An example of this would be a pizza ordering application. The rigidness of this method is a real detriment to testing these devices which are conversational in nature. You might not be aware of all the commands you want to test as well. The drawback of this method would be that everything would have to be generated beforehand which is a time consuming process. There are tools that could facilitate this, by generating the required commands you wanted to test before hand in whatever language you desired. Having your testers vocally test the devices might not be feasible as well since you will probably end up with testers with hoarse throats after a long testing session. This could get quite expensive and time consuming in locating the testers with the specific skillset. If you intended your app to be used globally you would need to hire testers that could speak all the languages required by your desired skill.
Offshoring this type of testing would be difficult to countries like India, China, and Vietnam if you wanted to test a primary English speaking skill.
#GOOGLE TESTING GOOGLE VOICE DESKTOP APP MANUAL#
Some drawbacks associated with manual testing are that it could be expensive to implement at a large scale. How would you go about structuring your testing environment to test these voice first devices? Would you go the normal manual testing route or develop automation so that you can have a consistent workflow. There is a unique challenge involved when testing voice first devices.
The need for testing of these custom skills and devices will be become more common place in the future like how mobile app testing is today. Amazon is even licensing this technology to be built into third party devices like Sonos Speakers and Ford’s Sync car entertainment system. Amazon Alexa Voice Service, the technology that powers the Echo family of devices is already boasting over 10,000 skills or functions that can augment the usefulness or entertainment value of the platform, and more are being added all the time by third parties. Both of these platforms are ushering in an era where voice first devices will become as ubiquitous as the smart phone is today. Amazon Echo and Google home are both vying for control of your smart home.