Tag: iPhone

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App Reviews

App Review – Avoid Data Overages with DataMan Pro

DataMan Pro
DataMan Pro

Are you on a capped data plan?

Do you worry each month about data overages?

If you have an iPhone or iPad, then DataMan Pro may be your answer.

When I upgraded to the iPhone 5S, I switched from an unlimited data plan to a capped data plan. After a few weeks, I also discovered that I was using significantly more data than with the iPhone 4. I was close to exceeding my new cap and didn’t want to pay any data overage charges, so I needed a way to track my data use.

My carrier provides text alerts at set usage intervals, like 50%, 75%, and 100%. I enabled those first. After a couple weeks, I decided that I wanted more details and even thought that some type of data use forecasting would allow me to proactively adjust my data use rather than be reactive when I receive a text message from my carrier.

I read several reviews for data tracking apps and settled on DataMan Pro. The price was $4.99, but that is less than just one data overage charge, so I decided to give it a try. After several months of use, DataMan Pro is everything I expected, and more.

Inital Setup

After a brief setup where you identify the start and end days of your billing cycle, the size of your data cap, and how much data has been used in the current cycle, DataMan Pro begins tracking your mobile and wifi data use. It runs in the background utilizing the background refresh feature in iOS 7.

DataMan Pro Features

DataMan Pro features settings for notifications at four adjustable levels. I matched my notifications to my carrier’s notifications to test accuracy. Unsurprisingly, the data tracking accuracy is excellent. I receive my carrier sourced text messages at nearly the same time as my DataMan Pro notifications.

Users are also able to customize the display of the main DataMan Pro screen and can choose the level of detail, background color, and font.

DataMan Pro
DataMan Pro with Detailed Display
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Categories
Productivity Technology

Become More Productive and Eliminate Notification Overload

Ding! A new mail notification appears.

Chirp! A friend just mentioned you on twitter.

Bleep! Someone just liked your facebook post.

Many of us are bombarded every day by the various sounds, message boxes, and vibrations made by our desktop computers, phones, and tablets when a new notification arrives.

iPad and iPhone
Photo by Noel Schäfer

Many years ago when I first started using a desktop email application, I changed the settings to check the server for new mail in the shortest interval possible, I think it was every minute. I wanted read that new mail the instant I received it.

Later, I clearly recall being in awe of the notification options available to me when I bought my first smartphone. Suddenly, I could receive notifications about text messages, news, weather alerts, sports scores, social network interactions, and more. Nearly every app on my phone provided some kind of notification.

Within a year, I was experiencing notification overload and decided I needed to eliminate as much of the notification distractions from my life as possible. If anything, just to get my some sanity back in my life.

There were two things I did to get the notifications under control and reduce the distractions.

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Categories
Technology

Running iOS 7 on the iPhone 4

The Upgrade Dilemma

I was a little concerned about upgrading my iPhone 4 to iOS 7 this week. I’ve never upgraded iOS versions on the first day of availability. I was excited about the new look and I was well aware that several new features were not supported on the iPhone 4. No surprise since several features of iOS 6 also were not available on the iPhone 4.

My big concern was performance. I read some reports that users were encountering stuttering scrolling. Other users didn’t have any major problems. I decided to go for it.

iPhone 4 running iOS 7I upgraded on Wednesday and after two days of normal use haven’t noticed a decrease in performance as compared to iOS 6. The iPhone 4 is a three year old phone and the fact that it runs iOS 7 as well as it does really is amazing. I’m sure the iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s all run iOS 7 very smooth and can display the cool new effects. If you’re not ready to upgrade yet, then you can give your iPhone 4 new life with an iOS 7 upgrade.

My upgrade process

I did backup to iCloud and also to iTunes (because I’m paranoid). Then I downloaded iOS 7 and did a DFU restore (basically restoring my phone as it was when new, except with iOS 7 instead of iOS 4.)

For those that may not know, after activating my phone, I simply restored my settings from my iCloud backup and all my apps, messages, pictures and other settings were back on my phone, just like they were before upgrading. I did have to perform a “reset of all settings” because my on screen keyboard was very slow to respond. I would type  a few letters and it would be 10 seconds before they appeared. A “Reset All Settings” deletes your preferences. It does not delete your apps or data. You can access it at Settings->General->Reset->Reset All Settings. Afterwards the keyboard behaved normally.

Conclusion

I don’t have any actual testing benchmark data or detailed tests. My opinion of the iPhone 4’s performance after upgrading is purely based on my use. More specifically how long it feels like it takes apps to open, switch between apps, scroll, and other tasks. If you have an iPhone 4 and are on the fence about upgrading because you think it will slow your phone down, then my experience indicates no noticeable difference in speed from iOS 7.