Why is Android so behind in storage capacity?

[dima1109]

People will ALWAYS bitch about not having enough memory. When 512Mb flash PMPs were the pinnacle, people complained that you couldn't have more than 10 albums on there. When 30Gb was it, people complained that 100+ Gb tech was out, so there was OMG NO REASON WHATSOEVER for the manufacturers to "withhold" the conveniences. Now, even if someone sticks a terabyte of storage into a PMP or a phone, geeks and pirates will bitch that there is still not enough storage. It's not a current trend, nor it's a deliberate conspiracy to force consumers into the miserable suffering and horrific torturous existence of having to be selective with their music.

To the OP: please, for the love of God, grow up, stop pirating music, and you will be able to sleep at night again knowing that there is indeed an Android phone able to satisfy your storage demands. Even with so-called "smart" playlists that play tracks based on listening history and frequency, it is impossible for every single track you have to be played at least once a century, provided you complain of 32Gb cards as too small. This is almost as silly as people complaining of NAS and USB hard drives being too small to hold their movie collection - with 2+ Tb of storage available for under $300, how is the world will you ever be able to watch the same thing twice? It's a strange fetish some people possess when they demand to be able to carry every lousy piece of media they've ever acquired with them at any time in a manic terror of being unable to access a song from an unreleased B-side of a Sri-Lankan indie metal band that was ripped in 32 kbps from a MySpace page and resampled to FLAC for the sole purpose of adding to the already bulging monstrous collection of mostly-useless music by artists that nobody ever cared for. Be selective with your artists, stop carrying full albums if you only like 2-3 songs off of each, pick a genre you really like, and your collection will instantly be under 16 Gb.

Whew ...

 

[brykins]

To the OP: please, for the love of God, grow up, stop pirating music, and you will be able to sleep at night again knowing that there is indeed an Android phone able to satisfy your storage demands.

It's not all pirates - I have around 12Gb of family photos that are stored on the desktop at home, on an external drive and also at MS Sky Drive. Some poeple would say that's enough of a backup but I would like to also store them on an SD card and keep them with me - the phone would then be the first thing I need to grab in the event of waking up in a fire!

But....I have tried it with 7Gb of photos on an 8Gb card. Nightmare - seems that Android likes to search and index the whole card for images instead of just being nice and simple and allowing me to view images only in certain folders. This means the whole phone locks up for ever trying to create thumbnails and albums and stuff.

WHY do phone makers think that we want ALL our photos (and then music, etc) displayed ALL the time? Does anyone's PC search through ALL the folders, directories, drives, etc and try and showw ALL the photos at the same time?

I have a feeling that the reason the phones internal storage is limited is that the way the OS ir written, handling much more than a few Gb of files is beyond it.

 

[mrthundercleese]

It's not all pirates - I have around 12Gb of family photos that are stored on the desktop at home, on an external drive and also at MS Sky Drive. Some poeple would say that's enough of a backup but I would like to also store them on an SD card and keep them with me - the phone would then be the first thing I need to grab in the event of waking up in a fire!

But....I have tried it with 7Gb of photos on an 8Gb card. Nightmare - seems that Android likes to search and index the whole card for images instead of just being nice and simple and allowing me to view images only in certain folders. This means the whole phone locks up for ever trying to create thumbnails and albums and stuff.

WHY do phone makers think that we want ALL our photos (and then music, etc) displayed ALL the time? Does anyone's PC search through ALL the folders, directories, drives, etc and try and showw ALL the photos at the same time?

I have a feeling that the reason the phones internal storage is limited is that the way the OS ir written, handling much more than a few Gb of files is beyond it.

Wow you really want to store your entire collection of family photos on your PHONE?! It is most certainly not made for that. A phone is a terrible place to back things up to.

BTW, If my house is on fire, the last thing I'm worried about at the time is my family photos or my cell phone.

BTWx2 every photographer knows that even if you take 1000 shots, only a handful of them are worth keeping .

 

[brykins]

Yep - all those family photos are keepers. Having gone through parents and grandparents photos, it's amazing how important some (initially rubbish) photos can be if they show people, places, things in background, etc, when looking into family history.

I have scanned copies of parents, grandparants and GREAT-grandparents photos and all of this is very important. That, along with details of insurances, certificates, etc, are all on my phone so that the things that are truly non-replaceable are all in one place.

So - fire -> wake up -> grab phone -> grab kids -> get out. Phone happens to sleep next to me, whereas the kids are in other rooms

And as far as a phone not being a good place to store these things.....why? It has a screen and storage - what more does it need?

