Businesses must now test various devices for interoperability and other capabilities because of the rapid development of mobile devices. In 2022, there were 15.96 billion active mobile devices worldwide. By 2025, there will likely be 18.22 billion gadgets, a rise of 4.2 billion from the previous year.
When it comes to testing real devices, the availability of mobile devices with different screen sizes, memory capacity, CPU speeds, features, capabilities, functionality, and other firmware offers a big challenge for enterprises.
Enterprises must test programs before they are released on actual hardware to ensure they are operating correctly and effectively. Many organizations need more funds to purchase and maintain all the equipment required to conduct genuine device testing. The real device cloud is the answer to this issue.
This blog will explain real device clouds, their substantial advantages, and how they differ from conventional testing.
App Testing Is Crucial
Businesses can only function nowadays with a mobile application that allows their target market to contact them or make purchases from them.
A Google survey found that 67% of customers would purchase if they interact positively with the brand’s website or app.
Businesses and app developers select the top QA organizations to get their apps tested for the market before launch to be competitive or even relevant in this ever-increasing digital environment.
Software testing companies will check an app’s functionality to determine if it downloads and installs quickly and simply, as well as to see if it is compatible with the underlying infrastructure. At the testing step, any flaws and faults can be found and fixed.
An app that has been thoroughly tested guarantees a high-quality user experience, more downloads, and better ratings, or, more simply, more satisfied users and a good reputation in the market. Higher profits for the business or app developer result from devoted clients and devoted fans.
Real Device Cloud: An Overview
A real device cloud is a testing environment that gives app developers and QA professionals quick access to thousands of actual iOS, Android, and other mobile devices, so they can test on different device/OS combinations and get real-world feedback. Most cloud testing environments for actual devices have integrations for well-known mobile testing frameworks like Appium, Espresso, and XCUITest.
Thanks to the real device cloud, enterprises have access to the newest and older devices. Organizations can utilize this access to evaluate the functionality, usability, and performance of their applications on actual customer-use devices. Enterprises can access actual devices during real-device cloud testing to gain insights into a variety of issues, such as how the battery level may impact the app’s performance.
The best testing solution is the mobile device cloud or actual device cloud since it gives testers access to insights into app performance, quick and simple device switching, and automated tasks.
Global organizations’ QA teams should ensure that their testing procedures are effective by confirming that the code and apps are thoroughly reviewed and that clients are given access to high-performing mobile applications with the aid of a mobile device cloud.
Benefits of a Real Device Cloud in App Testing
The most apparent advantage of real device cloud testing is cost. Individual genuine devices can become prohibitively expensive to own, and keeping them current when new models are released may require a substantial annual budget.
Because of real device testing, real device cloud can resolve all cost and budget difficulties that businesses encounter. Using cloud testing for real devices has a lot of advantages besides just cost. The key benefits of a real device cloud in app testing are listed below.
1. Reduce Time to Market by Using Unlimited Concurrency
Testing and developing apps require a lot of time. Even after automating some procedures, testing an app still takes a lot of time.
Running programs on several devices with varied specifications to assess compatibility and real-time performance is the most time-consuming step in in-app testing.
Running tests on many devices simultaneously is the greatest approach to cutting down on the time needed to test an app across different platforms. Enterprises may increase the effectiveness of app testing and guarantee that their customers receive responsive and stable goods by running tests simultaneously on various devices. This will enable businesses to focus more energy on other high-level tasks.
2. Customize And Expand The Testing Environment’s Flexibility
The fact that cloud services only provide predetermined functions with no modification choices is a significant disadvantage for businesses employing them. To remain adaptable and competitive in the market, the service must be able to be customized.
App testing QA teams would each have a preferred technology stack. Therefore, forcing them to use several test frameworks and setups on the cloud may be counterproductive. Testing teams can operate efficiently in a flexible testing environment with the aid of a unique real-device cloud.
3. Gather Reliable Testing Data from Actual Devices
Testing on actual devices and testing on emulators are the two most common techniques QA teams employ to evaluate mobile applications. Emulators simulate real-world behavior but are computer-based. Therefore, the results from this testing won’t be as accurate as those from actual devices. Since they do not become too hot or lose their battery life, emulators are not the best for testing programs in real-world settings. As a result, genuine devices are significantly more dependable and effective for testing than emulators.
4. No Requirement To Construct Or Keep Up A Device Lab
Businesses can save time and money by using real device clouds instead of purchasing devices and setting up and maintaining device laboratories.
Teams can collaborate with a real device cloud provider to give their QA teams immediate access to the most recent testing techniques.
Companies can save time and money by outsourcing the maintenance and upgrade of their devices to a real device cloud provider.
Why Is Real Device Testing The Best Choice?
The key advantages of employing a real device cloud for testing mobile applications were previously covered. However, the rationale behind selecting actual device cloud testing over other testing techniques like emulators will inevitably remain a mystery to testers.
Compared to other testing techniques, real device cloud testing is the greatest choice, as testers will learn in this section. Here are a few parameters that may be measured on a real device cloud to improve a mobile application’s usability and performance.
1. User Experience
User experience is essential for businesses since consumers may exit a mobile app immediately if they can’t discover what they need with just a few clicks or scrolls. For mobile apps to provide faultless user experiences, an exemplary user interface is essential. The most effective method for examining user experience is when external hardware and components are involved in real-device cloud testing.
2. Networking Situations
One of the leading causes of the poor performance of mobile apps is the varying network strength. It is challenging for network providers to maintain consistent connectivity because so many people use 4G and 5G networks.
Enterprises can implement network bandwidth throttling with real device cloud testing, which enables them to tighten or relax the bandwidth numbers.
