16 gigs is just way too small, I don't want to put stuff on the cloud.

[Captainbob767]

You paid for a phone with 16GB memory and no SD card. You made that choice. It was clearly advertised as such. You weren't tricked. You paid for the right to have a 16 gb phone with no SD card support. And as I said, the price point makes them immune from storage criticism. Google made this phone at a loss and you want them to add a feature that will further cannibalize their business. Sounds pretty irrational to me.

Google isnt an hardware manufacturer who has the ability to make all the variety of Nexi they want. You get one phone a year and they make it how they feel is the best way to get somewhat of a return investment. For all you know the 32 GB variant and wasnt worth it for them. Given that they didnt anticipate it to be a big success (and compared to phones like HTC One and S4, it is kind of a fail) it probably wasnt cost effective.

The entirety of your argument is that you think it wouldve cost them nothing to make a 32 GB model, but you really have no idea about their cost structure. Memory isnt cheap and not only that but you have to look beyond the cost of the parts. Look at manufacturing costs. From what I remember, manufacturing variants add to costs.

Its like getting a Lambo for the price of a Camry but half the HP. You are still getting one heck of a deal.

Bottom line is people don't seem to want to take responsibility for their decisions anymore. They go buy something, and after they get it, if it doesn't meet their expectations, rather than admitting that maybe they made a decision that was not right for them, they have to bash the product to others that own and are happy with it. Like a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum because he doesn't like his new toy.

 

[JeffDenver]

It's probably not "just a little cost"

Even the very cheapest Android phones have had SD since forever. No, I do not think cost was an issue.

and if someone buys a phone that clearly states that it has 16gigs of memory, that is not expandable, then they shouldn't complain about it after they own it.

I disagree that we should not be allowed to complain about the design flaws in a phone simply because we bought it.

They should learn to grow up and live with their decisions they made instead of whining to everyone.

The same applies to people on here who don't like my opinion on stuff.

 

[JeffDenver]

Bottom line is people don't seem to want to take responsibility for their decisions anymore.

Complaining about design flaws in a product we bought does not = refusing to take responsibility for decisions.

Like a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum because he doesn't like his new toy.

Or because other people won't agree with him...

We are all allowed to have opinions on here. Even if they do not agree with your own.

 

[Captainbob767]

Complaining about design flaws in a product we bought does not = refusing to take responsibility for decisions.


Or because other people won't agree with him...

We are all allowed to have opinions on here. Even if they do not agree with your own.

It's not a design "flaw", it's what it is. Is a 1 Terrabyte drive a "design flaw", because it isn't a 2TB drive. Your arguments are childish.

 

[TheLibertarian]

It's not a design "flaw", it's what it is. Is a 1 Terrabyte drive a "design flaw", because it isn't a 2TB drive. Your arguments are childish.

There is no end to a discussion with an illogical user.

I understand criticizing Google. And when the device was unveiled, I understood the endless bickering about lack of LTE and limiting storage.

However, once one purchases the device, why would said user be complaining? I'm with you entirely on that one. No device is perfect, and no company is without fault.

But to buy a device and ceaselessly complain about its shortcomings leaves the rest of us questioning the person's intelligence who bought a device that didn't suit their needs.

 

[minnemike]

People should not be berated merely for expressing an opinion.

I have no idea why so many people get so defensive when someone expresses an opinion about a phone on here.

Exactly. And somehow you are berating me for giving advice that it's best to look at the specs closer before buying a phone? Will you make that mistake again? If not, can I take some credit in helping you here?

 

[Craig Scarlett]

