CODEWITHSUNDEEP
blackberrydevice
mseo
mseo

Reputation: 3911

Blackberry Development (Test Devices)

I'm planning to create an app for blackberry. The Android and iPhone Versions are almost done. Next on the list is the blackberry one.

So my question is: how good are the simulators? Do I need a real device to test? Which one would you recommend?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 381

Answers (4)

Tony
Tony

Reputation: 933

The Blackberry simulators are fine. I believe they are built using the same code as actual devices, so they are pretty much identical to real devices. The only thing that makes a difference is the software that they run.

The simulators will provide you with almost all the same functionality with the exception of things like GPS. I believe I've used an image from an SD card before using the simulator as well...

As far as I know, simulators are set at a specific OS version, whereas in the real world there are tons of different OS versions being used (minor revisions). There have been cases where a feature has worked on the simulator but once it was built and launched on the device, the device shows something different. So if you want to get your app tested, you should test on your TARGET device and OS on simulator and real device.

Upvotes: 0

Dheeraj Jami
Dheeraj Jami

Reputation: 190

Blackberry simulators are really good They are exact replicas of the devices I have worked with storm and also the torch devices

I have faced problems during the connections to the internet and while using the SD cards (SQLite databases)

Getting images from the SD Card which is not possible from the simulator

If you are developing an application which needs the basic UI components and the native blackberry components, simulators are fine

But if you are really developing something out of the box device is a must

It would be more better if an app can be tested in the device before rolling out Try your luck

Thank you.

Upvotes: 0

Vit Khudenko
Vit Khudenko

Reputation: 28418

It is unlikely you'll be able to create a bugless app without a real device. However totally ignoring simulators would also be a mistake. Simulators are quite good, because they allow to test a substantial part of features on a wide range of device models/OS versions. It would be quite expensive to have a dozen of real devices. :)

Usual points to bear in mind while working on simulators:

  • real devices are slower in times.
  • simulators do not support permissions (simulators act as if permissions are always granted regardless of what you actually see).
  • real device may not support the same type of network transport that your simulator has (TCP, WIFI, BES).
  • big wireless providers (e.g. Verizon) usually install a slightly customized version of BB OS on their devices, and sometimes it results in a different behaviour (or even bugs).

Upvotes: 2

taylonr
taylonr

Reputation: 10790

I've had fairly good luck with the simulators. I've been using the Storm, and I have a real curve. I have a colleague with a real storm so I run everything by him as well.

There have only been 2 times that having a real device has helped me. 1. Making sure I had my install files correct. Since Eclipse just copies them out to the simulator it took me 2 attempts on a real device.

and 2. When testing creating & using a database on the sim card. I got about 95% there on the simulator, and the other 5% was really just verification.

That said, which one depends on what version you're writing for. Storm and some curves are 5.0 (and can be upgraded to 6.0) The Torch is only 6.0

Upvotes: 1

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