Simulators cannot produce reliable results since network problems result from hardware, software, and problems with network reception. However, real device cloud testing can help with testing and provide realistic network performance analysis.
3. Sensors
Mobile devices use many sensors to provide a range of capabilities. Among the sensors are those for light, proximity, barometric pressure, gyroscope, magnetometer, temperature, and relative humidity.
As they contain complicated circuitry, it is essential to test these sensors on actual equipment. QA specialists evaluate sensors in their early stages of development using emulators. To gather precise, useful insights on performing apps, sensor testing on actual devices is crucial in the final stages of app development.
4. CPU Use
Because of increasing CPU use, mobile devices may become hotter, which will affect app performance further. Measures of memory and GPU use can impact CPU consumption. Because of these issues, mobile device CPU testing via simulators is challenging. Therefore, mobile device cloud testing is essential to get precise readings on CPU consumption for mobile devices.
5. Battery
The battery life of mobile devices can be impacted by mobile applications. App developers need to test their apps on actual devices to verify and prevent this scenario. Different scenarios of device battery consumption and app behavior cannot be accurately simulated, not even by the most sophisticated simulator.
6. Testing of Memory and Storage Requirements
A few examples of the hardware needed for apps include memory, a camera, and a CPU. A device with insufficient RAM frequently crashes or performs poorly. However, it can function effectively on devices with larger memory. The hardware requirements of the app are ascertained through testing on actual devices.
7. Testing
To undertake precise device testing, you can test your app against several features and sensors it primarily utilizes. This is crucial if your program has features that depend on specific types of sensors. You may test an app on a real device to check how it responds to mobile technologies like Bluetooth, GPS, camera, and fingerprint sensor.
8. Precision of Rendering Up to Each Pixel
You can assess the app’s brightness and screen quality in various lighting conditions by testing it on a real-world device. It assists in thoroughly examining the accuracy with which the software generates each pixel.
9. Recreate End-User Actions
Utilizing actual devices, the tester can simulate user behavior while using the app. It, therefore, helps to validate the applications’ functionality in the presence of hardware interruptions like SMS, calls, push notifications, and so on.
10. Enhanced Coverage
Depending on the current version, you can develop appropriate test cases using realistic device testing to cover as many test situations as necessary. Make a list of actual devices before beginning the test procedure for greater test coverage.
Testing significantly influences the effectiveness and success of your mobile application. It validates a mobile app’s primary functions while enhancing its performance, capabilities, and quality.
Without extensive testing, these applications won’t function at their optimum. Testing mobile apps is more challenging because it calls for maintaining many specifications, improving notification handling, and testing synchronization across numerous platforms.
When Should Real Device Testing Be Used?
The simplest way is to use real device testing towards the conclusion of the delivery cycle throughout system testing. In this manner, you get real-device test results that are accurate shortly before release. Still, you don’t have to be concerned about real-device testing slowing down your delivery pipeline initially. Given that your app has passed all prior tests, any flaws found during real-device testing will probably be minor and simple to resolve.
There are a few situations where real-device testing should come first. Doing real-device testing as soon as feasible is certainly worthwhile if your app depends significantly on the smartphone’s hardware. To avoid having to rewrite a significant amount of code to fix show-stopping hardware-related issues, it is best to identify them early on.
Or, to put it another way, undertake real-device testing early and often (though there’s no reason you can’t also use simulators and emulators) if your application largely depends on hardware capabilities inside a device. If it isn’t, however, you’ll be able to get away with real-device testing in the end.
Real Device Vs. Virtual Devices in Mobile and Web Testing
The goal of virtual mobile testing hardware is to replicate and emulate the software environment of actual smartphones. These solutions are different, although they resemble real electronics in some ways. The testing environment of actual devices is well-simulated by emulators, although they could be more flawless.
However, with the right settings, you could still see a reflection of the real device when using an emulator. Real devices can forecast an app’s performance the best because they are subject to a wide range of external factors.
The performance of an app may be impacted by a variety of unobserved factors, including the temperature, age, amount of open applications, humidity level, and age of the device. On the other hand, real gadgets have their own set of shortcomings. Using a real device to debug a smartphone is difficult. Emulators perform better for debugging than real devices.
Simulators, on the other hand, are faster than emulators and real devices. Additionally, simulators are better for testing simple apps than emulators and actual devices. On the other side, since they are less expensive, simulators are more widely available to testers.
Despite the relative advantages of virtual mobile testing devices, some functionalities are impossible for emulators and simulators to emulate. It is very difficult to accurately reproduce push-up alerts, incoming calls, the device’s battery, and the camera.
LambdaTest is a cloud-based digital experience testing platform that revolutionizes how software applications are tested on real devices. With LambdaTest, developers and testers gain access to a vast inventory of real devices on the cloud, encompassing smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers with various operating systems, browsers, and versions. This enables them to conduct comprehensive testing on a wide range of devices without the need for physical infrastructure.
By leveraging the power of the cloud, LambdaTest provides a scalable and efficient solution for testing on real devices, ensuring an accurate evaluation of application performance, responsiveness, and compatibility. With LambdaTest, teams can easily validate their applications on real devices, saving time, effort, and resources while delivering high-quality user experiences.
Wrapping Up!
Mobile testing is significant because of how crucial mobile applications are to our daily lives. Even though this requires significant testing, choosing the tools (real devices, simulators, and emulators) is necessary to achieve the stated objectives. The ideal method to construct an amazing testing solution, whereby you can save money and time, and have a greater ROI, is to combine these technologies.
Enterprises can offer more stable mobile applications more frequently by performing app testing in a cloud environment with real devices. Real device cloud testing can provide businesses and their QA teams with the flexibility they need to create mobile apps that function at their best and react more rapidly to shifting business needs.
