Frequently Asked Questions 

What is the MobileCloud?

The MobileCloud™ is a 100% web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform enabling testers and developers to easily access REAL mobile handsets and tablets connected to LIVE mobile networks spread in different geo-locations. Click here to read more about our MobileCloud™.

Why do I need a “cloud” for testing mobile

The mobile market is extremely fragmented and dynamic. At any given moment there are dozens of devices which are relevant to your target market. The rule of thumb is that you probably need to test on 30 different devices to cover 80% of your target market. In addition, those 30 devices are changing at a rate of about 3-4 every month. To keep up with this logistical nightmare, you either need to purchase and maintain many devices or use a cloud service to answer this need. The cloud also give you the ability to use devices from anywhere in the world, if you are offshoring / outsourcing your testing, a cloud is not only an optimization tool but an enablement tool.

Are the devices in your solution emulators

No, all devices you see are real devices with real networks. Those devices are located in our data centers around the world. When you use those devices inside the web interface or QTP, the actual device is being

What are the benefits of using real handsets?

Testing on real handsets always gives you actual results. There is no need to worry about “false negatives,” and more importantly there is no need to worry about “false positive” situations. Click here to read more about testing on simulators vs. testing on real handsets.

How does the MobileCloud work

The handset is connected to the Perfecto Mobile platform through its data ports using data cables. When a user clicks on a handset’s key or screen in the web interface, the Perfecto Mobile platform sends a command to the handset over its data connection, and the same key on the actual device is pressed. Touch events are executed in a similar way. Video and audio are streamed back to the user’s PC in real time.

Do I need an internet connection for using your cloud

Yes. An internet connection is required in order to communicate with the MobileCloud. It is possible to limit the connection to the specific cloud only and using standard ports such as HTTP (80), HTTPS (443) and RTMP (1935). It is also possible to limit all communication to be encrypted using standard SSL over TCP port 443.

What is the required bandwidth I need

At least 1.5Mbps download speed is required in order to enjoy the live streaming of the handsets screens. If you are planning to use multiple handsets at the same time, a rule of thumb of additional 256Kbps in addition to each handset is required (e.g. 3 concurrent handsets = 2Mbps)

I want to use the cloud from India/China which doesn’t have good internet connectivity, is it possible

Yes, it is possible. But keep in mind there is a direct correlation between your internet connectivity quality (bandwidth and latency) and the performance you get for your online handsets usage.

My corporate policy only allows encrypted communication to the internet, is this possible with your cloud solution

Yes. You can limit (in client, server or implicitly by your firewall settings) the traffic to encrypted mode (using SSL on port 443) for all communication with the MobileCloud. Be advised that encrypted traffic might cause increased perceived latency on handsets activity.

How many devices do you have

The Perfecto Public cloud comprises over 2,000 devices. Our offering contains two parts, a fixed offering and on-demand handsets. The fixed offering captures the market demand with a vast range of handsets of the major platforms (iOS, Android and Blackberries), networks and handset characteristics (screen size, OS version, etc) The devices are located in multiple locations including the United States, UK, Canada, India, & Israel. This list is focused on smartphones and tablets and is always available. The on-demand handsets (available only to our subscription customers) range more than 2,000 devices from all platforms over the last several years, those handsets are available upon request.

How often do you update your devices?

Constantly. New devices come out all the time and we are in continuous contact with our customers. This is translated into new devices being added to the MobileCloud on a constant basis.

Which platforms are supported

All major platforms are supported. Android, iOS, Blackberry, Symbian, Win Phone, Brew, Java and many more proprietary platforms

Are tablets supported

Fully supported, iOS and Android based tablets are available. We maintain the list of available tablets according to the market trends.

Can you provide different OS version of the same device

For popular devices, we do provide several OS versions to be tested. Modern OS (such as iOS and Android) tend to push updated to the user so in terms of market availability, those devices usually tend to have the latest available OS version. Our device offering usually follows this rule.

What is the availability of the devices in the cloud

The public cloud offering reflects the current market trends with focus on smart phones devices. We constantly update the list allowing you fast access to those devices. When required, we make sure more instances of popular devices are available. Since those are real handsets, they might be busy by some other users. If you want to make sure a device

How do you ensure only one person will work on a device

A resource management mechanism ensures that only one user can use a specific handset at any given moment. In addition, a sophisticated reservation mechanism allows users to make sure specific device are available for them at specific time.

