• Samsung Responds to Galaxy S4 Complaints By Telling Users to Go Buy an SD Card

    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 2013-05-04 06:33 AM
    43 Comments Comments


    As many consumers flock to buy the Galaxy S4, it isn’t a surprise to see the 16 GB model becoming quite a hit among the Android crowd. One general complaint that continues to become increasingly popular on a daily basis is that the 16 GB model doesn’t provide enough storage. When voiced to Samsung, the company simply responded by saying: if that’s not enough storage for you, that’s why we put in a microSD card slot.

    According to CNET UK, the 16 GB version of Samsung’s newest flagship handset has only just over half of its listed memory available for owner use. The rest is taken up by the smartphone’s operating system and built-in apps. Samsung said the following in a recent public statement:

    For the Galaxy S4 16GB model approximately 6.85GB occupies [the] system part of internal memory, which is 1GB bigger than that of the Galaxy S3, in order to provide [a] high resolution display and more powerful features to our consumers.
    For users who aren’t satisfied with the 8.49 GB or so of free space left to them on the 16GB model, Samsung’s simple solution was:

    To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides [a] microSD slot on Galaxy S4 for the extension of memory.
    Galaxy S4 owners are given the option to expand their devices’ storage capacity via microSD up to an additional 64GB, bringing the potential total capacity of the device to 80 GB, with 73.15% being available to the user. The additional space, although it can’t be used to store apps as Google removed that capability with Android 4.0, allows users to store downloaded books, music, movies and other files.

    The disparity between listed storage and usable storage isn’t particular to Samsung as device manufacturers typically list their capacities at the maximum amount the device could conceivably hold, regardless of how much is taken up by the system software. The size of the disparity though is uncommon. The S4 has only about 55% of it storage capacity available. In comparison an iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1 will give users roughly 77.5% of its total capacity.

    Although Samsung’s response is a logical one, the company could have probably handled the situation a bit better.

    Source: CNET UK
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Samsung Responds to Galaxy S4 Complaints By Telling Users to Go Buy an SD Card started by Akshay Masand View original post
    1. Categories:
    2. iPhone,
    3. iOS,
    4. Apple
    Comments 43 Comments
    1. Ambi_Valence's Avatar
      Ambi_Valence - 2013-05-04, 08:02 AM
      " The additional space, although it can’t be used to store apps...... "
      Eh? So I can ramp my self up to 80GB but still can't have any larger a selection of apps? That might be a problem for me. At an absolute minimum I've alwats got at least 4.5GB of just apps. Unless I'm reading this wrong and app data isn't accounted for?
    1. centori's Avatar
      centori - 2013-05-04, 09:05 AM
      Samsung really SUCK!!!!!!!
    1. vinaygoel2000's Avatar
      vinaygoel2000 - 2013-05-04, 09:19 AM
      7 GB OS!!! Holy crap. Isn't iOS 6 just over 1 GB.
    1. OceanMindedBoy's Avatar
      OceanMindedBoy - 2013-05-04, 09:21 AM
      Samsung and its limitations...
      You bought a sg4 and ran out of space. Well too bad. You're screwed. Samsung already has your money.

      I'm an iphone user but I respect Samsung for other things. But this leaves much to say about them. You're limited even with the sd card.
    1. adebeci's Avatar
      adebeci - 2013-05-04, 09:25 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Ambi_Valence View Post
      " Although Samsung’s response is a logical one, the company could have probably handled the situation a bit better.
      How?
    1. vinaygoel2000's Avatar
      vinaygoel2000 - 2013-05-04, 09:36 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by adebeci View Post
      How?
      Buying an SD card to increase storage is logical. Not sure what u r trying to ask. It is a d1ck move to advertise storage as 16gb when only half is available. But buying an SD card is totally logical.
    1. bmwraw8482's Avatar
      bmwraw8482 - 2013-05-04, 01:09 PM
      So are iOS devices officially the only ones with a usable portion of advertised storage anywhere near the advertised amount?
    1. JagXK8's Avatar
      JagXK8 - 2013-05-04, 01:15 PM
      WTH? I have the 16GB GS3 and i have 11GB free out of 12GB. I also have a 64GB minisd. You mean to tell me the GS4's OS is eating 7GB? I'll have to wait til my buddy gets one next week and see for myself. LOL, root it and remove that extra junk.
    1. yearoftherat's Avatar
      yearoftherat - 2013-05-04, 01:23 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by OceanMindedBoy View Post
      Samsung and its limitations...
      You bought a sg4 and ran out of space. Well too bad. You're screwed. Samsung already has your money.

      I'm an iphone user but I respect Samsung for other things. But this leaves much to say about them. You're limited even with the sd card.
      You can say the same thing if you bought a 16 gab iPhone and u ran out of space too. I had a 16 gb iP4 and it wasn't enuff so now 32 is the minimum for me
      At least you can add more storage to an existing product w/o having to upgrade your phone to get more space
    1. sziklassy's Avatar
      sziklassy - 2013-05-04, 02:28 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by OceanMindedBoy View Post
      Samsung and its limitations...
      You bought a sg4 and ran out of space. Well too bad. You're screwed. Samsung already has your money.
      I don't see how this is different from every other handset manufacturer on the planet, including Apple. If you decide you need more space and you are in your return period, get a higher capacity model. If not, they will tell you the same thing; sorry, not our problem.