It's my opinion that it's typically the person who made an impulsive purchase and/or didn't do their necessary research that has the most remorse. For example, I own a Nexus 4 and am very satisfied with it. It has met or exceeded my expectations. Of course there are things that I believe could be better, but by and large, I'm very satisfied. Part of my satisfaction is due to the fact that, instead of rushing out to buy the device, I read and watched all there was to read about the phone before I purchased it. I paid as much attention to what the average user had to say about the device as the "professional" reviewer. Upon buying the phone, I already knew that the colors on the screen were a bit washed out. I knew there wasn't SD card expansion and that the max storage capacity was about 13GBs. I also knew that despite the fact that the glass on the front of the device was Gorilla Glass II, that it was still very prone to breakage. Still, I weighed all the pros and cons of the device against my needs and wants and decided that I would be happy with the phone. Guess what?? I'm VERY happy with the phone. Keep in mind that initially, the N4 was supposed to be my secondary device to my Galaxy S3. It appealed to my tech/nerd cravings and was a pretty conscience-free purchase due to the price. After short usage, the S3 quickly became my secondary device. I missed some of the Touchwiz conveniences (swipe to screenshot), but I was floored by the N4's power and speed. Currently, I have nowhere near the amount of resident music on my N4 as I do on my S3, but All Access has beautifully filled that gap. 16GB, with a little assessment of my true needs has worked out surprisingly well; I just can't download to heart's content without consideration of my storage limits.

So my advice to anyone would be to go into a purchase knowing at least 80% of what to expect from the product. Let the other 20% be the things that over/underwhelm you.

 

[planoman]

Just pick up a Google Edition S4 or HTC One when they hit. Since I have an S4 I might consider the HTC One google edition, since I know nothing about HTC or sense, I will not know any difference. It will be like the Nexus I wanted! At least it has metal body, 32GB and LTE? All things that would have me still using my Nexus 4 instead of it being in a drawer.

 

[Aquila]

At what point is device storage large enough that is sufficient to no longer be a flaw, but instead to be enough to which most people shouldn't need worry? What's that number where complaints will cease?

 

[planoman]

At what point is device storage large enough that is sufficient to no longer be a flaw, but instead to be enough to which most people shouldn't need worry? What's that number where complaints will cease?

For me 32GB to 64GB is the sweet spot today but I am sure that will increase as apps, games etc get larger and larger. My first computer in 1995 has a 500MB hard drive and I remember thinking OMG, I will never need that much space. The first digital cameras were 2.1 mega pixel etc. Mobile is the next frontier.

 

[Angrygimp]

Regardless of some ones usage habits, they knew before they bought if this phone if it was going to work for them or if they were going to want (not need) more storage. I haven't purchased it yet, I can ***** that it doesn't have enough storage and then make the choice to not buy it. However I am going to choose to buy it. Does that take away my rights to ***** about the amount of storage or any other issues with the phone that I know about before I go into it? Well to me, a guy with a little bit of common sense, yet. Can I still comment on an issue such as this? Sure I can, but I'll look like an ***** and if I continue to post over and over and over about it, I'll look like a troll, which some one on here looks like. We all understand this phone only comes with 16GB, I'm sure even the people that can make do with that amount would like to have more, but everyone made that decision to go with less when they made the purchase. Sure it was the only choice if you wanted a plain vanilla experience out of the box, but you could have purchase a different phone, rooted it and then had your same plain vanilla experience..

 

[Aquila]

I believe it's a mistake to say that Google designs the Nexus devices. The way I understand it, many manufacturers present Google with their bidding devices and Google selects the one that best suits their needs. I'm sure there is some collaboration beyond that, but keep in mind the 1-2 year time investment in making a device, when apparently the selection of who will actually win the Nexus isn't made until a few months before. If Google were designing it, they'd have to have known the specs/design for the Nexus 4 at approximately the same time they released the Nexus S and somehow convinced LG to keep quiet about it for 2 years, then still somehow have supply issues.

 

[Scott7217]

You bring up some good points about the storage on the Nexus 4. Feedback is important. If we don't say anything, the companies who make these devices won't know what we want. If there was an official way to email Google and tell them that we want more storage, I think a lot of people would write to them.

For now, you could always get a Kingston Wi-Drive if you want a workaround to the storage limitation. The 32 GB version costs about $60. You can put music and video on the Wi-Drive and access the contents via the Wi-Drive app in the Google Play store. The drawback is that you need to charge and carry an extra device. On the bright side, you can share the Wi-Drive with multiple smartphones and tablets. So if you decide to upgrade, you can still use your Wi-Drive with your new smartphone.

I have been using my Nexus 4 for about 5 months now and I can't get over the biggest issue with the phone, 16 gigs is just way too small. I don't want to put my music on their cloud, I'd rather have it stored locally, but then I have to deal with clearing cache, deleting apps, pics, videos, etc. I would have gladly paid $50+ more for a 32 gig version, which I think should be the standard for people that use their devices for media content.

