I was just reading an article on TUAW about the "call for more storage space on iOS devices." Currently, the maximum capacity you can get on an iPhone is 32GB and 64GB on an iPod touch.
If Apple were to double both of these amounts, (64GB on iPhone, 128GB on iPod touch, let's say max of 128GB on iPad), would this be something you'd be able to utilize?
As far as my personal use goes, I've had 32GB iPhones for the past two years. Currently, I have 8GB free on my iPhone and and around 13GB free on my 32GB iPad. So, I'm not pressed for space, but as I use both of these devices more and more (media such as photos, video, and music occupy the large majority of space), I find myself thinking that I'll definitely need more space.
It's an age-old discussion as first (allegedly) said by Bill Gates, "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
Are current capacities enough for you, or are you longing for more space? Do you think people who require that much space are crazy, awesome, or something else?
EDIT: My apologies, I shouldn't strictly keep this related to Apple devices. This is pertinent to any sort of mobile device, from Windows Phones, to BlackBerry phones, to Android phones. Do you need / want more storage space?
Discussion about
Do you want / need increased storage capacities on your iPhone / iPods touch (or any mobile device for that matter)?
I think that disk space is going to be a permanent upward trend, no matter what the platform is. About 20 years ago, my parents bought a computer with a 170MB hard drive. 10 years ago in desktop computing we were chasing the 100GB mark. Today 250GB seems like a run-of-the-mill hard drive size.
32GB in the mobile space seems like plenty now, but as technology evolves, everything takes up more space. Although MP3s (and similar compressed formats) have become utterly ubiquitous, at some point it's going to get replaced, especially if/when some sort of enhanced audio format usurps the CD. Granted, this was already supposed to happen with flopped tech like the SACD or DVD-Audio, but it's still an inevitablity, just one with a fuzzy time frame.
You can make this same argument about video, although I'll admit that current compression codecs do a great job of creating content that looks like it should, just smaller. But even there, things will change. 3D is and may always be something of a gimmick, but if there's high consumer demand for consumer 3D-capable displays on mobile devices, the ensuing files we put on our devices will grow larger by necessity. Another possibility is that we'll eventually be able to properly connect our devices to larger displays, (I know it's already possible, but solutions at the moment are flawed at best) and again, you're looking at larger file sizes to accommodate that kind of usage.
Consumer demand aside, technology keeps shrinking and getting cheaper. When Maxtor's aforementioned 100GB drive debuted, it cost $300. Today $300 will get you either a 3TB drive (with some change left over) or 120ish GB of ludicrously fast SSD, a technology that few would have imagined coming to the fore a decade ago.
On a more personal note, I like to keep a lot of music on my phone/mobile device, so 32GB is pretty limiting once you start adding video and apps. Cloud/streaming tech may alleviate the need to carry so much music on my phone, but once again, only the beefiest of pipes are going to be able to stream FLAC or ALAC to my device (or whatever format eventually crops up) so really nothing will have changed in the long run.
32GB in the mobile space seems like plenty now, but as technology evolves, everything takes up more space. Although MP3s (and similar compressed formats) have become utterly ubiquitous, at some point it's going to get replaced, especially if/when some sort of enhanced audio format usurps the CD. Granted, this was already supposed to happen with flopped tech like the SACD or DVD-Audio, but it's still an inevitablity, just one with a fuzzy time frame.
You can make this same argument about video, although I'll admit that current compression codecs do a great job of creating content that looks like it should, just smaller. But even there, things will change. 3D is and may always be something of a gimmick, but if there's high consumer demand for consumer 3D-capable displays on mobile devices, the ensuing files we put on our devices will grow larger by necessity. Another possibility is that we'll eventually be able to properly connect our devices to larger displays, (I know it's already possible, but solutions at the moment are flawed at best) and again, you're looking at larger file sizes to accommodate that kind of usage.
Consumer demand aside, technology keeps shrinking and getting cheaper. When Maxtor's aforementioned 100GB drive debuted, it cost $300. Today $300 will get you either a 3TB drive (with some change left over) or 120ish GB of ludicrously fast SSD, a technology that few would have imagined coming to the fore a decade ago.
On a more personal note, I like to keep a lot of music on my phone/mobile device, so 32GB is pretty limiting once you start adding video and apps. Cloud/streaming tech may alleviate the need to carry so much music on my phone, but once again, only the beefiest of pipes are going to be able to stream FLAC or ALAC to my device (or whatever format eventually crops up) so really nothing will have changed in the long run.
I have different devices for different uses. I've got a WP7 phone 8GB that I use the storage for apps and podcasts. It gets full if I don't cycle through my podcasts reasonably quickly, so I'm forced to manage which podcasts I actually watch/listen to, and don't just keep the size cranking up on unwatched shows. I don't long for more space at the moment, but extra would be nice.
I next have a 16GB iPad which I use exclusively for apps. Music and other media I don't store on it at all. It's also fine at the moment.
my iPod touch 32GB has my music on it.
