[trivor]

I don't understand why HTC gets all the blame for this. THE CARRIERS (ATT in this case) decide what phone they want (unless you're Apple). ATT did this to itself (not HTC). I think HTC would have preferred to drop the S4 into the International version rather than make a crippled 16 GB model for ATT. I think ATT wants to force you to buy more data (big surprise) rather than let you have a phone with more storage. Personally, I think most people would be OK with 32 GB (26 GB available) but 16 GB is on the low end. I have a very small music collection (listen to a ton of podcasts and don't like to have to clean up old ones too quickly) and have 20 GB left on my 32GB card - obviously would be maxed out with only a 16 GB device. Just have some patience and wait for the Verizon Version (will be probably replace the Rezound) or wait for the Motorola Razr HD or Samsung S3. There will be something as good the One X within 6 mos. Patience on these forums is severely lacking.

[Sedrick]

16GB is enough for most people. The answer is actually pretty simple. Can you make 10GB of storage work between WiFi visits? If so, then the 16GB HTC One X has enough storage for you, if you understand how to harness the cloud.

10GB (which is about the actual storage of the device) gets you about 2000 songs, 2 full-length HD movies, and the photos you've taken over the past few weeks.

So, if you can get by with that much content between WiFi visits, then yes, 16GB HTC One X is enough for you.

If you don't know or understand Google Music pinning, Dropbox starred items and Google+ Photo Auto-upload then you should research that before making any decisions about 16GB not being enough for you.

I would say 16GB is enough for 90% of people. I would also say 16GB is enough for about 50% of people that think it isn't enough

So, what you're saying, if I read you correctly, is I now have to spend extra time organizing my music/video collection frequently so I always have something fresh on my phone, whereas, now, I just load up my 32 gig phone and forget about it. How is this better or even acceptable?

[sRedwolf]

So, what you're saying, if I read you correctly, is I now have to spend extra time organizing my music/video collection frequently so I always have something fresh on my phone, whereas, now, I just load up my 32 gig phone and forget about it. How is this better or even acceptable?

Yeah i think this is exactly my issue as well - sure there are all kinds of work arounds but why should you be forced to jump through hoops? Why pay boatloads of money for a phone that is essentially less convenient than the one you have now. Sure if you're buying a low end device you get what you get but when buying something high end there's absolutely no reason why a 32gb version couldn't have been made available.

[RoboWarrior]

The only hope for us is HTC screwing us over. I'm going to wait until the next Galaxy S3 (which does have a micro sd card slot) and really hope that HTC releases a 32 GB version. I pretty sure a majority of users would buy a 32 GB version even a 64 GB. I mean look at the sales of the 64 GB iPhone, they are surprisingly high! 16 GB phones should be released only for devs since they break phones really easily when creating ROMs and Kernals. Don't say really poor people because they probably shouldn't be buying something like this anyway...

[mikemick]

So, what you're saying, if I read you correctly, is I now have to spend extra time organizing my music/video collection frequently so I always have something fresh on my phone, whereas, now, I just load up my 32 gig phone and forget about it. How is this better or even acceptable?

Most people have to do this anyways. 32GB is not a magical number that solves that issue for most people. I have 100GB of music and over 2TB of movies. I think you'll find that most people have over 32GB of media and are going to have to "figure out a solution." The phone just isn't the right place to store all of your media, so no matter what the majority of people will have to do the same process whether it is 16 or 32GB. So how much is enough? The answer is a formula of how much media variety you need between WiFi visits, and how much do you want to manage your storage.

I think most people will be fine with 16GB. Sure, 32GB is better, and you can be a bit more flexible (and relaxed), but I think 16GB is a bare-minimum amount that 90% of people can work with (if they have WiFi at their home). I will say, I do think 32GB is the sweet-spot however.

I spend almost zero time organizing my media for my phone. I have my active playlists sync with my device. As I change my playlists, the songs on my phone change. I NEVER feel like I'm managing my phone when it comes to music or photos. I manage my playlists, when I'm listening to the music on my desktop, and my phone just updates automatically. Now, videos on the other hand is different. When heading on a trip, I will go into my Dropbox and manually star a few items that I want for my trip. So besides offline videos, I don't even feel like I'm managing my memory. I'm just creating playlists and listening to music like I naturally would.

