[missing_K-W]

Is it possible for a dev to build an app that compresses data? I miss having my data compressed for the monthly savings as I am a power user.

Having all data compressed maybe far fetched. However an example would be for compressing streaming,media sites etc. I would imagine a site like YouTube would have compression protocols built into there servers. This ould make a great case for a dev to build an app that would compress this stream.

What do you think. Site specific compression is a reality. Once "headless apps" are supported(apps that run in the background without an active frame) ,a compression app would be a lucrative venture for someone to target IMHO ofcourse.

This topic is open for debate. What do you think?

[Omnitech]

Is it possible for a dev to build an app that compresses data? I miss having my data compressed for the monthly savings as I am a power user.

Having all data compressed maybe far fetched. However an example would be for compressing streaming,media sites etc. I would imagine a site like YouTube would have compression protocols built into there servers. This ould make a great case for a dev to build an app that would compress this stream.

What do you think. Site specific compression is a reality. Once "headless apps" are supported(apps that run in the background without an active frame) ,a compression app would be a lucrative venture for someone to target IMHO ofcourse.

This topic is open for debate. What do you think?

1. You can't compress YouTube or any other streaming video content
2. Compression adds CPU overhead and latency, this can end up making the experience WORSE on certain types of content
3. You can't compress most image files
4. Blackberry's legacy BIS compression was itself responsible in many ways for slow online/media performance on older OS 5/6/7 devices

In short, compression is good for some things, neutral for others, and makes things worse on others.

On complex web pages that contain lots of code (and not mostly images/videos) and for emails that have lots of text/html but not many graphic/video/compressed attachments, compression can lower data-transfer amounts. But the price you pay is higher CPU usage on the phone, slower opening/loading of webpages/emails, etc.

Compression is most useful when you are not doing something interactively and waiting for the result. I was always amazed about how long it took to download a small BBOS 6 application in app world. Between the BIS compression and throttling and the slow Java-based OS, it was ridiculous.

Those are some of the key reasons Blackberry moved away from the BIS architecture.

[SCrid2000]

An app could compress the data that goes through that app. Do you really want all your data going through a third party's hand first though?

[Innovatology]

No need. See this post.