Android and CocoonJS - compatibility testing and other advice?

[Lazer]

I've got a question for those who have some experience with porting their JS/HTML5 games to Android today.

 

I'm using CocoonJS. The game is running fine on my Nexus 4. If my Nexus 4 was all I had to care about, I could probably submit it today (or after fixing some last minute bugs).

 

However, that's the only device that I have available to test on and I just know that there will be some sort of compatibility issues with other devices. I don't have access to any other Android phones (I may be able to go to a device lab in Stockholm, but due to scheduling issues I don't know when this will be or if I'll even be able to get in). Have any of you ever released an Android app without physically having access to a bunch of Android phones? Did you find people to help you test online? Is it a matter of getting them to install the Cocoon launcher on their Android phones, getting a CocoonJS account, and running the game through the game URL (and if so, would anyone be willing to help me test it out, even just for the sake of testing basic performance and resolution and sending a screenshot or something)? Do you focus on specific phones and ignore others that aren't as popular?

 

Any advice on releasing to Android without having a pile of Android phones available would be great.

 

Thanks,

 

Liza

[eterps]

There are some online services out there, but they can be quite expensive.  Here is one that has a free tier, and a free trial for native app testing: http://www.keynotedeviceanywhere.com/mobile-application-testing-overview.html

 

I'm not sure if you have eBay, or something similar, in Sweden, but you can get older Android hardware very cheaply. You can target your 'least-common-denominator' hardware, and find a cheap device with similar specs. http://www.aliexpress.com/ also has cheap phones and tablets with a huge range of screen resolutions and hardware specs. Many can be had for less than €100

[Pert]

There's a charity movement called Open Device Labs - the idea is, there are hardware libraries, you can arrange an appointment, go in with your software and test it for free.

I'm not sure if there are any in Sweden, but there are quite few in Germany where the idea originates from and there are few in UK, one coincidentally at my work place.


*** commercial broadcast warning ***

Another option is, there are companies that do remote testing, maybe not an option for indies, but for bigger companies. There's a set fee, depending on testing goals and project complexity, and the service provider is getting your app tested on huge range of devices with different OSs, then giving returning test exit report with detailed bug descriptions, crash logs, screenshots and videos.

I work as senior software engineer for one of these companies, BugFinders, and they do a lot of work with gaming companies and they always come back, so seems to work very well for all parties.

As for Cocoon, I did some basic tech tests myself last night and asked tester to check it with low end Android device, full screen animated background image with decent particle effect was running on HTC Desire HD Android 2.3.5 without any performance issues, I didn't spend much time on getting canvas size right, so it was slightly off, but I'm sure there's a way to get it right for all devices with some simple HTML and JS tricks.