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Can someone tell me why we can't get a 32 or 64 gig phone?

Here is a summary of the apparent reality at least for us Verizon folks:

1. Their install base keeps growing due to their coverage map
2. They have a LOT of legacy unlimited data customers- Most (me included) will go nowhere and they know it. We are essentially a captive/fixed install base for them.
3. Verizon seems to be milking customers by charging the 32Gb price from last year for the 16Gb this year. Unless sales fail to hit their projections, why introduce another model?
4. Their own people are uniformly misleading people that ask about the 32GB- this suggests it is a scripted response from corporate.
5. There is no information about a 32GB in their system which means there is no SKU code for the product. No way that we see the option at launch- if ever.

Given that Verizon did not even bother with the new LG 5.5" Pro (32gb and sd slot), it seems that Verizon is milking its customers by selling lower total cost products at higher margins. They are a business, so as long as their install base keeps growing to their projections, they will probably not change course. Why would they?

A little insight is what goes on in sales and operations planning meetings that are driven by quarter points and fiscal year goals. All the higher ups get their bonuses based on making or beating the numbers. Most tend to "sandbag" the numbers so that whatever the minimum goals are, THAT is what they plan for. This way, they assure they get their BONUSES for the year ;)

My verbose point being- Sure, not selling a 32GB will hurt them, but if they sandbagged their sales projections, it will not be enough to get in the way of their bonuses. THAT is the most important thing over ANYTHING else. Word.

Added: Actually, the sales projection/sandbag/bonus stuff can be used for other carriers as well. Simple point being, Verizon is not hungry and the other carriers are. That is why the others are offering IMO better device options now.

Added 2:

The most asinine thing is you would think Google would be PUSHING both makers and carriers to offer larger storage options and sd slots. The Google market is a giant shopping mall, but the Samsung S4 16G and other devices like it create a small parking lot.
 
Beards said:
Well, lets hope this coming Wednesday evening when here in the UK the BBC Watchdog program (which for those not in the know Watchdog is a major consumer program where they 'invite' CEO's and all manner of Exec's to come on the show and give account) will raise the bar.
Watchdog don't take prisoners.
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Don't get your hopes up on this! WAtchdog will just say that the advertised 16gb is in fact only about 9GB. They will not get technical about no longer being able to move apps to SD card and the lie about buying a large capacity SD card to address the problem.
 
METALMICKY said:
Don't get your hopes up on this! WAtchdog will just say that the advertised 16gb is in fact only about 9GB. They will not get technical about no longer being able to move apps to SD card and the lie about buying a large capacity SD card to address the problem.
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What makes you so sure Mickey? It's not like no one has passed this information on to Watchdog.
 
The big issue is the carriers and Samsung misleading people that they can put apps on the sd card. THAT is the key point, IMO.
 
rushmore said:
The most asinine thing is you would think Google would be PUSHING both makers and carriers to offer larger storage options and sd slots. The Google market is a giant shopping mall, but the Samsung S4 16G and other devices like it create a small parking lot.
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how so? i showed earlier that you could load 40 of the top paid apps in the playstore (30 of the top paid general apps, 10 of the top paid games) and still have room for a few hundred more apps. the large majority of smartphone users could get 200+ paid apps on the 16gb (9gb) s4. and i doubt most people are going to be using 200+ apps anyway. looks to me like the 16gb s4 would have 0 impact on google's profitability...

lamenting the availability of the 32gb s4 is fair and reasonable. characterizing it as a hit to google's profit or the app maker's profit is a bit of a stretch though.

but keep up the good fight! for those of you who need the 32gb, at least you may be able to take a sliver of credit for pushing them to release it when it becomes available. however, i stand by my expectation that verizon will probably hold the 32gb version until closer to the next iphone announcement or the actual release. i have no insider info, just a guess...
 
CNET actually has clout to speak to the more direct people at VZW, unlike Gottamobile's speculation as news:


Will Verizon ever sell a Samsung Galaxy S4 with more storage? | Mobile - CNET News


In summary, Verizon reps do not know if they will or will not carry a 32GB, but the impression given is not to hold your breath on it for now. Especially for launch. I guess I need to look at my 32GB S3 like "new" again.

I stick with the assertion that unless their PLANNED sales targets are compromised, my guess is we will not see a 32GB. Making fiscal plans and targets to get their bonus checks is what drives them. The S4 would have to underperform to their likely sandbagged projections. Not sure that will happen. 50/50 chance went to 10/90 for me. Boo!
 
treb1797 said:
Samsung to investigate Galaxy S4 storage issues

Thought this might interest some folks on this thread :)
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Users had a valid complaint: when a phone is advertised to come with 16GB, there shouldn’t be close to half of that being taken up for OS use. Sure, formatted storage is always less than the advertised amount, but this falls outside the realm of normal.
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completely outside the realm of normal. one could almost argue it's a bait and switch scheme. it won't affect my usage of the device, but this does draw my ire as toeing the line of dishonesty.
 