[sovereignty68]

To each their own really and while I would gladly welcome more space and bigger batteries there is nothing wrong with learning to live and love a world with smaller storage and slimmer phones it just takes some adjustments but it is not for everyone.

Well said. I'm adjusting myself to live with <32GB storage phones. I understand the frustration what other people having with smaller storage. Some like to move their whole music collection to the SD card, some have movie files. I personally don't mind a smaller storage because I have Google Music for music. I don't store videos on my phone, I have an Android tablet for that. My camera's photo album is uploaded to Google+ in full size. Even with some frequently accessed media files stored on my phone, I still have 11GB free left on internal storage. I would say 16GB storage is enough for me. It'd be nice to have a SD card slot or bigger storage.

[jeffreii]

Most people have to do this anyways. 32GB is not a magical number that solves that issue for most people. I have 100GB of music and over 2TB of movies. I think you'll find that most people have over 32GB of media and are going to have to "figure out a solution." The phone just isn't the right place to store all of your media, so no matter what the majority of people will have to do the same process whether it is 16 or 32GB. So how much is enough? The answer is a formula of how much media variety you need between WiFi visits, and how much do you want to manage your storage.

I think most people will be fine with 16GB. Sure, 32GB is better, and you can be a bit more flexible (and relaxed), but I think 16GB is a bare-minimum amount that 90% of people can work with (if they have WiFi at their home). I will say, I do think 32GB is the sweet-spot however.

I spend almost zero time organizing my media for my phone. I have my active playlists sync with my device. As I change my playlists, the songs on my phone change. I NEVER feel like I'm managing my phone when it comes to music or photos. I manage my playlists, when I'm listening to the music on my desktop, and my phone just updates automatically. Now, videos on the other hand is different. When heading on a trip, I will go into my Dropbox and manually star a few items that I want for my trip. So besides offline videos, I don't even feel like I'm managing my memory. I'm just creating playlists and listening to music like I naturally would.

I think you're missing the point. Technology should move us forward, not backwards. If the next phone has 8GB of storage space you could make this same argument - and it would still be off.

Storage space on phones should be increasing, not decreasing. The retail price of 32GB Micro SD cards is very low now. $22 + free shipping at Amazon.com. At this point, it should be the standard amount on new flagship devices. If you're going to go cheap and gimp the storage space, just give us a Micro SD slot so we can make the decision ourselves.

In a year or two when 64GB MicroSD (and other flash memory) prices have dropped way down I expect THAT to be the new norm. SoC's get better, screens get better, tech gets thinner, etc. - don't tell me that storage space is going to DROP and we just have to deal with it.

I am not OK with AT&T saving themselves ~$5 and telling me "it's ok, use the cloud!".

[newbey123]

Well said. I'm adjusting myself to live with <32GB storage phones. I understand the frustration what other people having with smaller storage. Some like to move their whole music collection to the SD card, some have movie files. I personally don't mind a smaller storage because I have Google Music for music. I don't store videos on my phone, I have an Android tablet for that. My camera's photo album is uploaded to Google+ in full size. Even with some frequently accessed media files stored on my phone, I still have 11GB free left on internal storage. I would say 16GB storage is enough for me. It'd be nice to have a SD card slot or bigger storage.

That is pretty much the same way I feel. 16 GB is plenty for me. Like you I don't store videos on my phone, that is why I have tablet and laptop. For me, this device is a phone first, not a laptop where I store all my movies and files.

Everyone is different, so that is why their are so many different phones to fit everyones tast.

[Saneless]

You people saying 10GB is fine, and use the Cloud, and you can stream, and use G+ and picasa, Google Music.. etc etc.

It's apparent you've never done it on a small-storage phone.

Pin/take offline music: Where's it going to go? Do you have 250MB of extra space for that downloaded playlist?

Do you have a few hundred MB of storage free for caching?

Have you EVER done cloud picture management with an android device? Check your SD card's cached folder - 800MB of cache. Do you have almost a gig lying around? Probably not.

And then you run into data issues. You can cache a whole station in Slacker Radio, but nope, you won't have the space for it.

