Smart watches evolved from basic digital watches in the 1980s to sophisticated wearable tech. Early models like Seiko's 1982 Pulsar and Timex's 1994 Datalink paved the way. The 1999 Samsung SPH-WP10 featured phone capabilities, and Microsoft's 2003 SPOT watches offered limited connectivity. Samsung's 2013 Galaxy Gear marked a significant entry by a major tech company.
Smart watch offers features such as fitness tracking (steps, heart rate, sleep monitoring), GPS navigation, smartphone notifications, music control, contactless payments, and health monitoring (ECG, SPO2). Some models also support voice assistants, customizable watch faces, and cellular connectivity for calls and messages without a paired phone. In this article, we will touch on a few critical features that are important from the user perspective, major elements to be tested for having a successful product and tools that need to be considered for smart watch testing.
Smartwatch in our daily life
Smart watches have significantly impacted human life by enhancing connectivity, health monitoring, and convenience. They provide instant access to notifications, calls, and messages, reducing the need to check smartphones frequently. Advanced health features, such as heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, SPO2 tracking and ECG readings, empower users to manage their health proactively. Fitness tracking encourages active lifestyles by monitoring exercise and offering personalized goals. Smart watches also facilitate contactless payments and GPS navigation, streamlining daily tasks.
These multi-functional devices have integrated seamlessly into daily routines, improving productivity, and promoting a healthier, more connected lifestyle.
Importance of Smart watch testing
Any smart watch issues in the field can disrupt a person’s daily routine, leading to frustration from unreliable notifications and connectivity. Wrong or invalid data can impact user decisions leading to adverse mental/health effects. Though most of these devices are not medically qualified or FDA certified, users have a strong faith in data such as heart rate, SPO2, sleep etc. Health/Fitness data inaccuracies may provide misleading data, impacting decisions such as invoking false SOS alert and calling doctor to patient location automatically. Privacy concerns arise from data breaches, and short battery life or poor durability can diminish user experience, reducing overall trust in smart watches or wearable technology. Any smart watch issues can lead to damaged reputation, and decreased customer trust boils down to financial loss. Recalls and repairs of products will increase costs, while negative reviews and reduced sales impact market position.
Major aspects of Smart watch testing
Testing a smartwatch involves several critical aspects to ensure functionality, reliability, and user satisfaction. Major aspects are listed below.
| Connectivity | Testing Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular connectivity to ensure stable communication with smartphones and other devices |
| Battery Life | Evaluating battery performance under various usage scenarios to ensure longevity and efficient power management. |
| Health and Fitness Features | Verifying the accuracy of sensors like heart rate monitors, SPO2, GPS, sleep tracking, and other health metrics. |
| User Interface (UI) and Usability | Assessing the responsiveness, intuitiveness, and ease of navigation within the smartwatch's interface. |
| Performance | Measuring the speed and responsiveness of applications, notifications, and overall system performance. |
| Compatibility | Testing interoperability with various smartphone models and operating systems to ensure seamless integration. |
| Voice and Audio Quality | Evaluating the clarity and reliability of voice commands, calls, and audio playback. |
Smartwatch Connectivity Testing Tools
Bluetooth
There are two commonly used tool types in Bluetooth connectivity testing are.
- Protocol Analyzer – Analyzers and sniffers like Ellisys Bluetooth Tracker are used to capture and analyze Bluetooth communication for compliance and performance testing.
- Sniffer – TestBot and nRF Connect Sniffer help in monitoring and testing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi Analyzers such as Wireshark, Acrylic Wi-Fi Professional, and AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer provide comprehensive insights into Wi-Fi networks, including signal strength, interference, and protocol analysis.
Cellular
LTE or 4G network testing is a critical testing, where the tester needs to test at different timeliness of the day. Because service providers will increase and decrease the power of tower based on consumers density in the area. When the signal is low due to reduced power in the tower, more power will be consumed.
Battery
Power profilers such as
- Nordic Semiconductor power profile kit (PPK) is used for measuring the power consumption of low-power wireless devices.
