How to Cut Down On Your Mobile Data Usage

Unless you're still taking advantage of an unlimited data plan, it's important to track and manage your data usage. Cutting down on data has other advantages including saving on battery life, avoiding overage charges, and reducing the time spent staring at a smartphone screen. Here are some simply ways in which you can reduce your data usage.
Start by Tracking Your Usage
With any goal, whether it be losing weight, quitting smoking, or lowering data usage, you have to know where you stand.

That starts with tracking your activity and setting a goal. So, first, you have to know how much data you use every month, every week or even every day. Your goal may depend on the allotment granted by your wireless carrier or you can set your own depending on your situation.

Luckily tracking your data usage is easy with Android.

You can easily see your usage at glance in settings under data usage, and even set warnings and limits. You can also download third-party apps that offer even more insight into your usage. Let's say you typically use 3.5 GB of data per month and you'd like to reduce that to 2 GB. You can start by setting a warning when you reach 2 GB, and setting a limit of 2.5 GB, for example, and then gradually lower the limit to 2 GB. Setting a limit means your smartphone will turn off data when you reach that threshold so there's no mistaking when you've reached it.

Identify Data-Hungry Apps
Once you've got a goal in mind, start by identifying the most data-hungry apps you use. You can see a list of data-using apps in settings as well.

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On my smartphone, Facebook is near the top, using more than double what Chrome uses. I can also see that Facebook uses minimal background data (when I'm not using the app), but disabling background data globally, can make a pretty big difference.

You can also set data limits at the app level, which is cool, or, uninstall the offending app altogether.

Android Pit recommends using Facebook on a mobile browser or a lightweight web app called Tinfoil.

Use Wi-Fi When You Can
When you're at home or at the office, take advantage of Wi-Fi. At public places, such as coffee shops, be aware that open networks can pose security risks. I prefer to use a mobile hotspot, when I'm out and about. Set your apps to update only when Wi-Fi is turned on, otherwise they'll update automatically. Just be aware that when you do turn on Wi-Fi, a slew of apps will start updating at once (if, like me, you have tons of apps installed.) You can find this setting in the Play Store app. You can also disable auto-updating in the Amazon Appstore.
Cut Down on Streaming
This may seem obvious, but streaming music and video uses data. If you regularly listen to music on the go, this can add up. Some streaming services let you save playlists to listen to offline or you can simply transfer some music to your smartphone from your computer. Just make sure you have enough space on your smartphone or take some steps to gain back some space.

Apple releases a $100 battery case for the iPhone 6 and 6S

When we finally thought Apple had launched everything it possibly could for 2015, here comes the Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6 and 6S. Every iPhone user knows that their smartphone is exceptional at many things, however, battery performance isn’t one of them, thanks to a wafer-thin design. Sure, the bigger Plus variant doesn’t suffer from that issue, and that’s because of its huge footprint which allows for it to be equipped with a significantly larger internal battery.

We are looking at a 60% increase in capacity, when compared with the one found in the iPhone 6S.

In spite of that, there are people out there who aren’t big fans of the Plus’ big size and prefer the smaller 6/6S instead. Hence, have to settle for poor battery life. And, Apple is aware of that. That’s why it specifically released the Smart Battery Case only for the iPhone 6 and 6S, and not their Plus counterparts.
How smart is Apple’s new case, you may ask? Well, it has a built-in 1,877mAh battery, a passive antenna, a charging status indicator, a lightning port, and iOS support.
Now let me explain these features in detail. The 1,877mAh battery will increase the iPhone’s talk time up to 25 hours and internet use up to 18 hours on LTE. However, according to initial reviews, the battery won’t completely charge the phone to 100%, due to it being similar in size to the internal iPhone battery — 1715mAh. It’s also the only battery case which features Apple’s lighting port instead of a MicroUSB cable, and it includes a passthrough for other accessories which make use of the lighting port —  for example the iPhone Lighting Dock; advantages of being a first party case.

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As soon as the device is plugged into the case, the device starts charging automatically and there’s no way to turn the charging on or off. The case itself doesn’t sport a battery level indicator, it only shows a 3-level charging status — amber, green, or off — with an LED, which is actually inside the case.

Yes, you read that right. The LED is inside the case and is only visible when the case is not attached to the iPhone. Nonetheless, thanks to tight software integration, the battery level is displayed inside the notification centre. Furthermore, Apple thinks the battery in the case would interfere with the radios of the phone, so it built a passive antenna which reroutes radio frequencies and helps reduce interference.

