Seems Samsung has set the record straight for buyers of the new Galaxy S4 who have been disappointed to learn that the 16GB model offers only around 8GB of user-accessible storage. However, in a affirmation to CNET,Samsung is reminding troubled customers that there is a solution to their concerns with the help of the built-in microSD slot.
“For the Galaxy S4 16GB model, approximately 6.85GB occupies [the] system part of internal memory,” the company said in a statement. That means the system software accounts for about 1GB more than what users saw with the Galaxy S III. Samsung points to the flagship’s 1080p display and “more powerful features (read as S-features)” as primary reasons for the bigger footprint.
People’s Frustrations
“Samsung should be selling this as an 8GB phone, not 16GB!” a commenter writes. “Price should be lower then,” another opines. “This is a scam and mis-advertising,” one irate consumer says.
“I personally feel that if you buy a 16GB phone, it should have 16GB available for the user. When I buy a pint I expect a pint,” another succinctly writes.
Some commenters think a spot of Android tinkering is the easy way to get that storage back. “Root… simple,” one writes. Others aren’t convinced though, with one opining, “For £550 (UGX 2.2million) you shouldn’t have to void your warranty and potentially brick your phone, simply to have the advertised amount of space.”
“To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides [a] micro SD slot on Galaxy S4 for extension of memory,” the company says. That micro SD slot supports cards up to 64GB in size, so even owners of the 16GB hardware can theoretically wind up with more capacity than any version of Apple’s iPhone or the HTC One can provide. Unfortunately you can’t install Android applications to external storage on the GS4, so the extra room is only good for your documents and media files.