      I understand people's frustration, but it is what it is. I am more furstrated that OEMs are still pushing 16GB phones, PERIOD. Apps (and OSs) have ballooned in size. What on earth are we expected to do with 16GB of storage?
    1. shinpeer1981's Avatar
      shinpeer1981 - 2013-05-04, 03:13 PM
      I rememver my iphone4 16gb days....kept on running out if space and only solution was kept on deleting stuff because I didnt even get sd card slot.

      7gb os isnt samsung's fault, its a google's....

      Come on people, really? Complaint about storage? Dont you asked for free micro sd when you get one at att or verizon store? They usually give it to you, its only like $5...

      Im not a samsung fanboy dont give me wrong I have mbp and ipads and still have iphone through my company.
    1. vinaygoel2000's Avatar
      vinaygoel2000 - 2013-05-04, 03:21 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by sziklassy View Post
      I don't see how this is different from every other handset manufacturer on the planet, including Apple. If you decide you need more space and you are in your return period, get a higher capacity model. If not, they will tell you the same thing; sorry, not our problem.

      I understand people's frustration, but it is what it is. I am more furstrated that OEMs are still pushing 16GB phones, PERIOD. Apps (and OSs) have ballooned in size. What on earth are we expected to do with 16GB of storage?
      You really don't see how this is different? Let me explain:

      I bought a 16 GB iPhone and put 8 GB worth of music, I still have 7 GB left.

      You buy a 16 GB S4 and put 8 GB worth of music, you are done.
    1. steve-z17's Avatar
      steve-z17 - 2013-05-04, 04:44 PM
      That's a ridiculous amount of space to take for the OS! Of course these days I would never buy anything lower than 32GB, especially with 1080p video capture. Samsung should let consumers know how much space the OS is taking up, because that's a lot. I would be pissed if I bought an iPhone with almost half its space taken up already.
    1. PokemonDesigner's Avatar
      PokemonDesigner - 2013-05-04, 05:37 PM
      Why would an operating system for a phone require that much storage. My computer doesn't even require that much % of my storage on a very small hard drive. It only requires about 5-10% of the space. This is just one example as to why I hate Android.
      And no, I'm not a fapple f**boy. I hate Apple too, just not for the size of their OS. They were actually smart about that part. The only require like 2-3GB of their 16GB model. Lots more room than Android.
    1. ABOSWORTH's Avatar
      ABOSWORTH - 2013-05-04, 05:54 PM
      I find it really hard to believe that the OS takes up half of the space. That is completely ridiculous if true. It's very disappointing that the SD card cannot be used for app storage as well.
    1. fanboyfanboy's Avatar
      fanboyfanboy - 2013-05-04, 06:05 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by ABOSWORTH View Post
      I find it really hard to believe that the OS takes up half of the space. That is completely ridiculous if true. It's very disappointing that the SD card cannot be used for app storage as well.
      It's not the OS, it's all the standard apps that Samsung throws in there, don't you want your S health app?!
    1. EMH's Avatar
      EMH - 2013-05-04, 06:29 PM
      To get a better idea of how ridiculous this is, Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (the x64 version, BTW) takes up 8.2 GB. That's for a full-featured, 64-bit, desktop-class OS. How on Earth Samsung justifies taking up almost 7GB with a mobile OS is beyond me.

      Source: SuperUser
    1. Albort's Avatar
      Albort - 2013-05-04, 07:36 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by yearoftherat View Post
      At least you can add more storage to an existing product w/o having to upgrade your phone to get more space
      That may be true but from what the article says, you cant store apps on the SD card...
      so 8GB left for apps... 1-2 GPS apps, and your already used half of your app space... that really does stink...
    1. PrinceJumoke's Avatar
      PrinceJumoke - 2013-05-04, 07:49 PM
      Wow so I can't store apps in the space that I upgraded too? Great job Google, and a clap for Samsung. Though it was a good idea to add a mSD Slot, it is virtually useless if you're a big app user like myself.
    1. alanjf's Avatar
      alanjf - 2013-05-04, 07:53 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by vinaygoel2000 View Post
      Buying an SD card to increase storage is logical. Not sure what u r trying to ask. It is a d1ck move to advertise storage as 16gb when only half is available. But buying an SD card is totally logical.
      While it does feel like deceptive advertising (makers should have to advertise the general usable space or at least make it clear some how, like "16GB, 9GB usable for storage" or so), I have a hard time faulting Samsung the same way that I might hold Apple accountable, since Sansung doesn't make the operating system, Google does, and thus the latter is responsible for such a space consuming OS. I'm not sure how much space a vanilla Android installation of the same version number consumes, but are handsets makers really that much more bloated over a a vanilla install?
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