Is Your App Consuming Resources?

Android applications on a smartphone consume a lot of data resources, which not every smartphone user is aware of.

It’s certainly known that Google Apps, in particular Android applications on a smartphone use up a considerable amount of battery life; what isn’t so well known, I believe, is that they also consume a lot of data.  That’s according to one researcher who described the devices as data hoggers.  He told cnn.com “Android smartphone owners consumed an average of 582 MB of data each month, compared to 492 MB for iPhone owners.”

This is a little worrying when you consider that Android smartphones are becoming pre-eminent in the market place, plus the fact that (in the UK at least) there is a network data problem.  In other words, there isn’t sufficient capacity to cope with the demand.

Experts hope that the latest 4G technology will help, but this is by no means certain.

This research may come as a surprise to some who previously believed that Apple’s operating system consumed more data resources than Android.

It has to be said, however, that these results come from research carried out in the United States.  No study to my knowledge has been carried out on UK customers.

Interestingly, while both Apple devices and Android smartphones use up data, RIM compresses it before sending it on to a BlackBerry.  If you are a BlackBerry user then this is an added bonus; it’s certainly a great unique selling point.