Mobile App Testing

As avid mobile users you probably have many opinions on the speed (or lack thereof) of your local 3G or 4G network. Well, now if you live in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans,  New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle or Washington, D.C. you can see if your opinions are warranted.

PCWorld did a study of network speeds in those cities. But before we get to the official results I want to know who YOU think will come out on top. Vote BEFORE you look at the study results (no cheating!).

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To see a city-by-city breakdown, check out the PCWorld report. As far as which of the 13 cities has the fastest average network speed, you won’t find that answer in the report because I tallied it myself. I’ll post the answer on Friday!

The Miami Herald reports:

South Floridians will have the fastest downloads if they go with Verizon, but will have the most reliable data transfers with AT&T, according to wireless carrier rankings by RootMetrics.

Washington-based RootMetrics, which measures mobile carrier performance, released it’s first test results for the greater Miami area this week. It gave Verizon the best ranking for Miami, primarily for its 4G LTE network connection speeds, which were found to be four times as fast as T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G, and almost seven times faster than Sprint’s WiMAX 4G.

For call performance, Sprint customers were three times more likely to drop a call than with the other three major carriers.

Every carrier but AT&T scored poorly in a performance test for sending and receiving data. The report said T-Mobile had a data failure of 18 percent, followed by Sprint failing at 17 percent and Verizon at 9 percent. AT&T had a two percent failure rate.

The fastest text messages were sent on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, both taking less than 30 seconds to deliver. Sprint and Verizon both took more than 30 seconds.

The test results were based on information gathered from thousands of calls, texts and data transfers over seven days in April. RootMetrics also collects data from anyone who wants to assist in tests using the RootMetrics Cell Phone Coverage Map app, available through the Apple and Android app stores.

The world of mobile apps can feel like the wild, wild west at times. This is especially true of mobile app testing. We’ve covered mobile app testing best practices before, and now it looks like the United Testing Initiative (UTI) is also getting in on the action.

Consisting  of AT&T, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Oracle, Orange, Samsung and Vodafone, the UTI has released the Best Practice Guidelines for Developing Quality Mobile Applications, a set of cross-platform guidelines that provide developers with a framework for driving quality into mobile applications. The document can be found here.

Here are some clips from an eWeek summary:

“Developers who make quality ‘priority-one’ are well-positioned to succeed in a mobile market where billions of applications are downloaded every year,” said Martin Wrigley, chair of UTI and director of developer services at Orange. “Whether an application is built using Java ME, Android or Symbian, the UTI guidelines serve as an important resource for helping developers deliver more high-quality apps to market.”

The guidelines feature a wide range of quality issues developers should address throughout the application development process. Topics range from routine to complex to provide developers with a comprehensive resource for addressing quality issues consistently. Developers downloading the guidelines will find recommendations that can be used to raise the quality of any mobile application in areas that include connectivity, messaging and calls, user interfaces, language, media, stability, data handling and security.

The Best Practice Guidelines for Developing Quality Mobile Applications are the first cross-platform guidelines UTI has released since becoming an independent organization last year. The guidelines will be updated on an ongoing basis as platform requirements change and based on suggestions from the mobile community. Also, with today’s release, UTI is issuing a call for input on the guidelines. Feedback may be submitted on the UTI blog at www.unifiedtestinginitiative.org/blog.

I urge all readers to take a look at the entire document, but for those of you who need a hard sell, here are a few excerpts dealing with device specific tests, stability and data handling:

Read more…

A wise man once said that “if it’s on the internet, it must be true.” News that Verizon will finally carry the iPhone is all over the net, ipso facto….

But while the pundits discuss how this new alliance with affect user stats, downloads and stock prices – and while AT&T and Verizon exchange jabs – I wanted to take a minute and discuss the implications it has for mobile app testing. The practice, and yes, our website as well.

Until now, Apple had made things relatively easy for mobile app developers. I know that may sound absurd to developers who have lost hair and sleep over problems with UDIDs and App Store acceptance, but it’s true. You see, unlike Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and the others, Apple simplified the testing process by having only one device manufacturer and carrier. Sure, you still needed to make sure your iPhone app worked across iOS 3G, 3GS and 4, but the overall testing matrix was much less complicated. Ask any Android developer.

That’s about to change in a big way.

But don’t take my word for it. We recently asked Matt Evans, the former QA Director of the Palm Pre smartphone, for his thoughts on mobile testing challenges in the coming years ahead. Granted this was before the Verizon news came out, but see if you can put 2 and 2 together based on his insight:

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Better read this article before you do. Here’s Andrew Seybold from FierceWireless.com:

Looking at the specifications for the iPhone 4, you will see that it provides service in the 850 and 1900 MHz band for U.S. coverage and in the 900, 1800, and 2100 MHz bands for the rest of the world. It does not support AWS-1 spectrum, so moving to T-Mobile means you will not have any 3G service. Further, when AT&T and Apple got together, AT&T made changes to its network to support some of the iPhone’s more advanced features. Again, moving it to another network means some of this functionality will be lost.

The other example is the new BlackBerry Torch that AT&T recently launched. Again, it provides both 2G and 3G support for both the 850 and 1900 MHz bands in the United States as well as the four European and world portions of the spectrum at 900, 1800, and 2100 MHz (UMTS), but it does not support the U.S. AWS-1 band so moving it to T-Mobile would mean giving up access to 3G services.

The bottom line is that the concept of unlocked phones seems reasonable, but in practice, even with an unlocked phone, your options are limited when moving to another network. If, as rumored, Verizon does begin to carry the iPhone in 2011, no one is sure whether it will be 2G and 3G compatible only or if it will support LTE as well. And if Verizon makes the same types of additions to its network that AT&T has made, the best way to enjoy the Verizon iPhone is the same as the best way to make full use of the AT&T iPhone, which is to stay on the network for which it was intended.

