If you’ve ever owned an HTC Android smartphone, you’ll know that HTC is pretty tight-fisted when it comes to internal storage, especially when compared with similarly specced phones from manufacturers such as Motorola and Samsung. What gives?
For example, while the incoming Motorola Atrix and Samsung’s Galaxy S II both come with a standard 16 gigs of storage, the recently launched Desire S and Incredible S come with just 1.1GB of internal memory. Although you can increase storage capacity with an SD card, there are still many apps that need to be installed on internal memory to function properly, including Google Maps, Facebook and Twitter. Widgets – one of Android’s defining features – also don’t work on the SD card.
My old HTC Desire came with a measly 512MB of internal memory and was a headache even after I had rooted it to remove Telstra’s crapware. Once the internal memory dipped to 15MB, it would stop receiving emails and SMS messages, forcing me to uninstall apps and continually clean the cache. On my new Atrix, this isn’t a problem. I have 16GB of internal storage as well as an 8GB SD card to store apps, photos and videos. I never have to move apps to the SD card, and where the apps end up hardly matters.
While this is a problem that will eventually go away as more and more third-party developers rewrite apps to work on SD cards, we still want to know why HTC lags so far behind the rest when it comes to internal storage capacity.
I posed the question to a HTC spokesperson who said that the 1GB limit is due to a few considerations, including hitting the correct price point (which makes sense considering the Desire S is $649 outright, while the Atrix is more expensive at $840 and the Galaxy S II even more so at $899), and giving users the flexibility of having a microSD card. The spokesperson conceded that the original Desire had capacity issues, but believes that with the later versions of Android, 1GB is more than enough.
Perhaps that’s partly why HTC’s decided to unlock bootloaders – instead of spending money on more internal memory, the Taiwanese manufacturer will give users the power to root and move apps you normally wouldn’t be able to?
bri_cheese
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:25 PMGiven the rate I filled 512mb… 1gb is not going to be much better! Next phone might just be a Samsung at this rate.
Sam
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:37 PMThe main problem is with smaller (i.e. <512MB of onboard memory) is that a huge chunk of it is eaten up immediately with Android OS and user data. Apps and app data themselves don’t take up a huge amount of space, but they’re basically just the icing on the proverbial cake to filling up your internal storage. You’d probably find that less than 150-200MB of your internal memory is actually taken up by actual apps and app data.
paul stewart
Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 4:44 AMSamsung, although claiming 16gb storage actually only partitions 2gb of app storage on their best phones. The Galaxy 4g only has 1.2gb of app storage space. Be Careful, folks, and Hold & Look at the space available for apps. My 2 cents experience …
Ollie
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:27 PM*shrugs* you get what you pay for.
Not only the storage, but I think they’re pretty stingy with RAM too aren’t they?
Andrew Palozzo
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:37 PMEven with root access and installing to SD, the apps still took up some space on the internal memory..
HTC’s devices are now cheaper, because they are running inferior hardware. Everyone else has dual core with high res / larger screen where as they are still running slightly improved snapdragon (QSD8250) chips (outside of the yet to be released sensation)…
The limited memory frustrated me endlessly. I’m so much happier with the SGS2.
Jack
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:37 PMYou can’t compare Desire S to Galaxy S II. The valid comparison would be Sensation which cost (498 pounds at Handtec) compare to Galaxy S II (492 pounds also at Handtec). So hitting the correct price point isn’t true after all. By the time Sensation launched in Australia, Galaxy S III is probably out already.
Cameron
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:56 PMRight price point? What a load of BS. The Optimus 2X has 8 Gb of internal storage, it costs about the same if not less then any HTC.
paul stewart
Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 4:49 AMBut only 1.3 of that 8gb is for app space. The rest is filled with Bloatware that leaves you with 5gb. That 5gb is partitioned as the SD card for apps2sd apps…again, Hold, See, Feel the phone & check its space. Buyer Beware.
level380
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:28 PMDepends on which HTC.
The desire hd has 1.5gb of Rom and 768mb of ram. While not 16gb its still not bad.
Sam
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:43 PMI think the main cause of this is more due to the inevitable fall component prices, versus a relatively static minimum hardware requirement of Android – rather than HTC learning from mistakes and generously providing more space to their customers. Gingerbread is able to run on the original Droid without too much fuss, which is an abacus compared to the Atrix.
Chumly
Friday, June 3, 2011 at 10:45 AMyep, never had any issue on my HD and I have seriously crap loads of apps and games and have never once actively moved an app to SD.
Looking at my free space I still have 627MB available!
With 2.2 (and as of yesterday 2.3)you’d have to work pretty hard to need more than iGB of internal space.
Jack
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:28 PMYeah right HTC! Pack a liars…
I doubt I’ll purchase another HTC product again.
Sam
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:32 PMI too unfortunately am stuck with a HTC device which has given insufficient memory for on-board apps and data. Thankfully I’ve remedied this.
