What mobile browser testing software do you use?

Mobile
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Wow - can’t believe I’m the first person here! (And, no, I wasn’t told about the forum before everyone else!)

I’d like to know what PC software you use to test mobile websites? Opera has a very good emulator. There’s also decent Firefox Mobile emulator, but so few people have that browser…

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Thanks Alex. Worked well on the skewed maze. I’ve now made a maze with perspective as I saw Paul Hayes’ 3D Cube (http//www.paulrhayes.com/experiments/cube-3d/index.html) work on the iPhone. Just tested the cube on the ibbdemo and there’s no perspective. Works with the other filters though

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Alex - you’re a hero! Many thanks.

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(1) Emulators are rubbish, don’t use them. Buy or borrow a real device. I bought a Windows Mobile 6.1 from eBay for £20, an Andorid for £100 and a Blackberry 4.6 for £100 (and all are excellent quality devices in good condition - I even use the Android as my own phone now).

Key point: you must buy all devices with Wi-Fi, don’t bother connecting with 3G for testing as too much hassle / swopping sim cards etc.

(2) iPad testing: buy an iPod Touch series 1 (Wi-Fi) off eBay, can’t be very expensive. I find if it works on this then it’ll work on all the other Apple devices after it (iPhone 1-4 / iPad etc). That said, I actually do test on a real iPad though.

Maybe you can borrow an iPod Touch or iPhone from somebody? Most people I know have one.

(3) Alex Dawson, here are emulators for Bolt and Opera Mobile to add to your list:
http://boltbrowser.com/demo/

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I had a client that said they had issues with iPad on a site I was testing. Has some Javascript and Jquery running on it, with animations etc.

iPhone / iPad: http://www.puresimstudios.com/ibbdemo/

Although when I run the site through this emulator I find that it works fine… Any thoughts.

Whats the best way to view iPhone/iPad webpages… Can you use the SDK? I only have Windows atm, however could borrow my sisters laptop, which would be rather inconvenient to here

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Alex,

Great list, but missing a few key points:

  1. Missing browsers:
  • Opara Mobile (very different from Opera Mini).
  • Samsung Bada OS (although not too popular yet)
  • Skyfire
  • Bolt
  1. Nokia browsers differ a lot:
  • Symbian / S60 Webkit (with many different versions)
  • Maemo Nokia N900 (their new one)
  1. You also need to test on many different versions of each OS.
  • Blackberry before 4.6 = utter ****
  • Blackberry 4.6+ = ****
  • New Blackberry OS 6 = should be very good, not actually tested yet.
  1. Also, I never trust emulators. Luckily I have all of the relevant devices myself. A few old phones picked up from eBay + a few of my own + girlfriend’s devices, I can actually test on all of them (tip: ensure they have wi-fi then it’s so much quicker and free).
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See the links at the bottom of this page…

Unfortunately, Firefox Mobile is available on so few devices, it’s hardly worth testing. Hopefully, that’ll change.

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Please give me where can I download firefox mobile emulator?

thanks

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Opera Mini is the only one I’ve had a play with so far.

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I use online tools to validate my sites and it has built in emulators:

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This tread is actually about a mobi site. But, that depends on what Samsung platform the phone is running. I would say J2ME would be a good option, depending on whats needed

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Thank you very much alex!

great! great! great!!!

:slight_smile:

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can any one tell me how can we make samsung mobile applications…coz i have all ready tried Apple i phone and made a application to some extent…

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MobiOne is awesome - http://www.genuitec.com/mobile/download.html

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Wow, what a great list. We should make a sticky out of it

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ceeb, behold my ultimate list of various mobile devices you can test on:

Android: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html / http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html
Blackberry: http://www.blackberry.com/developers/downloads/simulators/
Dot Mobi: http://mtld.mobi/emulator.php
iPhone / iPad: http://www.puresimstudios.com/ibbdemo/
Klondike WML: http://apachesoftware.com/download.html
NetFront: http://www.access-company.com/products/internet_appliances/netfrontsdk/index.html
Nokia: http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.com/id/db2c69a2-4066-46ff-81c4-caac8872a7c5/NMB40_install.zip.html
OpenWave: http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=3733 (Archive)
Opera Mini: http://www.opera.com/mini/demo/
Windows Mobile: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/windowsmobile/bb264327.aspx

What more could you want? That list covers every major mobile browsing platform :stuck_out_tongue:

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hey you missing the best
http://boltbrowser.com/home.html

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johnsmith153, I just provided it as a general list and I certainly am not testing the devices for everyone - it’s up to each individual to determine how much testing and what types they require, though it’s worth stating that Opera Mobile, Skyfire and Bolt have NO emulator (which makes linking to one rather hard).

PS: Ceeb, I wrote an article on mobile best practices and the list at the base of the article is even bigger than this one with plenty more devices to test on :wink:

Links at the base: http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/mobile-web-design-best-practices/

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Thank You Alex, it is a Great List . I hope one day we can see on browser emulator for all brands.

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hi there,opear mini is good as compare to firefox mobile emulator