Opera's new data-management app will be pre-installed into phones from 14 OEMs, the company announced November 8.
According to Tech Crunch, the new Opera Max will be integrated to 100 million Android phones by 2017, including Samsung, Xiaomi, Acer, TWZ, and Hisense. The new app works as a proxy server with capabilities to intercept traffic from a user's phone and brings it through Opera's servers to save bandwidth. Its features include compressing images and videos. It can also optimize HTNL and CSS.
CNET has reported that the Opera Max can reduce data consumption by as much as 50 percent. Those who watch YouTube and Netflix can lose data consumption by 60 percent. Opera Max product manager Sergey Lossev said, "Many users are wary of using mobile data for fear of spending too much or exceeding their data caps. We see OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] responding to this and stepping up to lower the barrier to mobile Internet access by providing a data-optimization solution on their devices."
Phone Radar writes that Samsung has already integrated this new feature in the smartphones it recently launched. Meanwhile, the latest MIUI 7 by Xiaomi has also integrated this feature. Smartphone sales are growing in developing countries like, Brazil, Indonesia, and India, making this type of service one of the best product manufacturers can offer to increase value in the devices they offer.
Opera Max may not be the best option for people who wants to have unlimited date plan or to those who wants to subscribe to more data than what they usually consume per month. The service can help those who are in a metered plan save a bit of money. This service is best for developing countries were mobile infrastructure is not advanced enough to handle too much load. The demand for better bandwidth consumption is higher as Chinese-made below $100 smartphones are becoming very popular.
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