One thing I do want to address with Elly’s article, is while Android from FroYo and app does allow (some) apps to be moved to the SD card, it is only of limited use. Google’s native apps-to-SD moves applications themselves only over. Application data in the meanwhile (such as caches – like Google Maps’ offline cache) remain within the /data folder on your phones internal memory. As Elly pointed out, widgets aren’t functional once relocated to the SD card too. The reason for this, is Android simply moves the apps to the existing SD partition, which of course is unmounted and inaccessible to the phone’s OS when you put your phone into USB storage mode.
If you’ve rooted, there are two primary ways to get around the above problems.
- Apps2SD will move both apps and app data to a second EXT partition on the SD card. The advantage of this is you no longer need to “move” apps, as it’s done automatically, you can move widgets, and you can continue to access your SD apps when your phone is switched over to USB storage.
- Data2ext takes the whole process one step further by relocating the whole /data folder to EXT SD storage, freeing up more space again from your phones internal memory.
Unfortunately the caveat for both is that it’s not necessarily straight forward to do either of these, and unless you have a high speed SD card, you can actually end up slowing your phone more.
In either case, it’s well worth hitting up Google or XDA to get as much information as possible about the process on your device before you attempt anything.
That said, I’m with HTC on this one, I’d be VERY surprised if you’d need more than 1GB of internal storage for apps and data in the current Android world, I agree that having an ability to choose your own size and speed MicroSD card yields its own set of advantages over fixed storage.
Steve
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 4:13 PMSam, for phone enthusiasts, your comments may stand. But I’d like to see you try and explain those simple workarounds to average Joe. People don’t want to have to even think about where apps are stored. If there’s even just a small percentage of users who fill up the 1GB of internal memory, then that’s a major shortcoming. HTC have really dropped the ball in this area.
Sam
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 4:57 PMSteve, I realise my comments aren’t really suitable for the casual user, but I’m also posting on a technology blog site. The I would say that the percentage of people who have read/will read my comment and understand what I’m saying will be much higher than if I posted it on Yahoo Answers.
I think Elly’s article was more aimed at the previous generation of handsets which had 512MB or less of internal memory (which I well agree is nowhere near enough).
You made the comment that “If there’s even just a small percentage of users who fill up the 1GB of internal memory, then that’s a major shortcoming” – I still think 1GB+ of memory is plenty, and for what its worth, I’d be VERY curious as to how many Desire S users (and owners of handsets with similar levels of internal storage) have managed to fill it up.
Sam
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 4:58 PMOh, and if users want to use a phone without thinking about how it works – there’s always the iPhone ;)
Rashmi
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:36 PMI am waiting to get one of that.
gdram
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 3:11 PM“The correct price point” is a total BS. Galaxy S2 is $899 not because of 16GB but because it is simply a far superior device. And I doubt a 16GB oem chip would cost more than $15.
HTC is lagging in technology. As Samsung, Nokia, LG and Moto are starting to flex their muscle in smartphones, things look bad for HTC.
Pete
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 4:47 PMYou’ve answered your own question.
The Price.
Sicarius123
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 5:25 PMWhere is the 32gb of onboard memory? Seriously, why is Apple the only one to get this?
ps. onboard doesn’t mean putting an SD card behind a warranty void if removed sticker
Steve
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 6:00 PMBecause Apple’s the only one that charges that much for a 32GB IP4. It costs more, and isn’t a positive because it doesn’t give you the option of expandable memory.
Most modern Androids are 16GB + MicroSD 32GB with the choice of going down that path.
George Bryan
Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 5:59 PMRE Android 4th gen memory eaten by 7,000+MB of bugreports. What is the issue and possible correction? Info sources?
Thank you,
G
JR
Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 4:18 PMSamsung also has the advantage of vertical integration.
They make the memory, the screen etc. That helps to keep costs down.
George Bryan
Monday, June 6, 2011 at 4:50 AMStill looking for help on getting rid of 7k+ MB of BUGREPORTS on Android memory… Am I the only one with the issue? The local T Mobile do not know what it is and several sites memtion BUGREPORTS as a small problem, but suggest a new card. Where is the origin of the bug report? I am in Orange County, CA. Anyone out there with same problem? Help please!
Hello_world
Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 5:52 PMPrince point?! What a lame excuse! Memory is dirt cheap these days. It’s more of a cost cutting measure for them since a few cents multiplied by the millions of phones they sell equals more cash in their pockets! We however have to constantly delete apps on our phones in order to clear the low memory warning (bear in mind that email stops pushing whenever this warning comes up). HTC Sense is an amazing UI and it’s such a waste that HTC are their own worst enemies since I for one will not purchase another HTC phone until they decide to increase the internal memory.
Hunny
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 9:50 PMwhat is the minimum front cameraa requirement in phone,VGA or x megapixel.