A practical checklist for device testing

This is cheap to get right at the start and expensive to retrofit. Run through this the next time device testing comes up.

You do not control the device, the network, or the operating system version, and the design has to accept that. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.

The checklist

• The newest phone is not the phone your customers own
• Test on mid-range hardware and poor networks
• Automate the regression path, test the rest by hand
• Someone is named as the owner
• There is a date to review it again

Why it matters

The newest phone is not the phone your customers own. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.

The short version

Mobile releases are slower to correct than web ones, so the cost of shipping a mistake is higher. Three things worth confirming about device testing before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Automate the regression path, test the rest by hand — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Pick the one that would hurt most if it failed, and start there.