NEWS Infographic
How much storage do you actually get?
T
hat 16GB smartphone in your pocket doesn’t actually have space for 16GB of your data – a fact that PC Pro readers are well aware of. It was news to some consumers of Microsoft’s Surface Pro, however, who were unaware that although the Windows 8 tablet is available in 64GB and 128GB versions, users actually have only 28GB and 89GB respectively to play with; the advertised storage figures fail to consider capacity taken up by the OS and other preinstalled software. Samsung, too, was hit by similar controversy, after it was revealed that only 9GB of the Galaxy S4’s advertised 16GB is available to users. Here, we compare the percentage of storage space actually available on smartphones, tablets and laptops.
PERCENTAGE OF STORAGE AVAILABLE Microsoft Surface Pro (64GB) 44%
Apple iPhone 5 16GB to 32GB £529 to £599 £4.38/GB
Nexus 7
Microsoft Surface Pro
16GB to 32GB £159 to £199 £2.50/GB
64GB to 128GB £719 to £799 80p/GB
COSTLY UPGRADES
Microsoft Surface RT (32GB) 47%
If you’re currently short of space and considering an upgrade to a higher-capacity model, here’s how much it will cost you.
Samsung Galaxy S4 56% Barnes & Noble Nook HD (8GB) HTC One (16GB) Samsung Galaxy S3 63% Samsung Galaxy S4 mini (8GB) Sony Xperia Z
STORAGE CLARITY
BlackBerry Z10 69% Microsoft Surface RT (64GB)
Some manufacturers’ marketing pages clearly state that the advertised internal storage isn’t what’s actually available to users, although no figures are provided. A handful are refreshingly honest, and a few make no mention of the true storage capacity at all.
Microsoft Surface Pro (128GB) 70% Apple MacBook Air (128GB) 72% Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (16GB) 75% Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7in (16GB) 79% Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9in (16GB)
NO MENTION
BlackBerry, Asus
ADMIT SHORTAGE, BUT NOT PERCENTAGE
Apple, Google, HTC, Samsung*, Sony
FULL DETAILS
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Microsoft *Samsung now gives full storage details for the Galaxy S4
Apple iPad (16GB) Asus VivoTab RT (32GB) Barnes & Noble Nook HD (16GB) Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ (16GB) HTC One (32GB) Nexus 4 (16GB) Nexus 7 (16GB) Nexus 7 (32GB)
81%
EXPANDABLE OR NOT?
Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7in (32GB) 84% Apple iPad (32GB) Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9in (32GB) 85% Apple iPad Mini (16GB) 86% Apple iPhone 5 (16GB) Apple iPhone 5 (32GB) 88% Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ (32GB)
60% offer expandable storage
40% don’t offer expandable storage