Google’s enhanced Data Saver in Chrome drops consumption by 70%
Tue 1 Dec 2015
Announcing its latest version of the Data Saver mode for Chrome on Monday, Google claims that the upgrade will help users save up to 70% of the data used on their smartphones.
The new release removes images when loading pages over a slow connection, only requiring the user to tap the placeholder if they wish to see the image. Chrome product manager Tal Oppenheimer explained in a blog post that the user has the option to view a few images, rather than the entire collection of images displayed on one page. This selective image option enables lower data consumption, speeding up the internet connection for smartphones using the updated mode.
The new feature will initially be available to Android users in India and Indonesia – huge emerging mobile markets – before rolling out to other countries over the next few months. No details have been revealed about its launch on iOS devices, but this is expected to also pop up very soon.
While Apple’s mobile browser Safari for iOS offers ad-blocking to help reduce data consumption, a data-saving option is yet to be introduced.
Data Saver debuted in January 2014 and has now become a popular addition to both Android and iOS Chrome apps. In March, this year, Google extended the feature to desktop and laptop. It aims to reduce data bandwidth by compressing web pages through Google’s servers before they are downloaded to a user’s device. Originally the setting claimed to save up to 50% of the user’s bandwidth, but now with added competition from browser rival Opera, Google has been spurred to improve its compression capabilities.
Google’s Norwegian competitor has recently announced its plans to integrate its Opera Max data-saving functionality with smartphones from Samsung, Xiaomi, Acer and Hisense – big players in the Indian and wider Asian markets, where Google’s enhanced Data Saver has planned its first line of attack.
