Minimum set of test phones for Symbian app?

[matthewjtennant]

In order to write a Symbian app that runs on all Nokia's Symbian OS phones, what is the minimum number of phones that need to be tested on?

Lets assume only S60 v31, v32 and v5 are targeted. Do the different screen sizes present on, for example, v32, need to be individually tested on devices, or can, for example, 240x320 be "assumed to work", if 320x240 has been tested? Of course on the emulator, all screen sizes can be tested.

[petrib]

It depends.

The minimum possible is, of course, zero; just test on the emulator. Some developer seem to take that route.

A risk averse developer would test on all models, all firmware versions and all language variants. Of course, that's rarely practical, so the truth is somewhere in between.

I would at least have one representative model for each S60 version that is being targeted. To be on the safer side, I'd add every different form-factor (e.g., portrait model with ITU-T keypad, and landscape model with QWERTY). To be even safer, add devices per language you support (especially if you also target Middle-Eastern or Asian markets).

And as a user or developer doesn't easily downgrade phone firmware (at least not with Nokia's publicly available tools), and because of different bugs in different firmware versions, or between device models using the same Symbian/S60 version, you also should have more devices for the different firmware versions.

Then also application-specific peculiarietes apply, too; e.g., hardware-specific dependencies (such as GPS, accelerometer, touch-screen, etc.) or software-specific (e.g., with the same device model, one firmware version might have a newer version of Flash or newer browser or WRT components, that are missing on an earlier version, or they behave differently).

You draw the line where your budget, time-to-market needs, desire for quality and risk taking abilities allow.

[symbianyucca]

Actually, you must mark one device on each platform version as fully tested, thus you could in minimal test only with one MR, one FP1, one FP2 & one 5th ed device and mark other as "Assumed to work".

Though I would suggest testing on as many device you can, and at least one which can change the screen layout on runtime. Also it would be great to have one older & one never on each platform, like MR you could try getting N91 & N73, 3rd ed FP1 N95 & E71, FP2 N78 & E75 etc. Basically you can use RDA so it make the testing a bit easier.

[mahbub_s60]

This list shows what are the devices those should be addressed in test. Lead devices should be used to test your app.

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