What is particularly frustrating is that Google wants you put your data in the cloud, but at the same time Verizon, AT&T, etc are capping their services. I'd rather have items stores locally just cause it doesn't count against my data caps and I get to play it faster, in case there are issues with the network at any point.

 

[Scott7217]

Hypothetically speaking, do you think Google will eventually discontinue the 16 GB Nexus 4 and only sell the 8 GB model? By reducing the storage further, Google forces everyone to use even more of their cloud services.

I'm not saying that it's going to happen, but if Google makes more money from the cloud, they have an incentive to offer as little storage as possible in a device.

Yeah 16gb is a little sparse. I would have liked a 32gb version myself as well. But that's how it is.

Google want you to have all your content (music, movies, pictures etc) on their cloud services. So the less storage they give you, the more you'd be putting on the cloud.

It sucks, but I understand their decision. I just hope this upgraded 4G 32gb model in May is true.

 

[HNNNNNGHHH]

Honestly, I can't agree with you. I've always had enough space left over, even with the sparse 16GB storage only available. The key is to uninstall any useless crap on your phone. If that's not enough, you can always look for AOSP-based custom ROMs that take up little space like SlimBean.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Scott7217]

We will know once the Google Editions of the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 come out. These offer more storage than the Nexus 4, and they also both come with stock Android. I think fewer people will complain about the storage limitations on those phones. The HTC One GE will ship with 32 GB of storage. The Samsung Galaxy S4 GE will have 16 GB internally plus a micro SD card slot for up to 64 GB of additional storage. So you could have 80 GB on a single device. (If you want to swap micro SD cards, your storage is limited by your budget.)

Once the Google Edition smartphones are up for sale, Google could see if people are happy with the storage on them, then apply what they learn to the Nexus line. So maybe at least 32 GB would be good enough on a Nexus... which is what the OP was asking for.

At what point is device storage large enough that is sufficient to no longer be a flaw, but instead to be enough to which most people shouldn't need worry? What's that number where complaints will cease?

 

[Emma Challis]

Use dropbox and set it to download pics and video on wifi only. That should help a little. I'm waiting for Box.com to have that function because I have 50Gb with them. When I'm home or at work my newest pics/videos get uploaded. No worry about data caps.

Box has that function. I downloaded FolderSync and you can choose which folders to update, how often you want to update them as well as to only update them via WiFi

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Scott7217]

I would agree. It is analogous to retailer websites (e.g. Amazon) that allow people to rate and review products they buy. There are no statute of limitations on these reviews. You could post a 1-star review after owning a product for a year and that's perfectly fine. In fact, some people may be interested in the long-term performance of a product, so a review like that would be valuable to other customers.

If the OP demanded a refund after 5 months of using a Nexus 4, then I would have a problem. However, the OP merely stated an opinion that 16 GB wasn't enough and was willing to pay MORE money for a Nexus that had more storage. That seems reasonable to me, but it offends other people, and I don't know why.

Which is exactly why threads like this are a good thing. Someone considering a nexus 4 purchase deserves to know the potential annoyances of a 16 gig memory limit.

So why are so many people complaining about it? Why do they care if someone else is complaining about storage?

 

[Captainbob767]

I think there are many solutions to managing 16 Gigs on a Smartphone. I am a musician and am constantly listening to music and podcasts. I just load them onto my phone, and switch them around periodically, using Wifi. Takes just a minute or two. On my old Samsung phone, I never had more than 8 gigs on my phone including about 80 apps. Now a co-worker has movies on his phone, so he has almost 32 gigs on his phone, but he leaves the movies on the phone instead of deleting each one after he watches it. A little bit of ingenuity and a few minutes a week is all it takes to manage it. If you don't have the time or interest to do this, then spend a few hundred dollars more and get a phone with a 64Gig card.

 

[JeffDenver]

It's not a design "flaw", it's what it is. Is a 1 Terrabyte drive a "design flaw", because it isn't a 2TB drive.

It is a design flaw because it would cost little or nothing to give customers what they wanted.

Your arguments are childish

Complaining when other people don't agree with you is even more childish.