Is the iPhone 4S a data hog?

[twilyth]

It appears that 4S users suck twice as much data as 4 users. One analyst blames this on Siri, but is that the real reason?

story (http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/2012/01/06/is-apples-siri-an-iphone/)

Apple (AAPL (http://finance.minyanville.com/minyanville?Page=QUOTE&Ticker=AAPL)) gives the iPhone 4S a personality and, suddenly, it needs to feed.

One-upping Google's (GOOG (http://finance.minyanville.com/minyanville?Page=QUOTE&Ticker=GOOG)) Voice Command for the Android, Siri is the virtual assistant for the iPhone 4S which allows for task management and data retrieval based on voice commands. It's become a huge selling point for Apple's latest flagship phone, but Arieso Chief Technology Officer Michael Flanagan thinks it's a huge drain on data.

In an interview with Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-06/apple-s-voice-recognition-siri-doubles-iphone-data-volumes.html), Flanagan suggested that Siri was responsible for iPhone 4S users to consume nearly twice as much data as iPhone 4 users, and even three times as much as 3GS users. By comparison, a BlackBerry (RIMM (http://finance.minyanville.com/minyanville?Page=QUOTE&Ticker=RIMM)) user on the Curve or Bold Touch downloads roughly 20% of the data of an iPhone 4S user.

"The hungry are getting hungrier," Flanagan said. With that in mind, no wonder Verizon (VZ (http://finance.minyanville.com/minyanville?Page=QUOTE&Ticker=VZ)) and AT&T (T (http://finance.minyanville.com/minyanville?Page=QUOTE&Ticker=T)) have ditched unlimited data plans.

But while it stands to reason that Apple's Siri could be responsible for a surge in data usage, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes isn't convinced (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/iphone-4s-doubles-data-usage-but-is-siri-really-to-blame/17605).

Citing relatively low data consumption, Kingsley-Hughes finds that even an abundance of Siri usage won't account for the numbers Flanagan is referencing. "As testing has shown (http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/11/how-data-heavy-is-siri-on-an-iphone-4s-ars-investigates.ars) (and this is backed up by data I've collected from Siri users), doing ten or so queries a day over 30-day period (while out of WiFi coverage, obviously) will consume some 20MB," he writes.

Hardly the lion's share of anyone's monthly data usage.

Kingsley-Hughes surmises other reasons that would cause a spike in iPhone 4S users' data consumption. Streaming music through iCloud and iTunes Match could add up to more GBs, as will sharing photos from a higher megapixel camera and enjoying faster CPU speeds. But it could also come down to "New Toy Syndrome" -- people are just poring through all the new features of iOS 5 and, in turn, gobbling up data.

We'll just have to see what Apple does with Siri 2. Maybe then, Sprint (S (http://finance.minyanville.com/minyanville?Page=QUOTE&Ticker=S)) will feel the need to completely kill off unlimited data.

(See also: Apple Threatens to Sue Over Another Steve Jobs Doll (http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/2012/01/05/apple-threatens-to-sue-over/) and Apple Will Become "Uncool" in 2012, Predicts Analyst (http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/2012/01/03/apple-will-become-uncool-in/))

[remixedcat]

thing is people are addicted, run up huge data charges and this crap happens.

I think they need to have unlimited for smartphones and iphones should have a charge tacked on to not hurt it for us droid users. or users of winmo or winphone7 or BB users....

[theJesus]

"The hungry are getting hungrier," Flanagan said. With that in mind, no wonder Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) have ditched unlimited data plans"

Translation: "Instead of making our customers happy by giving them what they want, we're going to take it away so we can ass-rape them and get tons of money or else they're left with a crippled $500+ phone."

[twilyth]

The problem is spectrum. In December, Verizon shelled out $3.6B for additional spectrum. (http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/12/02/verizon.grabs.comcast.twc.bright.house.spectrum/) It sucks, but those are the economics of the situation unfortunately.

Verizon (http://macnn.com/rd/236440==http://www.verizonwireless.com) on Friday sought to claim an edge over AT&T by buying Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) licenses from cable companies. The $3.6 billion purchase will see it get 122 licenses for the often 1,700MHz or 2,100MHz bands from SpectrumCo, a team-up between Bright House, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable. Each company gets a sum directly relevant to its stake, at $2.3 billion for Comcast, $1.1 billion for Time Warner Cable, and $189 million for Bright House.

[jmcslob]

IMO The original IPhone thru 3GS were great phones that offered people a reason to own them over any other phone on the market but the 4 and 4s just aren't worth it....

It's kinda like choosing AT&T or Verizon over Sprint when you live near a big city and don't travel to the weeds....It's just plain stupid.

[Wile E]

Sprint has shit coverage around here, or else I would have them. Plus I do have to travel out into the weeds for work.

I have AT&T, but I still have my Unlimited data plan, as I'm grandfathered in. Good thing too, as I regularly go over 5GB.

I agree with your take on the iPhone. I got a 3GS back in the day, because quite frankly, Android was shit at that time.

When I was looking to upgrade from my 3GS, it was either the 4, or an Android handset. Android came a long way in a short time, and had dual core phones available, so the choice was easy for me.

[Solaris17]

i was grandfathered in to unlimited on verizon. im happy about that because you always use more data then you think. the 4 was worth it to me. because while my 3 and 3gs were nice. i jailbreak and in all honesty simply JB them. destroys the performance.

[yogurt_21]

thing is people are addicted, run up huge data charges and this crap happens.

I think they need to have unlimited for smartphones and iphones should have a charge tacked on to not hurt it for us droid users. or users of winmo or winphone7 or BB users....

See this is interesting.

Did they run the numbers currently or did they run 4s launch data usage vs 4 launch data usage.


It could simply be the whole "new phone I must try everything" thing.

[Orin_the_Hunter04XLi]

i don't own a iphone
so no idea

[WhiteNoise]

I use no more than I did with my droid. Let me check....

In 23 days of my 29 day service period I used 0.583GB of my Unlimited data plan through Verizon.

I use my 4s every day but I guess I'm no power user.

[erocker]

The iPhone has the power of a thousand mistreated workers. You cannot deny that power.

[yogurt_21]

yeah about half a gig is what I use for every part of the year except football season, that's when I use 3 gigs.

[FordGT90Concept]

Windows Phone 7 can do pretty much everything via voice commands and it doesn't take up any data unless the specific request requires it (like "Find" which would Bing search the term/phrase). Moreover, it doesn't go to the web unless your request was coherent. Otherwise, you get a "I'm sorry, I couldn't understand that."