What is
special about the mobile test?
What is
special mobile testing? Someone asked me this exact question several years ago,
while at a conference on the test. I started talking about mobile technologies,
applications, how to test them, and what is special about mobile testing. The
guy just smiled at me and said, "But software is just on a smaller screen.
There is nothing special about it. " He was very arrogant and did not see
the challenges of mobile testing. No matter what arguments used to convince
him, he did not believe in the importance of mobile technologies, applications, and testing.
I found the
same again in 2014, while at a conference where he talked about testing mobile
testing. He spoke about the importance of applications and how important it is
to test them.
As you can
see, it's very easy to underestimate the new technologies. As a software tester
is especially useful to be curious to learn something new and explore new
technologies to expand their skills.
So going
back to the initial question: What about special mobile testing? I think I can
assume that has the least mobile, ie a smartphone. Or maybe you have a tablet or even both. If you look at your device (s), what do you see? Only a small
computer with small bright icons on your screen? Or see a personal computer
with a lot of sensors and input options containing all your private data?
Please take a minute to think about it.
The
smartphone and tablet personal computers are kept almost all my data, either by
e-mail, SMS, photos, music, videos and the like. I can access my data, no
matter where I am and I use my smartphone as a navigation system and
information to learn more about my surroundings. So I hope that my applications
to be reliable, fast and easy to use.
In those
three sentences I have described my personal expectations of mobile devices and
applications. However, you may have completely different expectations for the
same as the next person. And this brings me to the first special characteristic
or unique aspect of mobile testing: the expectations of the user.
User
expectations
In my
opinion, the user of an application is the main objective and the main
challenge for mobile computers. The fact that each user has unique expectations
makes it difficult to develop and deliver the "right" application to
customers. As various reports and surveys have shown you, mobile us
that other
software such as browser applications.1 Most reports and surveys state that
almost 80% of users delete an application after using it for the first time!
The four main reasons for removal are always bad design, bad usability, slow
loading time and locks immediately after installation. Almost 60% of users
delete an application that requires registration, and more than half of users
expect an application to run in less than two seconds. If the application requires
more time is eliminated. Again, more than half of the user's experience crashes
the first time they launch an application. An average user checks his mobile every
six minutes and has installed about 40 applications. Based on those numbers, it
can be deduced that mobile users have very high expectations when it comes to
ease of use, performance, and reliability. These three characteristics were
mentioned most frequently by far when users were asked about their experience
with mobile applications.
There are
currently more than two million apps available in the app stores of the largest
sellers. A lot of applications perform the same task, which means that there is
always at least one competitor the application, which makes it very easy for
consumers to download a different application because it is one touch away.
Here are some points to keep in mind to develop and test a mobile application:
Gather
information on the possible target customer group.
Ask your
customers about their needs.
Your application needs to solve a problem for the user.
Usability is
really important.
Your application must be reliable and robust.
application
performance is really important.
Applications It must be beautiful.
There are,
of course, a lot of other things that should be taken into account, but if
attention to these points is provided, users tend to be happy.
You've
probably heard talk about principle.2 KISS KISS is an acronym for Keep It
Simple, Stupid and is always a useful reminder, especially for software
projects not only inflate the software with another function or option. Keeping
the small, easy, and simpler is better in many cases and is likely to make
your customers happy. Inspired by the kiss, I came up with my own principle for
mobile applications: KIFSU. This abbreviation is a good
mnemonic to help you meet the needs of the customer and a constant reminder not
to inflate applications with useless functions.
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