Which? warns over mobile phone memory on Tuesday 08 April 2014
Mobile phones have much less storage than advertised, according to consumer watchdogs.
A Which? study found that mobile phones claiming to provide 16GB of data storage actually had memory as low as 9GB.
The worst offender was the Samsung Galaxy S4 was found to have just 9GB instead of the 16GB claimed on the box.
Next to bottom was the Sony XperialZ which had 10GB, followed by the Blackberry Z10 with 11GB. The Google Nexus4 had 13GB while the best of the bunch was HTC Windows 8X with 15GB.
Rory Boland, Which? deputy tech editor and digital producer, said that every smartphone has an operating system - such as Google's Android or iOS for iPhone - and this takes up a certain amount of storage.
The phone therefore has much less space for actual storage. "Throw in some built in apps - and most manufacturers do - and your storage size can be reduced to a shoebox.
"We found some are far worse than others in hogging storage space - put your hand up the Samsung Galaxy S4,? he said.
Mr Boland said all phones have lower storage than advertised.
"It's a poor performance from the Samsung Galaxy S4 but all phones are guilty of advertising more space than is actually available.
"An operating system needs to take up some of the storage space on your phone - a better, more powerful operating system may - may - need to take up a little more room.
"The problem is that manufacturers aren't making people aware of how much space they're really getting when they buy the phone. And it's a bit of a lottery.?
Mr Boland urged manufacturers to be more honest so that consumers can make better choices. The actual storage is sometimes in the small print but may be hard to find.
According to online forums the Apple iPhone 16GB phone has only 13.5GB storage space.
"Essentially, any phone you purchase will have less space available than the amount advertised. And there is a lot of variation. You might be buying a 16GB phone but in reality you could be getting anything from 15GB of free storage with the HTC Windows 8X to just 9GB with the S4.
" There is not even uniformity across operating systems. So the Google Nexus 4 has 13GB of available storage while the Samsung Galaxy S4 has just
9GB - yet both phones run on Android. Samsung has stuffed the device with extra apps."Ultimately, it's not fair. You aren't getting the space you expected and you have no easy way of knowing how much you will actually get from phone to phone."
All the mobile phone companies insisted storage for operating systems and updates is necessary and is explained in the small print.
Samsung said:"The Samsung GALAXY S4 uses part of its internal memory to bring our customers its innovative and unique features. A portion of memory is reserved for future software upgrades, such as potentially new platform updates or premium suite updates. By doing so, we are able to provide added value for GALAXY S4 owners throughout the device?s entire lifespan."
16GB Phones: What do you really get?HTC Windows 8X 15GB
The Google Nexus4 13GB
Blackberry Z10 11GB
Sony XperialZ 10GB
Samsung Galaxy S4 9GB
Do you think mobile phone companies should be more honest about storage?