Smartphone Latency Testing
The CtrLab wanted to determine whether research participants can use their own phone or need a study-provided phone to complete cognitive testing with the ARC app
- Different Devices = Different Performance
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is critical for ecological validity.
- When they use their own, the study app becomes just another app on their phone.
- iPhones don’t have as much variability: ~10-14 devices, very consistent specs, iOS ”locked down”.
- Androids come in many more varieties: >5000 devices in US alone, OS (operating systems) can be manipulated by manufacturer. Specs provided are often incorrect.
- Participants enroll with different phones, different OS’s, and then often change them midstudy.
- Devices with broken screens or screen protectors may not work as well.
- We engineered a series of devices to assess smartphone and tablet performance.
- These devices test the time from being touched to the time that the phone registers that touch.
- We have tested dozens of phones so that we know over time which phones will work for our participants and which will not.