If you’re one of the many people worried about data consumption and are always searching for possible ways to help you save data, resulting in saving money by helping you stay under your data limit,(this is of course dependent on the fact that you subscribe to a service that actually has data limits) than you may want to keep an eye out for the application coming from Opera called Opera Max.
Anyone who’s ever used one of the many variations of the Opera Browsers that are available, knows how much the browser helps you keep track of data that you’ve consumed while using the browser itself. However Opera Max doesn’t stop there, as it aims to help you track, and make note of all or most data traffic on your device regardless of whether or not its browser traffic or from some other application. This is probably of no concern to those of us who are on T-Mobile or Sprint and use a completely unlimited data package with no throttle, but for everyone else, this app might be just what you need to prevent unwanted data usage and possible extra fees if you go over your limit and need to add more data.
How exactly does Opera Max work? It sets up a Virtual Private Network or VPN for short, and uses it to measure the data that’s being used on your device. Once you turn on the Opera Max Savings feature, all data that is requested is handled through this VPN for measurement and tracking, and is sent through Operas compression servers which help to optimize images, videos, and whatever websites you browse to use as little data as possible. How much data you save depends on how much you actually use of course, and a big contributing factor is also what kind of data traffic is actually happening on your device. The apps, media, and other forms of data that you access all play a role in how efficient Opera Max will actually be for you.
Some things that are worth mentioning about Opera Max, is the fact that to use it you have to run virtually all your data through it. So although Opera is most likely not monitoring every inch of your data usage and what you’re doing by allowing this, you need to know that in a way, your opening everything up to them. Opera Max is also apparently going to be a Free app only while it’s in the beta phase as displayed in one of the images below, so expect some sort of paid changes to take place once the beta is over. It’s also worth mentioning that according to Opera’s PR who reached out to Android Police, an actual free version of the app will appear in the future that is ad-supported. Before Opera Max can become a fully functioning app that is available on the Play Store though, Opera needs beta testers. So if this sounds like something you would find useful, head on over to the Google+ community page and join it, where you’ll find further instructions on getting into the beta which includes registering to be a beta tester, much like you may have done if you signed up for the Mirror app from Koush.
