Xiaomi MI3 Data Saver Function, Is It Worth It? [Opinion]

In the latest ROM updates from Xiaomi, they added a feature that they say can save data bandwidth.
Quite a nifty feature especially for those with a limited internet quota.

But is that all to it? no catch? Well, first we have to understand how it works.
In theory, Xiaomi takes the data from User 1 & instead of it going straight to the other User 2,the data goes the Xioami's Servers & compressed. (ie: Raw data = 10MB being compressed to 5MB)

Then, these compressed data are then sent to User 2.
Though privacy may be a concern, but that's a different topic altogether, which should be discussed separately.

So far it looks good right?
Well, this aren't really new as the same methodology has been used by many companies like Google's Chrome browser before.

As Google limits it to their browser only, Xiaomi is a bit ambitious in applying it to all internet related activities. Well, there's a good reason for Google to be cautious.

Imagine it like trying to save on highway tolls, you go through trunk or non-toll roads. It'll be cheaper of course, but it'll be a longer route & tend be riskier (road conditions, traffic lights, congested traffic, etc).

Same thing is happening here, by redirecting the data to their own servers, in general you are incurring more cost to cope with the increased traffic.

If you are not spending enough money on CAPEX to accommodate these traffic, well..

 Below is the test that I did today to ascertain whether is it actually worth it to try the Data Saver function.

Quite substantial amount of bandwidth saved to be honest.

Notice the ping, it is horrendous! Like it is in USA.

But in reality, it's in KL only, & I'm in KL too.

Just to be sure, checked again. Same issue, very high ping.

Then I turned it off to check.

Tadaa!!! Very different performance.

Tried again with different server, still fast enough.

From the simple test, you can see that speed is very, very poor when Data Saver function is turned on.

No denying that it saved a lot of data bandwidth, but is it really worth it?

My opinion, use the Data Saver function when it is very crucial for you to be connected to the internet AND your quota is almost finished.

If not, just keep it off as until they improved the server speed, it'll just be nice to see type of function.