The point is, for the cloud to work it has to cache things, but you won't have room for it. Enjoy taking a picture and having the device say you can't because you don't have enough space left, unbeknownst to you your music and photo caching took up the last gig you thought you had free for that 5 minute video of your kid you planned on taking.

10GB is just an embarrassment and if Samsung has any sense they'll release a phone with an SD slot or at least 32GB as an option if they go on-board. I'm glad to see Sprint has enough sense to allow an SD slot on the One X, and that will be -THE- phone to get in the states this year.

[wrxdrunkie]

I don't believe so. However, a quick Market search turned up an app called "FolderSync" that allows you to do 2-way syncing between a folder on your phone and a folder on nearly any cloud service. So, you could have a music folder on your Dropbox, and have it always stay in sync with your phone. I haven't used the program, so I can't necessarily recommend it.

Darn, that is really disappointing. HTC did all of this work to make a good music app it looks like and I won't even be able to use it because I will probably be using google music. Maybe google doesn't have an API or way for developers to tie the service into their apps. Big mistake IMO

[AhlamO]

Well it is because with HTC Sense 4 you get free 25gb of dropbox storage for 2 years.

[mikemick]

I think you're missing the point. Technology should move us forward, not backwards. If the next phone has 8GB of storage space you could make this same argument - and it would still be off.

Here is the deal. I'm just trying to answer the original question. Is 16GB enough? Not, should they have given different size options. Not, should they have made it 32GB. Which, honestly, the answer to both of those is a resounding YES. But, is 16GB enough? I think for many people it is. Is it cutting edge? No. Was it a good decision on AT&T/HTC's part? No. I think it was a big mistake, personally. But that's not what was in question.

I use to be a guy that loaded up his 32GB micro-sd card to the max. Since I've embraced the cloud, I find myself keeping about 4-6GB on my device, and it actually feels like I have more variety and I perform less management than before. I almost think of the memory on my phone as a cache now instead of storage. I think most people can easily make 16GB work (if they have WiFi).

[mobilityguy]

I guess we should expect laptop/desktop manufacturers to start making their systems with smaller hard drives. After all, cloud access is much more reliable from a PC than from a mobile device, and bandwidth is faster and essentially free. Extend the carriers' logic to the desktop and if 16GB is enough for a phone, maybe 250GB should be fine for a computer.

Guess what? Not gonna happen. Once you get up into serious amounts of storage, it's much harder to give enough away for free.

Whether on a PC or a phone, people will eventually be forced to realize that free cloud storage is like free heroin. After two years, when you're hooked on two years of that 20G of storage you don't have to think about, how much will you be willing to pay to keep that access? Of course, you could download all your files back to your PC and manage them yourself, but (a) you won't have anywhere access anymore and (b) most of that 90% who are "fine in 16G" won't have the technical chops, discipline or spare time to manage their files manually.

I don't think it's coincidence that cloud storage is being offered free and internal phone storage is being reduced just as smartphone adoption is starting to go through the roof. Call it the "new normal", but in a couple of years millions of people will believe that the cloud and cache-sized local storage is simply the way it's done.

Do you think phone contracts in 2014 will bundle free cloud storage? Or that there will be unlimited data plans, with or without caps? I'm guessing no to both questions.

My short answer to the forum question is, no, 16G is not enough today, and 32G won't be enough a year from now. Phones should get more powerful, not less, as technology improves.

[mikemick]

I guess we should expect laptop/desktop manufacturers to start making their systems with smaller hard drives. After all, cloud access is much more reliable from a PC than from a mobile device, and bandwidth is faster and essentially free. Extend the carriers' logic to the desktop and if 16GB is enough for a phone, maybe 250GB should be fine for a computer.

The difference is 2TB 3.5in hard drives cost about the same as a 64GB micro SD card. Computers are a different beast, because power consumption and form-factor (size) isn't an issue. Computers and mobile devices are different beasts, with different feature-sets, and different strengths and weaknesses. Just because they are both computing devices, doesn't mean the same logic should be applied. I know you know this, but I just want to establish that just because I feel one way about storage for mobile devices, doesn't mean I feel that way about all computing machines in general. My opinion isn't a global view of how I think storage should work for all machines. It is just how I think it should work (or you can make it work) for mobile devices with the current state of technology.