 

[darreno1]

Somehow I think you're either missing a simple fact or are being dense on purpose. That fact is while your point above is valid that phones are made of different components, the other valid point to keep in mind is that the iPhone is MORE expensive to make being as you so eloquently put it "phones are made of more than just memory" the hardware in the iPhone (3GS specifically) is beefier than most Android phones today. I would even go as far as to say that it's beefier than all the Android phones to date but I'll just say most as there could be one or two obscure Andriod phones that I don't know about that have really high spec hardware. As far as processing power, graphics power, and the chipset and quality of memory, not to mention the amount of memory (internal RAM as well as storage) the iPhone 3GS is better hardware with better specs and larger storage that sells for the same price point as Android phones. That being said, your comments about phones being made up of more than just memory that associate with the cost only proves the original posters point even further. Android should really include not only more storage but better video recording and graphics processing power.

Uh, the processing and graphics power on the iPhone 3gs ARE almost identical to the Droid, Palm Pre and some other phones on the market. And there are tons of articles on the web and specs that prove it, so lets put the fanboyish comments about 'better hardware' aside.

The point made above is that there are more to a phone than just the memory capacity. For one, Android phones can TRULY multitask, something the iPhone has lots of trouble doing stock. You cannot simply discount the advantages of having a removable battery, a higher end camera and a bigger higher res screen that puts the iPHone's to shame. That cost money too. Many do consider the Droid's hardware superior to that of the iPhone, both inside and out and I wouldn't hesitate to agree.

To the OP, I could easily ask, why haven't the iPHone to this date, have a higher res camera, removable battery, ability to multitask third party apps without jailbreaking and other gimmics, ability to install non approved apps freely? Other phones that cost the same or less have had that for years.

Also consider that 16gigs is enough for MOST users and the fact that I can swap out memory cards means that I STILL theoretically have more memory capacity than a 32 gig iPhone. Yeah it will cost more right now, but the prices are falling rapidly as the newer cards become available.

I tend to agree with those that say, if you want to bitch about memory capacity or it's THAT important to you, IN LIGHT OF ALL THE OTHER ADVANTAGES Android has over the iPhone, then just get an iPHone and be done with it.

 

[Rix]

Wow you really want to store your entire collection of family photos on your PHONE?! It is most certainly not made for that. A phone is a terrible place to back things up to.

Earth wasn't designed to be lived on, but it works pretty well. To think that you shouldn't use a phone for storing photos simply because it wasn't designed for storing photos is broken logic.

 

[mrthundercleese]

Earth wasn't designed to be lived on, but it works pretty well. To think that you shouldn't use a phone for storing photos simply because it wasn't designed for storing photos is broken logic.

Wow... just ... wow. Do you also brush your teeth with toilet water? hahahahaha.

Ninja edit...

Yep - all those family photos are keepers. Having gone through parents and grandparents photos, it's amazing how important some (initially rubbish) photos can be if they show people, places, things in background, etc, when looking into family history.

I have scanned copies of parents, grandparants and GREAT-grandparents photos and all of this is very important. That, along with details of insurances, certificates, etc, are all on my phone so that the things that are truly non-replaceable are all in one place.

So - fire -> wake up -> grab phone -> grab kids -> get out. Phone happens to sleep next to me, whereas the kids are in other rooms

And as far as a phone not being a good place to store these things.....why? It has a screen and storage - what more does it need?

So I ask you this. Would you ride a pedal bike from NY to Cali? Sure it has wheels... and could do it. But does it make much sense when you could .. say.. fly?

It doesn't need anything, but there are much better options than using something in a way it wasn't intended and then complaining about it!

 

[Rix]

Wow... just ... wow. Do you also brush your teeth with toilet water? hahahahaha.

No, but I do understand the difference between a good argument and a broken one. You have failed to justify why you believe backing up to a phone is not a good idea. Having one more backup decreases the probability the photos are lost. If these photos are too important to be lost, what's wrong with backing them up to the phone?

 

[AVP]

Yeah, I have a DROID and I even asked the Verizon guy about why it only has 500 something mb of internal storage. He said it was all that I would ever need, and showed me apps that were all less than 1mb to install. I prefer to have a lean phone just like my pc, no extra installations that I never use. I really hope the space lasts another 2 yrs with out me having to delete anything!

