Newbie question: how much storage space will I need?

[Ant]

Hi, first time poster, and soon to be first time Android user here. I've finally got sick of my old Nokia smartphone and decided to treat myself to a nice new Galaxy S4. Only the 16GB version is available here in the UK at the moment and there seems to be no word on when, or if, the 32GB and 64GB versions will be released.

I've been reading a lot about the fact that the 16GB version only has about 8GB free space out of the box and am not sure if that's really a restriction or not. I don't care about the percentage of storage that has been used by pre-installed software as long as the amount free for my use is sufficient. For the benefit of somebody who has never used an Android phone before, and doesn't know how large the apps are, is 8GB plenty of room for lots of typical apps?

I intend to use a class 10 64GB SD card to store all my music, photos, videos and any other data that can go on there, so will only need the internal storage for apps and anything else that can't go on the SD card. I'm not interested on playing big 3D games (I have a PC for that!) and any games I do install will be Angry Birds/puzzle type games. I will use Navigation/mapping apps like Google Maps and I guess they will need space in the internal storage to cache or store map data. Unless they can be configured to use the SD card too?

Am I going to have room to breathe on the 16GB version with that kind of use, or would I be better off holding out for the 32GB version? Any advice appreciated!

[Leeshor]

Welcome to the forum

With the added memory for your data the remaining internal memory would be more than enough for most users for the apps.. One big exception might be some games that also want to download additional data but most of them allow that data to be stored on the SD card. Browsers tend to be large as well so if you pick your apps and don't have 5 browser and 3 PDF readers and 4 music players, (and MUCH more like that) like I do you should be fine.

[wicked]

Welcome to the forum

With the added memory for your data the remaining internal memory would be more than enough for most users for the apps.. One big exception might be some games that also want to download additional data but most of them allow that data to be stored on the SD card. Browsers tend to be large as well so if you pick your apps and don't have 5 browser and 3 PDF readers and 4 music players, (and MUCH more like that) like I do you should be fine.

Welcome to the site Ant!

Like Leeshor mentioned, a 16GB phone with around 8-9 available space is more than enough for most users. Apps do not really take that much room except for some games that have a lot of data. If you have a lot of photos, music and videos, the micro SD will definitely be needed.

I also got a 16GB S4 with a 32GB class 10 micro sd which should be more than plenty of storage for my needs.

[Ant]

Hi, thanks for your replies. They have put my mind at rest and I'm leaning towards getting the 16GB version rather than waiting (perhaps for a long time!) for the 32GB version.

I've also been browsing the Google Play store for the sort of apps I will use and have just noticed it usually shows the app size. Most of them seem to be around the tens of megabytes mark, so I think 8-9GB will be plenty.

[Beer Goggles]

Agree with the previous posters that it's only app that require a lot of data that would give you a space problem. Even "big" apps are usually only about 20-30 MB.

Of course, I got the 32 GB version and also have a class 10 64 GB card.....

[macuser]

i agree w everyone who posted as well. the biggest app i have is real racing 3 and its 1.14 GB (huge 3d game). the next biggest apps i have are firefox and it only 63.41 MB and antivirus which is 15.05 MB.

[Ant]

It's just occurred to me, are there apps available that will allow you to back up apps to the SD card? I realise that apps can't be run from the card, but if they could be temporarily archived there until needed that would save space in the main storage.

Let's say I have a couple of large apps that I hardly ever use, but don't want to get rid of them completely as they are occasionally useful. Is there a way I could back them up to the SD card so that they are uninstalled from the main storage and can be reinstalled to it from the card later if I want to use them again?

Edit: Hmm, something like this, perhaps? https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...XBwYmFja3VwIl0.

[cazza]

Try App backup and restore.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...=search_result

[cazza]

Sorry - just realised you had found the same app! I have been using it for the last year and have found it very useful if that helps.

[Ant]

Great minds think alike! I take it that app can do what I described then? Move apps to the SD and free up space rather than just copy for backup purposes?