All of these are working for me *for now*, however as someone who remembers thinking his 120mb hard disk drive looked like a bottomless pit to throw data at I think that they won't survive all that much longer with their current volume as enough.
None of these devices are at the limit of what you can purchase on their platforms. So I as long as the platforms keep their growth at about the current rate I think I'll be quite happy. As a gadget junkie I'll be feeling the need to upgrade to a future version sometime soon anyway, so I may just use 'storage limitations' as my rationalization next time :)
I next have a 16GB iPad which I use exclusively for apps. Music and other media I don't store on it at all. It's also fine at the moment.
my iPod touch 32GB has my music on it.
All of these are working for me *for now*, however as someone who remembers thinking his 120mb hard disk drive looked like a bottomless pit to throw data at I think that they won't survive all that much longer with their current volume as enough.
None of these devices are at the limit of what you can purchase on their platforms. So I as long as the platforms keep their growth at about the current rate I think I'll be quite happy. As a gadget junkie I'll be feeling the need to upgrade to a future version sometime soon anyway, so I may just use 'storage limitations' as my rationalization next time :)
Since switching to Subsonic for my music needs I almost never have to deal with my SD card filling up as I only have it cache a gig worth of music.
Internally though I wish my Eris had more than 100ish MB for app use. By time the apps start building cache the space disappears super quick. It's probably the #1 factor why I'm going to try for an early upgrade come January or February when/if the IncredibleHD or Merge get release on VZ.
Internally though I wish my Eris had more than 100ish MB for app use. By time the apps start building cache the space disappears super quick. It's probably the #1 factor why I'm going to try for an early upgrade come January or February when/if the IncredibleHD or Merge get release on VZ.
I'd like my portable device to be both an access device for my computing needs, and perhaps a "key" that's used when I use any other device. There used to be a concept of "home on ipod" but I think this should be "key(s) and cache on portable, storage in the cloud".
I've got around 300gb of music, and maybe 500gb of movies, 50gb of applications, 100gb of other stuff - round it off to a terabyte. In a typical day, I might use 1gb of this - I don't know which 1gb, but I bet there's around 25gb of anything I use frequently/in a given month; by size most of that is music.
Most of those are non-special media files, that I'd just as soon have hosted "in the cloud" - and just have to keep my license, and a decent sized cache of ones to watch/listen/enjoy instantly or offline.
Same goes for nearly all the apps I own:store them on the cloud, cache the ones I use frequently and keep track of my settings.
The rest of my personal or special files should be stored on the cloud as well. The cloud could be a NAS that stays at my house, but for non-special files it should really be shared - why should we all have to keep a local copy of Photoshop, Bob Marley's "Legend", the e-book of "Grapes of Wrath", and the movie Repo Man? Just license me for all these - keep my notes, preferences, customizations and other tags in my personal cloud, and leave the rest in a shared space.
At the moment, instant access to 32-ish gb of data seems reasonable, the rest of the data should be accessible on download. As memory gets cheaper or I get richer, keep a larger local cache.
Once we get a better solution for the password problem, even keys should be able to be stored on my personal cloud, and all I need is a secure strong way to unlock that, preferably without a device.
I've got around 300gb of music, and maybe 500gb of movies, 50gb of applications, 100gb of other stuff - round it off to a terabyte. In a typical day, I might use 1gb of this - I don't know which 1gb, but I bet there's around 25gb of anything I use frequently/in a given month; by size most of that is music.
Most of those are non-special media files, that I'd just as soon have hosted "in the cloud" - and just have to keep my license, and a decent sized cache of ones to watch/listen/enjoy instantly or offline.
Same goes for nearly all the apps I own:store them on the cloud, cache the ones I use frequently and keep track of my settings.
The rest of my personal or special files should be stored on the cloud as well. The cloud could be a NAS that stays at my house, but for non-special files it should really be shared - why should we all have to keep a local copy of Photoshop, Bob Marley's "Legend", the e-book of "Grapes of Wrath", and the movie Repo Man? Just license me for all these - keep my notes, preferences, customizations and other tags in my personal cloud, and leave the rest in a shared space.
At the moment, instant access to 32-ish gb of data seems reasonable, the rest of the data should be accessible on download. As memory gets cheaper or I get richer, keep a larger local cache.
Once we get a better solution for the password problem, even keys should be able to be stored on my personal cloud, and all I need is a secure strong way to unlock that, preferably without a device.
Currently, I've got 16GB on my phone, 32GB on iPad, 250GB on my laptop, and about 6TB on my NAS. I don't ever really run into situations when I feel like I need more space than that, but if I had more I would certainly use it. There are times when I transfer data on and off devices due to space constraints, but it isn't that big of a deal.
However, if I had the option to have more stuff with me at all times I would be all over it. The more you have the more you use.
However, if I had the option to have more stuff with me at all times I would be all over it. The more you have the more you use.
