Software Quality Assurance Practice Exam

Is the given statement about testing with an emulator true or false: Its underlying hardware might skew performance on a real device.

1. True

2. False

The correct answer is: True

The statement about testing with an emulator being skewed by its underlying hardware is indeed true. Emulators are designed to simulate the hardware and software environment of a particular device, which can be useful for testing applications in a controlled environment. However, because emulators run on host machine hardware that may differ significantly from the actual target device, they might not accurately reflect the performance characteristics and limitations of the real device. For instance, emulators might have more processing power, memory, or different graphics capabilities compared to the actual device being emulated, which can lead to discrepancies in app performance. This means that while an emulator can effectively simulate certain functionalities, it may not replicate the real-world scenarios that occur on physical devices, particularly related to performance issues like processing speed, battery usage, and network conditions. Therefore, it's vital for testers to complement emulator testing with real device testing to ensure accurate and effective performance assessments of the software.