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Jason Cipriani/CNET
Tiered data plans are horrible.
Keeping track of how much data you’ve used has been streamlined with carriers offering warning texts and emails, yet they always make me feel like I’m being yelled at by a parent.
Sorry, AT&T! I didn’t realize I was at 60 percent until you notified my entire family. How embarrassing.
A new feature, that’s kind of hidden, in Android 5.0 Lollipop makes it easy to take a quick glimpse at your data usage in your current billing cycle.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- Using two fingers, gesture down from the top of your screen to view the quick shortcuts.
- Tap on the signal indicator with your carrier name just beneath it.
- Your data usage is then presented both numerically and in the form of a status bar.
To view more information about your data usage, such as which apps have used what quantities, you can select More Settings from the bottom of the window. The button acts as a shortcut to the respective section in the Settings app where you can set the days your bill cycle falls on, and your data allotment.
Granted, carriers will warn you the number displayed on your device isn’t going to be as accurate as the number they provide (did you expect anything less?), but this method allows you to obtain a rough estimate of your data usage before getting grounded.
21 new Android 5.0 features you need to know about
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