Stephen Thair, Seriti Consulting, @TheOpsMgr

London Web Performance Meetup Group, @LDNWebPerf

MEASURING MOBILE PERFORMANCE

Before we start…

3Things to keep in mind

Desktop

≠

Mobile

A JAVA APP CALLING A JAVA APP CALLING A C++ APP USING JNI TO CALL A JAVA APP….

http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/60/Analyzing%20the%20Performance%20of%20Mobile%20Web_%20Challenges%20and%20Techniques%20Presentation.pdf

Wifi

≠

Mobile

WIFI VS HSDPA PERFORMANCE

Mobile

≠

Mobile

DIFFERENT PHONES = DIFFERENT PERFORMANCE

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4144/lg-optimus-2x-nvidia-tegra-2-review-the-first-dual-core-smartphone/8

DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS

DIFFERENT BROWSERS…

http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/articles/mobile-web-browsers-list.php

DIFFERENT NETWORK TYPES…NETWORK_TYPE_1xRTT Current network is 1xRTT

NETWORK_TYPE_CDMA Current network is CDMA: Either IS95A or IS95B

NETWORK_TYPE_EDGE Current network is EDGE

NETWORK_TYPE_EHRPD Current network is eHRPD

NETWORK_TYPE_EVDO_0 Current network is EVDO revision 0

NETWORK_TYPE_EVDO_A Current network is EVDO revision A

NETWORK_TYPE_EVDO_B Current network is EVDO revision B

NETWORK_TYPE_GPRS Current network is GPRS

NETWORK_TYPE_HSDPA Current network is HSDPA

NETWORK_TYPE_HSPA Current network is HSPA

NETWORK_TYPE_HSUPA Current network is HSUPA

NETWORK_TYPE_IDEN Current network is iDen

NETWORK_TYPE_LTE Current network is LTE

NETWORK_TYPE_UMTS Current network is UMTS

NETWORK_TYPE_UNKNOWN Network type is unknown

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/TelephonyManager.html

MOBILE PERFORMANCE IS LOCATION-DEPENDENT

http://mytests.3pmobile.com/context/?WyIyUFVDZHlWV2ErZHFISmxCSWFXRENnPT0iLCJEYnFYVVp3SEN4MD0iXQ%3D%3D

PAGE LOAD TIMES (ALONG THE THAMES)

Off the chart (2m36s)

HSDPA… ON A #!%&$@*ING TRAIN

http://blog.davidsingleton.org/mobiletcp

Max RTT = 20266ms

How important is performance on mobile, anyway?

YOU ONLY HAVE 1.5 SECONDS ON MOBILE!!!

How many ways are there to measure web performance?

And how useful are they on Mobile?

6

6 BROWSER PLUG-INSAs used in HTTPWatch, Dynatrace Ajax Edition etc

But only some mobile browsers support plug-ins… Android & iPhone = No, WinMo & Blackberry = Yes.

5 PROXY TIMINGE.g. Fiddler Proxy (http://www.fiddler2.com/Fiddler2/version.asp)

There is no proxy settings in Android unless you root your phone (http://android-proxy.blogspot.com/)

Only useful for WiFi…

Beware the “observer effect”

4 WEB SERVER MODULEAs used by many APM solutions e.g. Dynatrace, New Relic

Install mod_ or ISAPI filter

Measure the RTT between web server and DB/Application tier

Great for measuring your back-end performance

Not much good for front end…

3 JAVASCRIPT TIMINGAs used in Boomerang, Episodes, GA, WebTuna etc

OK for web pages, better with new WebTiming and NavigationTiming APIs not that mobile browsers support them…

Relies on JavaScript and Cookies… which is problematic…

2 NETWORK LEVEL TIMINGAs used by PCAPPerf and by Atomic Labs Pion, Tealeaf, Coradiant

PCAPPERF limited to over WiFi (otherwise you can’t capture the packets)*

Pion, Tealeaf etc require network tap…

1 CUSTOM BROWSERAs used by 3PMobile.com (on the phone) and synthetic agents (by active monitoring providers e.g. Site Confidence)

At present this is the only way to get real OTA performance data.

So what to use?

Depends on your needs

Development vs

“Real World”

Network perspective vs

Browser Perspective?

PCAPPERF TESTING

PC acting as Wifi hotspot and capturing packets with Wireshark

http://code.google.com/p/pcaphar/wiki/CaptureMobileTraffics

Upload pcap file to pcapperf.appspot.com

AndView the waterfall

Upload

WiFi Connection to PC

MOBITEST – BLAZE.IO/MOBILE

“PCAPPerf as SaaS” + some on-device event capture + screenshots

WiFi only

Tethered machines in Ottawa, DC, Amsterdam

MOBITEST RESULTS SCREEN

• Download time

• Page Size

• Waterfall

• Screenshot

• Link to HAR

MOBITEST / PCAPPERF WATERFALL

3PMOBILE.COM “BROWSER2”

Android Native Browser code instrumented for performance measurement

Test Anywhere you have signal…

Full Mobile context – device & location & network. WiFi & 3G.

Browser-level perspective

Screenshots

Automated Testing

HTML, CSS, Script source code

3PMOBILE.COM “BROWSER2” WATERFALLWaterfall of www.ft.com (redirected to http://m.ft.com)

SCREENSHOTS

DEVICE CONTEXT

LOCATION CONTEXT

NETWORK CONTEXT

DOWNLOAD THE HTML, SCRIPT, CSS SOURCE

SIGN UP FOR FREE BETA @ WWW.3PMOBILE.COM

So what else is there?

TCP DUMP ON ROOTED PHONEhttp://www.vbsteven.be/blog/android-debugging-inspectin-network-traffic-with-tcpdump/

JAVASCRIPT BOOKMARKLETS

Steve Souder’s Mobile Performance Bookmarlet

http://stevesouders.com/mobileperf/mobileperfbkm.php

None of these measure performance per se, but they can give you more information about the page

(but beware of a strong “observer effect”)

KEYNOTE MITE (EMULATION)

The free Keynote MITE emulator

Webkit-based emulation based on device profiles

DEBUGGING TOOLS

Most SDK’s include debugging tools and profilers that can help you understand what’s going on

But you are tethered to your PC (normally)

WATCHMOUSE “IAM” LIBRARY

In-App Monitoring (IAM) is a set of libraries to help instrument your web apps. Currently iPhone only.

Replace your app WebView calls with IAMWebView

It will gather the performance data and beacon it out for you

https://bitbucket.org/watchmouse/iam/

10/04/2023© SERITI CONSULTING 47

BBC / EPITRO SIGNAL STRENGTH SURVEY

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14644507

And that’s all I’ve got…

Questions?• Stephen Thair, Seriti Consulting, @TheOpsMgr

• Stephen.thair@seriticonsulting.com

• www.seriticonsulting.com/blog

• London Web Performance Meetup Group, @LDNWebPerf

• Monthly Meetups in Central London (near Bank)

• http://www.meetup.com/London-Web-Performance-Group/