 

[mrthundercleese]

No, but I do understand the difference between a good argument and a broken one. You have failed to justify why you believe backing up to a phone is not a good idea. Having one more backup decreases the probability the photos are lost. If these photos are too important to be lost, what's wrong with backing them up to the phone?

Laugh Out Loud. You win. Backup your data to an SD card. Hopefully it'll never fail and you'll never drop your phone in the ocean/lake/toilet/ground. May your phone always be with you and never get lost or stolen. Memory technologies in phones will stay constant forever so you can just move that sucker from phone to phone as you upgrade.

 

[AVP]

Yeah I have to agree with mrthundercleese on this one. Why store important files on something that has a greater possibility of being lost, stolen, or broken than something like an external hd that just sits next to your computer all day? I guess you could store whatever you want on it but I think most ppl like myself put drunk pics with friends, movies, music, porn (not me but I'm just sayin it's an option). If you really want to be safe from a fire, upload all your pics to an online storage space.

 

[mrthundercleese]

Yeah I have to agree with mrthundercleese on this one. Why store important files on something that has a greater possibility of being lost, stolen, or broken than something like an external hd that just sits next to your computer all day? I guess you could store whatever you want on it but I think most ppl like myself put drunk pics with friends, movies, music, porn (not me but I'm just sayin it's an option). If you really want to be safe from a fire, upload all your pics to an online storage space.

Yay! Thank you.

The funny part is that brykins does use an external hard drive and then is complaining that the phone doesn't like it when he shoves his entire collection of photos on it.

100% agree with online storage. If they are that important then the cost of online storage is worth it and is a MUCH better solution.

 

[blinky]

Yeah, but the big issue here is multimedia. Apple has it. Android doesn't. And it all boils down to memory. It is way better to have loads of onboard memory for video playback, than it is to have alot of external memory.

 

[darreno1]

Yeah, but the big issue here is multimedia. Apple has it. Android doesn't. And it all boils down to memory. It is way better to have loads of onboard memory for video playback, than it is to have alot of external memory.

Android does have multimedia and it doesn't really matter if the memory holding the media is onboard or external. The only things the iPhone has that are 'better' are the 3d games and soon that's going to change.

 

[Rix]

Laugh Out Loud. You win. Backup your data to an SD card. Hopefully it'll never fail and you'll never drop your phone in the ocean/lake/toilet/ground. May your phone always be with you and never get lost or stolen. Memory technologies in phones will stay constant forever so you can just move that sucker from phone to phone as you upgrade.

I gave you a chance to continue the discussion in a civil manner but you have utterly failed at that. Until you demonstrate that you're able to have a meaningful conversation with people who disagree with you, I will be avoiding you.

Yeah I have to agree with mrthundercleese on this one. Why store important files on something that has a greater possibility of being lost, stolen, or broken than something like an external hd that just sits next to your computer all day? I guess you could store whatever you want on it but I think most ppl like myself put drunk pics with friends, movies, music, porn (not me but I'm just sayin it's an option). If you really want to be safe from a fire, upload all your pics to an online storage space.

Perhaps it's possible to have more than one backup. If something is too important to be lost, having an additional backup on any medium can do no harm and at the same time decrease the probability your files are lost forever.

 

[IOWA]

Android is so far beyond WinMo its not even funny.

Its just a simple solution to this guys problem. He already has a gripe about a particular feature he feels is SUPER important, so my advice is simply dont buy one, save us from the trouble of having to hear yet another rant/complaint about what Android "should" have. The iPod has what he "needs" so just get one and be done with it. Just dont start complaining when you cant do what us Android products can.

I much prefer expandable memory over built in any day. My Flip video camera only records 30 minutes, and has no expandable memory. I wouldnt mind paying good money for expandable memory for it because it is an excellent product otherwise.

One day we will have terabyte microSD for dirt cheap, and then your complaints wont mean squat.

Actually no, WinMo is still VERY FAR ahead when it comes to capability and functions. It just takes a while to learn how to use, I was able to do EVERYTHING the android phones can do now, including view FLASH, on my 2 year old HTC TITAN. WinMo 7 Also looks extremely promising. Android has alot of catching up to do to match WinMo when it comes to functionality.


ALSO: to the op, Android is an OPERATING SYSTEM and has NOTHING TO DO WITH ON BOARD MEMORY! Blame the HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS, NOT ANDROID! It's like blaming Windows for your computer having a small hard drive. Make any sense? Uh no?

