Sunday 14 December 2014

My Opinion on Android Device Fragmentation

I started my career in testing the web application. Two years later, I focused on testing the Mobile applications. Till the time I started testing the mobile app, I thought there are not much difference between the web and mobile other than screen size. But, from the day one after testing the mobile apps, I understood that both the web and mobile has its own challenges not the screen size alone.

Here I want to share some of my learning and concerns that I made/had in testing the mobile apps.  To me focusing testing on various platforms just needs a mindset first. Let me not talk what software testing is J

Okay. I have worked on Android/Windows Phone/ iOS.  The great challenges that I faced and facing so far is that the device fragmentation in Android. Yes, the ratio of devices uncovered is much greater than the covered devices. I believe there are good practices to do that. But, there are no such best practices yet. Looking for the best one soon J

I believe device coverage is not a great challenge when it comes to Windows Phone and iphone Apps. But, the story is quite different when it comes to Android.  Few months back I read through one article which says, there are 18000+ Android devices available in market. This count itself looks like OMG. But in WP and iPhone this is not a great challenge.  I am talking about the Device coverage challenge alone, not the Technologies.

There are no such supported tools to do that. Simulators/Emulators can do to some extend, but I can’t rely only on that alone. Also, the experience in using simulators varies from the real devices. So, I prefer to go with real devices. In worst case I choose simulators.

There need to be some ways that could help us to do at-least a good coverage so that the users don’t face more problems in using the apps. Problems are unavoidable while using the apps but could be limited to certain extend. It is purely based on the work that we do. As it is hard to cover all the devices, I would prefer to give my coverage in three ways.

There are certain parameters which needs to be focused in giving the coverage
·       
  • Covering all the versions
  • Covering the mostly preferred devices
  • Resolutions


Resolutions:

  • LDPI
  • MDPI
  • HDPI
  • XHDPI
  • XXHDPI


Versions:
As most of the app users use 2.3. It is better to have the app that cover from 2.3 and above.

  • 2.3-2.3.2
  • 2.3.3- 2.3.7
  • 3.0
  • 3.1
  • 3.2
  • 4.0-4.0.2
  • 4.0.3-4.0.4
  • 4.1
  • 4.2-4.3
  • 4.4
  • 5.0 ( up-to date)


Devices:
It may not be the best solutions. But, it could be a better option.

  • Samsung
  • LG
  • Sony
  • Karbon
  • Xylo
  • HTC
  • Motorola
  • Spice
  • Huawei
  • Micromax


Now, let’s draw a tabular column and figure out the devices to be focused (targeted) on.

Thank You !

For any feedback please contact

E-Mail Id: ktg.pradeep@gmail.com
Phone Number: 08748887074
Skype: pradeep.lingan1


Monday 22 September 2014

iOS :: List of UI Controls

Action Sheet




Activity Indicator 


Add Button


Alert 



 Button 




Date Picker

 Detail Disclosure Button 



Navigation Bar 


Page Control


Picker 


 Progress View


Refresh Control 


Scope Bar 

Search Bar



Search Bookmark Button




                                                                                             




 Search Clear Button 
    


Search Prompt


  


Search Bar



Segmented Control








Share Screen



Slider



Status Bar

 



Stepper

 


Switch 





Tab Bar 



Text Field



Tool Bar Button


Saturday 20 September 2014

iOS :: Devices Model & Release Date Details

I just gone through the Apple's product details. It was quite interesting to learn about the products and the release details. So, here I am sharing the details of  each products  release. 


Saturday 16 August 2014

Windows Phone App :: UI Components :: Contracts and Activity Life cycle

Contracts:

It’s like an agreement between two different apps for sharing the contents. The two different contracts used are Source and Target. When the app needs to share the content supports source contract by meeting a specific requirement. Whereas the app that needs to receive content from the outside source uses a Target contracts by meeting a specific requirement.

Activity Life Cycle:
 
 The various activities performed on user’s interaction with the app are listed in the activity life cycle diagram:



When the app was launched by the user, the OS displays the Splash screen of the app. Once it is displayed, the app should be ready to display it’s UI to the user. This should be performed in few seconds.