Will my sensitive data be left on the device after I’m done using it

If your organization is sensitive about privacy, you should consider a private cloud offering, this will ensure that no data (app, files, cache, etc.) will be seem by anyone else. On the public cloud, you should use the “cleanup” widget removing all installed application from the device.

Because it is a cloud based solution, will my data be shared with other users?

The personal data (such as reports, recording, screenshots, etc.) is completely private and is only accessible by the user unless he wishes to share it with other users.

What do all the handset statuses mean?

Status	Description
	The handset is available for immediate use.
	The handset is in use use by another user.
	The handset is not connected to the system at this time.
	You already have this handset opened.
	You already have this handset reserved.

Can I use a busy handset?

Handsets being used by other customers are listed as “BUSY” and can be reserved for a later use (see how to reserve a handset).

Can I use a disconnected handset?

Handsets that are "Disconnected" need to be physically connected upon request. This option is available only to customers with a subscription plan. Please note that usually it takes us less than 24 hours to connect a device.

How long does it take to connect to a handset once a request is made?

If Perfecto Mobile owns the handset, it takes us 24 hours maximum. If we need to purchase a handset, it can take several days.

How long does it take to implement a new model once it's on the market?

Approximately one week. This covers the time to purchase the device and add it into the system.

Is there a cost associated with connecting to a handset?

No this is included as part of your subscription to the Public Cloud (click here to buy more hours).

How can I find specific handsets or platforms easily?

Sign-in to your account. In the "open handset" dialog you can sort handsets by manufacturer, location, and carrier. You can also type in the name of the criteria you are looking for e.g typing android will show all Android handsets.

I’d like to trial your product, how can I do that

For public cloud access (interactive / manual testing) – simply register here and start your free trial immediately. If you want to trial the automation or private cloud benefits, contact us and we will arrange a trial environment for you.

I’ve registered to your trial but only got one hour which is not sufficient for me to make a decision, how can I get more hours

You can purchase some “pay as you go” hours from here without any commitments or subscription, this will allow you to also be exposed to a much larger selection of handsets.

What is Automation?

Automation is the ability to run repetitive tests upon a handset. e.g. logging into an application 1000 times and measuring its stability and performance. Perfecto Mobile offers an entire automation platform. For more details please see MobileCloud–Automation.

Why is the automation tab disabled?

Automation is not available as part of our free trial. To enable the automation and receive more information, please contact our automation experts.

Can Perfecto Mobile help with automating my test cases?

We hope so! Please contact our automation experts to discuss your needs.

How does MobileCloud – Automation work with touch handsets?

We have the ability to search for text and images on a screen and create a touch event when the text or image is found. We can even automatically scroll until the text\image is found.

Do you recognize objects or use OCR

At the moment, mobile OS do not expose UI objects for testing purposes unless changes are made to the application code itself. The better alternative is to use visual identification (based on OCR or smart image analysis) mapped to UI objects which allow easy scripting.

How do your image comparisons deal with different screen sizes

The image compare that we do is based on frequency matching and not bitmap compare (in terms on the algorithms used), this gives us the ability to compare images of multiple sizes, ratio and even color variation (all to an extent and assuming the user would like to do it), we have proven so far that this works quite nicely, especially on images with significant data (not too small, i.e. bigger than 30X30 pixels more or less)

Can I measure performance using your solution

Yes, all timing elements are fully available to use within the scripting environments (QTP or the PM web based IDE)

If I create a script for iPhone, will it work with Android

Yes, however, this script would need to be created in such a way that this operation will be legitimate. For example, you can insert a script command for touch a specific screen location but it will not be viable when moving from device to another, alternatively, you can instruct to press specific text or button (or anything related to them) which will allow you to perform the same script on different devices. There are set of more advanced abstraction such as application or browser control available and for more advance abstraction (like performing specific application login) you should use our ScriptOnce™ approach which provide a full keyword, device agnostic scripting environment.

Can you run the same script on any device

As long as the script was created with device portability in mind (see above answer), the answer is yes. More than that, creating such scripts ensures that the next device you want to introduce will be added quickly and without jeopardizing your existing scripting stability and robustness

How often do we have upgrades and do we sustain compatibility to earlier versions of the scripts.

