It is common to hear residents talk about simulators and emulators in the world of software testing. At some point simulators and emulators are similar in different ways. However, it does not matter difference from their perspective of mobile testing. Make simulators different from emulators to make the most of each kind of software testing tool. BetterQA is Software Testing Service Provider that can help you with mobile testing. The features of the simulator and emulator are similar and different in target devices. Thus simulator or emulator replaces the real apparatus with the creation of a setting on a computer.
Here you will see two types of mobile testing devices;
Solution for mobile testing
There are two methods to conduct mobile testing;
Real Device
Real testing appliances are the different models of mobile handsets utilized to run the app or website to test its behavior and functioning.
Testing teams buy a couple of mobile handsets with iOS and Android phones, iPad, Blackberry, and tablets to try their software applications.
Virtual testing device
In contrast to a real smartphone device, a virtual testing device is software that simulates most of the features of a smartphone on a computer. The emulator mimics the nature of a smartphone, so the tester can run software applications on it to see how they would behave on a real device.
There are two virtual testing devices
- Simulators
- Emulators
Simulators
To mimic the behavior of the application production environment Simulators are programmed. Mobile testing imitates the variables and configurations of the native surrounding of the application. They are helpful for features that can change using the software. Mobile simulations are useful for different settings and tasks related to external applications. For instance, when it needs to send a message from one app to another app, it needs to interact with an external environment. A hardware replica is not necessary. To check the display feature simulator is more than enough.
Emulator
With emulators, you can copy both software and hardware elements. The app appears to run on an actual device. It is necessary for emulators to run complex application tests. An emulator will supply testers with an essential aid for mobile testing depending on the performance of the hardware when the app requires to be tested against software and hardware configuration as different firmware updates.
Aspects of simulators
- Useful for iOS devices
- Solve the problem for the features related to software
- Its performance is so fast because it only mimics software
- You can get it from external companies and device manufactures
Aspects of Emulators
- Useful for Android devices
- Available for both hardware and software features
- Performance is slow due to emulating actual hardware
- It can receive from device manufacturers
The difference between mobile simulators and emulators
- Mobile emulators mimic the software, hardware, and mobile operating system. On the other hand, Simulators mimic the internal behavior of the device. Excludes the hardware imitation.
- The emulators’ internal structure is written in machine-level assembly language. Opposite to it, Simulators are written in a high-level language.
- The emulator is suitable for debugging. On the other hand, the simulator does not support debugging.
Here are more things that the simulator and emulator cannot mimic the following features;
- The battery of the mobile device
- The camera of the mobile device
- Incoming calls and SMS are hard
Final words
This article provides you the information about simulators and emulators and the difference between them. If looking to conduct software testing for mobile, BetterQA company can help you conduct mobile testing and more. Research more about mobile testing for better results.