The app may not be in the running state when splash screen is displayed. Once the app enters the running state, the app is activated and the app UI is shown. When the user moved out of the app, it moves to the suspended state. The data that are used will be saved. When the user re-enter to the app, the data will be shown again.

 The OS can also terminate the app after being moved to suspend state for various reasons like, the user sign-out from the app or closed the app manually or the system may be running on the low resources. Once that was happened and when the user re-launches it again, the app should start displaying the splash screen.  Not running state occurs when the app is not been used for long time. On resuming it, the app will be activated.

Animations:

Add and delete:

It enables us to add or remove item(s) from a collection.

Content Transitions:
It helps to change the content in the area of the screen while keeping the background constant. When the new content fades in, the existing content fades out.

Drag:
Use to move the object from one location to the other.

Edge based UI:
Edge based show or hides the UI that originates from the edge of the screen.

Fade:
It is used to bring/move the item from the view.

Page transition:
It is used to display the first page of the newly launched app or the transition between screen within the app.

Pointer click:
It provides a visual feedback about the tap on an item. Pointer down is used when the user tap the item. The animations slightly shrink an item indicating that it has been tapped. Pointer up animation is used when the tap is released.

Re-positions:
It is used to move an element/s to a new position.

Pop up UI:
It is used to show/hide pop ups which includes fly outs and context menu.

Swipe:

It is used when the swipe gesture is implemented for selection of an item.

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Windows Phone app :: UI components :: List of Controls with image

I have shared the list of controls name in my previous blog post. To get into that post, please click here . In this post,I am sharing the controls name with the image.



Gestures: Apps behavior on applying single and double tapping

Recently, I noticed the risk of implementing two different actions on making a single and double tapping. Here is the scenario.

I was on the screen which has three text fields and all the three are mandatory. I entered data in first two fields and submitted the data by leaving the other one as empty. I got an error pop up which says enter the data in the third text field (this is not an actual error message content) with the button “OK” provided to close that pop up. So, I made a single tap on the button and noticed the behavior. I also noticed the behavior on making double tapping the button in the same pop up screen.

The actions for single and double tapping are not same. For single tapping, it closes the pop up screen and now the screen with the three text field is in foreground. On making double tapping, I noticed that, the action for the first tap closes the pop up screen and the second action was hitting the text field which was overlapped with the “Ok” button in the pop up screen. So, the second action was enabled by itself and taken to the different screen. I noticed the risk of having such behavior. I know that the risk varies based on the context.

Imagine, if it is a Payment button, Send button for email, or any other options (that needs just one action to compete the task) has been replaced in the place of text field. Here the task will be invoked automatically without the user actions.

The risk rate could be low for the app where I noticed this issue. But still it is not a best practice as it adds one more screen to complete the task  and also as context change the risk rate might also change within that app. So, I suggest that the gestures double/single behavior should be same to avoid such risk. 

Few investigations we made to get into the issues are
  • We saw the pix-elation applied between the header and the text field.
  • Length of the dialog box in the screen.
  • Increased the size of the font size through phone setting and noticed the behavior.




Monday 11 August 2014

Friday 8 August 2014

Windows App Testing :: Windows App UI Components :: Tiles & Notifications

In this article I am sharing my knowledge about the Tiles and Notifications used in the Windows Phone app. To know about the components of Windows Phone app which I have shard in my last post,  please click here

TILE
App tile which is used for launching the app is present in the device home screen (if pinned to home screen) and app list screen. The tiles are of different types
  • Live
  • Static 
                     


Live Tile
Live tile are used for updating the current event occurrence to the user.  It comprises of Notifications, Logo, and Badges. Different sizes are applied to the tile set up. They are Small, Medium, Wide, Large.

The tile can contain text, Images or both. It can also contain badge and logo or a name. The badges are shown at the lower right corner of the tile. Name or Logo will be placed at the right end corner of the tile.
Example: Weather report app, Sports.

Static Tile
Static tile show the default content. When your app is not intended to share the live content then a static tile could be preferred.
Example: Game app.

