The Samsung Galaxy S 4 – what a phone, huh? I mean that in the most serious way possible, too. It’s big but not “too big”, it’s fast, and well… it’s a Galaxy. We like those for the most part. It’s not perfect of course, but overall I think it’s a very nice phone. However, just like every Samsung Android device you see, you get more than the ability to proudly say that you own a Samsung Galaxy device. You get TouchWiz! But of course, in exchange for the ability to use the all-powerful TouchWiz you will have to make one small sacrifice…
Frank, tell our winner what’s behind door number 2!
Congratulations, contestant! You’ve won only 9 GB of memory out of the presumable 16 GB you thought you were getting with the device, and a no-expenses paid trip to the nearest super store to pick up a new memory card to make up for what’s missing!
It's true, folks. TouchWiz and all of its magnificence takes up almost a whopping 7 GB of memory out of the 16 GB (or 32 GB) of internal memory you were promised on the Galaxy S 4. While I’m sure there are plenty of people who are perfectly content with Samsung supplying a bulk of apps for them in their shiny new toy, I’m fairly certain that an even larger number do not appreciate of the fact that TouchWiz has sucked up nearly half the amount of space that was supposed to be available on the 16 GB device. I don’t even own the device and I’m upset for the people who didn't know about this in the first place – that’s how serious I am about this.
I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing that an interface takes up that much memory. If Samsung thought the features would be important to the user then great, thanks for adding them in! But no thanks for not letting me know in the first place that you were cutting your advertised memory by a significant chunk. That doesn’t sit too well with me.
I’m certainly not the first person to bring this issue up – in fact, so many people have brought the issue up that Samsung has already issued a statement resolving the issue of lower storage space to CNET UK:
“For the Galaxy S4 16 GB model, approximately 6.85 GB occupies the system part of internal memory, which is 1 GB bigger than that of the Galaxy S3, in order to provide a high resolution display and more powerful features to our consumers. To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides a microSD slot on Galaxy S4 for extension of memory.”
Thank you for confirming what we already know after it’s a little too late, Samsung.
Pretty much every gadget out there over-advertises the amount of memory that you actually get within the device, but generally not by that large of a margin. In the end, it’s all the same concept so it's equally aggravating. I still think it’s kind of lame when I get jipped a few gigs due to software additions – especially with no way to delete the unnecessary stuff unless rooted or jailbroken. Not everybody is comfortable with rooting and jailbreaking, so those who don't want the bloatware on there have no option to get rid of them.
But that's getting off track, because I'm not that upset about having 13 GB of memory when I was under the impression that I would be getting 16, or in this case people will be getting 9 GB of memory instead of 16 (which I might actually be a little upset about if it were me, but at least you have the microSD option as somewhat of a fix). I'm just upset that we don’t know about it first. It's the same way I view pricing without including taxes (which is a story for another day, kids). I'm okay with the fact that you need to decrease the amount of usable memory if you think it’s a must, but for crying out loud let me know about it first so it doesn’t come and bite you in the butt later! You should help me, to help you. We can do this together, people. Let’s just be honest about the amount of memory we’re really getting, ok? Problem solved.
Now if only companies would actually do it. You know what they say, “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.” Chumps.
Readers, what are your thoughts on all of this? Have you ever been extremely disappointed in the amount of memory you've actually been dealt, or have you pretty much come to expect the unexpected? Leave me a comment below telling me your thoughts on the matter!
Image via Cult Of Android
