Phone Bulletin

If you ever worry about going over your capped smartphone data plan, then now would be a good time to listen up.  Onavo Extend, initially released simply as Onavo, has just recently updated its iOS app to support CDMA iPhones, as well as 4G LTE iPads.  That means that now even more users can get the most mileage out of their data plans without fearing overage fees creeping up on them toward the end of the month.

The software essentially works by compressing your device’s data stream via their “magical shrinking machine,” a cloud-based technology that can give users up to five times more data use than their plan would normally allow.  Use of the app is incredibly simple: just open Onavo and leave it on in the background as you use your phone as you normally would, and the software goes to work crunching your data down in the meantime.

While some are naturally concerned about the security issues related with Onavo’s software, they have addressed such concerns recently saying, “We take our user’s privacy very seriously so we store only the bare minimum necessary to support the service – all aggregated and anonymized.  We do not store any content such as messages, passwords, etc.  Additionally, any sensitive content that is encrypted (HTTPS) can not and will not be processed by Onavo.”

While Onavo supports only download data, and not usage due to media streaming or VoIP apps, they have said that they’re working on these in hopes to manage even more data usage in the future.  As is, the app does offer a helpful graph showing your monthly data usage, which shows you just how much data your various apps are using and allowing you to react accordingly.

Onavo Extend is currently available for free in the app store, and is a great option for anyone looking to make the most of a capped data plan.  It’s also a great option for those travelling abroad as it can help greatly reduce those ugly roaming charges.

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Finally, the Draw Something app features that we’ve all been waiting for have been graciously delivered.  After purchasing OMGPOP for a cool $200 million, Zynga became the proud owner of the wildly popular Draw Something application, which has had over 50-million downloads since its February release this year.  The additions came on the heels of many user requests to the new owners, and should be big hits for all who enjoy the rabble-rousing charades-esque drawing game.  The updates to the app include social media ties and photo-saving capabilities in the form of the following:

- Facebook Links

Now after creating each of your beautiful masterpieces, you have the option of uploading them straight to facebook for all your friends and family to see.

- Twitter Links

If facebook isn’t your thing, or it’s simply not enough, don’t go cutting your ear off… go ahead and slap your drawings onto your twitter feed instead.

- Single Line Deletion

Instead of erasing your entire drawing after messing up one measly line, now you can simply hit a button, which retracts your most recently scrawled error.

- Drawing Saving

Now you also have the option to save your drawings directly to your camera photo roll, instead of having to take annoying screen shots after finishing each one.

- Comment Options

Before sending your drawing off to a friend, a small text window now appears in which you can write a message to be delivered with the image.

If you’re anything like the rest of us Draw Something addicts, then these new additions should be a welcomed respite from the monotony that had just begun plaguing the game.  Another recent addition to lookout for are some new words being thrown into the mix.  A little sneak preview… ‘bird poop’ is one of them.

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A recent calculation made by the Associated Press has shown that AT&T’s average monthly bill for smartphone subscribers has dropped from eighty-eight dollars to eighty dollars in the span of a year.  The calculations were made using some actual numbers released by AT&T in their quarterly report, as well as some basic algebra and extrapolation.  With the average smartphone bill 90 percent higher than the average non-smartphone subscriber’s bill, and with AT&T touting smartphones as the best way to boost revenue, these numbers are very important, and also very troubling for the company.

While AT&T would not outright confirm the figures, their CFO, John Stephens, did say that, “the composition of new smartphone customers is changing.”  And while the head of AT&T’s wireless division, Ralph de la Vega, maintained optimism when telling analysts on Tuesday that demand for wireless data will continue to drive an increase in monthly bills, the fact is that these numbers are not extremely encouraging for the company, nor do they really support Vega’s optimism.

Although some of the first quarter figures proved optimistic, the company basically gained no phone subscribers for contract plans in the quarter, which has only happened once in the past.  That was a year ago, right after Verizon launched its first version of the iPhone.  Also in its own figures, AT&T quarterly data shows a 9-percent shrinkage in smartphone bills in the past year.

While contract-based plans are undoubtedly the most lucrative for a phone company, especially one as large as AT&T, which is the largest telecommunications company in the country, figures like these have to make one question what will happen to their growth in the upcoming year.  With more and more technology and apps out there supporting customer data usage, it’ll be interesting to see just what happens for AT&T’s numbers in the near and distant future, and whether or not other companies will be similarly affected.

Nothing beats a free app.  In particular, nothing beats a free game app, especially when it comes to stocking up on ways to kill time.  If you’re an owner of an Android device and haven’t visited the App Marketplace in a while, there’s undoubtedly a whole array of new games you’ve yet to experience.  Here’s the list of the latest free games with the leading number of downloads:

Spider-Man Running: While probably doomed to be sued by Disney for copyright infringement on their recently acquired Marvel products, this newly created game has you swinging over mountains from one cloud to another with the use of ropes.  Beating your previous high score quickly becomes addictive, so keep an eye on your battery.

The Sims Free Play: This hefty game package will likely require a Wi-Fi connection before playing, but otherwise nothing stops you from playing this classic for free on your Android smartphone.  Those expecting a low-frills version on account of the no cost will be surprised.

Pinball Arcade: Farsight Studios decided it was time to take digital pinball one step further by taking a few steps back in terms of inspiration.  Pinball Arcade consists of classic pinball table designs few fans will fail to recognize.

