Comment by lstamour | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lstamour | Hacker News Reader

How I read this article? (a) Android apps are more efficient about data. (Chrome has a bandwidth saver feature, for instance.) That said, (b) iOS has better, more content- or communication-rich apps that promote interaction and consume data. (c) iPhone owners may be able to afford larger data plans and therefore use more data. Or (d) iPhones tend to backup over the air a lot more thanks to iCloud than most (every?) Android app I've ever used. Plus (e) iOS focuses on background networking and downloads at an API level that Google is only now starting to with projects like Volley.

Which leads me to my last point: There's too many variables here. Focusing on phone model and total data used doesn't speak enough to app preferences, platform differences, and ecosystem maturity. Frankly, as a Nexus 5 lover waiting for the iPhone 6, I really like how iPad raises the bar for iPhone app quality. I don't expect things to take off for Android until Google convinces people that the Nexus 7 isn't just a bigger phablet, perhaps with new APIs. The one thing Google got right vs iOS that no one will argue is their API compatibility layers. It keeps older platforms feeling modern -- when was the last time you saw a pre-5.x app on the App Store? Android goes back to single-digit API numbers easily. (8 or so, at this point.)

Very likely there is some efficiency stuff going on in here. GSII is on the list but not the GS3, interesting.

Note that this was for one specific iPhone model, so it is hardly (a) or (d) -- that is, not that Android is more efficient and not that iCloud sucks extra bandwidth for backups. Etc.

(To be obvious: If it were those alternatives, or (e), then iPhone models 5C, 5, 4S and 4 would use similar amounts of data. At a minimum, most 5/5C should have iOS 7.)

Indeed. The fact that this is specifically about the 5s and the recent iPad tells me that part of this is probably the speed of the A7. If it's faster to open apps, browse the web, etc, you tend to do more of it. That makes the device more useful to users and reduces friction, which leads to high usage.

In short: They use more data because they're better devices.

But there are also probably some of the other variables mentioned by the parent. They just apply to all iOS devices equally, not just those models.

True. I won't argue that better, faster devices will get more usage. For the day that I owned a 5s, it was incredibly fast. There is one more thing I forgot, however -- there might also be a bias for the 5s in that early adopters (and those who upgrade every year) could be more likely to both own the 5s and have been trained by past iPhones to use as much data as they want. Those who stick with older phones might not use them as often off wi-fi. (Where "as often" is still within reach.) Who knows, though. Perhaps the difference is that the iPhone 5S is easier to unlock, or supports LTE in more places. I'm sick of guessing, at this point. :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com