Secondary Tile
They are pinned to the Start screen to provide a user with a consistent and efficient way to launch directly into a frequently used area of the parent app.

Splash Screen
The first screen that appears when the app was launched by the user is called as splash screen.


NOTIFICATION
Notifications can be sent to the tile by the app when it is running, retrieved periodically from a specified Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or sent by a cloud-based service associated with the app. In the latter case, notifications are routed through the Windows Push Notification Services (WNS).
The different kinds of notifications used are
  • Periodic
  • Push
  • Raw
  • Scheduled
  • Toast
Periodic
By polling a cloud service for new content, periodic notifications updates tile and badges in a fixed interval of time. At the start of each interval, windows send a request to the service, download the content provided by the service and display a new content in the app tile. Periodic notifications are well suited for the app that is updated at a fixed interval. For example, Weather app context can be updated once in 30 mins.

Push
This is used to send a notification at any time even when the app is not running. For example breaking news, emails can be implemented with the push notifications.  The push notifications could be used while sharing the time sensitive alerts or scheduled alerts.

Scheduled
The scheduled notifications are used when the app tile is updated regularly or when the toast needs to be send within the app.  
Example:  Calendar app

Raw
Raw is a type of push notification without any associated UI. Raw notifications could be used for multiple purposes like
  • Triggering the app to run a background task
  • To inform the user when there is a data available for download from its cloud service.

For more information, refer the URL given below:

My next blog post will contains the information about the “controls” used in windows phone app.

Contact information
Mobile: 08748887074
Skype: pradeep.lingan
Twitter: pradeeplingan1







































Tuesday 29 July 2014

Windows App Testing :: Overall Representation of Windows App components

This post contains the overall representation of "Windows Phone App Components". I will be sharing details about individual components in the upcoming blog series. Here is the list of components in pictorial representations. I  am just sharing my knowledge(what I have learnt so far) through this blog .It would be really helpful for me when you share your thoughts about my learning approach. "I share because I care.I hope the same from your end too" :).

Friday 25 July 2014

Windows App Testing :: Windows Phone Supported devices - Part- 6

Windows Phone (7, 8 and 8.1) Supported Devices:

Windows Phone 7
  • Dell Venue Pro
  • HTC 7 Pro
  • HTC 7 Surround
  • HTC 7 Trophy
  • HTC 7 Mozart
  • HTC HD7
  • LG Optimus 7
  • LG Quantum
  • Samsung Focus
  • Samsung Omnia 7


Windows Phone 7.5
  • Acer Allegro
  • Fujitsu Toshiba IS 12T
  • HTC Rader
  • HTC Titan (Ultimate/Eternity)
  • HTC Titan II
  • Nokia Lumia 510
  • Nokia Lumia 610
  • Nokia Lumia 710
  • Nokia Lumia 800
  • Nokia Lumia 900
  • Samsung Focus 2
  • Samsung Focus S
  • Samsug Omnia W
  • ZTE Orbit
  • ZTE Tania
  • Windows Phone 7.8
  • Nokia Lumia 505


     Windows Phone 8
  • HTC 8S
  • HTC 8XT
  • Huawei Ascent W1
  • Nokia Lumia 520, 521,525
  • Nokia Lumia 620
  • Nokia Lumia 625
  • Nokia Lumia 720
  • Nokia Lumia 810, 820, 822
  • HTC 8X
  • Nokia Lumia 920, 925,928
  • Nokia Lumia 1020
  • Nokia Lumia 1320
  • Samsung ATIV S, ATIV S Neo
  • Nokia Lumia Icon
  • Nokia Lumia 1520
  • Samsung ATIV SE


Windows Phone 8.1
  • Micromax Canvas Win W092
  • Nokia Lumia 530
  • Nokia Lumia 630, 636,638
  • Prstigio MultiPhone 8400 DUO
  • Yezz Billy 4.0
  • Micromax Canvas Win W121
  • Prrestigo MultiPhone 8500 DUO
  • Yezz Billy 4.7
  • Nokia Lumia 930 

Windows App Testing :: History of Windows Phone and its Version- Part 5

Windows Phone:
Windows Phone which is the successor to Windows Mobile is a smart phone OS developed by MS. It is incompatible with the older versions. It is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than enterprise. It was first launched under Windows 7 OS.