Cheese Tower: Integrating real world physics into app gameplay has been defined by this enormously popular app from Terran Droid.  You are a recent retired soldier cat tasked with protecting your owner’s cheese from a conniving mouse.  Will you succeed?

Fragger: The incredibly popular Miniclip game is now available on Android.  Fragger features 370 unique levels among 12 different worlds, which equates to hours of fun and excitement free of charge.

Skater Boy: By-way of a Guitar Hero-esque interface, players can perform a variety of skateboarding tricks in this cleverly designed game for Android 2.1 and up.  The faster you can react, the higher you’ll score.

Ninja Chicken: Reaction time and speed is critical to being a Ninja Chicken master.  Players can access up to 30 levels of action, while the app’s maker MoMinis vows more will come in the near future.  While ideal for tablets, Ninja Chicken performs just as well on large-screen phones.

Ceramic Destroyer: Destroy digital ceramics as quickly as possible by launching disks in this marvelously crafted game developed by the same folks behind Skater Boy. Ceramic Destroyer is a blasting game similar to Angry Birds, but beautiful visuals and great sound makes it stand apart.

Airport City: The average air traffic controller retires after just a few short years.  If you’ve ever wondered why, play Airport City to find out!  Every stressful moment involved in operating an airport is brought to life in this incredibly popular game from Game Insight International.

There’s no reason not to download free games for your Android device if they grab your interest.  The worst that happens is they take up too much space and need to be deleted, while the best case scenario is you have a new way to keep yourself busy when life slows down to a halt.

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Ever since the iPhone began guzzling data faster than new networks could be build, mobile phone providers have been struggling with a double-edged battle: they want to reduce data loads so as to avoid overuse, slow speeds, and customer dissatisfaction – but they also want to profit of off data usage fees.

While the long-term solution likely involves some combination of LTE networks and individual base stations, the most immediate approach taken to this issue was a reconfiguration of the tiered data pricing plan. Major providers such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all took steps to eliminate unlimited plans, push usage rates into lower tiers, and make up for any lost revenue in the process.

But when AT&T reduced its unlimited plan in 2010, the company grandfathered in any users who already had such a plan and wanted to maintain it. Since then, AT&T has threatened to keep these users in check by “throttling,” or slowing down their data connection, whenever a certain amount of data is exceeded in a given month. The company, however, never defined a concrete cut-off or throttled more than a few heavy data users.

Until now. This week, AT&T published a description on its website of data limitations for unlimited data users. For most users the download limit will fall at three gigabytes per month. Users with the 4G LTE smartphone will get some extra wiggle room and can use up to five gigabytes monthly. Any usage amount above these levels will immediately result in a throttling of that user’s phone – meaning that everything requiring data will happen slower until the next month begins. The company hopes that this explicit cut-off will result in lower data usage without needing to eliminate the unlimited plan and anger long-time customers.

But a good amount of ambiguity still remains. According to AT&T, throttling will still only occur if you exceed the 3 GB or 5 GB cutoff and live in an area where the network is currently congested. Some areas always have congested networks, such as in the center of major financial districts and in regions with low network capacities. But in most places congestion can vary on a weekly or daily basis. The congestion of your network at the time you exceed your limit is the only metric considered.

So most AT&T users will still have a difficult time determining whether a throttling policy would ever apply to them. In light of this, it is likely that unlimited customers will continue to use their phones without much consideration for data limits – thereby forcing AT&T to go back to the drawing board.

It sometimes seems as though Apple and Android have been competing with each other since the dawn of time. The two compete for users and for sales. They fight over intellectual property and rush to come up with superior products. They mock the opposing platform in print and television ads. And, of course, both smartphone platforms steadfastly believe that their app store is the superior one.

Proponents of iPhone apps argue that these apps are far more secure, trustworthy, and comprehensive than their Android counterparts. Android users, on the other hand, will point out that their apps are less restrictive, more numerous, and displaying faster rates of investment and growth. Both arguments certainly carry a good deal of validity.

But now a new measure of assessing apps has emerged: price. While it may seem obvious to include price comparisons from the onset, the relative inexpensiveness of smartphone applications coupled with a belief that there were no large-scale differences kept researchers from conducting such a study. The research firm Canalys, finally decided to examine whether that second assumption is true. The result? It’s not – in fact, there is a striking price difference between iPhone and Android apps. That difference falls in Apple’s favor.

The study excluded free apps – which comprise a substantial percentage of the application market – and decided to focus instead on the most-downloaded paid apps in each store. The exclusion of rarely-downloaded paid apps was designed to keep expensive outliers out of the study. The results showed that popular paid apps were far cheaper on the iPhone than on Android phones. For example, the top 100 paid Android apps would together cost $374 – far higher than the $147 it would take to buy the most popular 100 apps from the Apple store. This discrepancy persists also on an individual level, where games such as Monopoly cost far more for Android users ($4.99) than for iPhone owners ($0.99).

How can this strong price difference be explained? Analysts agree generally that Apple follows an aggressive price-reduction strategy that helps the company sell many of its paid apps for only $0.99, but beyond that the explanations vary. Some see it as a sign that Android – which has the larger and faster-growing app store – has greater demand and can afford to charge more. Others, however, including the writers of the Canalys report, believe that Android needs to charge high prices because it has the numbers but not consistency of demand, especially on a per-app basis.

So we have yet another way to differentiate between Apple and Android. And, not surprisingly, nobody is able to reach a clear consensus.

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