If you are unfamiliar with other books that have “break” and “software” in their title, you might be forgiven for thinking that this book presents techniques for breaking into mobile and embedded devices. You would be wrong, however, for this is a book about testing such devices.

Following the lead of James Whittaker, who has written a series of books with similar titles [1,2], this author, an experienced software tester, describes diverse techniques for testing mobile and embedded devices from the perspective of an adversary. In traditional testing processes, a test plan is written according to the software specifications; in test-driven processes, the unit tests are written by developers. In contrast to those, the approach in this book is unapologetically (mostly) that of black-box testing. The tester gets a device (or its software) and tries to identify weaknesses.

After an introduction into the topic of testing mobile and embedded devices, the bulk of the book discusses testing the source code, the elements controlled by the software, the behavior associated with adverse hardware conditions, responses to abnormal data, timing properties, the user interface, the handling of third-party applications, and security. Three final chapters discuss combining diverse tests, setting up a testing laboratory, and working as a tester. The book concludes with a list of numerous references, a glossary, and an extensive index.

The author offers an interesting perspective on testing and a wealth of ideas for finding bugs that might be overlooked in a more traditional top-down or bottom-up testing strategy. However, readers may find the constant references to tests as “attacks” highly distracting and confusing. In addition, in many places, the writing is overly abstract or verbose, making it difficult to focus on the gems that hide within.

Sadly, the wafer-thin paper allows the text on one side of the page to show between the lines on the other side, and sidebars are situated on an off-putting, washed-out gray background. More attention to editing and production quality from the publisher would greatly improve this book. Despite this drawback, testers of mobile and embedded devices will find it to be a useful addition to their bookshelf.

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