How will Android app improve your business?

One of the most happening trends of the current time is the use of smartphones. With each passing day the market of mobile application continues in its popularity streak. In fact, gone are those days when the phone was just an over-powered toy; it has now transitioned to a productive business tool. Some stats can help you grasp the importance of smartphones in today's context. Out of the 4 billion mobile phones used in the world, 1 billion are smartphones. Within 2014 data usage in mobile will overtake the internet usage in desktop. In fact 50% of the local internet searches are conducted from these phones. Now proper applications will be able to solve many of your business problems and benefit both the end user as well as the clients.

Creating virtual office- No matter where you are, at restaurants or simply holidaying with your friends, your device will ensure the completion of your work. Our devices ensure that information can be easily and quickly accessed, making the work days more productive and simplifying interaction with the company. Virtual office space may consist of management software for client relationship, project management software, document sharing, invoicing, expenses, time tracking, etc.

Cost-effective sales marketing- You can use the various apps to let customers know about your recent launches, events, services, etc by taking advantage of the advertising opportunities given to corporate funders. The funders gain a lot through the advertising which reinforces their brand, gaining product exposure to user groups that are highly relevant.

Facilitating client relationships- Social networking strategies are greatly improved with mobile apps since they help in increase of exposure and accessibility, allowing you to connect with customers who are on-the-go. Your customer-base will be increased and you will be available all the time as apps can function offline. Moreover just a second is all you need to launch some app which is there on the home screen of a phone.

Software's new platform- With the progress of mobile technology, there is expansion of boundaries related to tablet and smartphone software. There are sector specific software for every industry and they cater to the respective market. The proprietary programs of sectors like navigational, educational along with agricultural among others have been redeveloped, thanks to the apps which has resulted in broadening of the product reach of the respective company.

Some Apps To Give You Better Business

Some apps which benefit you in your business in the long run are listed here.

Docs to go- Many of us do not like to drag our laptops wherever we go, so it is essential that Microsoft Office be accessed from mobile devices at all times. Looking at documents or editing spreadsheets becomes an easy job with the help of Docs To Go. The functionality of the application is top-notch and it also provides peace of mind when you know that you and your documents are inseparable.

Evernote- There are several times that you may have some brilliant idea for new products but lack of paper and pen for scribbling it down, which results in valuable loss. Evernote acts as a digital notebook; it can store everything like notes, web pages, photos, audio clips and PDF files. The app is easily accessible and searchable.

Expensify- Business travelers can benefit a lot with this app as it helps keep you consolidated as well as organized. It helps keep tabs on your business expenses as well as mileage through scanning of receipts with the help of the camera of your device and then importing data from bank or credit card. This relieves you of the pain of drafting expense reports.

There are lots of applications that can help make your business life simpler. In fact these days, we find it hard to function without Google Translate as well as Google Drive. This field has seen astounding growth and becoming a part of this world helps you efficiently conduct your businesses worldwide.

You can hire developers from top android development company in India who can help you build mobile apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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How to Perform Android Automated Testing

Android app testing is an essential part of the development process. Especially for Android OS, it is very important because the devices are very different from each other. They vary from each other in screen size and resolution, version, form factor, instruction set of the processor, front camera, NFC, external keyboard and so many other different factors. In such a scenario, automated Android testing provides an architecture and powerful tools that tests every aspect of android application at every level from unit to framework.

Many Android test suites are based on JUnit. The Android JUnit extensions provide component-specific test case classes. JUnit extensions test Android API. A functional test checks if the activity was correctly started. A unit test just tests the functionality of a certain component. These classes provide helper methods for creating mock objects and methods that help one control the lifecycle of a component.

Android SDK tools are available in plenty for building and testing such as Eclipse with ADT and also in command-line form for use with other IDEs. These tools gather data from the application under test and use this information to automatically create file, manifest both the file as well as directory structure for the test package. There are two utilities available in Android SDK to control Android devices: ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and Monkeyrunner. Monkeyrunner is an API used for testing devices with Python programs and its UI is a command-line tool for stress-testing. These two send pseudo-random events to a device.

The Android SDK provides the following tools to support automated, functional UI testing for its application:

• uiautomatorviewer - A GUI tool to scan and analyze the UI components of an Android application.
• uiautomator - A Java library containing APIs to create customized functional UI tests and an execution engine to automate and run the tests.
• InstrumentationTestRunner - A primary Android test runner class which extends JUnit test runner. framework.It runs any the test case classes provided by Android and supports all possible types of testing.

If one plans to test the application, the app must be installed first on a test device, analyzed UI components of the app and must be ensured that the application is accessible by the test automation framework.

