Mobile Testing: Real Devices Vs Emulators Vs Simulators

Mobile Testing: Real Devices Vs Emulators Vs Simulators

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by Alan Jackson — 3 years ago in Development 2 min. read
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The infiltration of web apps and mobile apps is a major concern. Testing is a key focus for many companies. It touches almost every aspect of our day-to-day lives. App and Web Testing are important parts of the overall development process. This involves finding and fixing bugs, including issues with navigation, signup forms, payment processing, and more. This ensures that users have a seamless experience on all devices.

A thorough testing process can lead to a variation in the results when it is done on different devices. It is even more important to test on mobile devices because of the many devices with different operating systems, browsers, and hardware configurations.

This helps identify bugs and weaknesses in the app and benchmark its performance. This mobile testing exercise is designed to ensure that the app is ready for market and meets customer expectations.

It’s time to look at the different methods and mediums for executing mobile testing.

Emulators

Emulators can be described as software that mimics the hardware and software of a device.

Pros:

  • Most emulators are open-source and can be used for free
  • Testing web apps with Eases
  • They make binary translation for the machine easier

Cons:

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Simulators

These simulators are designed for specific operating systems. Simulators are designed for Apple’s OS platforms. iOS, macOS, etc.

Pros:

  • It’s easier to take pictures of problems

Cons:

  • This limits the machines that can be used to test mobile apps.
  • It does not allow testing functionalities like battery usage, motion sensors, or cellular interrupts.



Real devices

This testing requires the use of real mobile handsets to test an application. Real devices-based testing requires the use of multiple sizes and models of devices that are compatible with the app.

Pros:

  • This testing requires a variety of devices to ensure greater functionality in mobile apps.
  • One can perform rigorous performance testing with real devices.

Cons:

  • Real device testing is often more complex because the company must test each relevant mobile device.
  • This type of testing can be very expensive.
  • Let’s now compare simulator-based, emulator-, and real devices.
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Performance

Testing performance using real devices is more precise and accurate than testing with emulators. Virtual device testing is not able to achieve this level of accuracy because emulators and simulators can’t replicate every aspect of a device.



Speed

Real device testing is the fastest when it comes to speed. Testing mobile apps with emulators or simulators is much slower than testing on real devices.



Cost

This department is where virtual testing offers an advantage over real testing. Real device-based testing requires that teams purchase many different devices. Virtual devices-based testing is able to do this for free or at a much lower cost.

This sums up the main differences between real and virtual device-based testing. Each of these forms of testing has its unique pros and cons. It can be difficult to choose between these forms of testing. However, a careful analysis of your project’s requirements and what mobile testing offers can help you make an informed choice. You can also find a trusted mobile tester to assist you in your testing.

Alan Jackson

Alan is content editor manager of The Next Tech. He loves to share his technology knowledge with write blog and article. Besides this, He is fond of reading books, writing short stories, EDM music and football lover.

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