Fragmentation on the Android operating system presents many complications for developers. It is a time-consuming and expensive process to test games out on dozens of different devices, and even then it’s unlikely studios can get their titles running perfectly on every phone or tablet in use.
That’s where device-testing firm Apkudo comes in. The company has a free service for developers to test out their software on scores of devices. The company works with the companies like HTC and Samsung, and it found that it could better help those companies, which is where it makes its money, if it had access to as many apps as possible.
“Apkudo is primarily concerned with assisting device manufacturers and carriers,” Apkudo chief executive Josh Matthews told GamesBeat. “We have a program called Apkudo Approved where we take a device while it’s still in development and we bring that device into our lab and we test it against 25,000 apps.”
Apkudo uses many different instruments to test how hardware performs while running those different apps. It’s looking not to find out how fast the processor is, but to find out how well a device performs in user-experience scenarios.
“While the device is being exercised, we’re gathering user-experience metrics,” said Matthews. “That gives us information on — from a user-experience perspective — how the device performs.”
It’s a fully automated process. It takes five days to a run a new phone or tablet through the tests, and then the manufacturer gets a 500-page report with millions of data points that reveals how its device performed.
This methodology provided Apkudo with an opportunity to help out developers while helping itself.
“A developer wants to make sure that its app works on every device, and a manufacturer wants to make sure its device works with every app,” said Matthews.
Apkudo benefits by having access to as many apps and games as possible. It long ago worked out access to just about every device. Carriers don’t want a phone that isn’t Apkudo Approved, so manufacturers happily submit and pay for the testing of every new Android handset and tablet.
To get the apps, and especially unreleased cutting-edge games that really push hardware to its limits, Apkudo turned to developers and offered to test their apps against every device in its library.
“About 18 months ago, we were taking thousands of apps from Google Play to perform our assessment, and we realized it would be really cool if we could use apps that are still in development,” said Matthews. “Apps that are still in development exercise the more of the Android functionality than those that are already launched.”
The company created Apkudo for Developers where studios can upload their APKs (the basic Android install file) and get back a full analysis for free.
“We install the app across all devices and execute our automated test,” said Matthews. “We provide back a full report about the performance and compatibility of the individual app.”
In exchange, developers just have to let Apkudo hang on to the game so they can continue using it to test out future phones and tablets.
“Gaming benefits us far more than any other category of apps,” said Matthews. “It’s games that push the limits of the hardware. The pace of Android game development is phenomenal — especially 3D games.”
Apkudo has a policy to not talk about the specific games that it’s testing, but it is working with over 16,000 developers to test their apps.