I rectified the issue today by swapping out my 16GB GS4 for a 32GB GS4. I went from the legendary 9.62GB remaining storage to 23.04GB remaining storage, and my wallet is $88 and some change lighter for the effort (with tax). But I'm happy with AT&T for working with me to do the swap since I was sorta-kinda outside the 14 day window. ;)

I checked a display GN2 while there (also a 16GB device) and found that it had 10.9x GB remaining storage. A little better, but not much.

Now on to the task of setting my GS4 back up like the old one... or as close as I can remember.

Edit: while I was there swapping out my 16GB unit, the Samsung rep was in the store and I chatted with her for a while. She was very aware of the issue. ;) Surprisingly, the store personnel said they have not had much pushback from the customers on the issue. Yet.
 
Since 9.62 out of box with 16 and should be extra 14.9 with 32gb version, where is the other 1.5gb? Does the 32 have mega extra bloat? Seems to not add up.

Any extra bloat could create a self aware entity of evil...... :)
 
speedlever said:
I wondered about that too.. but just figured the 32GB ram lost the rest in formatting. Who knows?
Click to expand...

You can know, and show us so we can know by getting Terminal Emulator - free in the Play Store and showing us two screen shots.

First - enter the command df in Terminal Emulator.

Second - enter the command:

cat /proc/partitions

That second one will create a longer listing - just need to the top part of it, thanks. :)

PS - if you want an easy way to upload screen shots, use our free app - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tapatalk.androidforumscom

While I'm here, here's Terminal Emulator - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm
 
rushmore said:
Since 9.62 out of box with 16 and should be extra 14.9 with 32gb version, where is the other 1.5gb? Does the 32 have mega extra bloat? Seems to not add up.
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I'll just say this one last time and then let it go for good (as every time I've tried on this, I'm think I'm being universally ignored) -

The numbers already don't add up properly on the US 16 GB model vs the European one.

That's not an opinion - it's a fact. Proven by system tools and posted with pictures here.

Unless the US 16 GB model actually has 18 GB on-board (and it does not), then the actual number on the 16 GB isn't 9.62, it's 7.something.

All that may have happened is the truth is finally being told on the 32 GB model - because ... wait for it...

7 + 16 = 23

Detailed tech is very hard to embrace - but the truth cannot hide from it.
 
Here's a screenshot of terminal emulator. Does this tell you what you need to know?
 

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Oops, forgot screenshot 1.

Also, I haven't updated the firmware yet. Gonna do that now.

Edit: after reviewing the screen shot, I see it duplicates the info in the shot above. I would delete it but don't have that option
 

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Fabulous, thank you!

You got it all in the first shot, here's what it says -

That 30535680 on mmcblk0 - that's the total space after setup/partitioning available in storage, counted in 1024-byte blocks. In true GB, that's about 30.

The df printout before that shows that "user storage" is just over 24 GB - but whatever you have installed, along with data used by Samsung's built-in apps, and along with overhead taken by Android's filesystem mapping, is taking 912 MB of that, leaving you with 23 GB.

The system totals add up to just a hair over 32 GB, on a device reporting 30 GB available.

That's consistent with what they've done on the 16 GB US models.
 
Even though I haven't been looking to possibly exchange my 16GB for a 32GB since I am not close to using all the space, I thought I would send AT&T an email asking about it even though it's outside the exchange period... This is part of the response I received:

"We do not have a way to exchange the device for you at this point in time. I contacted Samsung to see if they have an internal upgrade program for the 16GB S4 owners, thinking it might be a simple chip swap, but they do not."
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Is this guy serious? He actually contacted Samsung for this? Has this person used smartphones before? He thought it might be achievable with a simple chip swap. LMAO! I guess I should be happy he checked anyway - but it just continues to show that these folks know nothing that they speak of.

He even said I could order the new one at no commitment pricing of $749.99 and to let him know if that is what I would like to do since he'd have to place that order. Umm, it's $669.99 on your own website you clueless moron. No thank you.

Well, it was funny to see the reaction I got. I did respond back to them calling them out on the wrong pricing.
 
I asked them if I could take the chip from my broken S2 and put it on a new S2 motherboard but they won't do that either. Old versions of apps are valuable, as they tend to work 100%.

When I get my S4 (64GB Exynos) I am hoping that downloading a new version of an app and pasting the .com folder of that app, from when I moved the app to external SD on the S2, will work. I doubt it, but worth a try.
 
Depends on the apps and what is shared. I have an iPod 5 and iPad 4 and a lot of same apps and games. None seem to stand out for either OS as far as size . I think the main stand out is Android devices tend to have more carrier and OEM bloat and bling and also the hardware fragmentation results in each OEM with their own dev teams and their own method of image and storage placement.

With Apple there is one dev team and minimum input from carriers.

Added: Must admit it is nice having devices from both, since both have virtues and a few vices.
 
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