What does "data-lite" mean in the following context?
This application is:
...
- data-lite and saves you money
...
I couldn't find it online or in the dictionary (OAAD). For more context, I read it in the description of this application.
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Please add a link to source, or some more context– James Waldby - jwpat7Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 17:32
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@jwpat7: edited.– GigiliCommented Mar 30, 2013 at 19:54
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4 Answers
Lite has a dictionary entry:
adjective
denoting a low-fat or low-sugar version of a manufactured food or drink product:
lite beer
• informal denoting a simpler or less challenging version of a particular thing or person:
I am the happy feminist who likes men, the feminist lite
"Data-lite" follows the form of "feminist lite" in the example: a product which does not transmit or consume much data. I would guess that the application is something like a mobile phone app where data transmission may be chargeable: being data-lite saves on transmission costs.
["Lite beer" is neither low-fat nor low-sugar, of course, but low-alcohol. Another faulty example in ODO.]
answered Mar 30, 2013 at 17:32
A light application is one which loads fast, works fast and doesn't use much of the bandwidth. Data-lite, I suppose, is a fancy way of saying that the application is light.
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1would be further more appropriate if you add.. works fast and doesn't use much of the system resources or bandwidth..– RaghavCommented Mar 30, 2013 at 18:42
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1I think more precisely, it means that the application does not store (or perhaps use) a lot of data.– MattCommented Mar 31, 2013 at 0:32
The OED has the following entry for lite:
ORIGIN 1950s: a commercial respelling of light.
The same source defines lite:
• informal denoting a simpler or less challenging version of a particular thing or person: I am the happy feminist who likes men, the feminist lite.
I suspect in your case data-lite would be something that is lightweight and fast as opposed to heavy and slow.
As others have touched on, the specific meaning of data-lite and saves you money in this instance is that it requires a comparatively small quantity of transmitted data (for an application of its type, one presumes), and therefore will cost you less to run while disconnected from a wifi network and thus consuming mobile data bandwidth. It is a property that I would consider attractive in an smartphone app specification.
Similarly, text-only web browsers were popular in the dial-up days of the 90's and early 00's for the same reason, although often because the time taken to load a webpage which you knew would contain images that you would find irrelevant, such as any cinema's movie listings, would threaten your sanity more than your pocket.
