Regardless of whether you are a seasoned IT professional or just a mere web surfer, you’ve probably tried to do some sort of comparison between desktop and mobile applications. The mass hysteria that is known as the mobile phones in the modern world has become such an indispensable part of our lives that it has become impossible to live without it. Life without a mobile phone would be a complete mess. So, the importance of mobile phones is completely understood.
Can Mobile Apps ‘clean sweep’ Desktop Software?
When Apple launched the iPhone App Store in 2008, few people realized how revolutionary it was. Seven years later, everyone can see that the App Store has uprooted the software industry, creating an app craze that has spread far beyond smartphones. Now, the app-store model is taking over desktop PCs.
Although smartphone app stores have given rise to small-footprint, single-use programs, developers aren’t ready to write off desktop apps. The developers believe that full-featured software is far from dead and that it will continue to have its place in desktop app stores. The small scale and limited functions of smartphone apps are a byproduct of technical limitations, such as weak processors and low storage capacities on early handsets. More-capable devices, with more-powerful microprocessors and memory will lead to more-capable apps.
The term ‘APP’ has become so common, we forget to acknowledge it was a specialized term generally only used in corporate environments five years ago. How and why has it become the dominant everyday technology term?
Mobile applications usually come to mind when someone says ‘app’. They’re made for mobile devices, are downloaded on ‘app stores’ like iTunes and Google Play and are accessed through an icon on your phone’s desktop. Creating these can be challenging for a developer as different mobile apps need to be created for Apple, Android and Blackberry and for the most part the code can’t be shared between device platforms. Instagram, Facebook, many and social media sites all have mobile applications. Today, when most people think ‘apps’, they see smartphones, tablets and icons.
Desktop applications run on a desktop, and don’t need web access to function. They could be represented by icons and often come standard with new computers. Examples include Paint, Notepad and iPhoto. They could also refer a custom ‘application’ used for a specific purpose within a corporate environment.
Reliability on emulators and simulators: For the desktop, developers always had access to the platform or browsers they were targeting with their applications. Also, visualization has become more or less commonplace and can be trusted for desktop and browsers.
Mobile devices on the other hand rely on emulator and simulators. However, they are still not true representation of the devices. It is also not possible to replicate advanced user interaction on these simulators. As a tester, we have to be aware of the capabilities and limitations of these emulators and simulators and figure out what can be tested (reliability) on them and what cannot.
Compartmentalization
Compartmentalization yields simplicity. Mobile apps function to accomplish a specific task or set, which is why there’s always ‘an app for that’. End-users search through categorically-divided, informative ‘stores’, particularly for mobile apps and widgets. After figuring which suits their needs, it’s downloaded for one purpose, presumably nothing more (you’re not going to use your fitness app to check stock prices.) Icons separate them and make for easy access.
There’s no reason mobile apps can’t be powerful. A common knock on mobile apps is that they can’t do what a PC app can do, that they’re basically limited to information access. But for now, it seems mobile apps are the king of the software castle. They’re quick to produce, easy to use, are meant for Internet use and are a great fit for the most popular devices on the market.