Windows 7:
Windows 7 was released on 8th Nov, 2010. MS released an updated version of WP (Version 7.5) in May 2011.
Feature Included:
  • IE9 (that supports same as web standard)
  • Multi-tasking of third party apps.
  • Twitter Integration
  • Windows Live Sky Drive.
A minor update was released in 2012 under the code name “Tango”.

 Windows 7.8
In Jan 2013, Windows 7.8 was released
Features added:
  • Updated Started screen
  • Additional color schemes
  • Additional wallpaper options
Limitations:
Windows 7 was not up-gradable to Windows 8 due to hardware limitations. However not all the users have received the Windows 7.8 update.

 Windows Phone 8
MS released a new generations of OS in 29th Oct 2012. Windows Phone 8 brought support for the updated hardware which includes multi core processor and high screen resolutions. With the new hardware, Windows 8 could able to compete with Google and Apple.

Windows Phone 8.1:
It was released on 2nd April 2014.
Features:
  • Notifications Center
  • IE 11
  • Separate Volume controls
  • Options to skin and add a tile live to the start screen
Starting with release, MS has dropped the requirement that all Windows Phone OEMs include a camera button and physical button for back, start, and search.

Thursday 24 July 2014

Windows App Testing: History of Windows Mobile and its version -Part 4

Windows Mobile 5
Windows Mobile was released on 9th Dec 2005 under the code name “Magneto”. Microsoft offered a mainstream support for WM 5 through Oct 12, 2010 and extended their support through 13th Oct 2015.
It used the .NET compact framework 1.0 SP3. It also included the MS exchange server “Push” functionality. All the WM 5 devices supported Direct Push.
Feature:
  • Microsoft Office mobile which includes (PowerPoint, excel with graphing capability, Word mobile ability to insert tables and graphics
  • Windows media player 10
  • Blue tooth support
  • QWERTY keyboard support
  • GPS
  • Battery life

Windows Mobile 6
Windows mobile 6 was released on 12th Feb 2007.
It has come in three different versions.
  •  Windows Mobile 6 Standard for “Smart phones (Phones without touch screens)
  •  Windows Mobile 6 Professional for Pocket PCs with phone functionality
  •  Windows Mobile 6 classic for Pocket PCs without cellular radios.

WM6 was powered by windows CE 5. Windows mobile 6 was meant to be similar in design of Windows Vista.  Enterprise users’ business environment was targeted in large number.
Feature:
  • Support for Office 2007 document formats (pptx, docx, xlsx)
  • OneNote Mobile
  • HTML E-Mail  support in  outlook Mobile
  • Serve search on Microsoft Exchange 2007
  • Out of Office replies with Microsoft Exchange 2007
  • Search ability for contacts in a Exchange Server Address Book
  • Developers and users access to MS SQL Server 2005 compact edition
  • Storage and retrieval of information. 
  • MS SQL Server 2005 compact edition
  • Supports were added to IE Mobile.
  • Storage Card Encryption
  • Customer Feedback option
  • Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) support for select operators

Windows Mobile 6.1
Windows Mobile 6.1 was released on 1st April, 2008. It was a minor upgrade of Windows 6 which includes performance enhancements, Home screen featuring horizontal tiles. It was not supported in the professional editions.
Feature:
  • Threaded SMS
  • Full page zooming in Internet Explorer
  • 'Domain Enroll' were also added
  • Automatic links for telephone numbers in Tasks and Appointments
  • Improved bandwidth efficiency in its push-email protocol "Active sync" of "up to 40%"
  • Considerably improved battery life in many devices.

Windows Mobile 6.5
Windows mobile 6.5 was released on 11th may 2009. It was not the part of windows mobile road map and was released after the release of Windows 7.
Feature
  • Revamped GUI
  • Microsoft's Zune player with vertically scrollable labels (called 'Titanium')
  • WM6.5 also includes the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6 browser, with improved interface
  • Skybox", "Skyline", "Sky Market”, icon based soft buttons (rather than text based)
  • Updated contacts app
  • Native support for a-GPS improved threaded text messaging
  • Performance improvement
  • Native support for multi-touch
  • Touchable tiles replaced soft keys
  • Drag-and-drop start menu icons
  • Improved memory management and gesture smoothing.
  • Additional features include threaded email and Office Mobile 2010.