[mikemick]

Do you think phone contracts in 2014 will bundle free cloud storage?

Yes. Even better, I think you won't need to worry about bundles, cause anyone will just be able to get it. I've watched the current state of Cloud storage get cheaper and cheaper over the years. The amount given away for free is growing too. I just watched Google Drive price-cut Dropbox by 75%. Think of it this way... How much did a 1TB drive cost 3 years ago? How much does it cost today? Storage get's cheaper and cheaper, and therefore Cloud storage will too.

You are already starting to taste the future. Google wants you to use their products so bad, that they will provide free storage (Google Music). Same with Amazon. I think eventually, Cloud storage will be completely free. As soon as the cost to host the cloud files is less than the revenue generated by people that make purchases (music, movies, books, apps) from that cloud vendor, cloud storage fees will be no more. I think we are getting closer to that reality. Maybe I'm crazy.

[jeffreii]

Yes. Even better, I think you won't need to worry about bundles, cause anyone will just be able to get it. I've watched the current state of Cloud storage get cheaper and cheaper over the years. The amount given away for free is growing too. I just watched Google Drive price-cut Dropbox by 75%. Think of it this way... How much did a 1TB drive cost 3 years ago? How much does it cost today? Storage get's cheaper and cheaper, and therefore Cloud storage will too.

You are already starting to taste the future. Google wants you to use their products so bad, that they will provide free storage (Google Music). Same with Amazon. I think eventually, Cloud storage will be completely free. As soon as the cost to host the cloud files is less than the revenue generated by people that make purchases (music, movies, books, apps) from that cloud vendor, cloud storage fees will be no more. I think we are getting closer to that reality. Maybe I'm crazy.

When the cloud is totally free and unlimited...

and the data plans are cheap and unlimited...

and the dead spots are all covered with super-fast LTE2^4 (stay with me here)...

even inside large concrete buildings, airplanes, subways, the moon...

then the cloud will be awesome and 16GB will be enough! Although by then 16GB will be more like 16TB and I will wake up from that dream laughing!

[mikemick]

When the cloud is totally free and unlimited...

and the data plans are cheap and unlimited...

and the dead spots are all covered with super-fast LTE2^4 (stay with me here)...

even inside large concrete buildings, airplanes, subways, the moon...

then the cloud will be awesome and 16GB will be enough! Although by then 16GB will be more like 16TB and I will wake up from that dream laughing!

Never mentioned anything about data plans, speeds or coverage. No need to be snarky.

[jeffreii]

Never mentioned anything about data plans, speeds or coverage. No need to be snarky.

Sarcastic not snarky - wasn't trying to be rude, sorry. If you mention the cloud you have to mention the tools to use/access the cloud. Currently those tools are expensive and not reliable enough to replace local storage (was my point).

[BrianJPace]

Going to this from an HTC Aria with an embarrassing 185 mb available phone storage, 16 gb is more than enough. I have been using the Aria for two years. Doesn't mean I wouldn't love more, just that I am content.

[paintdrinkingpete]

Going to this from an HTC Aria with an embarrassing 185 mb available phone storage, 16 gb is more than enough. I have been using the Aria for two years. Doesn't mean I wouldn't love more, just that I am content.

Granted, the internal storage available for apps is great improvement, no doubt, but the point of contention here is the fact that 16GBs = *all storage* (including media and personal files). The Aria, while vastly outdated in internal storage, at least has SD Card support, so the space you have for music, pictures, movies, etc, is NOT limited to 185 MB.

FWIW, I own a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. It's a great device, and I'm very happy with it. When I bought it, I figured 16GB model would be more than sufficient for my needs, since I don't really store many videos or anything like that on it. While I do love my Tab, I do wish I had bought the 32GB version. Now that I use it all the time, I do find myself frequently having to go in and delete files to "make room" for other stuff I want to load onto it. Not a huge deal, but again, I do wish I had the 32GB. I guess my point is that sometimes what you *think* you need turns out to be off the mark once you actually start to use a device.