1. Create automated tests to simulate specific user interactions on application.

2. Compile test cases into a JAR file and install it on test device along with your app.

3. Run the tests and view the test results.

4. Correct any bugs or defects discovered in testing.

Various Automated Testing methods used are:

• Testing with Monkey
• Testing with MonkeyRunner
• Testing with getevent and sendevent
• Testing with Robotium

These methods can work wonders testing the android apps. A properly constructed testing process that combines different testing methods including automated testing is an essential part of a high quality application development process.

Advantages of Android Automated Testing

• It brings flexibility to the application.
• Programming skills are not required to record event sequence.
• Actions are described at the application UI level.
• Script does not depend of the screen orientation and screen resolution.
• Automated scripts can check the state of an application only after an action.
• Avoids redundancy of effort in testing.

With the above advantages, developers can leverage automated android app testing methods and techniques to make their lives easier and mobile app development fun!

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The Best 12 Healthcare Android apps

The Google Play Store comes up with a plethora of medical apps. While some of these are immensely beneficial for medical students, some others are helpful for all, like the app which can guide users on the procedure of first aid. Here we bring to you 12 of the most useful Healthcare Android apps catering to different medical sectors.

1. ICE or In Case of Emergency: This is a very beneficial app which contains valuable information that can be used by the first responders and medical staff when they are dealing with an emergency condition related to you. Some of the crucial information that this app contains are the list of the people who can be called during an emergency, names and numbers of doctors, insurance information, medical conditions, allergies and medications.

2. Visual Anatomy Free: This acts as a reference and education tool, enabling the reader to comprehend the bones, muscles, organs and different systems of the human body. The app consists of high-resolution photos as well as feature points. Every feature comes with its own description and label. This app also constitutes a number of multiple choice quizzes and queries.

3. Mosquito Repellant: This is a unique app that works on the principle that ultrasound may repel insects such as mosquitoes. This app is capable of generating ultrasound of high frequency that repels mosquitoes and hence acts as a protection against mosquito bites. Mosquitoes stay away from some ultrasound frequencies and thus you will be able to do away with mosquitoes without using any kind of mosquito coils or other such environment pollutants.

4. First Aid: This app is immensely useful and features a host of accurate procedures, which users can themselves apply in a demanding situation or for providing guidance and support to others. It incorporates videos, illustrations and short descriptions delineating the methods to take required action in a systematic way.

5. Test Your Hearing: This app lets you evaluate your hearing capabilities. It incorporates two tests, which are required to estimate the range and frequency differentiation. The first test evaluates your audible frequencies by presenting a range of frequency tones. Again, the second test brings to you a host of tone pair, thereby estimating the frequencies which you can differentiate.

6. Immunity Boosters: The immune system of our body plays a crucial role in the maintenance of good health. The individuals who have a good immunity are less prone to diseases and infections. Diet is something that is directly proportional to immunity. This particular app provides information about immunity boosters and factors which tend to have a negative impact on the immunity system. This information helps users in maintaining good health.

7. OnTrack Diabetes: This constitutes one of the most effective yet convenient to use app. It facilitates the control of diabetes through tracking of a number of factors such as medication, weight, blood glucose, food, exercise and pulse. The noteworthy features include a conveniently usable interface which facilitates addition of new entries, a variety of detailed reports and graphs, amongst others.

8. Color Blindness Test: This app evaluates color blindness by offering a kind of test to the users. You just need to take the test to confirm whether you have color blindness or are free from it. This app is based on the fundamentals of color vision science in order to measure the extent and type of color vision deficiency.

9. Homeo Guide: This app presents different kinds of homeopathic treatments and medicines for a range of ailments and diseases that can be treated using homeopathic medication. The user can search treatment for various minor ailments and injuries such as allergies, cough, gastro-enteritis and so on.

10. Calculate by QxMD: This is in fact a kind of medical calculator which also serves as a decision support tool. The application chiefly involves those tools that are very helpful in clinical practice and aids in influencing diagnosis, treatment and determination of prognosis.

11. BMI Calculator: This app calculates the Body Mass Index, wherein you are simply required to enter your height and weight. Instantly, your BMI is calculated and displayed on the screen in addition to other values of overweight, normal weight, obesity, etc.

12. Micromedex Drug Information: This is an immensely beneficial app which is packed with information about drugs including drug administrations, interactions, dosage for adults and children, pharmacokinetics, precautions and so on.

These apps have brought about a revolution in the medical field and will help to carry our different medical procedures in a seamless manner. No wonder Android app development has forayed into healthcare domain in a big way.

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