For manual mobile testing, in addition to real mobile devices, Perfecto supports testing on virtual mobile devices to enhance testing capabilities. Real devices are considered best practice because they represent real-world conditions. However, virtual devices are a valid addition for some of the tests, and when larger-scale testing is needed. Some tests, such as logic tests, are less sensitive to the real device environment, thus offering themselves for testing on virtual devices. Other tests, such as UI look & feel and flow, require running on real devices.
Looking at virtual vs. real devices from the perspective of the software development life cycle (SDLC), testing on virtual devices has its place in the early stages of development, during unit testing, due to easy setup, fast feedback, and cost-effectiveness. The next development cycles should involve a combination of testing on virtual and real mobile devices, both because mobile platforms are limited on virtual devices (no app store, different hardware) and because real user experience is required to guide advanced development. The closer the release date, the more important testing on real devices becomes. UI and user acceptance testing (UAT) phases rely on the exclusive use of real devices.
For information about actions supported on virtual mobile devices during manual testing, see Supported actions. Because for the most part, those actions work the same way as on real mobile devices, more information on those actions is available in the Mobile testing section. Note that any functionality that does not explicitly state virtual device support is not supported for virtual devices.
For information on working with virtual mobile devices in automation testing, see Virtual mobile devices.
Virtual devices are alive for a single session only.
