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Sometimes – a few times – it could indeed be a problem of “data theft” by the operator. But most times, it is a data management issue. There are certain apps and activities that consume data heavily on your mobile device if not properly managed. This article points out those apps and activities and what you need to do to manage mobile data usage on your smartphone and tablet.
Tip 1 to manage mobile data usage: Turn off Automatic App Updates
If you have lots of apps installed on your smartphone, this could be where the biggest data consumption happens on your device. Why? Mobile application developers now provide updates to their apps almost every other day, which means that each app on your phone gets 3 to 4 updates each week.
Picture a situation where you have a lot of apps installed and have automatic updates enabled. It means you are going to be having all those apps updating on a daily basis. Most apps are 10 MB and above.
On my phone, I often get notifications that there are over 50 app updates waiting for me. At 10MB a piece (and some weigh 3 to 4 times more), I am looking at burning a minimum of 500MB of data a day on app updates alone. In one instance, running all available app updates on my phone wiped out 3 GB of my data bundle.
So, it is a good idea to disable app updates and manually do your updates once a week, once a month, or whenever you have access to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Most of the updates are about minor issues anyway.
To do, it, open Play Store -> Harmburger Menu -> Settings -> Auto-update apps : Select “Don’t auto-update apps”.
Tip 2 to manage mobile data usage:Reduce YouTube video resolution
The screen of a mobile device is small anyway, and reducing the video resolution to 240p will use up less of your data. If you find 240p too poor, 360p will do. To change the video resolution, open the video, click on Settings -> Video resolution/quality : select 240p or 360p. Now, you can watch videos and save on data.
Tip 3to manage mobile data usage:WhatsApp images and video download setting
WhatsApp is a huge data consumer. People are constantly sharing images, video, audio, and documents to you on WhatsApp, and each time those media files are opened and downloaded to your phone, some of your data goes ziiiip.
Disabling automatic download of media files on WhatsApp is something you can do to cut down on how much of your data the app consumes.
Here are the steps to follow: Open your WhatsApp Settings , select “ Data and Storage usage ”, then “ Media auto-download ”. You will see options for when using mobile data, when connected to Wi-Fi, and when roaming. Tap on each one and untick all the boxes except Audio, click OK.
That way, when people send you images and video, they are not automatically downloaded. Another benefit of this is that your phone’s memory doesn’t get clogged up unnecessarily.
Tip 4to manage mobile data usage:Disable Facebook Video Autoplay
By default, as you scroll through your Facebook timeline, whenever you come across a video, it just starts playing. It doesn’t matter whether you like the video or not, it plays and eats up your data. You can disable this feature.
Go to Settings & Privacy -> Settings -> Media and contacts: scroll down to Autoplay .
Then choose whether videos autoplay when you are on mobile data and Wi-Fi, or on Wi-Fi connections only. Or alternatively, select the last option to Never Auto-play Videos . You are done.
Tip 5 to manage mobile data usage: Use less data on Instagram
Launch your Instagram app and open your Profile and tap on the Hamburger menu in the top right corner -> Gear icon at the bottom of the page -> Mobile data use . You can toggle the control there to use less data.
Tip 6 to manage mobile data usage: Enable Data Saver on Twitter
Launch the Twitter app, and go to Settings and privacy -> Data usage -> Data saver . You can enable it to stop videos from autoplaying and to load lower-quality images. Alternatively, in the data usage menu, you can also scroll down to Video autoplay and select “Never” from the available options.
All these controls give you the ability to manage mobile data usage on your smartphone and cut down on your Internet expenses.
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Author:Mister Mobility
Digital Skills and Communication Coach | Mobile Phone Connoisseur since 2001 | Tech Blogging since 2004
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Mara Phones is a smartphone brand owned by Mara Group and is headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda. The brand began to manufacture its first smartphones from a South African plant in 2018. The company says its mission is to produce smartphones for African and global markets.
Mara claims that its Rwanda facility is the first to fully manufacture smartphones 100% locally in Africa, different from product assembly as carried out at other phone factories across the continent. According to the company, all components of the products, including chips, are made locally.
Nigeria’s Afrione has a factory in Lagos, opened in 2017, and where it assembles feature phones, smartphones, and accessories.
Mara’s claim about 100% locally sourced components is hard to believe. There are very few manufacturers in the world that have the capacity to build devices 100% from scratch.
For example, what Processors do Mara phones use? Qualcomm Snapdragon. Those are not built by Mara. Corning Gorilla Glass used in the Mara Z is not made in Rwanda either. There are more that can be pointed out. At the end of the day, the claim sounds more like a PR/marketing stunt.
According to reports, Mara Phones’ Kigali factory employs over 200 staff, currently produces 1,000 phones a day, though it has has the capacity to manufacture over 5,000 units a day.
Mara Phones Products – Made in Africa
Mara mobile products currently include two smartphones, the entry-level Mara X , and the mid-range Mara Z . Both phones are claimed to be the first truly made in Africa smartphones by the company (and that is arguable, as this article has pointed out earlier) and they exist in the sub-$200 price segment.
In addition, the two Mara phones run stock Android OS and are Android One devices, with the promise of two Android OS version updates. Both models come pre-installed with Mara Mentor, while the Mara Z also has the Thrive Away app pre-installed in addition.
Mara X is an entry-level Android 8 Oreo smartphone
The two Mara phone models are available in Kigali, Rwanda and will face off better priced devices from TECNO Mobile, Samsung, and itel, among others.
Check out the Mara X specifications and the Mara Z specifications .
Mara Phones – Markets and Territories
Mara Phones has operations in Rwanda, South Africa, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
There are conflicting reports about Mara’s smartphone manufacturing plant in South Africa. Some reports say manufacturing started in South Africa in 2018 [2], while others claim that the Durban plant will come on stream in October 2019.
The company has also expressed interest in establishing a factory in Nigeria, the continent’s largest mobile market[3]. As such, it is expected that Mara phones will go on sale there sooner or later.
Mara reportedly looks to export its products to Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya as well. The company will need heavy export operations in order to take advantage of economies of scale to drive down the cost of its devices.
Rwanda is not exactly a large market for mobile phones. The country has an estimated population of 13 million people. In addition to the small size of the population, the mobile market in Rwanda is predominantly made up of feature phones, with smartphone penetration standing at 15% as at 2019.
Affordability is the big problem and the new phones from Mara being priced above competing products from the likes of TECNO Mobile makes them a tough sell from the start. Mara is reported to have introduced an installment payment scheme of some sort in Kigali to make them more affordable.
Mara’s South Africa factory goes under
In February 2022, Business Insider reported that Mara’s South Africa factory has been shut down and put on auction[4]. The manufacturing facility in Kigali is “still operational and is reported to have been consistently producing phones”, says a TekExpert report[5], but only at 20% capacity.
Where is Mara phone made?
Mara smartphones are made in their manufacturing facilities in Rwanda and South Africa.
Where is Mara phone from?
Mara phone is a Rwandan brand that manufactures Android smartphones. The brand has a manufacturing facility in Kigali, Rwanda and Durban, South Africa.
What is Mara smartphone?
Mara is an African smartphone brand with production facilities in Rwanda and South Africa.
References
- Mara Phone website: Link
- Mara Group announces availability of South African manufactured smartphones: source .
- Mara proposes smartphone factory in Nigeria: source .
- Mara Phones say COVID and lack of uptake in South Africa led to its demise: source .
- Mara’s South Africa ambitions come to a pandemic end: source .
Author:Mister Mobility
Digital Skills and Communication Coach | Mobile Phone Connoisseur since 2001 | Tech Blogging since 2004
