One of the key reasons organizations opt for using emulators over physical devices is the cost of procuring abundant devices. But, any real physical device testing is preferable over none. Emulators are a useful tool for testing devices, and certainly have their place, but to provide accurate, realistic evaluation of the user experience and an in-depth analysis of the functionality. Read More Here!

1. PHYSICAL DEVICES OR
EMULATORS

2.  There are certain valid reasons to consider the usage of emulators as a
means of testing. There are many free emulators available in the market
that offer various screen resolutions or device mimicking that allow you
to view what your product shall look like on a specified device.
 Another reason for the use of emulators is that the typical user interface
issues, like screen sizes, can be found. They further allow real time data
extraction, which provides the developers with the necessary information
required to debug issues.
Emulators

4.  However, we believe that emulators are not sufficient enough for the
final testing of a product purely because they are not able to cover all
the functionalities that need to be tested to ensure the compatibility of
the product.
 From our own experience, testing on physical devices provides most
accurate, clearest results. By doing so, you avoid a common pitfall of
using an emulator which is finding inaccurate results.
Real Devices

5. Although it is completely impossible to cover the full
range of devices available, below are some key reasons
to why we feel that you should use real devices:

6. The Look and Feel
 Emulators cannot guarantee the look
and feel of an application. It also cannot
adequately judge the responsiveness of
the applications on a particular device
via emulation.
 The other look and feel drawbacks of
using emulators are that you will be
unable to test the brightness of the
display, the color scheme, and the pixel
density under the varying lighting
conditions or while moving around.

7. The Look and Feel
 Device orientation is another key reason for
using physical devices.
 Emulators are not reliable enough to
authorize how your application shall
respond when the device is being switched
from the portrait to landscape view, or to
replicate the actual user experience.

8. The Usability
 An emulator may not be able to replicate the real
user experience of a touch screen device.
Traditional computers utilize the power and
precision of a mouse control, something that is not
used in the everyday lives by those who use mobile
phones and tablets to access applications.
 With the continuing increase of handheld devices
over traditional computers for accessing
information, execution is more commonly
performed by hand now. This is slower and less
accurate; hence, it is important that the UI reflects
this form of operation.

9. The Connectivity
 Testing with emulators does not provide
an accurate account of the conditions and
the scenarios the applications will face
when being accessed by a user who is
moving around.
 They are unable to account for the real
world effects such as the location, signal
strength of the carrier, or simply the
different between the indoor and the
outdoor conditions.

10. The Software
 Memory related issues are commonly found
in mobile compatibility testing. Device
fragmentation has increased significantly
over the past year with more than 4000
device configurations found this year.
 Emulators have difficulty in replicating the
user experience between the low and the
high end devices. This is because the
processor of the PC is 10 times more
powerful than that of a given android
device.

11. The Software
 While the emulators are able to test some
major functionality, they are highly
limited and need a physical device to
ensure if the application is tested
completely.
 There is no other way other than using
the physical device itself for testing the
power consumption and proficiency of
your application. If the application causes
stark strain on a user’s device, then they
are highly suspected to continue using it.

12. Final words
 One of the key reasons organizations opt for using emulators over
physical devices is the cost of procuring abundant devices.
 But, any real physical device testing is preferable over none.
 Emulators are a useful tool for testing devices, and certainly have their
place, but to provide accurate, realistic evaluation of the user experience
and an in-depth analysis of the functionality.

13.  A probable solution to this can be to hire an external test lab like the
one provided by BugRaptors.
 BugRaptors is a CMMi5 certified quality assurance company with an
extensive experience in Mobile Testing and various testing services.
Visit the website Here for more insights.