Android Users Use The Most Bandwidth

Among smartphone users, which group sucks up the most bandwidth from their network provider? According to the market research firmArieso, it's the users of Android-based devices.

The statistics show Android phone users tend to be both the heaviest uploaders of content as well as downloaders. And according to Information Week, Android devices have better cameras, taking higher resolution photographs. Emailing those photos and uploading them to Facebook pages use a lot of bandwidth.

 The Arieso report, itself, is an interesting look at the rapidly changing "mobile Internet" universe, and how smartphones have changed mobile communication in just two years' time.

New breed of mobile subscriber

A series of studies, undertaken by Arieso, comparing subscriber demand for mobile data has shown that different users and different devices exhibit markedly different demands on mobile networks. The findings of this analysis highlight the emergence of a new breed of mobile subscribers in the post-iPhone3G era, with an even more insatiable appetite for mobile data than their predecessors, the firm says in a report.

The comparison between a variety of different smartphones and connected devices - using the iPhone3G as a benchmark - shows that data call time on certain handsets can increase by as much as 250 percent. It also shows that the actual number of data "calls" can increase by more than 130 percent. In addition, uplink and downlink data volumes can increase by as much as 130 percent and 40 percent respectively.

"Smartphone subscriptions are rising and so too is subscriber appetite for mobile data," said Michael Flanagan, CTO of Arieso. "Since the launch of the iPhone3G, we've seen a multitude of popular new smartphones arrive on the market, successfully driving app and service usage. It's a trend that's set to continue. Operators must now be able to quantify the impact of the devices they support, and how subscribers use them, and prepare their networks accordingly."

Data-hungry consumers

The Arieso analysis compares the data consumption of users of newer smartphones, such as the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the Google Nexus One, the HTC Desire, the Sony Ericsson Xperia, and the Apple iPhone 4, against the iPhone3G as a "normalized benchmark." The results show how different subscribers use their devices in many different ways and exhibit variable demands for mobile data.

In particular, the results show that iPhone 4 users are more hungry for data than their iPhone3G counterparts, typically making 44 percent more data calls, downloading 41 percent more data to their devices, and spending 67 percent more time connected to the network for data.

Arieso's analysis also show that users with handsets based on Google's Android OS software are particularly "data hungry," scoring higher than both the iPhone3G and iPhone 4 in terms of data call volumes, time connected to the network, and data volume (in kilobits per subscriber) uploaded and downloaded.

Android-powered smartphone users also score highest in both the "uplink data volume" and the "downlink data" categories. For example, Samsung Galaxy users typically upload 126 percent more data than iPhone3G users, and HTC Desire users download 41 percent more data than iPhone3G users.

But importantly, the Arieso studies also reveal that voice calls per subscriber remain roughly flat. In laymen's term, it means consumers aren't really using their smartphones to make phone calls much anymore. Instead, they're connecting with the Internet and firing data back and forth.

"Mobile operators are playing 'Guess Who?' with their subscribers," Flanagan said. "The variations in data use between various devices highlight the pressing need for a more accurate, in-depth and intelligent view into the potential impact of individual handset users on the network."