Data usage for smartphones, especially the iPhone, have come a long way from its roots. Cellular providers have gone from offering unlimited plans to limiting data usage through tiered packages. AT&T has led the way in this regard with other providers moving towards this business model. Effective July 7th, Verizon will also offer tiered packages for its users. Now that data users are limited to specific packages, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to stay within the package limits. For example, a user pays $15 a month on AT&T for 200MB of data. If they are in need to upgrade, the may not be in a position to pay the $25 fee for the 2GB plan (payment based on AT&T stats). Also, many people may run into the issue of the middle ground; having to pay for a higher plan when they only use a little bit more then the lowest plan offered.
Even more issues can occur if there comes a time where you need to use data roaming. Generally speaking, you're only left with two data roaming options: pay-per-megabyte or having to gulp an extremely expensive plan for a little amount of data. This can be a potential issue especially for businessmen or avid travelers who are frequently outside their home country and traveling abroad. Being in this pinch can limit your mobility and communication methods for work or for fun. With newly released technology and software, you no longer have to suffer entirely with these issues.
Onavo, an application by called Onavo, offers a solution to this problem with one of the most advanced mobile cloud-based technologies out in the market. With their technology deemed the "magical shrinking machine," you can save on data usage and extend the amount of data that you can use.
The application connects your iPhone to their cloud-based system for shrinking purposes. This process is done seamlessly without any necessary configuration after you install the application on your iPhone. Here's how the process works:
With Onavo installed, their cloud-based technology becomes the middleman. When you use data, it first goes through their "magical shrinking machine" to compress the iPhone's data usage. It then sends that information back to your device and what is left is noted by your cellular provider. One can save over 80% on their data plan and even triple the amount of data that one can use on their data roaming plan.
Not only does this application do the shrinking process in the background but gives you reports on what applications use the most data and displays it in terms of a monthly usage. The overview lists each respective application in order of usage to show you what you may need to cut back on or just for reference; knowledge is power. You can turn Onavo On/Off on the first page of the application along with viewing what you've saved so far and what application has saved the most. On top of just viewing the layout, the user can also change the level of compression based on preference. Options in terms of compression encompasses components such as image quality and email attachments. Data that is used by media streaming applications such as VOIP clients, YouTube, or Skype are not currently supported in Onavo. Support for these types of applications is in the works. 
Although Onavo has only been available since April of this year, it has been highly acclaimed as an extremely useful application. Coverage in Gizmodo, TechCrunch, CNN, and others, has gained Onavo a lot of publicity and high praise in the cloud-computing and iOS community. Onavo is recommended for any user whether you're a traveling business person or someone looking to save on data consumption. Started by Guy Rosen, his expertise in cloud-computing technology, paired with Roi Tiger (formally an employee at Modu), have made Onavo what it is. They are continuing to add more features and user intuitive implementations to make Onavo even greater.
Onavo is currently free to use as it is in the introductory stages. Sooner or later, it will be a paid service. However here is why it will still be useful and well worth your while:
Originally Posted by Onavo;
You can download Onavo directly from the iTunes App Store at this link:
Onavo
For more information regarding what Onavo is all about and the features it offers, visit the Onavo website at http://www.onavo.com/. They are also reachable on Twitter and Facebook.
Guy Rosen (@guyro), cofounder and CEO of Onavo is also accessible on Twitter.
Source(s): Onavo, Guy Rosen, Onavo - Twitter, Onavo - Facebook
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