Our upgrade policy is to release new handsets daily basis, they do not normally requires code changes, in those cases where code changes are required (new major OS, new handset related feature, etc) – we release monthly updates of the “connectivity layer” to keep up with the market. Our automation environment is released on a quarterly bases (more or less) to keep up with market demands. We sustain compatibility with earlier versions by definition, especially with regards to created scripts, we fully understand (and act accordingly) that even the slightest change might make a huge difference to our customers. Just to be fair, changes might happen (as in all systems) but we make sure those are extremely rare and give proper heads-up to our customers before those.

Can I use simulators for my daily sanity testing instead of real devices?

Yes, you can probably do so, but this will come with a big risk associated with it. The purpose of the sanity testing is to verify development efforts are staying on track and once development is done, the distance between the “what’s expected to be” and “what is the reality” is somehow narrowed. Ideally, you should minimize the risk by doing as much as you can, but still not affecting too much the daily behavior. Specifically, Simulators brings some factors, which during development time (which is done with simulators) might be missed and increase the distance between “expected” and “reality”. Developers tend to “shortcut corners” in order for them to be able to test stuff (unit testing, debugging, etc.), for example, location based services, simulator does not provide this, so they will add a “stub” (or special emulator specific code) in the code to overcome this, somehow this might be forgotten, but if sanity tests will be done using real handsets, this will pop up and can be fixed. This can also be applied to other “environments related functions” such as calling, camera, messaging, interaction with other apps, networks, etc. each application have different set of requirements. Ideally, you can develop with simulators, they are more optimized for the development environment, but in order to reduce risk over time, you should include real devices testing in your daily sanity tests. You do not want your first testing on real devices to start only after development is done.

It is possible to test native applications or just web based

All applications can be tested, native applications, web based application or even preinstalled applications (such as the dialer, contacts, SMS, etc.)

How do I put my application into the device

When using the interactive interface, simply use the “install” widget, select the application from your PC (all major app formats such as .cod, .apk, .ipa, .jar, .sys are supported) and the system will place this application onto the device immediately. In automation, use the “application install” function to do the same.

Does the application needs to be placed in the app store

No, you can upload applications directly into the device using wither the “install” widget or the “install application” function

Is your solution suitable for manual testing

Yes, there are several enhancements which are very relevant for manual testing with a cloud based solution. Offshoring is enabled because those real devices can be accesses from anywhere in the world, collaboration for off and online problem sharing and more.

How accurate is your OCR

We have perfected the OCR engine to best match automation requirements. Normally, OCR results are extremely good although that OCR as a technology does not promise 100% accuracy. The text checkpoint takes this into consideration and allows an efficient text matching algorithms optimized for OCR

Is it possible to use an image captured from one device and match it on another device

Yes. The image checkpoint (and selection) mechanism is based on advanced frequency matching algorithms which allow the comparison of images with different sizes and ratio and even with slight color variation. You can control the level of allowed “grace” between the two compared images.

What if I’m looking for a text/image which requires scrolling to be revealed and matched?

Text/image checkpoint and selection includes smart scrolling mechanism (to any direction) which allow automatic “scroll and find”. You do not require any additional programming to support this basic scenario

How much will it cost me to change a handset

It’s free. For private cloud customers, changing handsets for free is part of the agreed SLA. You can request us to replace your private handsets according to your needs. Different SLA levels specify the amount of allowed replacements per the commitment time.

Do I need to purchase the handsets

Depending on agreed SLA. Our private cloud customers can choose to purchase the handsets (and plans) by themselves and we will place those into their private cloud for no extra charge. In fact, BYO (Bring-Your-Own) can reduce the monthly payment per private cloud. Keep in mind that it is sometime easier for enterprises to receive a full service solution which also includes taking care of the handsets, plans and over time replacements.

What is the benefit of having a private cloud over the public cloud offering

Private handsets allow you to control your testing environment, if you value your planning and time, you should consider a private handset offering which beside making sure handsets are always available for you, will also make sure those handsets remain at known condition and your privacy is being kept. For automation, a private handset offering significantly improved the efficiency as the environment is kept sterile which is something we cannot commit on public cloud handsets.

