mobile application testing

Mobile applications are first tested within the development environment using emulators and later subjected to field testing. Emulators provide an inexpensive way to test applications on mobile phones to which developers may not have physical access.

The following are examples of tools used for testing application across the most popular mobile operating systems.

Google Android Emulator

It is an Android Emulator which is patched to run on a Windows PC as a standalone app without having to download and install the complete and complex Android SDK, and can be even installed and Android compatible apps can be tested on it.

Official Android SDK Emulator

It includes a mobile device emulator which mimics all of the hardware and software features of a typical mobile device (without the calls).

eggPlant for mobile testing: eggPlant delivers a robotic solution to mobile testing across all operating systems and devices.

TestiPhone

It is a web browser based simulator for quickly testing iPhone web applications. This tool has been tested and works using Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2 and Safari 3.

iPhoney

It gives a pixel-accurate web browsing environment and it is powered by Safari. It can be used while developing web sites for the iPhone. It is not an iPhone simulator but instead is designed for web developers who want to create 320 by 480 (or 480 by 320) websites for use with iPhone.iPhoney will only run on Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later.

BlackBerry Simulator

There are a variety of official BlackBerry simulators available to emulate the functionality of actual BlackBerry products and test how the BlackBerry device software, screen, keyboard and trackwheel will work with application.

ZAP-fiX for Mobile Application Testing

ZAP-fiX delivers a universal solution to mobile application testing across all operating systems and devices.

Tools

  • elusivestars.com: This is a crowd sourced service for Android and iPhone applications, offering application testing by real users with real devices
  • FoneMonkey: This is a free Mobile Application Testing tool for iPhone applications
  • eggPlant : A GUI based automated test tool for mobile application across all operating systems and devices.
  • Robotium: This is an automation tool for Android Mobile Application
  • Sikuli : This is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images.
  • KeynoteDeviceAnywhere: This is an automation tool for Mobile Application across all platforms, all devices.
  • MITE: A Mobile content testing and validation tool for Mobile Web application.
  • Monkey Runner: A Mobile application testing tool for Android.
  • ZAP-fiX: enhances test automation by allowing enterprise testing of mobile applications. It provides modular test coverage across multiple operating systems and supports testing on multiple devices simultaneously. Supported platforms are iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, webOS and Windows Mobile.
  • Appsbar: An online service for building and publishing apps for iPhone, Android and HTML5 devices.
  • KeynoteDeviceAnywhere: This is an automation tool for Mobile Application across all platforms, all devices.