If you’re a Google Music subscriber who listens to a ton of tunes, you may be shocked at how the application gobbles up data like there’s no tomorrow. But not anymore! Google has pushed out a new update for Google Music that brings new bandwidth settings and overall reduced data usage.
Having a hard time connecting to the Internet on your Three smartphone this morning? You’re not the only one. The British carrier has confirmed that it is currently suffering a glitch that is affecting data services across the whole of the U.K., but it promises it is working to fix it.
If you’ve got an iPhone, you’re probably glued to it; if you use an Android device, you probably neglect it, at least comparatively. That’s the obvious conclusion to be drawn by new data that shows that iPhone users spend an additional 26 minutes on their smartphone per day than your average Android owner.
This weekend, comScore released smartphone manufacturer and operating system data for the first quarter of 2013, in the U.S. market. The figures are very interesting, showing Android continuing to dominate the market with a whopping 52% market share for operating system.
If you’re struggling to stay within your smartphone data plan each month, then maybe one of AT&T’s new shared data plans might be better for you. The company is now offering 30GB, 40GB, and 50GB tiers starting at just $300 per month. That’s right, per month. That’s with unlimited calls and texts included. Bargain, right?
The latest App Report from research firm Appthority has found that free apps downloaded onto iOS devices are more likely to collect your personal data than free apps downloaded on Android, with 60% of the top ten App Store downloads sharing data with advertising and analytics networks.
The report suggests that due to the volume of titles in the App Store, iOS developers are more likely to collect your data and pass it on as an alternative revenue stream.
AT&T is currently offering new Nexus 7 customers a “special offer” through the Google Play Store, which will see $100 of credit added to your bill when you take out a new two-year data plan. The deal applies to the HSPA+ Nexus 7 and it’s valid until Thursday, February 14. But is it really worth it? We’re not so sure.
If you’re a Verizon customer, you’ll want to be on the lookout for an email or text message from asking if you’d be willing to share your data usage (location, web browsing and mobile application usage data) in return for coupons or “rewards.” This sort of data farming for advertisers is nothing new in today’s world, but always a bit unsettling.
AT&T announced last month that it would be launching shared plans for pooling monthly data allotments between up to 10 devices per account. Instead of paying for a separate data plan for each smartphone, subscribers would be able to use a 1-20GB shared plan across multiple devices, including tablets and desktop computers. Verizon announced a similar strategy in June.
Today AT&T has confirmed that its shared data plans will be available to new and existing subscribers on Thursday, August 23rd.
For better or worse, Verizon’s new Share Everything plans are now here. If you sign up for Verizon and wish to have multiple devices on one account, you’ll have to choose from the new Share Everything plans. Current customers do not have to worry about this unless they either want to, or decide to upgrade to a new device at a subsidized cost.