 

[mrthundercleese]

I gave you a chance to continue the discussion in a civil manner but you have utterly failed at that. Until you demonstrate that you're able to have a meaningful conversation with people who disagree with you, I will be avoiding you.

So now that I have given you reasons you requested "I'm not being civil". hahaha Sure it was a little sarcastic. Don't be so sensitive. It's just the internet . YOU aren't even the poster who wanted to do this initially! I gave you the win. Isn't that what you wanted .

I don't know if it works here, but on other forums if you hit the "ignore" button you don't even have to see my posts ... you know since I'm such a savage and all.

 

[brykins]

So now that I have given you reasons....

Actually - the reasons given don't add up for me. Yes I could lose the phone, drop it in the ocean, etc. But I still have my backup(s) elsewhere. Yes the SD card may go out of date....guess I'll just have to copy from SD to whatever the next format is.

However - I may have been luck up till now, but I have never had an SD card fail on me. I *have* had any number of internal and external hard drives fail on me. Things with moving parts fail more often than those without in my experience.

And online storage....it's good and it's convenient but I don't trust ANY third party to hold anything important on my behalf without my own backup as well.

If I sounded like I was complaining, then I wasn't really. I get frustrated is all that seemingly intelligent people (the developers - I look at them in awe as I wouldn't know where to begin programming) don't seem to see the obvious when it comes to phones in particular. It just comes over that no-one actually goes out and LOOKS at how people will use these things and what they will want to do with them.

 

[Eugene]

I wouldn't mind having all my pictures on my phone, but am up to 50G now so unless they make a hdd based phone that won't happen. I'm thinking of paying for the 80G google picasa storage to use as an online album/backup, it appears that uploading/downloading it leaves everything intact. Only problem is my family is in a data roam area so I still have to take the netbook to show pictures there.

 

[blinky]

Android does have multimedia and it doesn't really matter if the memory holding the media is onboard or external. The only things the iPhone has that are 'better' are the 3d games and soon that's going to change.

Yeah, but why would Apple put in loads of internal memory into the iPhone if it was better just to have an external memory card slot?

 

[dima1109]

The whole "photos on the phone for backup purposes" this is either a lie or a paranoid twitch. If you really want to store them just for backup, put them in an archive that can't be indexed so your system is not slowed down by the multitude of images. If you really are that worried about your photos, use multiple online backups, upload them to Picasa/flickr/etc, keep a USB hard drive in a safe. Bashing a phone because it doesn't do well at something 10 people in the world would use it for is beyond foolish.

 

[brykins]

The whole "photos on the phone for backup purposes" this is either a lie or a paranoid twitch.

Of course. I am an idiot.

 

[spottyelephant]

Doesn't anyone use their Android to replace a dedicated PMP like iPhone users do?

I think you'll find that a lot of iphone users just "have music on it" rather than use it as a dedicated PMP.

I have 40 - 50gb of music which aint fitting on an iphone, plus who wants their phone to run out of battery from listening to music?

I know what you mean by the memory issue though, I think it's strange too. Although I have a Samsung Galaxy which has 8gb internal memory, plus a 32gb card will then give me more space than an iphone, but i will still use my ipod for music listening.

 

[gogol]

Hi,

I am new here, so please be merciful

I don't own any Android device yet, in fact I own a Windows Mobile (HTC Kaiser).

However, I am interested on having Android device, especially after I saw the upcoming Nexus One.

Thus, I am now here, trying to get a grip on Android tech

Reading this topic alone, make me wonder ... Is this "install app to internal memory only" apply to the application and its "data"? Or both must reside in the internal memory?

For example: In WinMo, we have "TomTom" which has 1 GB total files for the GPS map. And normally we will install the TomTom "app" in the internal memory, while the map will be installed in the external storage (microSD slot).

I know that TomTom has not released Android version yet.

 

[mrthundercleese]

Hi,

I am new here, so please be merciful

I don't own any Android device yet, in fact I own a Windows Mobile (HTC Kaiser).

However, I am interested on having Android device, especially after I saw the upcoming Nexus One.

Thus, I am now here, trying to get a grip on Android tech

Reading this topic alone, make me wonder ... Is this "install app to internal memory only" apply to the application and its "data"? Or both must reside in the internal memory?

For example: In WinMo, we have "TomTom" which has 1 GB total files for the GPS map. And normally we will install the TomTom "app" in the internal memory, while the map will be installed in the external storage (microSD slot).

I know that TomTom has not released Android version yet.

Applications can, and generally do, store data on the removable memory.