Onavo Extend is a well-known data-saving service for iOS. If you have never heard of it, Onavo Extend essentially takes the data you use over your cellular network and compresses it (from their own servers) to make the file sizes smaller. This in turn causes faster loading on your end and also lower data usage for the same data-munching tasks other people perform on a daily basis. It helps you get more bang for your buck with your cellular service and best of all, it’s absolutely free (for a limited time).
Launched just today, Onavo Extend now supports both 4G LTE from the new iPad (CDMA and GSM) and also supports CDMA network iPhone 4S devices such as those from Verizon and Sprint. Unfortunately, it doesn't support CDMA iPhone 4 and CDMA iPad 2 devices. Before this update, Onavo Extend was limited only to GSM network iOS devices such as the AT&T iPhone because of the difference in the architecture of the network. The update is not from the application itself, meaning you won't find an update from the App Store – the CEO of Onavo, Guy Rosen, shares with us that the update was done from their server side.
Due to the faster network speeds of 4G LTE, tools like Onavo Extend will be extremely useful because the faster network speeds give us more incentive to load more objects in less time, which in turn gives us more incentive to use more data and get closer to, if not pass our data caps.
While Sprint users with their unlimited data plans may be less worried about their data usage, the ability of Onavo Extend to compress almost anything you load can help to make loading speeds zippier and increase the user experience. For users with capped data plans like those on AT&T and Verizon, you will be happy to hear that Onavo Extend can save your data usage by up to 80 percent.
When you install Onavo Extend, you will be prompted to make an account and install a profile on your iOS device. If the data savings sounds good to you, then you will also enjoy the interface of the application, shown above, which gives you a very visual interpretation of how much data the application is saving for you and how much it has saved from each application. If you don't have this application already, we highly recommend it!
Sources: Guy Rosen, CEO of Onavo
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