Different Mobile Device Types That A Tester Should Know About

Another common query among the mobile testers is that what device defines their domain? Are they responsible for just smartphones? Or does tablets are included as well? The standard definition of mobile devices is an arguable topic as the modern world is now flooded with multiple-type of devices.

Experts believe that if you are not operating on a desktop pc or a laptop, you are on a mobile device. While some people say that since laptops can be carried anywhere, it comes under the mobile devices too.

For the purpose of drawing a line in between, we will exclude the laptops and believe that everything else apart from desktop pc and laptop will be under the umbrella of mobile devices. The simple reason being that laptops are no longer different or less powerful than PCs these days.

Such a wide range of devices increases the complexities of testing which will be discussed later in the post. As a step forward to mobile testing basics, we categorize mobile devices into the following types:

Smartphones

The term “smartphone” needs no introduction in the market today. They are literally everywhere. As per Wikipedia, a smartphone is “a mobile device that combines cellular and mobile computing functions into one unit.”

As crisp as that definition is, smartphone evolution has been one of the greatest achievements of the modern world. A smartphone can be considered as any device which helps you communicate through email, opens up the internet and performs computer functions.

Smartphones are not only growing from the inside through the hardware, they have also been growing physically with their large screen sizes.

Tester’s Role

As a tester, screen size is one of the most troublesome factors, especially in mobile web applications. Although responsiveness is one precaution in terms of adjustments, you can never be sure about the behaviour of applications.

Hence, a good tester should always keep in mind the various screen sized smartphones available and keep them on the list according to their power. If your application cannot be run below 4GB of RAM, it is better not to try testing and waste your time.

The example of smartphones includes Samsung Galaxy S21, Apple’s iPhone 11 etc.

Tablet Devices

The term “tablet” started as a dwarfed version of the laptop devices but since the smartphones have shown steroidal powers, the gap between tablet and smartphone has reduced. Today, tablets resemble smartphones in every way, just the difference being they are bigger in size and are less powerful in general.

Tester’s Role

As a tester, tablet devices bring two strong test scenarios for us to be considered. First, their screen size (including the orientation). Second, the fact that a majority of tablet devices do not support cellular network can hinder the overall working of the mobile application.

Therefore, as a tester, it becomes extremely important to test our application on the tablet (keeping in mind there are 1.26 billion tablet users in the world). It helps in targeting a big chunk of daily users.

E-Readers

The next type of mobile device is an e-reader. E-readers, also called e-book readers, are devices designed and used mainly for reading purposes. E-readers have gained popularity among the reader’s world as they shed off the weight of heavy books especially during the travels.

As a matter of fact, not everybody can travel like Bill Gates does with ten books in his bag. This characteristic has made the e-readers land into 335.7 million US readers in 2019. So, as a tester, what do we need to be most concerned about?

Tester’s Role

Being a smart reader you must have already guessed the most important aspect to test in e-readers; the battery. E-readers are like books and similar to books, a reader can keep them in their company for a really long time such as while travelling.

As a tester, battery and cellular network is the most important thing we should test. The most common scenarios can be that our application under test should not drain the battery and should not crash while offline.

Handheld Gaming Devices

The last category of the mobile device type is handheld gaming devices. Handheld gaming devices started as normal gaming consoles, but with time they have evolved as per the comfort of the user.

The handheld gaming devices launched today are capable of browsing the internet, run various applications, watch online content and run social media applications. All in all, they have become a good contender for us to test before launching our application.

Tester’s Role

As a tester, you can land at a project where handheld gaming devices might be your target device. Therefore, as a mobile testing basic curriculum, you should be prepared for testing in these devices. Handheld gaming devices are not concerned about the internet connection as they are used inside the house (with online gaming most probably).

Handheld devices can be tested as native applications and for responsiveness for the mobile web application. They can be treated as the smartphone-like device while testing.