Mobile App Testing

The readers of the SD Times (Software Development Times) are probably a fairly good subset of the population to poll when you’re interested in how many companies are buying into the mobile app phenomenon. Well BZ Research (another arm of SD Times’ owner BZ Media) did just that and found that 70% of its respondents planned on having a mobile app within the next 18 months. No word on how many people took part in the survey.

Here’s a few numbers for you:

• Of those already building apps tablet specific apps are betting out phone-targeted apps 88.1% to 82.3%
• Apps for e-readers are grabbing the attention of 9.8% of companies
• Android apps barely beat out iOS at a rate of 63.9% versus 63.6%
• 1 in 5 companies are developing for Blackberry

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We write a lot about the scope of mobile fragmentation (particularly within Android) and the vastness of the testing matrix related to that fragmentation. Usually it’s viewed as a pain in the side of developers because it makes it difficult to know how their apps will preform across different devices/OS/etc. It’s also a pain for testers and end users who are upset when a glaring bug appears or an app isn’t offered for their device.

But the folks over at Sourcebits (a development company) used some space in VentureBeat to counter that assertion. In fact, they present five reason mobile fragmentation is actually good for developers! Here’s a summary of their five reasons:

Big fish, small pond

Look at Amazon’s Android-based, highly customized Kindle Fire. Small platform, some might say — perhaps even a niche within a niche. But that’s actually a positive. “We’re seeing impressive uptake on Kindle Fire and Amazon’s marketplace,” said Nat Trienens, co-founder and Director of Mobile Services for Fuzz Productions in New York. “There aren’t as many apps in that market, so there’s a bigger opportunity to get better market position.”

Mobile is really, really, really big

There are currently almost 6 billion people on the globe who have a mobile phone, according to the International Telecommunications Union. 6. Billion. People. That’s a lot. And many of them have or will soon have smartphones: IDC tells us that 491 million smartphones were shipped in 2011.

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Interested in developing apps for the upcoming Windows 8 but don’t want to shell out the money right now for a lowly Windows 7 tablet? Fear not, Splashtop has your back!

The remote desktop maker has created a new iOS app called Win8 Metro Testbed that will allow developers to test their Windows 8 apps on an iPad (before Windows 8 is even available). Here’s their thinking (from Gigaom):

Why an iPad? Cliff Miller, Splashtop’s president of its Asia/Pacific region and chief marketing officer, said this of the potential Windows 8 developers the company is targeting:

“If they want to test their app with touch gestures there’s only one way to do that and that is to buy a Windows tablet, and that can cost $500 to $1,000 or more. … And 99 percent of Win8 tablet developers — they have iPads.”

Now, there are no Windows 8 tablets on the market yet. Microsoft has unveiled a public preview of the software, but the finished version of the desktop/tablet OS is supposed to roll out to the public some time in October. Developers can test their apps on Windows 7 tablets in the meantime, but to Miller’s point, it’s a hefty expense for some individual developers and smaller shops.

Read the full article at Gigaom >>>

So if you are interested in developing or testing an app for the up-and-coming Windows platform, break out the iPad and get cracking! Then when October rolls around and you feel comfortable buying the newest Windows tablet, you’ll already have an awesome app available in the Win8 store!

This seems like yet another instance of insufficient testing. The newest Batman game, “Arkham City Lockdown,” was recently released and while it’s averaging a good star rating, it’s contending with some fairly serious crash issues for some would-be users. Here’s what one of those potential users is experiencing (from TechNewsWorld):

As much as I wanted to play “Batman Arkham City Lockdown,” I couldn’t. Ten times out of 10, the app would crash before I could start playing. I was using a first-gen iPad, which should be a supported device, according to iTunes. Is this a case of inadequate testing? …

I gave it 10 chances, and it crashed 10 times.

I’d get to the point at which I could select a memory slot in which to create a new game, then suddenly my iPad’s wallpaper would be staring back at me again. Maybe if I stuck it out once more I’d succeed on the eleventh try, but if this game always takes nearly a dozen warm-up sessions to actually get in the mood, I can’t imagine myself playing it more than once. …

Am I the only one experiencing this problem? No again. Sorting the reviews on iTunes by “Most Critical,” I see much use of the word “crash.”

Paul, who wrote the TechNewsWorld article, downloaded the app onto his first gen iPad. At first he thought that might be the issue, but if it is, Warner Brothers (who released the app) have some explaining to do. Back to Paul:

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By now, nearly everyone has heard THE BIG NEWS about Instagram getting sold to Facebook for a cool $1 billion. You’ve probably also seen the news about Instagram being launched on the Android marketplace, having previously been exclusive to the iPhone. What you may not have noticed is that it’s Android launch has not gone as smoothly as some might have hoped for – and not because some iOS users are jumping ship. The real reason: fragmentation.

Readers of this blog are quite familiar with the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem (i.e. numerous combinations of devices, operating systems and carriers), which makes bugs incredibly hard to diagnose and fix.

CNET Asia posted a brief summary of a few issues in particular. Take a look:

If you haven’t heard, Instagram, the popular social networking app for sharing pictures, is now available for Android. We tried loading it on HTC’s latest wonder phone, the One X, in order to put its fantastic camera to the test. Unfortunately, as you can see above, the app just doesn’t quite work. In fact, we’re not the only ones who have noticed this.

According to Gotta Be Mobile, Temple Run also suffered from the same issue of not working properly on certain devices. Google’s continued insistence that Android is not fragmented just looks silly at this point, especially when you consider the fact that only 2.9 percent of handsets are running Ice Cream Sandwich. The OS was released late last year.