Design-wise, let me put it this way: it’s one of the worst designed products of 2015. It’s like Apple’s standard Silicone Case for the iPhone 6/6S, but now with a hump at the back for the built-in battery. Most battery-equipped cases are quite thick and significantly affect the thickness of a device, and this one is too, but only from the middle; which is awkward. It does have a cutout for the headphone port, but you’re more than likely to have issues with bigger headphone plugs, so keep that in mind. Other third party cases come with some sort of an adapter, but Apple doesn’t ship one with its own accessory. Moreover, for the microphone and speaker, there are openings on the bottom front of the case to redirect sound.
Unlike the company’s Silicone case range, the Smart Battery Case only comes in two colours: White and Charcoal Grey, and comes with a hefty price tag of $100.
Yes, $100 for a battery case which doesn’t event fully charge your iPhone. I would say, if you really want more juice out of your iPhone and are willing to pay $100 for it, buy a mophie battery case instead. The mophie Juice Pack Air comes with a way larger built-in battery — 2,750mAh, has a better design, comes in eight different colours and a headphone adapter, provides better protection, and is also priced at $100. Additionally, if you're not too fond of bulky cases, you might want to consider buying a battery pack which will cost you less and will have a much, much higher battery capacity, so you’ll get more charges out of it.

Alienware 18 review

The 14-inch gaming laptop is in just about every vendor's repertoire, while 15-inchers are a step up, and just slightly harder to seek out. At 17.3-inches, the gaming laptop enters even more niche of a category, catered to by a few boutique brands and even fewer mainstream manufacturers, like Toshiba and HP.
An 18.4-inch laptop, however, is a relative ghost. When a notebook gets to be so large it requires a rolling luggage bag to haul around (and costs as much as a downpayment for an apartment) it better be something truly special. The Alienware 18 is just that – for $4,166 (about £2,434, AU$4,443), that is.
Featuring dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 880M GPUs – Nvidia's most powerful mobile graphics chips – and a blazing fast Intel Core i7 processor, the Alienware 18 is the muscle car of mobile gaming rigs fitted with two turbochargers. For all of this graphical might, the unit Alienware sent to TechRadar costs a depressing amount of money. The hardware spec is hot enough to make any PC nerd faint, but is this the pinnacle of laptop gaming as we know it?

Design

Like the rest of the redesigned series of Alienware notebooks, this 18.4-inch beast scored a makeover since the Alienware 18x released two years ago. The Dell-owned company has moved away from gaming platforms that look like trapezoids and instead has adopted a more angular look with rounded edges.
The new look is modern, accented with sleeker lights, and much more pleasing to look at from the front than the automotive grill aesthetic from years past. Rather, the new design resembles a space ship – in fact, a curious onlooker commented the machine looked like just that while I took photos for this review.

On top of the updated looks, the Alienware 18 has a few other premium niceties, including an aluminum-clad lid and magnesium alloy base. The interior of the laptop is also lined entirely with a soft-touch rubbery material, a comfortable place to rest your wrists for extended gaming sessions.
Put all together, this gaming machine is one such meticulously crafted piece of hardware that it closes flush without any gaps. You won't find a single misaligned panel on the laptop even with all the intricate body lines integrated into the laptop's body armor design. This perfection even extends to the notebook's ports, which are all fitted with metal bands. Alienware's attention to detail is truly something to behold.

Around the back of the laptop are two massive exhaust vents. Flip over the laptop and you'll find over a third of the Alienware 18's footprint isn't a plain old panel but an expanse of mesh for the laptop's three intake fans. There nothing understated about the Alienware 18. It's a machine ready to run all the latest games better than any other laptop out there and look good while doing it.

Failure to launch

While the Alienware 18's dual GPU setup lends it unprecedented amounts of gaming horsepower, it does not come with the option switched on by default. At first, the laptop performed struggled to run the latest games at max settings with only one GPU. Luckily, after a quick peek at the Nvidia control panel and a few clicks later, everything was fixed. It's an easily correctable problem, but one that new owners should be mindful of when they pull their rig out of the box.

Another thing users will have to check under the hood is the touchpad's gesture controls. For some unknown reason, scrolling also comes disable, but not two fingered pinching or rotating. It's an odd quirk, and it's unfortunate, because the Alienware 18 sports one of the best touchpads you can ask for on a laptop.