- Power monitor tools & data loggers used to measure voltage and current to analyze power consumption pattern in real-time.
Health and Fitness features
- Fluke ProSim 8 Vital Signs Simulator is used to simulate various vital signs, including heart rate, SPO2 for oxygen for testing and calibration of smartwatch sensors.
- Shaker system/devices such as Data Physics SignalForce Vibration Test Systems simulate different motion patterns to test accelerometer accuracy.
- Fluke index2 SPO2 analyzer used to simulate various oxygen saturation levels to ensure reliability of smartwatches.
Similarly for every feature there are direct or indirect tools available to validate the feature.
Bluetooth LE Physical Layer Testing
Standalone battery-operated low power devices are the main use cases of BLE. Some of the devices that use BLE are home automation system, fitness tracking, fleet tracking etc. Critical testing of this device involves RF testing and power consumption.
Bluetooth SIG Standardized direct test mode (DTM) to test transmitter, receiver with control facilitated test commands. This mode enables testing of the Bluetooth LE transmitter and receiver, with control facilitated through a dedicated wired test interface. For the wired interface, two specified options include a USB or RS232 connection to the host control interface (HCI) of the DUT.
User Interface
For User interface, features such as swipe top to bottom, bottom to top, tap, double tap, tapping on location on screen etc. are tested mostly by manual method or using an automated electromechanical device such as TestBot to emulate a finger touch and movement on the screen. This involves timely touch and movement to conduct the necessary user interface tests.
Test cases for Smartwatches
Few Test cases for Smartwatches that are quiet common are listed below.
| # | Possible Test Case | Expected Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Activate flight mode on smartphone/ tablet but not on the smartwatch. | The connection between the smartphone/ tablet and smartwatch will be lost. However, the smartwatch app must still work with the data that is available on the device. Depending on the app it may show an error that the connection has been lost. |
| 2 | Leave smartphone/ tablet on a table and move away with the smartwatch. Check how the smartwatch app is handling the connection loss with the smartphone/ tablet. | The connection loss between smartwatch app and smartphone/ tablet should not influence the app in the current state. If the app relies on a permanent connection, the smartwatch app must show a proper error message to the user. |
| 3 | If the smartwatch app uses sensors that rely on the skin surface or temperature, test the app with dry, sweaty or tattooed skin. | Some smartwatch sensors may have problems with dry, sweaty, or tattooed skin. If the smartwatch app under test is detecting problems with the sensors and the received data, it must show a proper error message informing the user about the problem. |
| 4 | If your app offers movement features you must walk, run or stay at the same place. | The complete movement must be measured by the app. Depending on the speed of the movement the app must distinguish between walking, running or no movement. Watch out for performance issues while walking or running. |
| 5 | If your app relies on GPS data, switch GPS off. | If the smartwatch app relies on GPS data, the app must handle the state that GPS is missing. The app must show a useful text to the user. |
| 6 | Test the smartwatch app with left and right hand. | The smartwatch app must be usable by left and right handers. |
| 7 | While testing the smartwatch app call the smartphone that is paired with the watch. | Incoming calls must pause the running watch app. When the phone call is over, the watch app must be in the same state as before the call. |
| 8 | Navigate to multiple sub screens to and from | Make sure while you come out of the sub screen, screen should point to the previous menu properly. |
Today we have seen the need for smart watch functional testing and its methods, along with this there are other aspects of smart watch which also play crucial role in product success such as physical design of the watch, IP67 for normal watch and IP68 for advanced sports grade watch, viewing angle clarity, strap quality, ruggedness and charging methods etc. These aspects ensure the device withstands daily wear and environmental factors. There are dedicated companies or agencies that typically handle these verifications, ensuring the smartwatch meets high standards of quality and reliability.
Conclusion
These are a few potential test cases for Smartwatches that can be a good starting point for a tester, and we can do many more such as synchronization of status between mobile and smartwatch, display frame per second, smooth scrolling of screens, color perfectness at different day light, fitness feature testing etc. Smart watch testing is intricate, addressing challenges from form factor limitations to connectivity issues. Thorough testing ensures reliability, performance, and user satisfaction.