AE Bowling 3D - application crash issue (Windows Phone)

The game details screen says that the bug in championship mode crash is fixed. However, it seems to me that the crash I am seeing is pretty much symptom of previous crash or so, this is just my understanding as I am not sure what was the previous crash issue.

To replicate the issue, here are the steps:

1: Go to Championship
2: Choose level
3: Start playing the game with AI
4: You got to play till you play against Frank or Denny (in their respective levels)
5: When Frank or Denny makes their last throw - the game exit and user lands on start screen (tile view)

Note: Even if you open the game again and if there is an option to continue, you will end up similar to step 5 above.

The game works smoothly if you play against others but when the game finishes after Frank's or Denny's throw - the application crashes, and exit the user to start screen. You have to be patient to wait for Frank's or Denny's turn as Frank or Denny is not the first player and you have to play with 4-5 others before Frank or Denny gets a shot. You end up in the same loop if you restart the game and start playing with Frank or Denny as after again their last throw - the application crashes, quite annoying.

It does not matter whether you win or lose as the last throw score is not seen as the user gets kicked out of the application. 

AE Bowling 3D (Championship crash issue)

[Edit: Just informed the team about the issue so hoping something that could be taken care of in next update or so.]

Excited about Windows Phone 8 but not quite yet there.

Recently I was exploring Windows phone with their latest OS running on it. It is pretty smooth interface - kind of hard if you are very used to with Android counterpart or even iOS. But eventually, you get used to it and it is really good and easy to use. There are things that looks like confusing but then we can only hope that it may be fixed as we get the new updates for the OS. 

Windows Phone

You may find the interface (tile) confusing or scary at the start - but you can customize that as per your need. It is been only a while I am exploring it, so I am no expert but it looks promising (at least that what I could say at this moment). Yes, in terms of application availability and so, it lacks on that front but it seems more and more developer will take advantage of it. The OS itself is pretty smooth and once you get used to it, you will definitely enjoy working with it. It does its job but it is not quite yet there where you could totally rely on Windows Phone for majority of your work, you still have to rely on Android or iOS.  Interacting with Windows Phone if you are heavily relied on Android or iOS could pose some problems. Though on the interface side - it is pretty good job. Not seen any hiccups while doing multitasking so that is something good. But it could also possible that I have not pushed it to its threshold so that is something I will have to look out for. Other than that - it seems I like it because normally I kind of use Android or iOS for most of the work, so I like the variety that it provides, so that is something I will be keeping an eye while exploring new things. 

 
My list thus far not too big:

- Downloading an application seems to be bit on a slower side
- Few interface issues
- Few special characters are missing (at least I could not find $ symbol anywhere on the keyboard). This could be due to language + region combination but seriously I expect the $ symbol to be available on the keyboard as wherever I have to make use of the symbol - I am missing that on Windows Phone. 
Edit: This was something I got to learn. The keys are not missing but the options could be seen if long press on a similar key. So, if you have set country as India you will see "Rupee" symbol by default, long press on it will display other currency option. This is more of a getting used with new OS on my part.
- Exiting from the application is not smoother process

Other than few rendering issues, few options missing from the interface and some bugs in the applications - other than that it seems okay. 



Best Regards,

Amit

P.S.: So far it seems I kind of like it more than my other devices. (Just kidding... :))

Temple Run 2 - Daily Challenge Bug

There appears to be a bug in Temple Run 2 - Daily Challenges section. This could only be seen for Daily Challenge (Day 1). No matter if you are in offline or online mode, if you are playing it after a while and if it happens to be Daily Challenge as well, then once you lost - the layout of the screen shown appears to be broken. (see below) The buttons on the screen doesn't work either - only Next button works on that screen from all others.

 

(Tested on LG Optimus Vu - P895 running 4.0.3)

Best Regards,

Amit

Started writing this blog on 05/08/2013 at 13:10 PM IST and completed the blog at 13:15 PM IST

To update or not to update?

 

I wonder how many of us actually update the app(s) as soon as the new update is released by the app developer? I really get annoyed if I see frequent updates for the app and I get notified, every time.

So, you get a notification for the application that update is available. Personally, I don't like frequent update, well only if something that is broken a basic feature of the app then the update is fine, but I just don't update them as soon as the update is available.

Also, I take into the consideration - how often I use the app for which the update is available. So, few questions to myself:

• Do I really need this app anymore?
• If the answer to the question is "YES", then how often I use the app?
• If the answer to the question is "NO", no update but time to delete the app. :)

The factor that matters to me most and which is likely the case with many apps, whenever a new update is available, something that was working just fine works no more (more about this coming in a separate blog post). So, what the update is for? Huh? So, you got to wait for another update that is likely going to be rolled out sooner or later based on how responsive the developer of the app is, and what are the odds that there is no workaround to make it working. So, another update?

If you are not the first one to update then the best way to know about any update for the app is via reviews left by the other users. So, not necessarily you wait for others to try it out and then decide whether to update or not but if there is already data available then why not use it? I often find them useful for getting new ideas as well.

So, often I read out the reviews carefully so as the description that the developer has mentioned with respect to any bug fixes, or new feature addition or something that on a similar note. I then take a call whether to update or not, and if it is not an app that I use most often then there is every possibility that I am not updating it at first!  


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Upgrade scenario

Often wondered whether the developer of the app does the upgrade test for the app before releasing into the store?  The most common reason at least that what I have seen is something goes wrong after the update, and that makes the user unhappy, which is obvious, and it results in negative feedback. 

I have not yet done detailed study in terms of numbers but this is been the common reason for every other bad review for an app, if the update goes wrong.  Now, there is also another factor as sometimes the app is not compatible with the older version of OS, and if the user try to install it, and there is no way it (the app) tells the user that it does no more support or something like that, then there is every likelihood that it may results in negative feedback for an app, as well.  Or, even the case where the app was previously supporting the older version of OS but the app developer decided to remove the support for the OS where the user base is too small, and a user who actively using the app suddenly find themselves not make the use of the app anymore!  

Even at times the developer makes sure that they put a note for that (supporting OS) in the description area for the app but it is being ignored by the user, that is bound to happen. 

Example: As you can see from the below screenshots for Facebook, Catch Notes and Bookmyshow App - the reason for leaving negative feedback as something gone wrong with the update!

Upgrade scenario : Testers take away - please, please make sure that you test for an app for upgrade scenario even if it is not something you've been asked for! 

If you are on a team who is dedicated to mobile app testing then you must test for upgrade scenario. There is every possibility that your team will be releasing daily or weekly releases of the apps, and so you may find at that time it is not that necessary to run this test. That's fine! But even if you run the test it does not do any harm. However, please make sure that you must test for this at any cost while testing the candidate release for the stores. This is IMPORTANT!

As could be seen from the above map for an example - it is always better to run the update scenario at least for release candidate build(s), so you release build R1 into the store, and after few days or months you release another one release R2 (for bug fixes, or feature addition). It is always important at this stage to run this test as most of the times the stress is given to bug fixes, and feature addition test.  If something that was working just fine previously but it is not working anymore so the new release even with new bug fixes, and features is bound to get negative feedback. 


Started writing this blog <did not keep the track of the time...>