Comparatively, 80 percent of iOS users are running on iOS 5 or later, according to statistics obtained by Indie developer David Smith.

Other sites, such as geek.com, have made note of forced close on the Glaxy Nexus and the Nexus X. I’m sure there are many other similar instances as well.

In any event, as Instgram expands its footprint (to Windows Phone perhaps?) it will be interesting to see what approach it takes to testing. Stay tuned.

SEO has been a buzz word for a good few years now, but that’s old news. Now it’s all about ASO, “App Store Optimization.”

Until now the best way to score app downloads was to be featured in one of the app stores. And to do this you either A. had to be getting a ton of downloads anyway or B. have an amazing app that happened to get picked up by the people running the store and highlighted in the featured apps area – not an easy feat. But now a new movement of optimizing apps for search is getting into full swing. I wrote a few months ago about optimizing your app name for easier on-device searching (after it’s already been downloaded). Now that concept of app optimization is being put into practice with an eye toward app store searches, this time targeting the keywords used to describe an app. From TechCrunch:

With over 600,000+ iOS applications, and now some 450,000 on Android, the real challenge for developers is having their app surfaced higher than hundreds of other competitors in the app store search results. Doing this correctly involves ASO, or app store optimization. It’s basically SEO repurposed for mobile….

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According to PCMag and other reports, Amazon is in the process of testing a new service that lets Kindle Fire users make purchases through mobile applications. Here are the details:

Google and Apple already provide in-app purchasing capabilities. Google launched in-app billing for Android apps in March 2011. In-app purchases have been available via Apple’s App Store since October 2009 and via BlackBerry App World since September 2010.

In-app purchases are expected to generate $5.6 billion in revenue by 2015, up from $970 last year, according to January stats from IHS iSuppli.

Users “overwhelmingly” prefer free apps over paid apps, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for developers to justify charging an upfront cost for their apps with so many free options available, Jack Kent, senior analyst, mobile media for IHS, said in a statement. For this reason, developers are increasingly turning to in-app purchases as a way to monetize their apps. IHS predicts that soon, the dominant app monetization strategy will be to offer apps for free and then charge for in-app content.

Read the rest >>>

It’s no secret that the vast majority of apps exist in within the app stores of iOS and Android. It’s somewhat of a secret, however, that most of the major apps are also available in the Windows Phone marketplace. Not all, but most. To help get this point across, CNET.com recently posted the following chart:

As a WP7 user, I should point out that Google Maps is available (I have it on my device) and that Gmail can be synched with the Linked Inbox. The one that kills me is Pandora.There’s no excuse for that. Anyway….

Read the rest here >>>

Do you rely on your TomTom GPS to get you from Point A to Point B? Well, you may want to buy a car atlas as a backup (which is actually good advice in general).

It appears that some TomTom devices haven’t coped too well with the extra day in leap year. An as-yet-specified issue is keeping these devices from pinpointing locations correctly. The bug only reared its ugly head a few days ago and the TomTom people have found a temporary fix, but they’re still working on the issue at large. Here’s a few more facts from engadget:

[TomTom] confirmed today that a leap year bug is preventing at least some models from obtaining a GPS position — something that has apparently been occurring since March 31st. Exactly which GPS devices are affected isn’t clear, with TomTom only saying that a “limited number of models” have been experiencing the problem. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t have a permanent fix just yet, but it says that a hard reset of the device will temporarily resolve the issue if you find yourself in a pinch.

Update:

TomTom has idenfied the issue and released an update for fix the bug. From PCWorld:

Satellite navigation maker TomTom has pushed out an update to fix a software glitch that left customers worldwide complaining about not being able to find their location.

Today the Dutch company apologized for the glitch, which it said was caused by a “leap year” bug in the GPS receiver software from a third-party supplier.

“A software update fixing the issue is now available via MyTomTom,” it said in a statement, directing owners to a support Web page. “The update is straightforward.”

Reviews are a mainstay of the mobile world. It seems that nearly every publication worth its weight in data is publishing them for just about every major launch. But did you ever wonder how they go about such a process? Well, the writers over at DigitalTrends.com were kind enough to share their mobile review protocol. If you read it with the right set of eyes, you’ll spot a few great mobile app testing tips.

Here are a few good excerpts:

Unboxing
The first thing we generally take a look at, but rarely report on, is the boxing. We check how well the phone is boxed up and what cables and doodads the manufacturer has included in the box. Usually, it’s just a charge cord, but occasionally, manufacturers get generous. Unboxing does not heavily factor into the review process unless a vital component is missing or inadequate.

Design and feel
The first thing we note about a device is how good it looks and how well it appears to be made. We attempt to decipher what materials the casing and other components are made out of, how sturdy (and reflective or fingerprint resistant) the screen is, how heavy the entire phone is, how easy it is to access the battery, and the general placement of key buttons, ports, and other physical attributes.

Operating system
Having a phone that looks good and feels great is one thing, but if it’s running a poor or outdated operating system, then it might as well be a $700 paperweight. We’re intimately familiar with every major smartphone operating system, from Android to iOS to webOS, and even BlackBerry and Windows Phone. We know them all, and we know our history too – Windows Mobile, Series 40, Series 60, QNX, Zune, iPod, Palm, Treo, Brew, we’ve used them all.

Camera
While a smartphone camera certainly doesn’t compare to a DSLR, more and more people are using their phones as their primary camera. As such, we’ve ramped up our testing of smartphone cameras in the last year. We have a standard set of shots that we take with each device, including macro, landscape, portrait, outdoor, indoor, night, low lighting, and shots with the LED flash (assuming the device has one).

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