What is the best device to test Windows Phone/tablet Apps ?
Since WP8 is here, I maybe going shopping this weekend and would like to heed anyone’s expert advise.
If you can, I would recommend that you acquire 2 Windows Phone devices. A low-end/low-memory device and a high-end device, both having different resolutions.
A low-end device having only 512 MB of RAM would be good to test with. The reason is because Microsoft is trying to tackle the cheap smart phone market like Android. Apps running on devices like this are limited to only using about 150-180 MB of RAM, which is not a lot of memory if your app uses extensive amount of images and audio files. With this kind of device, you can verify whether or not your app will run on low-memory devices. If it doesn’t, then your options are to either lower the memory footprint of your app or exclude support for low-memory devices. Microsoft documents this topic further via the link below…
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj681682(v=vs.105).aspx
I believe the most popular Windows Phone device is a Nokia Lumia 520, which is a low-memory 512 MB device and has the lowest resolution supported which is 480x800. So, this would be a good choice for you. (Note: I looked up device popularity via adduplex’s website, which specializes in displaying ads and analytics for WP8.)
For your second device, I would recommend that you get a much beefier, higher resolution device. Perhaps a device that doesn’t have the same aspect ratio as the Lumia 520 that I mentioned above. There are 4 supported resolutions for WP8:
-
480x800
-
768x1280
-
720x1280 (aka: 720P)
-
1080x1920 (aka: 1080P)
The 480x800 and 768x1280 models have the same aspect ratio and only differ by 1.6x scale. If you choose a 720P or a 1080P device as your 2nd device, then you’ll have a *taller* device than the Lumia 520 that I mentioned above, meaning that your app can exercise how it’ll handle Corona’s letterboxing or zoomEven scaling. So, a device like this might be best.
Note that Visual Studio’s windows phone emulator also gives you the ability to test your app under multiple resolutions and different max RAM device types. So, that’s always an option too. Provided that your Windows 8.1 PC meets the minimum system requirements for the emulator as documented by Microsoft here…
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/ff626524(v=vs.105).aspx
In any case, that’s my 2 cents. I hope this helps!
Thank you for the detailed recommendations Joshua Quick!
Great insights, thanks Joshua!
I ordered a Lumina 521 earlier today (from HSN, $65 with CA sales tax) , it looks like it has the same specs a s the 520… maybe just for a different carrier…
I plan on releasing my strobe light app, once I get my developer account sorted.
Great! Happy to help. :)
I got the Nokia Lumia 630 to temporarily replace my faulty HTC One and it’s surprisingly nippy for a relatively cheap device. I haven’t even bothered to send the HTC for repair yet as I’m quite enjoying using the Nokia.
the HTC 8x looks like a relatively affordable phone for 720p if you want to test that aspect ratio. haven’t tried it myself, but might check it out
If you can, I would recommend that you acquire 2 Windows Phone devices. A low-end/low-memory device and a high-end device, both having different resolutions.
A low-end device having only 512 MB of RAM would be good to test with. The reason is because Microsoft is trying to tackle the cheap smart phone market like Android. Apps running on devices like this are limited to only using about 150-180 MB of RAM, which is not a lot of memory if your app uses extensive amount of images and audio files. With this kind of device, you can verify whether or not your app will run on low-memory devices. If it doesn’t, then your options are to either lower the memory footprint of your app or exclude support for low-memory devices. Microsoft documents this topic further via the link below…
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj681682(v=vs.105).aspx
I believe the most popular Windows Phone device is a Nokia Lumia 520, which is a low-memory 512 MB device and has the lowest resolution supported which is 480x800. So, this would be a good choice for you. (Note: I looked up device popularity via adduplex’s website, which specializes in displaying ads and analytics for WP8.)
For your second device, I would recommend that you get a much beefier, higher resolution device. Perhaps a device that doesn’t have the same aspect ratio as the Lumia 520 that I mentioned above. There are 4 supported resolutions for WP8:
-
480x800
-
768x1280
-
720x1280 (aka: 720P)
-
1080x1920 (aka: 1080P)
The 480x800 and 768x1280 models have the same aspect ratio and only differ by 1.6x scale. If you choose a 720P or a 1080P device as your 2nd device, then you’ll have a *taller* device than the Lumia 520 that I mentioned above, meaning that your app can exercise how it’ll handle Corona’s letterboxing or zoomEven scaling. So, a device like this might be best.
Note that Visual Studio’s windows phone emulator also gives you the ability to test your app under multiple resolutions and different max RAM device types. So, that’s always an option too. Provided that your Windows 8.1 PC meets the minimum system requirements for the emulator as documented by Microsoft here…
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/ff626524(v=vs.105).aspx
In any case, that’s my 2 cents. I hope this helps!
Thank you for the detailed recommendations Joshua Quick!
Great insights, thanks Joshua!
I ordered a Lumina 521 earlier today (from HSN, $65 with CA sales tax) , it looks like it has the same specs a s the 520… maybe just for a different carrier…
I plan on releasing my strobe light app, once I get my developer account sorted.
Great! Happy to help. :)
I got the Nokia Lumia 630 to temporarily replace my faulty HTC One and it’s surprisingly nippy for a relatively cheap device. I haven’t even bothered to send the HTC for repair yet as I’m quite enjoying using the Nokia.
the HTC 8x looks like a relatively affordable phone for 720p if you want to test that aspect ratio. haven’t tried it myself, but might check it out