[Sedrick]

You are already starting to taste the future. Google wants you to use their products so bad, that they will provide free storage (Google Music). Same with Amazon. I think eventually, Cloud storage will be completely free. As soon as the cost to host the cloud files is less than the revenue generated by people that make purchases (music, movies, books, apps) from that cloud vendor, cloud storage fees will be no more. I think we are getting closer to that reality. Maybe I'm crazy.

That taste of the future includes paying out the rear for unlimited data (if you can even get it) to access your own dang files. You guys just don't seem to get it. (and if you have to do it at home on wifi, there's no point to even having cloud access)

Sarcastic not snarky - wasn't trying to be rude, sorry. If you mention the cloud you have to mention the tools to use/access the cloud. Currently those tools are expensive and not reliable enough to replace local storage (was my point).

Exactly, my man! These people don't want to think about data costs and limited connection in many, many places, because it makes their whole (weak) argument moot.

[terrrrrible]

Does anyone know if you've already got a Dropbox account, if there's a way to "activate" the 25GB on it, or do we need to create a brand new account?

[mobilityguy]

You are already starting to taste the future. Google wants you to use their products so bad, that they will provide free storage (Google Music). Same with Amazon. I think eventually, Cloud storage will be completely free. As soon as the cost to host the cloud files is less than the revenue generated by people that make purchases (music, movies, books, apps) from that cloud vendor, cloud storage fees will be no more. I think we are getting closer to that reality. Maybe I'm crazy.

I don't know. I understand that Google wants me to use their products instead of Facebook's, or Apple's, or Amazon's. But why? They don't do it to get my business, in the traditional sense - I don't recall ever writing a check to Google or Facebook, although I have done business with Amazon within the past week. Yet Google is among the most profitable businesses on the planet, and their stock price is pretty decent for a company that gives everything away.

To me, Google is the ultimate middleman. Businesses write them lots of checks for things like AdSense so Google can connect them with potential customers like me. I write checks to those businesses, and the cycle is complete.

The better the quality of Google's information about me, the better they can target ads to me and the more valuable they are to the people who want to sell me stuff. Google has lots of competitors who are doing the same thing, and if they can provide better information about me, some businesses will write checks to them instead of Google.

How does Google get more information about me? They funnel more and more of my daily life through their servers, and then they write cool algorithms to figure out whose ads to flash on the screen while I'm using Google services. Businesses love them, and write even bigger checks to them. Of course, Google's competitors are doing exactly the same thing.

Which brings me back to 16G of phone storage. (See how I kept this post on topic?) It's to the carriers' advantage to boost data usage by squeezing our stuff off the phone and into the cloud, but it's also in Google's interest because it gives them more of our stuff to scan, and improves their performance for their real business, targeted ads. So reduced phone storage and Google Drive are introduced in the same month. I don't think that's a coincidence.

When a profit-making company gives away something that costs them money, you have to ask: where's that money coming from? We like to think of ourselves as Google's customers, but their advertisers are really their customers. And what are those advertisers buying? In a word, us. And the more information they can squeeze out of us, the better product (us) they can provide to their customers.

So I actually think you're right, and we may very well continue to see free cloud services for a long while, as long as the market for the cloud stays competitive and Google and others can make their money elsewhere. This is a race by a number of large companies and startups to capture our data, and they're all spending large amounts of money (translate: giving us lots of expensive storage for free) to come out on top. If the cloud storage business stabilizes, though, watch for the providers to turn the cloud itself into a revenue stream. At that point, our entire lives will be out there and we'll have no choice but to pay up. Maybe not in 2014, but I think not later than 2020. Just my wild guess.

[NBP Pipsquack Bird]

Yes it is enough.
Google is designed around the cloud.
If you just can't part from holding onto all your bobbles in a local storage, maybe consider buying a Blackberry or Windows Phone?

Extra One X phone storage = Google Drive (or Box.com or Dropbox.)

I just uploaded an APK to Google Drive and clicked on it from the phone and it installed.
Functionally Google Drive very similar to local storage.

[jdot104]

Does anyone know if you've already got a Dropbox account, if there's a way to "activate" the 25GB on it, or do we need to create a brand new account?

I believe you'll sign into your Dropbox account and the 25GB will be added to whatever storage you have. I've built up some extra storage by doing those dumb tasks like installing it on a phone.