MobiTest, Test Mobile Website Performance

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 6, 2011
Updated • Sep 28, 2013
Development
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6

The rise of smartphones and other mobile handheld devices has increased the importance of optimizing websites for smartphones and other mobile devices.

There are three core aspects that need to be taken into consideration. The size of the display which is often a lot smaller than standard desktop display resolutions, the technologies supported by those devices and the bandwidth which often results in slower connection speeds and as a result page loading times.

MobiTest is a free online service that webmasters can use to test the performance of websites on mobile devices. The service is completely free and requires no registration.

Webmasters find the options of the screenshot above on the frontpage of the service. All that it takes to run a test is to enter a website url into the form on the start page.

Mobile Website Test

mobile website test

The remaining options are completely optional. They include a menu to select a specific mobile device for the test (several iPhone and Android models mostly from Canada but also the Netherlands and United States), the number of runs, video capturing of the loading and whether the results should be made public or private.

Tests are then started with a click on the Run Performance Test button. The service will add the speed test to the end of the queue. Information about the test's status are always displayed on the screen.

mobile test

The developers suggest to bookmark the unique page address to come back later if a lot of websites are listed in the queue.

Each test result highlights several important information. Among them a screenshot of the website and how it is displayed on the selected mobile device, the page loading time and the total size of the page in Kilobytes. MobiTest grades each tested web page and displays a waterfall chart that highlights all connections that were made during the test.

website performance

Especially the ability to create a video snapshot of the page loading time on the selected mobile device is handy. As are the different locations and devices that webmasters can choose from. An option to run tests with all supported devices would have been handy.

Webmasters who want to test their website's mobile performance can head over to the Blaze MobiTest website to do so.

Update: The service is no longer available. I suggest you check out the following alternatives instead:

  1. The W3C mobileOK Checker which performs several tests to determine the mobile friendliness level of a website.
  2. Google's Mobile Viewing service.
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Comments

  1. Christiaan said on September 28, 2013 at 1:43 pm
    Reply

    Martin. What testing service are you using these days?
    The blaze website does not seem to be working anymore.

    Best wishes.
    Christiaan

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on September 28, 2013 at 2:10 pm
      Reply

      I’m not using mobile test sites anymore. I probably should but do not have the time. I have edited the article to reflect that the service is no longer available.

  2. odio said on October 6, 2011 at 9:49 pm
    Reply

    you are testing the mobile version of ghacks? :]

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on October 6, 2011 at 10:18 pm
      Reply

      Not yet :)

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