Do your handsets have voice and data capabilities, and how is that charged?

All handsets have calling, email and web browsing capabilities

Can I test premium services?

Yes, please contact our support team who will enable it on the handset you request. Please note that premium charges will be incurred.

Can I download or share reports and recorded videos?

Yes. You can download recorded videos and reports (PDF and HTML formats available) or use our advanced sharing ability.

Is there a time limit before a video is deleted?

No. Videos you record will be available on your account for an unlimited amount of time.

How can I manage multiple users and teams using Perfecto Mobile?

Subscribers can receive a Group that contains their own users and manages users independently. This includes: adding, deleting and assigning usage time. Learn more about our enterprise solutions.

How can I protect sensitive data on a handset?

Our Private Handset Cloud offers the ability to assign one or more handsets for exclusive use. Nobody else will be able to see the handset or use it. For more details, please contact our experts.

Is the iPhone connects to my iTune for application download

No. the handsets resides in the cloud and is not connected to your normal iTune. For installing applications you should use the “install” widget or “install application” function. There is no need for any iTune / driver on your local PC.

Are devices connected through the normal USB port

No. devices resides in the cloud, you do not need to worry about drivers installation, conflicts or permissions. Any device is fully available to use just by connecting to your MobileCloud (public or private)

How do I connect the handsets to my desktop

You don’t need to. Handsets are connected in the cloud and do not require any local connection into your local PC.

Do you offer remote USB option so I can “virtually” connect handsets to my PC IDE?

No. we do offer several enhancements which allow you to get the best out of the connectivity we offer (such as direct application install, file transfer, log retrieval and handset vital information), all from the comfort of the web interface and without the need to install anything on your PC.

How do you charge the usage time?

Usage time is deducted for every minute an individual device is opened interactively, in one minute segments.

Is there an extra charge for viewing reports and videos?

No, all reports and recorded videos are free and can be shared and viewed.

When you close a device or exit the browser, does that mean the device is released and is no longer being timed?

Correct. Charges are made on a per minute of use. Once you close a device or exit the browser charging is stopped.

Which QTP version is supported

QTP version 11 is required.

Where can I download the QTP add-on

From here. Make sure contact us to receive a trial user / password.

Can you use descriptive programming with QTP

Yes, QTP descriptive programming can be used by using the deviceID attribute for handsets objects

Which QC version is supported

Any version which works with QTP 11 is supported

Can I run scripts from QualityCenter

Yes, since the integration is done in the low level QTP interface, you can use the normal QC-QTP interface for your needs. No additional components or settings are required in the QC side. You should make sure, machines running QTP with the MobileCloud extension have the add-on installed and a credentials setting.

Are you able to create objects in the objects repository

Yes, when working on mobile devices, normal objects are created in the Object repository according to standard operation. Multiple objects can be created based on their attributes

Is recording allowed from within QTP

Yes, you can use the normal “record” functionality of QTP in order to record actions directly on the handset. You can use the hybrid recording ability to both record low level commands (such as touch, press key, etc.) and higher, more logical commands such as (text type, browser open, etc.). All recording is completely WYSIWYG on the real handsets.

Do I need to install additional software on the relevant PC so QTP can work with mobile devices?

Yes. A standard QTP add-on is required to be installed (fully certified by HP). no additional software, applications or services are required.

Is your solution certified by HP

Yes. We have passed all interoperability and certification required by HP Gold partner. MobileCloud for QTP was jointly developed by Perfecto and HP and was also tested by HP QTP own R&D and QA teams.

Can we use PM add-in in case the QTP is installed on a virtual machine?

Yes, only the add-in needs to be installed, no additional services / app needs to run in parallel. Credentials for the cloud login should be part of the installation depending on site requirements

How quickly and in what time zones does Perfecto Mobile support operate?

Perfecto Mobile support operates in Boston, MA; the UK; Canada and Israel, giving us near 24 hour coverage and full coverage of European, North American and Indian business hours.

Who is Perfecto Mobile?

Perfecto Mobile is a leading provider of remote access and automated testing solutions for mobile devices. We enable mobile operators, device manufacturers, application developers, testers and content providers to significantly increase the quality of their products and services while reducing time-to-market, costs and logistical efforts. >