ssong
Joined 15 years ago
Karma
231
Submissions
47
Member since
Apr 19
Previously TalentOrg, Palantir, Apple, Stanford, and CMU.
View on Hacker NewsRecent submissions
Comment · 12 years ago
(I'm working with OP on this)
Thanks for the feedback! We are using a setup similar to http://www.diybookscanner.org/ for this and the scan quality is very high. The sample PDF was scaled down and compressed to reduce file size. I'll put up a high-res version in a bit.
For the actual service, you can download each individual high-res page scans.
Comment · 12 years ago
OP here. I started TestElf over a year ago. Our initial service was pay-per-use iOS testing and we launched the MVP here on HN. After working with hundreds of developers, we realized that there were still many aspects of manual testing that our initial service did not solve. Today, we are launching our first new service: pay-per-month dedicated testing aimed at larger development teams. Being a solo founder and bootstrapping since the beginning has definitely been tough. I wouldn't have gotten this far without our first trial users (many of them HN readers). Thanks everyone!
Comment · 13 years ago
When looking at the screenshot slides, clicking on the top right corner of the image (near where the 'x' is in most of the screenshots) actually closes the slideshow. This is a nice little usability detail.
Comment · 13 years ago
Thanks for sharing. Adding to the list, I built HN Showcase a while back with a similar goal:
Comment · 13 years ago
OP here. I started Testelf a year ago to make testing easier for mobile development teams. Many of our early adopters came from HN and we wouldn't have gotten this far without the support from this community. Thanks everyone!
While cloud services have made product development faster and easier, testing is still a bottleneck. Black box testing is essential in ensuring major issues are caught before an app reaches the end user. Testelf currently provides black box testing for iOS. My goal is to build a testing service that's not only affordable, but also very easy to use. We charge a flat price ($200) per test, have a two-day turnaround, require no documentation or spec from users, and provide a very comprehensive test report.
We launched a private beta with 30 companies around five months ago and have received very good feedback. Today, we are opening up the service to everyone. While we are iOS only for now, we are planning to add Android and Mac app testing in the near future.
Comment · 13 years ago
I think you make a great point about perceived value of testing vs SEO/design. However, with the increased proliferation of downloading software through app stores, which favors apps with better reviews/ratings, the perceived value of testing should increase. For example, take a look at apps with mixed or low ratings on the AppStore and most of them will contain complaints about bugs in the app.
(random point + small shameless plug: I founded http://www.testelf.com as flat priced testing service for iOS apps)
Comment · 13 years ago
Thanks for asking! We do test on common devices (retina/non-retina iPad, iOS 5/6), and we're going to carefully consider which devices to cover as we grow. I am also very aware of the importance of confidentiality, such as keeping test results private -- I think the service wouldn't make sense without it. Our exact terms will be available before we publicly launch.
Comment · 13 years ago
Good point! There is an option to attach additional information (description, notes, link to website/app store) when uploading an individual build. We do ask for a little bit of information about the app in general when the first build is uploaded so that we have some context.