When I stopped streaming music over cellular, I was consistently staying under 500MB a month. With music streaming (in my car mostly, and I sync commonly played playlists), I can get up towards 2GB, but still don't go over.
EDIT: Note that I basically never bother to connect to wifi when outside the house. I actually turn it off, so I stop getting notifications of nearby networks as I move around.
I think my usage pattern is similar to yours. I'm on a few forums, use Google maps navigation, heavy email usage on personal and work emails, web browsing to shop or price check, occasional emergency rdp session, photos get backed up to dropbox, and one multiplayer card game. My monthly mobile data average at Sprint for previous 12 months (before I jumped ship) was around 200 MB. I usually have WiFi access.
One thing that got me the 1st month on a metered plan is when I put in my Google info on my new phone it downloaded and installed all my apps over mobile data network running through about 300 MB of my plan on 1st day. So you might want to shut off mobile data and force that over WiFi if you are moving from another android phone.
That's good to know... especially the dropbox part, since I use that a lot. Then again WiFi is everywhere, including at home and in my office, so I can sync that and move pictures around without using up my data.
EDIT: Actually, related questions. Is there a way to setup Dropbox to only sync when on WiFi? On my iPad, Dropbox only syncs when I use the application; is it the same on a smartphone or will it update automatically in the background and eat up my data?
By the way, I went to try the phones today. The Galaxy Note 3 seemed too big for comfort, but the other three seemed nice. And the Nexus 5 seems to be the one that gives me the best price and plan deal, so I'm leaning towards that one right now.
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tuxkamenreally took this picture.Registered Userregular
I think my usage pattern is similar to yours. I'm on a few forums, use Google maps navigation, heavy email usage on personal and work emails, web browsing to shop or price check, occasional emergency rdp session, photos get backed up to dropbox, and one multiplayer card game. My monthly mobile data average at Sprint for previous 12 months (before I jumped ship) was around 200 MB. I usually have WiFi access.
One thing that got me the 1st month on a metered plan is when I put in my Google info on my new phone it downloaded and installed all my apps over mobile data network running through about 300 MB of my plan on 1st day. So you might want to shut off mobile data and force that over WiFi if you are moving from another android phone.
That's good to know... especially the dropbox part, since I use that a lot. Then again WiFi is everywhere, including at home and in my office, so I can sync that and move pictures around without using up my data.
EDIT: Actually, related questions. Is there a way to setup Dropbox to only sync when on WiFi? On my iPad, Dropbox only syncs when I use the application; is it the same on a smartphone or will it update automatically in the background and eat up my data?
Nexus 5s are quite nice.
Regarding Wifi, when you set up any recent Android phone for initial setup, it should ask you to set up Wifi right off the bat (see if you can use the store's, if that's where you're getting it). That way all the initial slug of stuff happens over Wifi. After that, you can set up Play Store downloads, Dropbox, and most other applications to prefer/only use Wifi for transfers and updates. You have to be careful about that, as that's the primary thing that will lead you to overages. If you avoid that, 300MB should be plenty for a typical month.
@Richy a caveat regarding my usage of dropbox sync of photos: normally I only take pics occasionally to document something (2-4 a week) and they look to be around 1.7-2.0 MB each. If I'm going to take a lot of pics and videos (like when I took the family to minigolf the other day) then I shut off mobile data as preventative until I can get somewhere where sync can happen over wifi. There may be some settings in dropbox that would mitigate but I haven't dived into it. Edit: Maybe dropbox handles it automagically, I dunno.
Also, my usage also doesn't take into account use of public transportation. Obviously I cannot browse and such while driving, but if you have a commute on bus/subway and browse on your phone during such you would want to take that into consideration.
I owned the Note 1 for the last 2 years and I just got the Note 3 this past weekend. Its not so large it wont fit in your pocket, and the big screen really makes an awesome difference. The battery life is lightyears ahead of the note 1. The first full day I had it off the charger I was playing plants vs zombies 2 a good bit and it only got down to about 20% of life. It's fast and looks great.
Final question, I guess... where would I get a pack of free nerdy ringtones, with classic sci-fi and videogame sounds?
@Richy this might be late, but Zedge will have pretty much any ringtone or notification sound you'd want. there's some junk, but everything's free so you can sort through it in a few minutes
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EDIT: Note that I basically never bother to connect to wifi when outside the house. I actually turn it off, so I stop getting notifications of nearby networks as I move around.
That's good to know... especially the dropbox part, since I use that a lot. Then again WiFi is everywhere, including at home and in my office, so I can sync that and move pictures around without using up my data.
EDIT: Actually, related questions. Is there a way to setup Dropbox to only sync when on WiFi? On my iPad, Dropbox only syncs when I use the application; is it the same on a smartphone or will it update automatically in the background and eat up my data?
Nexus 5s are quite nice.
Regarding Wifi, when you set up any recent Android phone for initial setup, it should ask you to set up Wifi right off the bat (see if you can use the store's, if that's where you're getting it). That way all the initial slug of stuff happens over Wifi. After that, you can set up Play Store downloads, Dropbox, and most other applications to prefer/only use Wifi for transfers and updates. You have to be careful about that, as that's the primary thing that will lead you to overages. If you avoid that, 300MB should be plenty for a typical month.
Games: Ad Astra Per Phalla | Choose Your Own Phalla
Also, my usage also doesn't take into account use of public transportation. Obviously I cannot browse and such while driving, but if you have a commute on bus/subway and browse on your phone during such you would want to take that into consideration.
METAL GEAR SOLID CODEC FOR A RINGTONE FOR LIFE.
PS1? Damn kids. I haven't owned a console since the SNES.
@Richy this might be late, but Zedge will have pretty much any ringtone or notification sound you'd want. there's some junk, but everything's free so you can sort through it in a few minutes