Does the app behave as designed/desired if the charger is disconnected?
6Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device goes to sleeping mode.
7Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device resumes from sleeping mode.
8Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device resumes from lock screen?
9Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device is tilted?
10Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device is shaken?
11Does the app behave as designed/desired if a local message is coming from another app (think of: calendar reminders, to-do task etc.).
12Does the app behave as designed/desired if a push message is coming from another app (think of: twitter mentions, Whatsapp message, etc.).
13Does the app interact with the GPS sensor correctly (switch on/off, retrieve GPS data)?
14Is the functionality of all the buttons or keys on the device defined for this app?
15Verify that buttons or keys which have no defined function have no unexpected behaviour on the app when activating.
16In case there’s a true “back” button available on the device does the “back” button take the user to the previous screen?
17In case there’s a true “menu” button available on the device, does the menu button show the app’s menu?
18In case there’s a true “home” button available on the device, does the home button get the user back to the home screen of the device?
19In case there’s a true “search” button available on the device, does this get the user to some form of search within the app?
20Does the app behave as designed/desired if the “Battery low” message is pushed
21Does the app behave as designed/desired if the sound on the device is turned off?
22Does the app behave as designed/desired if the device is in airplane mode?
23Can the app be de-installed from the device?
24Does the application function as expected after re-installation?
25Can the app be found in the app store? (Check after go-live)
26Can the app switch to different apps on the device through multitasking as designed/desired?
27Are all touch screen positions (buttons) working when a screen protector is used.

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