The bottom line is that you must do your homework if you are thinking about purchasing a phone with the intention of moving it to another network. Chances are that you will sacrifice some of the functionality of the phone if you move it to another network. It is difficult enough for the great design engineers to build everything into a device today. It will become more complex in the future and we will see more, not fewer devices that are network-centric.

Read the entire article.

Over at the uTest blog, I posted an interview with Jeff Papows – former CEO of Lotus Development Corporation and author of Glitch: The Hidden Impact of Faulty Software. We covered a lot of topics, but here’s a question and response on the subject of mobile technology:

uTest: You cite the fact that there are over a billion embedded transistors for every person on the planet and over one trillion network devices in use. How much more complicated does software quality become with the explosion of mobile technology?

JP: The multiplication effect on the strain on our back office data, web access and typology from mobile computing can’t be over stated.  Moreover there are problems exploding with the quality and fidelity of the mobile computing experience itself.  We are running out of broadband spectrum and the proof point lies in the mind-numbing number of dropped calls every day and not just for iPhone and ATT users.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

The big mobile news story this week was the launch of Windows Phone 7. We blogged about the various news coverage the device has received earlier this week. Here to offer a first-hand look at the device – it’s features, specifications and more -  is James Coelho, our latest guest blogger.

The big talk of mobile technology right now is the launch of the Windows Phone 7 device line. Let’s see what all the fuss is about, shall we?

The Specs

On paper the individual device specs are on par, and in some cases better than, the top phones on the market. They all sport 1Ghz processors, 4MP camera (or greater), shoot HD video (720p of course), and on board native app support (Netflix, Slacker Radio, Twitter, eBay, and IMDb being featured).

The Things You Expect from a Windows Phone

Windows Phone 7 includes some fairly standard features, such as Windows Live, Bing Search, and Microsoft Office Mobile which has the mobile versions of PowerPoint, Word and Excel as expected. Two new additions however are SharePoint Workspace, which allows you to view and edit documents and save them back to your company SharePoint site, and OneNote, which allows you have sticky notes on your phone.

The Things that Microsoft Will Excite You With

The devices include integrations for two key Microsoft Products, Xbox LIVE and the Zune. Xbox LIVE integration will not just allow you to show off your Halo Stats or your cool avatar to your friends. Instead, Xbox LIVE intends to bring Xbox style gaming to your phone! It looks like Microsoft took this seriously too reaching out to, and securing top gaming titles. EA Games, which is featured by Microsoft, will deliver “Need for Speed™ Undercover,” “Tetris^®” and “The Sims™ 3.” The phones will also be the first to deliver Zune integration on a mobile phone.  Users will be able to play their music library wireless, as well as stream and download new music from the Windows Marketplace.

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After months of waiting for the iPad (and then months of writing about the iPad) we can sympathize with those suffering from tablet fatigue, but we’re going to revisit the subject anyway. Sorry.

This is because Samsung recently made its own tablet – the Galaxy – available in US markets. If you thought this was going to be a reverse-engineered iPad, you would be wrong.

To prove it, allow me to direct your short attention span to Melissa J. Perenson’s latest review on PC World, who takes an in-depth look at the Galaxy. Here’s what you tablet testers need to know.

Carriers: The Galaxy will be available on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. By the way, pricing will vary based each carrier (that should be interesting!)

Customizations: AT&T said that its Connection Manager will automatically connect in AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots. Ditto for Sprint. Verizon is taking the lead in this category, as it says it will enable the tablet to include V Vast Music with Rhapdody, V Cast Video on demand, VZ Navigator and other features.

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Ben Patterson, technology writer for Yahoo! News, tests T-Mobile’s HSPA+ Network. Here are a few important excerpts for the aspiring mobile app testers among us:

Getting 21Mbps downstream on, say, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network is all well and good, but it won’t be much help if the service is saddled with poky latency rates (i.e., how long it takes for data to travel from your PC, laptop, or handheld to its intended destination) or upload speeds that slow to a trickle. And there’s nothing more aggravating than a mobile broadband connection that flickers in and out.

Now, testing wireless bandwidth is a tricky business; performance from one neighborhood to another can vary greatly depending on your carrier’s data coverage, network load at a particular time, whether you’re out in the open or down in a valley of skyscrapers — you name it. In other words, your mileage can (and will) vary.

I decided to keep it simple: a quick batch of tests, in the same location (my apartment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn) and roughly the same time, over four different data networks for comparison’s sake: T-Mobile’s HSPA+ (using the carrier’s webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick, $49 with two years of service); Sprint’s EV-DO Rev. A network (using my MiFi wireless hotspot card), AT&T’s HSPDA network (over my iPhone), and Road Runner wired cable. (Sadly, WiMax isn’t available in New York City yet.)

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So you’ve just received your brand new iPad from the states. That’s good! Unfortunately, it arrived with an AT&T MicroSIM, which is useless in the UK. That’s bad. But tech blogger John Benson has a solution. That’s good! The solution involves scissors and a meat cleaver. That’s bad.

Or maybe not. It might seem a tad bit reckless (although it’s not like he’s blending the damn thing) but from the looks of his step-by-step blog post, this bizarre fix actually appears to do the trick.

Either that, or he made a bet with a friend that he could get a couple thousand Europeans to take a meat cleaver to their new iPads. I’m betting on the former.

(Thanks to Stanton Champion for the link)