The work on a major Windows Mobile update begun in 2004 under the codename "Photon", but the work have moved slowly and the project was ultimately cancelled. In 2008, Microsoft reorganized the Windows Mobile group and started working on a new mobile operating system. The product was to be released in 2009 as Windows Phone.
New OS was developed and the name Windows Mobile was renamed as Windows Phone. MS released the OS under the version Windows 7.
– Referred from WIKI

Windows App Testing: History of Windows Mobile and its Version Part-3

Continuing from previous post, this post tells the features about next three versions of Windows Mobile. Below written are the next three releases.

Pocket PC 2002
Pocket PC 2002 was released on October 2001 under the codename “Merlin”. It was powered by windows CE 3.0. It was also used for pocket PC phones and smart phone for the first time. Pockets PC 2002 were mainly a GSM device. They meant to be similar in design of Windows XP.

Features
  • Windows media Player 8 with streaming capability
  • MSN Messenger
  • Microsoft Reader 2
  • Office mobile includes Spell checker, Word count tool in Pocket word
  • Improved Pocket outlook
  • Connectivity was improved with file beaming on non-Microsoft devices such as Palm OS, the inclusion of Terminal Services and VPN support
  • Ability to synchronize folders
  • Enhanced UI with theme support and savable downloads
  • WAP in Pocket IE


 Windows mobile 2003
Windows mobile 2003 was released on June 2003 under the codename “Ozone”. It was the first release under the windows mobile banner. Windows mobile 2003, was powered by Windows CE 4.20
It came under four editions:
  •  Windows Mobile 2003 for pocket PC Premium Edition
  •  Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Professional Edition
  •  Windows Mobile 2003 for smart phones
  •  Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Phone Edition



Features
  • Blue tooth –File beaming
  • Headset Support, Add-on keyboards
  • Picture application with viewing, cropping
  • E-mail
  • Multimedia improvement (MIDI file support as ring tone)
  • Windows media 9 with streaming optimizations
  • A puzzle game (Jaw breaker), GAPI, SMS reply.


Windows mobile 2003 SE
Windows Mobile 2003 SE is the second edition of Windows SE and was released on 24th March 2004. It was first offered on DELL Axim 30. This was the last version where the users allowed taking backup and restoring in an entire device through Active sync (A data sync app developed by Microsoft).

Features
  • Portrait, landscape modes
  • Single column layout in pocket IE
  • WI-Fi




Tuesday 22 July 2014

Windows App Testing: History of Windows Mobile and its Version-Part 2

Windows CE
Microsoft begins their Research work in 1990 for developing handheld device. The development of Windows CE began after two years. The OS and the UI were developed separately. The separate team which handed the UI has a code name (Win pad). Windows CE is based on Windows 95 and has strong pen support in making porting easy. But the Win pad was delayed due to performance and Prize.
 It was not released as a consumer product. But Alpha release was made in showcasing the many interface elements. During the Win pad development a separate team worked on the project called “Pulsar” which was designed to be a mobile communications method of Win pad. Both the projects were cancelled later. The two groups worked on the project called “Pegasus” in 1995. It focused on hardware side of Windows CE OS. This product was shipped in 1996.

Pocket PC 2000 
Pocket PC 2000 code named as “Rapier” was released on 19th April, 2000. It was based on Windows CE backward compatibility and was retained with palm size PC’s.
The only resolution supported by this release was 240 *320 QVGA (Quarter Video Graphic Array). Pocket PC was not standardized with the specific CPU architecture. So, Pocket PC 2000 was released on different CPU architecture SH-3, MIPS, ARM.

Features

  • IR files beaming
  • Microsoft Reader
  • Microsoft Money
  • Pocket Internet Explorer
  • Windows Media Player
  • Pocket office (Include Work, Excel, Outlook)

  •  For more information please refer to the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile