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Apple Faces Class Action Lawsuit For Shrinking Storage Space In iOS 8

An anonymous reader notes that Apple is being sued over claims that iOS 8 uses too much storage space on the company's devices. "Ever wonder why there never is enough space on your iPhone or iPad? A lawsuit filed this week against Apple Inc. alleges that upgrades to the iOS 8 operating system are to blame, and that the company has misled customers about it. In the legal complaint filed in California, Miami residents Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara accuse Apple of "storage capacity misrepresentations and omissions" relating to Apple's 8 GB and 16GB iPhones, iPads and iPods. Orshan has two iPhone 5 and two iPads while Endara had purchased an iPhone 6. They contend the upgrades to the operating system end up taking up as much as 23 percent of the storage space on their devices."

205 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. MicroSD card? by rossdee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why TF don't Apple have a slot for microSD card ike most smartphones these days.

    Anyway I gave up on Apple in 1988

    1. Re:MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they had an SD card slot why would anyone pay an extra $200 for the large capacity phone?

    2. Re:MicroSD card? by Pinhedd · · Score: 5, Informative

      The quality of removable storage media, especially SD cards (and derivative formats) varies drastically. Apple likes to ensure a consistent ecosystem so that all users have as consistent an experience as possible.

      Apple wants to avoid cases where users blame Apple for sluggish application performance, skipping music/video, bugs, etc... that are a result of something that Apple can't control or exert influence over.

    3. Re:MicroSD card? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

      Apple wants to avoid cases where users blame Apple for sluggish application performance, skipping music/video, bugs, etc... that are a result of something that Apple can't control or exert influence over.

      Than how about they add some memory dedicated to the OS? The stuff is not that expensive these days...

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    4. Re:MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Especially when you can get the same $200 worth storage for $10.

    5. Re:MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Bullshit. That is the same excuse Apple fans have been using for Apple for the last 15 years. Apple leaves out a VERY common feature and choice that everyone else but Apple has and uses with little to no problems and people claim it is for YOUR benefit. How many different things in this world have the ability to plug in some type of standard memory card? How many does Apple have? It has nothing to do with support and the overall the overall experience.

    6. Re:MicroSD card? by NoKaOi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Than how about they add some memory dedicated to the OS? The stuff is not that expensive these days...

      They do. It's part of that 16GB that they advertise. This is how pretty much all devices are advertised. Do laptops and desktops come with a separate disk for the OS? When they advertise the size of the hard drive do they subtract the size of the OS? How about other brands of phones or tablets?

      These people are completely ignorant about what they are suing for, in which case they have no business suing, or are suing just to sue (or because their lawyers are hoping to turn it into a class action suit, settle, and rake in millions while a bunch of people get 50 cents each), in which case they still have no business suing.

    7. Re:MicroSD card? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1, Troll

      They do. It's part of that 16GB that they advertise. This is how pretty much all devices are advertised. Do laptops and desktops come with a separate disk for the OS? When they advertise the size of the hard drive do they subtract the size of the OS? How about other brands of phones or tablets?

      Laptops generally have a lot more memory than 16 or 32GB, so it's not an issue. When it becomes an issue, as with mobile devices, this should be compensated with more memory to dedicate to OS.

      PC / laptop vs. mobile devices? Apples and oranges.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    8. Re: MicroSD card? by StuartHankins · · Score: 2

      It tarnishes the brand reputation, so yes. It's been Apple's stance that "it just works" by limiting options to a small tested list for as long as I can remember.

    9. Re: MicroSD card? by StuartHankins · · Score: 1

      This is a good idea on face value. The price would certainly be negligible. But, knowing that iOS size is likely to grow, constraining the iOS size to fit a dedicated partition might be tricky. Maybe that's it, a dedicated 8GB partition for today. Five years from now it could be 16GB. Etc.

    10. Re:MicroSD card? by bloodhawk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Microsoft and others were forced to change how they advertise there devices because of complaints of how storage is used by the OS. While I agree this lawsuit is idiotic vendors really should be more forthcoming with information like storage, it isn't an insignificant amount that is taken on devices in this form factor and the average consumer doesn't know that he isn't really getting 8GB for photos and games, it wouldn't hurt there sales to be more open and honest, e.g. Microsoft now puts it directly on there site and even provides a table of how much storage is user available for each device. Would it really kill apple to do the same? currently the only thing apple adds is "1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less."

    11. Re:MicroSD card? by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I was just going to leave this whole thing alone, but I've got to comment on this one.

      There's nothing that great about adding MicroSD card slots to cellphones. Sure, "Everyone else does it (but Apple)." -- but that doesn't make it a good solution.
      Whenever I've used Android devices, it's always added an extra layer of complexity, determining if an app or some data is stored on the internal or external storage. And while perhaps they've addressed it now, I also recall a lot of hassles with certain programs requiring things be stored using the internal storage only - as they didn't know how to work with the MicroSD storage.

      I think most cellphones just did it that way to make the devices cheaper to build. "You want more storage space? Whatever.... buy a card for that...."

      I'm not going to try to debate that Apple overcharges for the storage you get in a given iOS device. (Heck, I agree... they gouge for it. But with Apple products, you almost always pay a premium. Either way, it just means whatever you buy from them has that much better resale value down the road too.)

      I just find that with a phone, I want the information in it to be "one" with the device itself. If I store address book entries, for example, it may as well just be in the phone's own internal storage, because it would really inconvenience me if it was on a removable card and I swapped the wrong card in the phone that didn't have that data on it. Never mind the propensity for some of these SD flash cards to go bad without warning and lose everything on them.

      So no, I have no issue with the way Apple chose to do things with the iPhones and no card slots. They *do* have a USB cable to facilitate data xfer to/from other devices, so you're not completely unable to communicate with other hardware. It sounds to me like some people just tried to get off cheap, buying the minimum storage version of the phones available and bigger, more feature filled versions of iOS don't leave a lot of space for your apps on the "entry level" model. Nothing worthy of a lawsuit.

    12. Re:MicroSD card? by Drgnkght · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fixed that for ya. I swear every time I have to use an Android device I get a migraine, it's like the UI is designed to drive sane people absolutely mad.

      Fixed that for ya.

      You say that like they can't both be true.

    13. Re:MicroSD card? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The quality of removable storage media, especially SD cards (and derivative formats) varies drastically. Apple likes to ensure a consistent ecosystem so that all users have as consistent an experience as possible.

      Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean, there's no way it could have anything to do with the fact that flash memory prices have dropped significantly and the only way Apple can get away with charging its ridiculous premiums for slightly more memory is to prevent users from easily adding their own. (With micro SD prices now, I could find something costing less than $1/gigabyte, or if Apple supported USB OTG, I could even use a flash drive for about 30 cents/GB, but instead I have to pay about $2/GB if I want an iPad or whatever with more memory.)

      And it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that those ridiculous premiums for lots of memory cause consumers to buy cheaper models rather than spending a couple hundred more dollars on an already way overpriced piece of hardware, and then are forced to upgrade to a new generation device in a couple years when they realize they don't have enough space.

      Yeah, I'm sure you're right -- the huge profit motive here has nothing to do with it... It's just Apple being a good citizen and helping its users not up have to put up with some inferior piece of freakin' flash memory they might buy.

      That MUST be it. Thanks for telling us.

    14. Re:MicroSD card? by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      Apple wants to avoid cases where users blame Apple for sluggish application performance, skipping music/video, bugs, etc... that are a result of something that Apple can't control or exert influence over.

      You mean like how when Apple purposefully degrades the performance of older iOS devices when a new iOS version is out (that won't run on the older hardware)?

      citation pls? you're saying that if my phone is too old to run ios8, then apple will take steps to make ios7 more unstable and bloated? link or it didnt happen.

    15. Re:MicroSD card? by tlambert · · Score: 1, Troll

      Why TF don't Apple have a slot for microSD card ike most smartphones these days.

      Anyway I gave up on Apple in 1988

      Usually this type of decision is based on a couple of things, and all of them really such with MicroSD:

      (1) Power management; with the card it, it's hard/impossible to drive down battery usage/drive up battery life
      (2) It's another hole in the case to let in water/dirt/etc.
      (3) Speed/quality of MicroSD cards is highly variable
      (4) As hardware which talks directly to the driver, not through an intermediary, and effectively on the memory bus, it's an attack vector
      (5) They're easy to lose, compared to, say, a power brick or a laptop, where you should be crossloading your media in the first place
      (6) It's easy to make a mistake on insertion and damage the slot (this is the same reason it's so hard to insert/remove the SIMs)
      (7) Electrical damage, should someone put a metal object, such as a screwdriver or paperclip in the slot (including possible battery fire)

      And the biggie:

      (8) If people want an Android device, then they should buy an Android device instead

    16. Re: MicroSD card? by laird · · Score: 1, Troll

      Worse, it adds significant complexity to have to different physical sets of storage.

      And it also means that they would need to get an over-sized OS storage volume just to have room for future features, meaning that you'd have wasted/unused storage in your device, driving up the cost and power consumption, getting nothing in return until some hypothetical future date when the OS might grow to use that space. And if there's no such wasted space now, that means that the OS new features are constrained to fit into the current storage, so the OS won't have features that it could otherwise have.

      It's really much better for users to have one storage device, with the OS and user data sharing it, so that you can use 100% of the storage for whatever mix of OS and user data you happen to have.

    17. Re: MicroSD card? by tarball · · Score: 2

      Your right.

      Only Samsung, Motorola, Alcatel, Sony, Philips, LG, Acer and a couple others.

      That's most, isn't it?

      --
      I hate sigs, and refuse to have one.
    18. Re:MicroSD card? by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

      How maddening it must be for you that there are so many insane people around the world, right?

    19. Re:MicroSD card? by DMUTPeregrine · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've got a 128GB micro SD card (SanDisk) that I got for $100. It works fine in my phone (galaxy S4 google play edition) which only had a 16GB version available when I got it. Even if they'd had a 64GB version, I'd have had no way to expand the storage at all.

      Now, it only works with media and documents, not with applications, and the /data partition Android uses for app data storage is small by default, but by repartitioning the internal SD card I can let it take up almost the entire 16GB and use the external SD for the extra storage. Much better than having no option.

      --
      Not a sentence!
    20. Re:MicroSD card? by the_B0fh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You mean like how when Apple purposefully degrades the performance of older iOS devices when a new iOS version is out (that won't run on the older hardware)?

      Help me understand what you just wrote?

      1) Apple purposefully degrades the performance
      2) of older iOS devices
      3) when a new iOS version is out
      4) (that won't run on the older hardware)?

      Are you claiming Apple makes the older iOS that is currently installed on your phone, work slower, when a new version of iOS is released (but not installed on your phone)? If you can prove it, I'm sure the lawyers would love to speak to you.

      If you cannot prove it, I'm sure the psychiatrists would love to speak to you.

    21. Re:MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      NO Apple do not clearly document on any of there sales brochures how much space is available to the User. If they did this case would not be possible. please provide a citation to their sales information that shows this information.

    22. Re:MicroSD card? by laird · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "You mean like how when Apple purposefully degrades the performance of older iOS devices when a new iOS version is out"

      Example? So far (and I've run every iOS release) they do the opposite - they allow a much wider range of devices to upgrade than any other consumer electronics company. I have several Android devices, and new OS release support is spotty, because it's dependent on manufacturer and carrier QA, while Apple is the manufacturer, and got the carriers to allow Apple to push software straight to users without going through telco gatekeepers.

      Apple does disable new features that run badly on older hardware, such as Siri only being available on newer phones, but that's the opposite of degrading - it's protecting users from degraded performance. So, as is typical with Apple, they'd rather deliver less functionality, with better performance, while Google goes the opposite direction - all sorts of functionality, but iffy performance. Both strategies are legitimate, and suit different kinds of users.

    23. Re:MicroSD card? by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      REally? where? apologies if I am wrong but I see nothing about user available space for any of the iPhone models on their purchasing site http://www.apple.com/iphone/co...

    24. Re:MicroSD card? by saleenS281 · · Score: 1

      Yes, it has NOTHING to do with the disgusting margin they make on their flash upgrades.

      http://www.computerworld.com/article/2685232/why-the-entry-level-iphone-6-has-just-16gb-of-storage.html

    25. Re:MicroSD card? by schnell · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I suspect the original question was rhetorical, but there are two simple answers to why Apple doesn't include SD card slots in their phones:

      • User experience: I don't know if they have changed this recently, but the last time I used an Android device with a SD card used for storage, it was a PITA. IIRC the SD card could only be used for documents or media, while the partition space usable by apps and the OS was still fixed to onboard. That was fairly useless, since most of what I wanted to use up space with was various huge (500 MB+, thanks Disney) apps to keep my kids entertained when I wasn't using the phone. Also I had to select a storage partition whenever downloading something, and the phone gave me no clue about what I could/should allocate where. All in all, the SD card seemed like a much cooler idea than it was in practice.
      • Teh moneys: Apple doesn't charge anyone for their software updates, either on iOS or (these days) OS X. They make their money on selling their hardware on which their proprietary software has been thoroughly tested and certified. Yes you pay a premium for the hardware, but the fact is that you aren't paying for the hardware (or at least you shouldn't be), you are paying for the software that runs on it and the fact that Apple has (in theory) rigorously QA'ed the whole thing. Either way, understand that Apple is going to gouge you on hardware a bit in exchange for the user experience, because that's what they do.

      I should also note that the GGP said he/she "gave up on Apple in 1988." That's absolutely their right, but I don't think it gives them much credibility (which should be based on detailed time spent with the different options) for a comparative analysis of the value of Apple products in 2015. If I said "Lunix is the suxor because I tried Yggdrasil and XFCE couldn't make my sound card work," I don't think you would give me much credibility in the present day.

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    26. Re:MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Apple doesn't charge anyone for their software updates, either on iOS or (these days) OS X.

      Well they should pay the customer for these updates as they degrade the idevice's performance, horribly. If Microsoft winxp can last ten years without major os upgrades we should be able to go without an ios version x+1 upgrade every 9 months or so?

    27. Re:MicroSD card? by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's not the same. The internal storage is going to be MUCH faster than a PoS $10 SD card.

    28. Re:MicroSD card? by Solandri · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They do. It's part of that 16GB that they advertise. This is how pretty much all devices are advertised. Do laptops and desktops come with a separate disk for the OS? When they advertise the size of the hard drive do they subtract the size of the OS? How about other brands of phones or tablets?

      These people are completely ignorant about what they are suing for

      One of the wrinkles that possibly justifies a lawsuit for this is that Apple doesn't give regular users a way to downgrade the iOS version. So if your device had a "comfortable" amount of free space, an auto-update could put you into a "critically short of space" state with no way for most owners to revert the device to the old iOS. Thus forcing you to upgrade to a new device sooner than you expected. Relevant quote from TFA:

      "These misrepresentations and omissions cause these consumers to 'upgrade' their Devices from iOS 7 (or other operating systems) to iOS 8," it said. "Apple fails to disclose that upgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 8 will cost a Device user between 600 MB and 1.3 GB of storage space - a result that no consumer could reasonably anticipate."

    29. Re:MicroSD card? by tlhIngan · · Score: 2, Informative

      User experience: I don't know if they have changed this recently, but the last time I used an Android device with a SD card used for storage, it was a PITA. IIRC the SD card could only be used for documents or media, while the partition space usable by apps and the OS was still fixed to onboard. That was fairly useless, since most of what I wanted to use up space with was various huge (500 MB+, thanks Disney) apps to keep my kids entertained when I wasn't using the phone. Also I had to select a storage partition whenever downloading something, and the phone gave me no clue about what I could/should allocate where. All in all, the SD card seemed like a much cooler idea than it was in practice.

      Well, you can put apps on SD cards now. At least since ICS, anyhow.

      But still, user experience is pretty poor because now the user has MANAGE the storage. Where did you want to put the photo? Oh, internal storage is full! Please pick external storage! Oh doing so lost the image you took, Sorry.

      Then there's the whole "where he (*@&#% is the file" issue - put some files on SD, some on internal storage, and the file will be in the wrong place when you need it. So now you need a file manager to manage moving files between SD and internal storage. Another user headache who just wants to use their device.

      And nevermind that SD cards rarely use permission-based filesystems, so now any app using SD cards can access all data on SD cards. Given iOS perchant for security and trying to keep user data isolated by app so no app can access anyone else's data except through well defined APIs, well, an SD card is the perfect way to violate that. A malicioius app may decide to corrupt a data file of another app to do stuff it wants - perhaps that app holds passwords, so it writes a corrupt password file that causes it run code that passes it the password and the secured password store.

    30. Re:MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because you might still be limited to whatever little internal storage there is to install your apps.

      I fell for the biggest shitty phone I've had in years called Samsung Note 2, where the external SSD only allowed media to be on it (movies, music, pics, etc..), and the whole country only had 16Gb internal storage model to sell. It still forced us to install our apps and games on the internal storage, hence limiting me to only a handful of apps and games.

      captcha: sprinter

      (Btw, I see many putting in the captcha as such.. Why so?)

    31. Re:MicroSD card? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Microsoft and others were forced to change how they advertise there devices because of complaints of how storage is used by the OS.

      Were they? Their own website lists the models as per the harddisk size. The only mention of any reduced storage is in a tiny footnote: " System software uses significant storage space" and there's an almost hidden link to a support page which details how much storage is available on freshly bought devices.

      As a side note I owe you some thanks. I had no idea my Surface Pro 3 had an microSD slot, it was so well hidden under the kickstand. That support page covered how to increase storage. I guess I'm off to the stores tomorrow to buy myself a large SD card :-)

    32. Re:MicroSD card? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I swear every time I have to use a device with a GUI designed by someone under 30 I get a migraine, it's like the UI is designed to drive sane people absolutely mad.

      FTFY**2

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    33. Re:MicroSD card? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      My girlfriend's Windows phone is the first mobile device I've used with a UI that wasn't complete crap. If it weren't for the fact that it completely lacks all of the functionality that I want from a mobile device (decent OSM client, CalDAV / CardDAV sync [which Android doesn't have by default either - so much for Google and open standards], MPD client that doesn't completely suck, ownCloud client) then I'd be quite tempted.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    34. Re:MicroSD card? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Apple leaves out a VERY common feature

      How common are microSD cards these days? My current Android phone doesn't have one and it seems that both microSD cards and removable batteries are far more rare than they used to be.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    35. Re: MicroSD card? by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      Most people know what an SD card is or are capable of understanding what one is. Making excuses for bad technical decisions by saying users are too stupid to understand a simple concept is a cop out.

    36. Re:MicroSD card? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      IIRC the SD card could only be used for documents or media, while the partition space usable by apps and the OS was still fixed to onboard.

      This hasn't been the case since 2.3, which was released in early 2011. The user experience with SD cards is pretty good on Android. By default stuff saves to the phone's internal memory and you just use the SD card for your own data like music and movies. You can just copy it on like you would copying it to a USB flash drive, and the phone indexes and sorts it all out for you. Optionally apps can request permission to put data on the card as well.

      They make their money on selling their hardware on which their proprietary software has been thoroughly tested and certified.

      So do many other companies, but Apple still charges way, way more. Presumably the base model covers all their costs and makes them a nice profit, so charging 20x as much as a high quality, high speed SD card for storage upgrades is just pure profiteering. Just because you expect Apple to do it doesn't make it right.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    37. Re:MicroSD card? by sjames · · Score: 1

      I don't know what phone you had, but my old but still in use Android offers to move applications to the SD card (or back to main flash). I'm sure Apple could have figured it out if they wanted to.

      That leaves teh moneys.

    38. Re: MicroSD card? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, most people don't know what a floppy disk^W^W microSD is. Yes, they could learn. But, no, they won't.

    39. Re:MicroSD card? by sjames · · Score: 1

      No technical reason Apple couldn't address those issues. It's their OS and their device and they can put any filesystem they want on the card and use any management technique they care to including union directories so it doesn't matter where the photo is stored. They clearly just didn't want to.

      My (old) Android phone just defaults to putting pictures and video on the SD card since that's nearly always the right thing.

    40. Re:MicroSD card? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here is the tech spec page for Microsoft Surface: http://www.microsoftstore.com/...

      Note that it clearly states how much storage is actually available for use, accounting for the OS and other software.

      Here is the tech spec page for Apple's iPad Air 2: http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad-a...

      Note that it doesn't mention how much usable space you have after the OS and all their bundled apps have taken their share.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    41. Re:MicroSD card? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      It was badly worded but it's pretty obvious that the GP was referring to the well known and documented phenomenon of iOS upgrades causing devices to slow down. You can of course not upgrade, but the real issue is why the OS gets slower over time.

      Most operating systems tend to get faster - Android, Windows 7 and 8, Linux... The developers make performance improvements, where as iOS seems to be going the opposite way and relies on every improving hardware to make up for it. It wouldn't be so bad if it were possible to down-grade to the previous version after trying the new one and deciding it is too slow.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    42. Re: MicroSD card? by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

      Agree 100%. Most people have some vague idea what a microSD card is.

      If they were told they could make their iPhone hold more by buying one, they will get the cheapest one they could find online. If they're unlucky enough, they'll get one of those that say they're 128GB but actually have only 16GB space. And then blame Apple.

      Let alone format them and have any idea of how to manage two storage pools when one of them is removable.

      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    43. Re:MicroSD card? by Ambassador+Kosh · · Score: 2

      Many of the Lumia phones have a microsd slow on the INSIDE.

      I open up the phone once (trivially easy) and I can put in a microsd card, sim card and even replace the battery and then close the cover back up.

      The battery covers the sim card and microsd card so they can't be removed while the battery is in. This means you can't accidentally remove them while the phone is on.

      It is a very good and simple design. It means you don't have any of the external interfaces, you don't worry about dust, water etc and you don't lose them.

      Android has more apps but geeze the Lumia phones are better designed and Windows Phone 8 definitely has a better interface than Android and iOS. This is a fight I wish that Microsoft would win.

      --
      Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD! :)
    44. Re:MicroSD card? by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      Why TF don't Apple have a slot for microSD card ike most smartphones these days.

      Look at the article. How would that change? The complaint is that iOS 8 takes more space than iOS 7, and that is true no matter how much space.

    45. Re: MicroSD card? by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

      I know plenty of tech illiterate people who can understand the concept of removable storage, whether that's a floppy disk, USB flash drive or micro SD. I know it's fashionable to pretend that virtually everyone but geeks is stupid but it's not the case.

      Android users (most of whom aren't geeks) seem to be capable of understanding the concept and Samsung et al aren't getting the blame for fake cards as far as I know.

    46. Re: MicroSD card? by msauve · · Score: 1

      "It's been Apple's stance that "it just works" by limiting options to a small tested list for as long as I can remember."

      Well, no (or you're too young to remember much). A few examples. Macs will readily accept third party drives and memory, one can use third party mice, keyboards and displays. Heck, Apple even supports dual boot on Macs, so you can run a third party OS. There's a whole third party industry build around making accessories for iThings.

      Don't try to argue it's so "it just works," that's just ignoring the planned obsolescence built into many iThings.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    47. Re:MicroSD card? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      It wouldn't be so bad if it were possible to down-grade to the previous version after trying the new one and deciding it is too slow.

      Seriously? There isn't even a way to do a "factory reset"?

      It'd be a PITA to do the backup, reapply patches and so on, but that's better than nothing.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    48. Re: MicroSD card? by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      You mean like the SD card slot on Nexus devices? You know the only device that is almost guaranteed to get timely OS updates?

      Where can I find this SD card slot on Nexus phones?

    49. Re:MicroSD card? by ericloewe · · Score: 1

      ... CalDAV/CardDAV support was added over a year ago.

    50. Re:MicroSD card? by ericloewe · · Score: 1

      Or, get Windows Phone and have real SD card support, without Android's stupid limitations.

    51. Re:MicroSD card? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      <rhetorical_question>You've never actually used VLC on an Android device with an SD card, have you?</rhetorical_question>

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    52. Re:MicroSD card? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      File managers represent a fairly common paradigm. I don't mysteriously forget what one is just because the device looks a bit different.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    53. Re:MicroSD card? by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      Apple wants to avoid cases where users blame Apple for sluggish application performance, skipping music/video, bugs, etc... that are a result of something that Apple can't control or exert influence over.

      Than how about they add some memory dedicated to the OS? The stuff is not that expensive these days...

      And if they did people would be complaining about Apple using up memory that they paid for that's currently vacant just to handle a once-yearly iOS upgrade. At least this way most people can get use of the memory most of the time, its a damn sight simpler, and it allows Apple to report bigger numbers legitimately. Why wouldn't they do it the way that they are, especially knowing that they'd get abuse for it either way?

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    54. Re:MicroSD card? by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      Bullshit. That is the same excuse Apple fans have been using for Apple for the last 15 years. Apple leaves out a VERY common feature and choice that everyone else but Apple has and uses with little to no problems and people claim it is for YOUR benefit. How many different things in this world have the ability to plug in some type of standard memory card? How many does Apple have? It has nothing to do with support and the overall the overall experience.

      You know, somebody always has to go first.

      People acted like the sky was falling when Apple got rid of PS/2 ports and moved to USB only - then when they realized what a superior experience it gave, they all followed suit. Similarly when Apple got rid of the floppy drive and then, years later, the optical drive and on some of their machines even the Ethernet ports. In all cases there were adapters available for the (very) few people who actually needed them, and in all cases despite the massive FUD being produced everything worked just fine.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    55. Re:MicroSD card? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Really? How do you use it? I saw some comments that required pretending that your CardDAV server was a Google account and then fudging things, but couldn't get them to work.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    56. Re:MicroSD card? by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

      New features = new code = more cpu cycles.

      How do you claim Android, Win7/8 and Linux perform this magic to reduce cpu cycles for new features?

      Caveat, I've used Linux from 1995, and it goes up, it goes down, but generally the cpu requirement goes up. And the old saying was what Intel giveth, Gates taketh away, so you're wrong on Windows in general. In terms of Win7, it was generally recognized that Vista's cpu requirements were too high, and was only really met by the hardware (Moore's law) that was generally available when Win 7 came out. So you appear to be wrong there too.

    57. Re:MicroSD card? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      It was badly worded but it's pretty obvious that the GP was referring to the well known and documented phenomenon of iOS upgrades causing devices to slow down. You can of course not upgrade, but the real issue is why the OS gets slower over time.

      And of course there are the battery issues too. I know three people personally who have had an iPhone with a battery that would last them for a week or more with low usage, but they made the mistake of upgrading the OS. Suddenly they had to recharge their phone multiple times per day. I and other people have often refused to upgrade to avoid such potential issues, which often leads to problems because Apple will stop supporting things unless you upgrade, leaving you in a place where either some important system apps no longer work or you roll the dice and upgrade to discover you have a slow brick that can't go more than 8 hours without a charge. (For the record, I don't buy iPhones myself, but I inherit them when other family members upgrade; I would never voluntarily buy an Apple product for many of these reasons.)

      I won't go so far to say that Apple degrades battery performance deliberately. Maybe it does, or maybe they don't give a crap anymore about testing such things on older generations before releasing the OS. Either way, all the Apple BS about how "we limit our hardware choices so we can give you a better user experience" clearly goes out the window when your device is more than a year or two old.

    58. Re:MicroSD card? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The quality of removable storage media, especially SD cards (and derivative formats) varies drastically.

      Easily solved by offering an Apple-branded memory card.

      Apple likes to ensure a consistent ecosystem so that all users have as consistent an experience as possible.

      And they want that experience to consistently funnel money to Apple, so they unfairly price the device with a halfway-decent amount of onboard flash, and don't give you the option to install your own memory card.

      Apple wants to avoid cases where users blame Apple for sluggish application performance, skipping music/video, bugs, etc... that are a result of something that Apple can't control or exert influence over.

      Apple wants your money, first and foremost, plain and simple. The decision not to offer a uSD card slot is purely about money. They want you to buy a new device when you need more storage, period the end. They made the same decision when they went with proprietary floppy drives with a proprietary floppy pattern on the Macintosh, so this is truly nothing new.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    59. Re:MicroSD card? by DutchUncle · · Score: 1

      No, not completely ignorant. They bought a device that claimed to have a certain amount of space for user media. One could argue: If they had not upgraded, they would not have lost so much space to the new OS. However, it's not enough to say "stay with what you have, like a hardware device", because things *stop* working - my wife kept using iOS 6 on her iPhone until a few weeks ago when Facetime broke, so she had to upgrade to the latest iOS 8. A hardware device wouldn't be upgradeable, but it also wouldn't stop working arbitrarily - it would keep working at the same level. Neither Apple nor Microsoft make it easy to just stay at the same level; at some point they create and enforce an incompatibility that forces an upgrade. (Oh, and we stopped buying cassettes and 8-tracks years ago, too.)

    60. Re: MicroSD card? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's really much better for users to have one storage device, with the OS and user data sharing it, so that you can use 100% of the storage for whatever mix of OS and user data you happen to have.

      It's really much better for users to be able to put their data on a separate storage device, which is not shared by the OS and data, so that wiping out one device doesn't affect the other. On a typical portable device, the OS benefits far more from speed than the data, so the opportunity to carry memory with different performance characteristics can lead to a remarkable cost savings. And when it comes time to back up the user's data, there's nothing faster or more reliable than being able to swap the memory card.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    61. Re:MicroSD card? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Now, it only works with media and documents, not with applications, and the /data partition Android uses for app data storage is small by default, but by repartitioning the internal SD card I can let it take up almost the entire 16GB and use the external SD for the extra storage. Much better than having no option.

      There's several mechanisms to permit you to run Apps from SD card, if you root your device.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    62. Re:MicroSD card? by hvdh · · Score: 1

      Just do a performance test before accepting a new SD card.My Samsung TV can record on USB storage. When attaching a new stick for this, it does a quick acceptance test. It either says it's ok to use or it say the stick is too slow and I should get a faster one. Problem solved.

    63. Re:MicroSD card? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Seriously? There isn't even a way to do a "factory reset"?

      A factory reset doesn't rewrite the OS, it just wipes the data partitions. That's not what you want! There's no room on the device for a full copy. You have to do a downgrade, whether you're talking about Android or iOS. For Android phones, you can pretty much just dump the device and then you can reload the images into the phone through its [semi-]standardized bootloader using the Android fastboot tool. In the case of the 2014 Moto G, and other phones, it's actually possible to relock the bootloader by using the fastboot tool to initiate the procedure, then using it to reload the factory image, and finally using it to complete the relock. So not only was I able to restore my phone to the factory 4.4.4 (Only the Global GSM version, XT1063, is still waiting for the upgrade to Lollipop, which is supposedly being pushed to testers now) but I was actually able to relock the bootloader in preparation for the official OTA, which is coming. This literally only involved a couple downloads and one tweak to the bat file (a .sh was also delivered) to stop it rebooting the device after the restore completed, but before relock — which was initiated by a different script which you left running (on "pause", per shell builtin) while you kicked off the restore, downloaded separately from another source. But on iOS, the situation is substantially different.

      Of course, doing the restore on my Moto G wiped the internal psuedo-sdcard, aka the data partition of the eMMC. But since I have all my data on a real sdcard, nothing of importance was lost. That's an option I didn't have on my Nexus 4, which thankfully failed only partially so I was able to get what little data I hadn't backed up off of the device, and it's an option you don't have on iOS devices.

      TL;DR: On Android, what you suggest is typically very easy, run a script. On iOS, it's a pita, and it may not work at all.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    64. Re:MicroSD card? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      How common are microSD cards these days? My current Android phone doesn't have one

      But most do, if for no reason other than that a uSD slot is cheaper than a fat eMMC card, and nobody wants a 4GB phone.

      If a phone comes without an SD slot, you can be sure of one of two things; either the designers couldn't figure out how to add one without compromising their precious aesthetics, or the company didn't want to add one because they have some pricing scheme planned.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    65. Re:MicroSD card? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      How common are microSD cards these days?

      Pretty common and becoming moreso. My daughter runs a Moto G, and is a bit miffed by the 8GB of total space, no SD. The new Moto G is mostly the same but it has a MicroSD slot as well, since this was the #1 complaint from the market.

      I turned on apache/Option Indexes on our media server, so she can stream videos over HTTP, but forget about taking movies on the road. Her little brother has my hand-me-down Droid 3, with a 32GB MicroSD and she's rather envious, despite his anemic CPU and RAM.

      Oh, yeah, she'll stream Netflix over 1xRTT every ten miles in the mountains (ha!). Something like 40% of the land area of the US has no real data coverage. Google and Apple are thinking about 2030 while producing phones for a 2015 reality, and that annoys customers. Yeah, they have lots of towers in Cupertino and Mountain View (and it's flat in Detroit, so nobody needs 4WD).

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    66. Re:MicroSD card? by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 2

      "You mean like how when Apple purposefully degrades the performance of older iOS devices when a new iOS version is out"

      Example? So far (and I've run every iOS release) they do the opposite - they allow a much wider range of devices to upgrade than any other consumer electronics company.

      Yeah, and the 8.01 update specifically targeted slow performance on both the 4s and the iPad2 (which made an appreciable speed difference on my 32GB model). This is really a non-issue.

      "Apple does disable new features that run badly on older hardware, such as Siri only being available on newer phones, but that's the opposite of degrading - it's protecting users from degraded performance. So, as is typical with Apple, they'd rather deliver less functionality, with better performance, while Google goes the opposite direction - all sorts of functionality, but iffy performance. Both strategies are legitimate, and suit different kinds of users.

      Very well said.

    67. Re:MicroSD card? by powerlinekid · · Score: 1

      You don't need to root your device. Android has allowed moving apps to the sdcard for years.

      --

      can't sleep slashdot will eat me
    68. Re:MicroSD card? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Yep. The factory image is upgraded as well. They go to lengths to make sure you can't downgrade. I think part of the reason is that older versions of iOS have security vulnerabilities that can be exploited for jail breaking.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    69. Re:MicroSD card? by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      That is one thing I will say about Apple that has kept their brand image for user experience in tact: they're not afraid to say "no" to the customer. "You want a Mac with a floppy drive? How about 'no?' This is better." "You don't want to give up your old PowerPC apps? Too damn bad, we're on Intel now." My wife had an early Intel MacBook Pro and when the OS X update came out that introduced AirPlay she wanted to use it. Computer was only like 2.5 years old. But the video card wouldn't have been able to handle it well (according to apple support) so Apple said "no." It could do physically do it in some cases, but poorly in others so, "no." They'd rather have you pissed because they said "no" rather than be pissed because they couldn't make something work which was (apparently) physically impossible. Same with their walled garden. You might have a bad experience with malicious apps, so...no. Basically the Soup Nazi. "No AirPlay for you!"

      For the average user, this probably works out all right. They will have a consistent user experience and won't have to worry about third party things breaking their shit.

      Personally, I think it's evil to do anything that makes your computer tell you "no." Even if it might be bad. I'll take the responsibility. That's why I run FOSS only. But for the masses...this is what they want...

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    70. Re:MicroSD card? by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      It depends on what you mean by the OS "getting faster." I'll agree that the kernel probably gets faster between releases. Better file handling or paging algorithms, etc. But when people talk about their "OS" they usually mean more than the kernel. And new releases of everything get slower on old hardware because they add in more bells and whistles and eye candy. Just takes more cycles to render all that. Plus now everybody's sandboxing everything in separate threads and virtual containers and shit and there's more overhead involved launching an application or in handling interprocess communication. I can guarantee you I noticed a performance hit when I moved from KDE 4 to 5. But it's prettier...

      I don't think Apple is intentionally slowing down iOS. If (system.model "iphone6") { wait(100); } They just add more shit to the OS each release.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    71. Re:MicroSD card? by Dogtanian · · Score: 1

      Similarly when Apple got rid of the floppy drive [..] there were adapters available for the (very) few people who actually needed them, and in all cases despite the massive FUD being produced everything worked just fine.

      Given that almost every first-generation iMac I saw had an external floppy drive attached anyway, it suggests that "the very few people who actually needed" floppy drives when Apple dropped them (circa 1998) was "just about everyone" and that Apple jumped the gun.

      This is hardly surprising. The intended use of the Internet to transfer files wasn't a sufficient replacement as- back then- not everyone had Internet connectivity and those that did were mostly on dial-up. The optical drive was only a reader, presumably due to the fact that back then writers were getting cheaper but still nowhere near cheap enough to be added to all lower end models without significantly increasing the price. And USB flash drives wouldn't get "no brainer" cheap for another several years.

      So, no. The much vaunted "Apple showed their foresight by ditching floppies" was a red herring if everyone needed to rush out and hang an external drive off the USB port anyway.

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
    72. Re:MicroSD card? by ericloewe · · Score: 1

      I've only used Google's, but support is definitely there.

    73. Re:MicroSD card? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Anyway I gave up on Apple in 1988

      So you have absolutely no relevant experience with any of their stuff, as every single product they sell is completely and utterly different from anything they were doing in 1988.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    74. Re:MicroSD card? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      So don't install the update?

      I know someone still using iOS 6 because they wanted to. Nobody is putting a gun to your head and telling you to upgrade.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    75. Re:MicroSD card? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      And no other operating system has had the occasional security bug. Certainly not Linux (shell shock, heartbleed) or Windows.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    76. Re:MicroSD card? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      There is no auto update.

      The user had to actually tap a button to perform the upgrade, and maybe if they were so concerned to retain legal counsel due to the effects of that action, they should have read a little documentation first. Or, just cabled up to a computer and let iTunes do the upgrade with the hard disk acting as temp storage.

      People will try to sue over the stupidest shit these days.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    77. Re:MicroSD card? by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      So, no. The much vaunted "Apple showed their foresight by ditching floppies" was a red herring if everyone needed to rush out and hang an external drive off the USB port anyway.

      I'd agree that lots of people did go and get external floppy drives, I knew quite a few of them myself. The vast majority used them rarely, if ever, but wanted the perceived security - and since they were external, most of them ended up in a drawer gathering dust after a little while anyway. Those habits generally lasted far less than the lifetime of that form factor too, which helps everyone else who comes along.

      Again, somebody has to be first - and the first major provider to do something always ends up getting slammed by their competitors since spreading FUD is easier than dismissing it and it makes for great checkbox-advertising points.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    78. Re:MicroSD card? by SydShamino · · Score: 1

      If you did a full backup immediately before upgrading, I think you can restore that backup.

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
    79. Re:MicroSD card? by 0ld_d0g · · Score: 2

      So don't install the update?

      Or, Apple should allow downgrades. If I update to a newer iOS and later find out that it consumes too much storage, or that its too slow, I should be able to downgrade to what I had.

      After the update, apple locks my phone OS version to the newer OS without giving me an option to restore my phone to the state I purchased it in. Frankly, I find that ridiculous.

      (No, jailbreaking doesn't help because the downgrade is blocked at the bootrom level. And even if it did, I don't want to rely on exploiting security bugs on my phone for a 'feature' that the device maker should be giving me as standard)

      Nobody is putting a gun to your head and telling you to upgrade.

      The language in the update's release notes pertaining to security bugs could easily be interpreted by a layman as an "update, or else" threat.

    80. Re:MicroSD card? by sjames · · Score: 1

      It's way too common to see either the OEM or the carrier pre-install apps that can't be deleted or moved. I presume they get paid for that. The onlu solution to that that I know of is to root the phone.

    81. Re:MicroSD card? by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      No, iOS backups don't include the OS. When you restore an iOS backup, iTunes writes the OS first, then restores your data and apps on top of it. And because Apple stops signing the old OS images for your device about a day after a new OS release ships, as I understand it, there's no way for iTunes to install anything but the latest OS image even if you have a copy of the previous OS image.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    82. Re:MicroSD card? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Take a look at games consoles to see why that isn't true. The early games tend to look a lot worse than the later ones, as it takes the programmers time to optimize their code and learn how to get the best from the machine. The later games seem to do a lot more with exactly the same hardware as the early ones.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    83. Re:MicroSD card? by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

      But since I have all my data on a real sdcard, nothing of importance was lost. That's an option I didn't have on my Nexus 4, which thankfully failed only partially so I was able to get what little data I hadn't backed up off of the device, and it's an option you don't have on iOS devices.

      iTunes backup grabs your data off your phone. If you really want to muck with it, you can get something like iExplorer as well. So, not sure what you mean by "an option you don't have on iOS devices."

    84. Re:MicroSD card? by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

      It was badly worded but it's pretty obvious that the GP was referring to the well known and documented phenomenon of iOS upgrades causing devices to slow down. You can of course not upgrade, but the real issue is why the OS gets slower over time.

      And of course there are the battery issues too. I know three people personally who have had an iPhone with a battery that would last them for a week or more with low usage, but they made the mistake of upgrading the OS. Suddenly they had to recharge their phone multiple times per day.

      Battery issues are there at the beginning because the battery usage profile data is wiped, and iOS needs to relearn your usage patterns. After a few charge cycles, it typically goes back to about the same.

    85. Re:MicroSD card? by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      You must have not used Android in awhile. Most applications let you move them to the SD card.

    86. Re:MicroSD card? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      iTunes backup grabs your data off your phone. If you really want to muck with it, you can get something like iExplorer as well. So, not sure what you mean by "an option you don't have on iOS devices."

      Right up until something goes wrong, sure. You hope that happens. But my data is on a completely different volume from my system, so one doesn't hose the other. Back in the early days of Macintosh, that's how we commonly laid our systems out, because affordable HDDs held so little. It was almost unusual not to see a system with two or three HDDs. Since the engineers snuck enough hardware to implement a SCSI bus even into the pre-SCSI machines, we got a culture where it was typical to attach many storage devices. Today, Apple would prefer that you attach none, because it's an opportunity to sell you a more expensive device — an opportunity they missed with the Macintosh.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    87. Re:MicroSD card? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

      The SD card functionality is the phone's design; not all Android devices are like that. I've got an old S3, I can install to my SD card and often do. And having to select a storage partition on every download...I've never had that on any of my droids. All that is the manufacturer's fault not something intrinsic to Android.

      Even more important than the two things you listed is "form" of the iphones. They try to keep the external designs to a very precise ideal, one of which is the "sleekness". You can't remove the back cover, and Apple doesn't want any more slots / holes / etc on the outside of the phone. They could make an SD slot with a flip cover over it, but that really would seem tacky on them and would seriously detract from their over-all look and feel.

      Or maybe some non-biological entity told Steve Jobs that SD cards are forbidden on one of his LSD trips.

    88. Re:MicroSD card? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

      THAT is pretty annoying...each of my camera apps all save to different places. Some I can change, some I can't. And I can't seem to access the phone via CLI while it's connected via USB either, so I can't just whip up a script to move all the pics over. Don't know if that's because of Windows 7, the phone itself, a limitation in Android, or what.

    89. Re:MicroSD card? by Teckla · · Score: 1

      There would probably be almost no debate if Apple wasn't ridiculously stingy with their storage and charged so damn much for more. 16 GB is pretty much a laughable amount these days. The flash memory used in smartphones and tablets costs like 1/3 or less compared to 5-6 years ago. There's no good reason to sell iPhones or iPads with only 16 GB of storage these days.

      Wait, I take that back. There is a good reason. Apple wants to push you to grossly overpay for more storage--or push you into iCloud. i.e., They simply want more money.

    90. Re:MicroSD card? by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 1

      It makes a real difference if the storage has more latency than the memory.
        I've been dealing with a somewhat less than satisfactory app on my ipad-- eDrawings Pro, a CAD viewer. It's always complaining about running out of memory. The solution to my problems (assuming that I don't just cut my losses and run) would depend on whether the error message was being pedantic about RAM vs storage.

    91. Re: MicroSD card? by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      I think the point he was making was that Apple users being iPhone users would blame Apple for the cards.

    92. Re:MicroSD card? by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Copying that media from the PC to slow flash is slow, though. Even for something as simple as copying a couple GB music, that's an annoyance. Ideally a phone would have room for upgrading it with an SSD, not memory card, and there would be a USB 3.x dock that gives it fast charging and wired ethernet.

    93. Re:MicroSD card? by xaotikdesigns · · Score: 1

      I have absolutely no issues saving things on my Note II. I'm not sure when the last time you used Android was, but it's been fairly easy for some time. Likewise, saving apps to the memory card can be done too, but I believe it tends to be locked out by manufacturers. I haven't had that issue in a while since I've got custom ROM's running on them (CLEANROM is amazing http://www.scottsroms.com/down... )

      --
      XDInd
    94. Re:MicroSD card? by rjstanford · · Score: 2

      Turned out USB-only wasn't so nice as advertised. Broken USB drivers? No keyboard. Oh, and the drivers on the Windows CD might be broken. What fun that was figuring out why the keyboard worked in BIOS but not in Windows at install time.

      Wow. Sounds like Microsoft released a really shitty implementation of the USB only switch. Why would breaking the USB driver be any more likely (or even possible short of deliberate sabotage) than breaking the PS/2 driver anyway?

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    95. Re:MicroSD card? by xaotikdesigns · · Score: 1
      I really find it no more difficult than having two hard drives in my computer.

      Only it's even easier because the media scanner will actually pick up all picture, music, and videos that you save anywhere and put them into their respective galleries. I've also never had an issue saving a picture to any storage location.

      --
      XDInd
    96. Re:MicroSD card? by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      Instructions please. I've had android devices between v1 and 4.x and not a single one of them had built in caldav/carddav support. I was stuck purchasing problem-ridden addons just to get this functionality.

      Maybe you're talking about Android 5?

    97. Re:MicroSD card? by xaotikdesigns · · Score: 1
      Some apps are hard coded for different places that they save pictures. That's based on the developer. While I much prefer being able to tell it where exactly I want my pictures, most of them save everything in roughly the same place (DCIM or Pictures) so it's never that much of an issue.

      As to the rest of your problems, never had to use a command line to connect my phone (outside of when I initially rooted it). If you want my suggestion, grab something like BitTorrent Sync. Set it up, and it will sync your pictures to your computer. If you want to, you can even write a script to move them to a different directory after they have synced over.

      You can also set the app to only sync over wifi and only when charging, so it doesn't use up your carrier data or drain the battery. It's a great app.

      --
      XDInd
    98. Re:MicroSD card? by ericloewe · · Score: 1

      No idea about Android, it's Windows Phone that got support a year ago.

    99. Re:MicroSD card? by Cabriel · · Score: 1

      Having used two iPhones over the last five years, I've experienced many upgrades.

      My first was an iPhone 3G (not 3GS), and through three iOS upgrades, performance didn't slow down because of the OS. Performance slowed when the apps updated themselves to newer versions and assumed everyone had the newest shiny phones---not Apple's fault.

      My second is an iPhone 4S. Over 3 iOS upgrades, now, performance hasn't dropped by any noticable degree except for, once again, when apps individually update and assume they are only being used on iPhone 6s.

      I would like to see evidence of this "well-documented" phenomenon because I don't see it in real life.

    100. Re:MicroSD card? by Cytotoxic · · Score: 1

      I asked google and they pointed me to this provider's instruction page for using caldav/carddav on android. Dates to October 2014

      Looks pretty straightforward for CardDav - just add an account.

    101. Re:MicroSD card? by tarball · · Score: 1

      I'd be interested in some detail here. I've had several Android and Blackberry phones over the years and never had a problem.

      Does anyone have specifics on which phones have problems?

      Thanks.

      --
      I hate sigs, and refuse to have one.
    102. Re:MicroSD card? by Cytotoxic · · Score: 1

      You don't need to root your device. Android has allowed moving apps to the sdcard for years.

      It is pretty complicated though. You have to go into the "Settings" and select "Apps" from the menu. Then you have to select an application and press the "Move to SD" button. At least that's how it worked two phones ago. My Nexus devices don't do the SD card thing, just like Apple devices.

    103. Re:MicroSD card? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      If Microsoft winxp can last ten years without major os upgrades we should be able to go without an ios version x+1 upgrade every 9 months or so?

      It never ceases to amaze my how people glorify Microsoft for their inability to deliver their promised OS versions even remotely on time.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    104. Re: MicroSD card? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Most people know what an SD card is or are capable of understanding what one is.

      You mean the people who don't think that putting a new OS with dozens of new features on your device will reduce available storage space? Yeah, right.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    105. Re:MicroSD card? by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      "2. However in case you need to have your Contacts or Calendars information synchronized separately, you can use third-party Caldav/Carddav applications. Please check the configuration process below:"

      So basically your choice is to use activesync, assuming the server you are using supports it, or you have to use a 3rd party tool to use actual carddav/caldav support.

    106. Re:MicroSD card? by laird · · Score: 1

      What I wrote was the opposite of that - I said that Apple, like all similar companies, documents the total storage precisely, and says that user available storage is less. The exact user storage varies by OS version, options enabled (some consume storage), fonts installed, apps, etc.

      Keep in mind that iOS 8 is 1 GB, so it's not like (for example) the MS Surface, which uses 27 GB of storage for the OS and standard apps.

  2. Re:Entitlement by ngc5194 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not so easy. What if Apple is adding wasted space to their OS distributions in order to coerce/trick customers into upgrading the older, lower capacity devices? Bear in mind that I don't know that they are, but I think it's certainly okay to pose the question if the larger space required by the newer operating systems is actually being used by new features or not. It may not be illegal for them to do so, but it's certainly morally questionable, and if they're doing this, I'd at least like to know.

  3. From the same people by hawkingradiation · · Score: 3, Insightful

    who brought us the "Google includes its own advertisements in search" complainers. They developed the product, so they get to say how it behaves or how much of their own product they include with their own product. Or should we conclude that these companies represent a significant presence in our life that we should all pay a mandatory fee to them and treat them as otherwise some sort of necessary corporations that simply have to exist? But then they would be like governments. Because that is the only way we will have a say in what they produce, except with our wallets.

    --
    Society use your Sciences
  4. Re:Entitlement by Balial · · Score: 1

    Apple already does report base-10 capacities:

    http://support.apple.com/en-us...

    Well, kinda? sorta? sometimes? tl;dr for me.

  5. Re:Entitlement by MouseR · · Score: 5, Informative

    And how do you figure they are wasting space? Ever examined the content of their apps?

    It's all about distribution issues. One-size-fits-all ends up requiring App developers to ship with 1x, 2x and now 3x bitmaps for the artwork. This does inflate apps, just as having multiple interface files specialization for multiple device sizes (~iphone & ~ipad xib files, or the bloating AutoLayout + Size Classes super storyboards). It's inevitable.

    But Apple is also taking steps towards reduced bitmap footprints.

    As of iOS 7, there has been FAR fewer bitmaps in the core OS in favour of lighter (visually and storage-wise) user interfaces.

    With the introduction of PDF-based image assets that auto-compiles all the required resolutions, developers are now in a position to gradually rid themselves of the burden of maintaining multiple bitmaps (those where getting quite a hassle in large projects where every image was a trio of increasing sized bitmaps).

    In OS X, PDF images are rendered natively and bypass the asset compiler. In iOS 8, the path is paved for abandoning bitmaps altogether.

    So, no, Apple is not making their OS fatter on purpose. It's the cost of added features and backward compatibility that does that.

  6. Feeping creatursim by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So they're upset that new features in an OS consumes more memory?

    I felt like a million IT people cried out "DUH!" and then were silenced.

    1. Re:Feeping creatursim by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

      No. You can delete it now, without upgrading. Apple released a utility to do that within a couple of weeks of iOS 8 coming out.

    2. Re:Feeping creatursim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, developers actually gave a fuck about the amount of space their software took because there was such limited space. They endeavored to introduce more features while using up less space and running faster. In fact, they'd regularly advertise on that fact because it was in a true sense an upgrade.

      In those days, developers were cheap, relatively, hardware was expensive, relatively and software was featureless, relatively.

    3. Re: Feeping creatursim by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

      You are forced to buy new hardware because if you stick with the older version OS, you can't download apps from the app store (since most apps get updated to use the latest version of the OS)

      If there was an older version of the app available that supports your OS. You are automatically given the option of downloading the old version.

  7. Background by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just for reference, Orshan is a bankruptcy lawyer, but, while he's a named plaintiff, there are other lawyers handling the case. Christopher Endara was VP of a generic orthopedic screw manufacturer (Internal Fixation Systems, OTC stock IFIXQ) that went bankrupt; the company assets were bought up by US Orthopedics.

    The class action filing can be read at https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2893306/1-main.0.pdf .

    Not that anyone cares, but background is fun; let the fanboi wars begin.

  8. Re:Caveat emptor by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

    For example, if I bought an 8GB phone, I might have been told I could easily fit a movie or a couple of TV shows on it. Now, after updating to the latest version of the system software, I can no longer fit a movie on it. I updated my phone and now it won't do what I was told it could do and it never warned me that this might be an issue before I updated it.

    Not that I necessarily agree with the lawsuit, but it might be worthwhile if Apple says to those people with 8GB phones, "Hey, you might NOT want to update your system software because you won't have much room afterwards."

  9. The premise of the suit is fatally flawed, period. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The core reality in anything having to do with personal computers or similar devices
    is that older hardware in the computer industry is always made obsolete by increasing
    requirements for storage or performance ( or both ).

    The idea that older hardware should have made allowances for software which did not
    even exist when the hardware was spec'd and manufactured is simply absurd.

    The only hope for this lawsuit is for the plaintiffs to somehow make sure the judge or jury
    are technically illiterate. However I am pretty sure that Apple's counsel will make sure that
    the case does not proceed when such conditions exist, because a non-tech savvy person
    cannot possibly make a sound judgement of the merits of this suit.

    Frankly, suits like this should result in punishment for those who file the suits. It's such obvious bullshit
    and it wastes the court's time and also wastes the resources of the company which must defend itself.

  10. Re:Caveat emptor by ruir · · Score: 1

    No, I have not the 8GB, 16GB, whatever GB they are selling. I rather think if those gentlemen want to him, rather than complaining about the new OS taking more memory (stupid), they could complaint about Apple misleading people about 1K = 1000. I certainly feel cheated about my "128" iPhone having only 114GB.

  11. Re:Entitlement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And if a computer is advertised as having a 250GB HDD and 16GB of RAM, that should be after factoring in what Windows 8 will need, am I right?

  12. Re:Entitlement by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Entitlement, and trying to profit from willful ignorance and opportunistic lawyers. All operating systems consume space. And upgrades usually take more space.

    They contend the upgrades to the operating system end up taking up as much as 23 percent of the storage space on their devices

    So, let them revert to the older version and gain back the space lost in the upgrade. Oh, they can't? C'est la vie.

    "These misrepresentations and omissions cause these consumers to 'upgrade' their Devices from iOS 7 (or other operating systems) to iOS 8," it said. "Apple fails to disclose that upgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 8 will cost a Device user between 600 MB and 1.3 GB of storage space - a result that no consumer could reasonably anticipate."

    Did they think that iOS 7 took zero space? Tellingly, the chart they provide doesn't have any figures on how much space the previous OS took up. Guess they only decided to sue AFTER they noticed people complaining about how much space iOS8 took, and never bothered to check how much space was consumed by the OS before the upgrade, so they don't even know how much space the upgrade cost them.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  13. Re:Entitlement by arbiter1 · · Score: 1

    The Problem with this case is if they win, it would open the door for other lawsuits against other makers for same. samsung, LG, etc.

  14. Re:Caveat emptor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    it might be worthwhile if Apple says to those people with 8GB phones, "Hey, you might NOT want to update your system software because you won't have much room afterwards."

    The update is optional, and it does tell you when you go to install it beforehand if you are currently running low on space.

  15. Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Flash is already a bit weirdly sized because of extra bits for Flash Translation Layer to do block management. Maybe we just need flash parts that are big enough for a 1GB OS partition and don't even advertise the user visible partition. As a software engineer (on Android mostly) it would be pretty simple for the OS to manage a private partition because we already partition flash today.

    The obvious would be to label devices as 7GB, 15GB, 31GB, etc. But unless all devices did this universally I don't think the public would accept that either. It would be better to secretly charge the consumer for the extra GB for the OS.

    ps - I picked GB out of the air at random as a somewhat future-proof number for sub-64GB flash memories. Android uses significantly less than 1 GB, I assume iOS is approximately the same size.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by pushing-robot · · Score: 2

      Android significantly less than 1GB? Hardly, unless you're managed to strip it to bare bones. iOS devices reserve about 3GB, and Surface tablets reserve 15-60GB (I kid you not) for Windows RT/8

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    2. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      the problem is let's say apple takes a noob-friendly approach and advertises the exact amount someone would see if they checked available space on day one. say instead of 8GB, 7.1GB. I can see apple liking this idea. But then Sammy will take the more selfish approach and keep saying "we have an 8GB phone!". Then ppl will say why would I pay for apple when I get 20% more storage with sammy? it's self-defeating.

      next lawsuit: at walmart the price on the shelf is different than the price at the register due to sales tax. class action!

    3. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

      The image I flash every day at work is about 600 MB, with debug symbols (Android-L). It's less when I strip debug prints and symbols.

      I don't know what do say, there isn't anything special about the image I build. It is just the stock apps that Google ships, plus my drivers.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    4. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      next lawsuit: at walmart the price on the shelf is different than the price at the register due to sales tax. class action!

      As a non-american, I found this really annoying the first time I bought stuff in an American shop. I had a bit of money in my pocket (a few dollars) and picked items just below the amount that I had. Then at the checkout they asked for more money than I had in cash. Really annoying.

    5. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      Flash is already a bit weirdly sized because of extra bits for Flash Translation Layer to do block management.

      When you buy a car, they tell you how many horse powers the engine has, and they don't deduct the power needed for climate control, wind screen wiper, lights and so on.

    6. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Also, the size of your disk will change with updates. When I got my ultrabook it came with Windows 8 and only a 128GB hard drive. I think initially Win8 took up 22GB or so. So I shrunk the windows partition to 32 GB so I could use the rest for Linux, which would be what I booted into 99% of the time. Then each time Windows has had an update I've installed I've lost more and more of that space. It's now something like 29GB. I should just delete it completely and have a VM for the exceedingly rare times I have to use windows for something...

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    7. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

      another problem, using your computer as an example. lets say a laptop comes with 128GB drive, but there's a 32GB partition so it's marketed as a 96GB drive. Well if I'm joe consumer and I replace the factory drive with a 128GB drive from best buy, then I'm still going to end up with 96GB of free space! WTF now I'm going to sue the hard drive manufacturer for lying on the box about how much HD space I would get! There's no good way to resolve this issue, other than for consumers to understand that of the hard drive specs on the box, a portion will be taken up by an OS.

    8. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      Well, this is because states that do charge a sales tax rarely include it in item costs. I know that most stuff I see when I buy from Europe usually says VAT included. I guess its just two different ways of doing things.

    9. Re:Time to create 9GB and 17GB flash memories by Pubstar · · Score: 1

      Thats why there is HP and BHP measurements.

  16. Re:Entitlement by spire3661 · · Score: 1, Funny

    We want them to start putting the OS on its OWN memory space, while having a full 8 GB of the user to use. Apple could do this easily without ruining their profit margins. hey are purposefully holding back on flash memory and we shouldnt just sit back and take it. The profit rake from memory is OBSCENE right now.

    --
    Good-bye
  17. Re:Caveat emptor by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    also you can revert back to the phone's original OS at any time. like magic, get all your storage shizz back.

  18. Re:Entitlement by the_B0fh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And strangely enough, even though Samsung used up to half of the memory on a 16GB Android phone, that's not an issue to these lawyers.

  19. Re:Entitlement by Dutchmaan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "And Apple would do this so that they can reduce the number of people running their latest iOS?" No, Apple would do this to have a "legit" reason to tell people to upgrade to the newest "magical and amazing" device.

  20. Re:Caveat emptor by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

    Since the flash memory comes in 1K=1024 boundaries, and there's only 1 chip, I don't think Apple would buy a 114GB chip to stick it in the phone. And really, if they went with 1K=1000, you should see *MORE*, not less.

    I am now wondering how much is reserved for wear leveling, etc.

  21. Re:Entitlement by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

    Help me understand how temporary wasted space (the specific OP claim) that goes away (is not an issue) after the upgrade, is going to make people go buy a new phone again?

  22. Re: Entitlement by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Then they wouldn't be able to sell iCloud as much. Same reason they don't let you easily transfer files back and forth to your PC via USB: so they can sell you something else that does. Same reason Finder sucks shit so bad, so you need to buy a file manager that works. And Apple at the very least gets a cut of everything sold from their store. Not only are Apple products overpriced, they nickle and dime you to death on everything else. The OS on its own is alright. It's all the other shit etc. that I just talked about that keeps me from buying one. PCs work fine for me. As does my Linux laptop.

    --
    -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
  23. Re:Entitlement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No one has (yet) paid the lawyers to sue Samsung. Nothing is an issue to lawyers until someone pays them.

  24. Re:Caveat emptor by laird · · Score: 2

    The debate between 1K = 1,000 and 1K=1,024 has been going on for decades. As long as the terms are precisely defined, I don't think there's a case there. And Apple documents exactly how much storage each of their devices comes with, including the footnote that "1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less." I wouldn't expect a consumer device to get into the details of directory blocks, etc. If a consumer wants to know how much storage the device has available, they can easily check by looking in Settings / General / Usage, and it shows the exact storage used and available. They'll even show you how much storage is used by each app, and for some apps (e.g. videos, podcasts) you can drill down into individual files in the app and delete them. It's really, really easy to manage storage in iOS 8.

  25. Re:Or maybe... by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    It would change every time there is a new OS update.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  26. Why is this an issue? by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 1

    It's already assumed on desktops and laptops: saying it has a 500GB hard drive means it has a 500GB hard drive, not 500GB of free space after Windows and all the other software is installed. Saying it has 8GB of RAM means 8GB of RAM, not 8GB of memory free after device drivers and services and Windows and run-on-startup programs have loaded. So why on a phone or tablet should 16GB of storage not mean 16GB of storage, why is it supposed to mean 16GB free after the operating system and software is installed? It may be simply that phones and tablets have so much less storage compared to desktops, so people are more sensitive to how much is used by the pre-loaded software. The solution to that, though, is simply to either buy a model with enough storage or one with an SD card slot so you can add storage.

  27. Re:Entitlement by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I generally love everything Apple does and makes. That said, they botched iOS 8 from a user perspective. Everyone I know who had a small flash went and deleted all their apps and data first so they could download the update. They needed to tell people that they could do a tethered upgrade and use less space for the upgrade.

    The way they did it reinforces the "upgrades are bad" mentality which is dangerous. Apple can do better.

  28. You think this is bad? by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 1

    Try Windows. Cheap Windows 8.1 (full Windows, not RT) tablets are popping up like mushrooms. The recovery partition, OS, and its first round of updates take nearly 16 gigs. And they're selling tablets with 16 gigs of storage. So you power on your tablet, connect to your network, install the updates, and you've got a few hundred megs of storage left. I bought a $100 32 gig tablet just to play around and see how it works. I've installed Chrome and a couple little games and have 9.85 gigs free. Out of the 23.5 gigs that's left after they lopped off a 5.2 gig recovery partition. 5.2 gigs which, unless something goes terribly wrong, will never be used.

  29. Re: Entitlement by syockit · · Score: 1

    Well, at least they're uninstallable. As for mine, they don't even give the choice, except to update.

    --
    Democracy is for the people; you only vote once per season and we'll do the rest of the work for you don't have to.
  30. Re:Entitlement by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 2

    I don't, that means there will be wasted memory that i could otherwise be using. I'd rather free up space for an upgrade if I want it, than have excess space I can't use.

    What "we" as consumers really want is less $ per GB for the upgrade iDevices, but that would require someone other than Apple producing decent hardware, when the trend is Chinese shitshops producing junk.

  31. Re:Entitlement by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 2

    Yes, the upgrade took way too much space, 16GB devices that were almost full were a mess to upgrade.

    Frankly, given the price of these things, 64GB as the default size, 128GB as the second size and 256GB as the third makes more sense now.

    Apple wants me to spend money in the App Store and on iTunes? Great, make it easier to download stuff.

    How do you buy more stuff when you have no room?

  32. Re:Entitlement by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Once they fill their iDevice with all their U2 and other IToons garbage, they fill up the free space so that there is no longer room for the bloated "temporary" upgrade package files to download. Then, they are stuck unless they remove some of their media (and THAT ain't gonna happen)...

    I have similar shit happen with my old Android phone, running CM7 as that is all that's available for it, and large package updates like WasteOfSpaceBook run out of memory. Then I get to go all techy with it and delete caches and program data until there's enough free space left to download the updates, one of my favorite activities, truly a joy untold, not helped by the fact that the idiots keep updating the apps weekly for some stupid reason(s). The main problem with Android is it's not media files eating up all the space, since they sit in a different memory area. It's a pre-reserved "system" memory area that is very small to start with and the newer apps push the limit of that "free" space to the edge. Feh.

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  33. Re:Entitlement by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    What if Apple is adding wasted space to their OS distributions in order to coerce/trick customers into upgrading the older, lower capacity devices?

    Incredibly unlikely given the lowest model iPhone 6 is a 16GB device, and the lowest model of the iPhone 3GS is a 16GB device.

  34. Re: Entitlement by shitzu · · Score: 1

    Not that i think the Apple wasting space point is valid, but lowest 3gs was not 16 but 8 gigs. In fact 8 gigs was entry level even two generations later, in 4s.

  35. Re:Entitlement by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

    Samsung doesn't have this issue because they consume most of the space with bloatware crap before you buy the device. If that's a problem, then you can return it to the shop as soon as you discover it (or just not buy it, if you've done your research properly before hand). This is different from the Apple case, where the extra space was consumed after purchase.

    My first Android phone was an HTC Desire, which had 512MB of flash. The OS was on a separate partition to the user-accessible space, so it only allowed 100MB for apps that I installed. A big chunk of the 400MB or so was filled up with crap like Facebook and Twitter apps that I never used, and with things like the Android Browser that had to be upgraded because of security holes and ended up with the real copy in the 100MB. They put so much crap in the default image that they couldn't figure out how to squeeze 2.3 onto the device.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  36. Re:Retina Display = Needs Retina Graphics Assets by mrbester · · Score: 1

    Why not use SVG? One small file, crisp at any resolution. Oh, but bitmaps *must* be used and 57 different bloating elements *have* to be included on every web page so it doesn't look jaggy as an icon on the home screen. Which, like printing, is hardly used; if a site is popular enough for a home icon to be saved in large numbers, it'll have an app so you don't have to.

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  37. Re:Caveat emptor by myforwik · · Score: 1

    That's not what he is talking about. Apple 128gb iPhones have about 8th reserved for over provisioning, even with out the OS and courting in base whatever, you never get 128gb. Apple is still on the right though, the box says that 128gb is the physical flash available on the chip. Actual space available is that, less provisioning, less formatting, less OS etc. The real question is when will these morons be suing over a 8gb ram desktop not having 8gb ram available one Windows is running.... The number of people trying to make a buck of Apple's success is ludicrous.

  38. Re:Entitlement by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 3, Interesting

    All of my devices have microSD slots and have file systems that are accessible from my PC's file manager via USB. I won't buy one that doesn't meet these requirements.

    By sheer coincidence, none of my mobile devices are sold by Apple.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  39. Re:Caveat emptor by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

    No, I have not the 8GB, 16GB, whatever GB they are selling. I rather think if those gentlemen want to him, rather than complaining about the new OS taking more memory (stupid), they could complaint about Apple misleading people about 1K = 1000. I certainly feel cheated about my "128" iPhone having only 114GB.

    You are not cheated, you are stupid. Everyone knows that 128GB = 128 billion bytes. Geeks know that 128GiB = 128 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes. Idiots "know" that 128GB = 128 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes, but they are wrong.

  40. Re:Caveat emptor by ruir · · Score: 1

    You made a rather interesting point on possibly being for housekeeping for the chip. However, think about the math. I give you 128GB in 1000 units instead of 1024, how could it be more? The disk manufacturers have also pulled this trick for ages, however RAM manufacturers when they include parity, do not count it as space.

  41. Re: Entitlement by Karlt1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If only Apple provided another way to upgrade the OS that didn't involve the extra space. Maybe they could let you connect it to a computer and use iTunes.

    Oh wait....

  42. Re: Retina Display = Needs Retina Graphics Assets by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

    Also you know what solves this? MicroSD. Where can you get it? Anywhere but Apple.

    And Google.....

  43. Re: Maybe this is good! by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

    So should every manufacturer that doesn't have an SD card be sued -- including Google?

  44. IPhone 4 to IPhone 5 by jmh5328 · · Score: 1

    i had an IPhone 4 16 GB for 4 years and never had a problem with storage. Same with my IPad 2. In August had to get a new phone so I went with the same 16GB and next thing I knew I didn't even have enough space to do the updates. I call apple and they were nice enough to help me get it through my laptop, and while they were at it updated my IPad too, so now I'm screwed on both. Not enough space. I have purchased space on the cloud but I'm in real estate. I have spent time on the phone with Apple asking why even bother selling something that doesn't have enough storage and then they try and sell me this case like thing that will make my phone larger and add GB to my storage, for only $169 for the cheapest. They are not just trying to sell iCloud storage. I want in on the lawsuit.

  45. Re: Entitlement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's easier to get results out of a diet when you start out with a lot of weight to lose.

  46. Issue is continuity of experience by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

    Here's the issue as I see it.

    I owned an iPhone 4 for all four years of its lifeâ"release to EOL. It was the 16GB version and I got by by managing my music playlists carefully and occasionally offloading the photos. Even in iOS 7, this was fine. When I was deciding which iPhone 6 to buy, I figured that I'd pretty much work the same way I always had. Sure, I can't carry as much with me, but I'm rarely away from home so long that it matters, and I was already planning to buy the iCloud storage package.

    Even still, the space problem on my 16GB iPhone 6 is getting on my nerves. I've had to delete and restore my music at least once. Connecting to my Mac first uses a bit less space, but not so much less that I don't have to delete things. The iCloud photo system now works well enough that I'm definitely saving space there, but as a whole I'm running much closer to my limits. I get low space warnings from time to time, and I've started to monitor whether or not I REALLY need certain apps on my phone.

    I would've paid the extra $100 for the upgraded version if I'd known the delta between 16GB on iOS 7 and 8 was so large. Apples cloud services just aren't good enough for me to rely on, and I cross into the USA all the time, so I go fairly long periods without reliable mobile data frequently (I had to have a GPS app that relies on stored data, I can't stream music or podcasts, etc.)

    When availability is a bit better, I may sell this one off to someone that more easily gets by on 16GB, but Apple shouldn't have put me in this position in the first place. I use and enjoy their products, and I'm willing to pay for what I needâ"I'm just irritated that what I need changed with no behavioural change from me. It's all on Apple here.

  47. Re:Entitlement by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

    That still doesn't answer the question. Not being able to upgrade because you're out of space is different issue from the temporary (bloated) space usage OP claimed would make people buy a new iPhone.

    And as someone else pointed out, you can always use iTunes to upgrade.

  48. Re:Caveat emptor by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

    Because RAM is not sold that way. You cannot say disks are sold that way so RAM is ask well. It is not. It never was. Because it would be painful to lay silicon out to cut corners and make your controllers not talk on boundaries of 2.

  49. Re: Entitlement by sglewis100 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Every iCloud user has 5gb for free. You remember 5gb, it's 3gb more than DropBox starts with. 20gb is a buck a month.And 1tb costs identical to DropBox's 1tb plan. It's really not all that expensive.

    iOS used to be a pain to transfer files via USB. You had to use iTunes, and you could send files into specific apps only. The new iCloud Drive isn't quite as versatile as a DropBox, but it's awfully close, especially for simple things like copying a file in (without needing the cable, btw).

    I don't know. I make my living in IT, but I manage to use Finder without buying a third party file manager. But even if I did, I'd probably go right to PathFinder, which I owned a copy of years and years ago when Finder truly was much worse than it is today. And incidentally, it's available without the App Store and Apple makes no cut on the sale of it.

    Nobody begrudges you sticking to Linux on a laptop or refusing Apple products because they have limitations. Well, obviously this is Slashdot, someone will very violently begrudge you, but that's unavoidable. Most people don't care / don't mind. But the truth is, for the vast majority of people, off the shelf, non-rooted or jailbroke Apple or Android phones do 99.9999% to 100% of what most people care about.

    Believe me, I'm not (strictly) an Apple apologist. My phone is the 2014 Moto X (no flash slot, by the way, just like the Nexus and many other non-Samsung phones). My current laptop is a Surface Pro 3. And my current tablet is an iPad Air.

    It's all balance. I loved my old MacBook Air, but for $200 more than a new one I chose the Surface Pro, which is lighter, has the stylus I wanted for taking notes in meetings without banging on a keyboard, and has a high definition screen. I loved my old iPhone, but the Moto X was far cheaper when I went to upgrade (under $400 unlocked, contract free thanks to the Black Friday $150 coupon), and let me do some customization I really wanted to do on a phone. And on the Tablet side, I wasn't interested in an Android tablet (I've certainly tried my fair share), because for media consumption, there's nothing that compares to the library of apps that are iPad native.

  50. Re:Entitlement by jjhues7676 · · Score: 1

    It is not to force an upgrade in a phone. It is for the future of all storage. They have been treating everyone like a drug dealer. I'll give you a little CLOUD storage and the when you need more I'll charge you for it. It is all about CLOUD service.. Example is Microsoft and the new Office programs. A service on the cloud and only a for a renewable subscription fee.

  51. Re:Caveat emptor by DutchUncle · · Score: 1

    No, you can't.

  52. Re: Entitlement by sglewis100 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nexus doesn't. Moto X doesn't. Samsung does. Apple doesn't. LG does. It's not like the entire industry either does, or does not supply removable memory. And even those that do, who says it's easy? For awhile, I had a Sony Xperia Z Ultra. I sold it on eBay for a slight loss because I got tired of it. Quickly. Only had 16gb, but I didn't care, because it had that vaunted memory slot. Then I got the phone, and perhaps it's easier in Android 5.0, but on 4.X here's what I had to do to get things off of internal memory:

    1) Insert a Micro SD card formatted with two partitions, one Ext4 for app storage and one FAT for data storage.
    2) Root my phone.
    3) Install a SU utility.
    4) Purchase and install an app that would let me "link" app data to the SD card, since there was no built in way to move apps (I understand some phones have the capability, others don't).
    5) Purchase and install FolderSync to handle application data moves, for apps that didn't support specifying a non-standard directory.

    Then I had to live with the fact that I could no longer stream TiVo content to the phone, thanks to step #2 above.

    So while my Sony had 16gb internal and 64gb external, and the performance on the external was actually pretty good, since I bought a quality, premium, fast SanDisk Ultra MicroSDXC card, and actually became terrific after installing and configuring a tuning app that let me change the caching settings and other parameters, I have an easier time today with my Moto X 32gb. Less storage, less headaches. And TiVo works again.

    I understand some of the why (try to make casual pirating of apps harder by keeping them on a partition type that most people outside of Slashdot won't be able to read), but frankly it just wasn't worth it. I'm a techie. I had no trouble getting those steps figured out. I just don't want to do that. Then Lollipop was about to ship, right after I sold my phone, and I thought "I wonder if all those apps still work, or what the new process is". I just didn't want to go through with that. Kudos to Samsung for support SD slots. I hope moving apps is easier, but I hate their UI so I never consider their phones. Had an S3 once. Hated it. I'm sure TouchWiz is much better now, but I like Google's own interface best. So I had a Sony Xperia GPE and now a Moto X Pure edition.

    Incidentally, Microsoft has figured it out better than Apple or Google and their phone OEMs. Got my kids a Lumia (hard to pass up for under $50 at their age when they just want to play the few games that exist for every major platform anyway). Just tick a box and all apps default to SD storage, except for an occasional app whose developer prohibits the behavior, in which case you're prompted and allowed to install it on internal memory.

  53. Re:Maybe this is good! by pauljlucas · · Score: 1

    If the ability to add an SD card is a feature you want and, after reading Apple's specs, you discover that Apple devices don't accept SD cards, you should simply not buy an Apple device. While the merits of the other aspects of the lawsuit are debatable, the lack of SD card support isn't. Nobody put a gun to these people's heads to buy an Apple device.

    --
    If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
  54. Re:Entitlement by red+crab · · Score: 1

    Not quite. I might not install an OS at all on the computer; could just boot it off from a live CD and all the 250GB will be at my disposal. The point is that apart from Apple, no other OS vendor (count Unix vendors out) sells you a computer directly - the OEM bundles the OS for you; and in some cases you can opt out of a preinstalled OS. With Apple you can't. I think the litigants do have a point here; if Apple claims to sell a xGB device, then all of the xGB should be available to the user; akin to boot space of a car. How would you react if your car's gearbox takes up 23% of the boot space?

  55. Elementary question by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 1

    If Apple is using "too much space" of their 16GB, how much do they think is using ENOUGH space...and how did they arrive at that number?

  56. Re: Entitlement by gander666 · · Score: 1

    That needs to be read in a Morpheus voice...

    --
    Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress ... but I repeat myself. - Mark T
  57. Re:Caveat emptor by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    what if you do a wipe back to factory settings?

  58. Re:Entitlement by Forgefather · · Score: 2

    You are definitely right that they have taken steps to reduce the OS footprint, but I have a few issues with how their storage works:

    1. The amount of space that they advertise doesn't include the OS and other apps meaning that if you purchase a device expecting 16GB to put music on, but learn that you have 12GB of usable space then that may cause me some annoyance in how I load my music and apps.

    2. I believe another Slashdot article covered this but the total storage of apple devices in the first place tends to be rather low, and it was speculated that this is deliberate so that Apple can force people on to other services like iCloud to store their media which locks customers into their products.

    3. On an 8 GB iPhone I had to delete every piece of media and almost every app just to be able to download the ios updates.

    --
    "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
  59. tangential, but who really needs that space? by retchdog · · Score: 1

    How can 16GB not be enough for apps? I'm really just wondering, not meaning to troll. I have more than I need in about 2GB: maps, facebook and a few other social networks, VNC, terminal emulator, some work apps like Trello, and a few toys. Do you need to have twenty variations of Angry Birds available at all times, or what?

    Further down the tangent, I also don't have trouble keeping a good supply of music without using any cloud bullshit. It's not hard to set up syncing to rotate your music often enough to keep things interesting (while maintaining a core playlist of favorites). I guess if I had to go on a sudden multi-day hike through remote wilderness, I would run out of music, but that's not really a concern. I avoid cloud/streaming shit like the plague, and still consider the SD slot to be a negative; it takes up space, is failure-prone (in my experience at least), and contributes little.

    On topic, I wouldn't mind if there were a notice like (*: Operating System occupies 3GB of space. Future updates may change this capacity, see inside for details), but I still think that this falls into the "common knowledge" side of things, like knowing that a 2x4 is measured in the unprocessed size, and in reality it'll be somewhere around 1.5"x3.5".

    --
    "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  60. Re:Entitlement by MachineShedFred · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On an 8 GB iPhone I had to delete every piece of media and almost every app just to be able to download the ios updates.

    Or you could have plugged into iTunes and upgraded, which would have downloaded and stored the IPSW firmware image on the computer and simply overwritten the existing OS image, not requiring the extra temp space.

    Everyone bitched about not having over-the-air upgrading, right until they started bitching about how much storage it takes to do over-the-air upgrading.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  61. Re:Entitlement by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

    Except you are still missing what everyone else bitching about this is missing - you can PLUG YOUR FUCKING PHONE INTO YOUR COMPUTER, AND IT'S STORAGE IS USED FOR THE TEMPORARY SPACE INSTEAD. You know, just like every iOS upgrade there ever was before they introduced over-the-air upgrades that require temp space on device.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  62. Re: Entitlement by Casualposter · · Score: 1

    I've always had the lowest memory size in my iphone - never noticed a problem with upgrades. Computer and device upgrades have ALWAYS taken up more space and been slower in performance since the first computer I owned back in the 1980's. Suing apple over this is just stupid. They should sue EVERY device maker because every upgrade consumes more memory and works slower on the old hardware. This is a case of lawyers wanting to get rich off of a profitable company for doing something everyone in the industry has been doing for decades.

    --
    Creative Spelling Copyright (2002). May use without Persimmons
  63. Re:Entitlement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Use a fucking USB cable. Then it doesn't take the space required to have two full OS versions on the device at the same time.

    Bunch of fucking whiners want to sue over every stupid little retarded thing. OMG I didn't read the fucking documentation and then it did the documented behavior! Where's my lawyer?!

  64. Re: Entitlement by coolsnowmen · · Score: 1

    AC says "wifi", but also- everyone's data plan is different. I go for under 1GB per/month so yeah, I predownload everything, but I have friends with [nearly] unlimited plans on competitive (not at&t/verizon) carriers

  65. Re:Entitlement by Forgefather · · Score: 1

    The problem with that again is that it pressures me into using the Apple ecosystem. Apple is free to encourage me to use their other products and services, and many of them are quite useful, but if it is found that Apple has been deliberately gimping their hardware to pressure me into using their services then that is a legitimate anti trust issue. Personally I don't use any of Apple's other services, and I don't feel I should have to in order to do something as simple as update my OS.

    Proving that Apple has been deliberately downgrading hardware to promote their services is probably impossible unless they find another video with Jobs being a dumb ass, but the limitations that I feel in their design still stand. And lets be honest. Packing a few more GBs into their $500 phones probably won't increase the cost in any meaningful way.

    --
    "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
  66. Only 23%? Luxury! by Change · · Score: 2

    I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 with 16GB of onboard flash. Fully half of it is consumed by Samsung and Verizon crapware that I can't delete.

  67. Re:Entitlement by dkman · · Score: 1

    That would be a fail move that would make upgrades very difficult. What should be required by law is that you market it as "8GB, 4 usable" and "16GB, 12 usable" assuming the OS took 4GB. If the next iteration OS takes 5GB then it's up to you to decide whether you want to install it or not. Personally I do think you should be able to OS downgrade, but that's another battle.

    --
    I refuse to sign
  68. Re:Entitlement by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    I know a lot of people who flat out refuse to connect their iPhone to iTunes after the whole "iTunes deleting everything off your phone" debacle a few years back.

    Giving non-fanbois a $200 credit to the Apple store after your software ate 5 years of grandkid pictures isn't going to make them stop being gunshy.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  69. Re:Entitlement by TheSunborn · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but I take deleting most media on my test iPhone, over having to install both Windows and iTunes(ARG!) on my computer.

  70. Re:You no longer own the apps you "buy" by Karlt1 · · Score: 1

    1) factually wrong -- it's "if there is an app version available that [the developer has explicitly told Apple they are willing to still support]". Apple let's developers make the choice and the choice defaults to taking away old versions.

    Wrong:

    The choice defaults to allowing old versions...

    http://www.tekrevue.com/ios-la...

    "Apple has now clarified the process from an app developer perspective. The company emailed developers this week, officially informing them of the change to App Store policy, and offering options that let developers opt-out of the feature."

  71. Re:Caveat emptor by DutchUncle · · Score: 1

    Once you have updated the iOS, a wipe to factory settings brings you back to a "clean install" state of the *updated* iOS. This was the warning from Apple Support on the phone when my wife was updating her iPhone 5 from iOS 6 to 8, and worrying about losing her data. Maybe Apple's engineering department has a way to go backwards, but they don't permit customers to do it.

  72. Re:Caveat emptor by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    you could make a full backup of your device on iTunes, then restore to that full backup. this should push it to an older OS.

  73. Planned obsolescence by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    It is to Apple's advantage to bloat up their OS upgrades beyond any reasonable technical need in order to force upgrades. A clear conflct with the customer, and since the customer has no real choice but to accept these OS upgrades, this practice seems sure to be on the wrong side of antitrust and/or consumer protection laws. However this is a self-remedying situation: by effectively making their products less useful and more expensive, Apple accelerates its market share erosion. In the not too distant future, only your mom will own an iphone.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  74. Re: Entitlement by Pubstar · · Score: 1

    My G3 and my old S3 both had a "Move to SD Card" action in the app management screen. Did it work for all apps? No. But it worked for most. I both devices were running 4.2 or higher.

  75. Re:Entitlement by someones1 · · Score: 1

    They needed to tell people that they could do a tethered upgrade and use less space for the upgrade.

    I think people are forgetting that OTA updates on iOS were introduced in iOS5. That was October, 2011. Just over three years ago. We DIDN'T have OTA updates on iOS for longer than we have had them. With that said, sure, they could have made it more obvious (though wasn't there a dialog box that mentioned that option?) but I still don't see this as a huge issue.

  76. Re: Entitlement by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    That is only partially right. There was no 8GB 3GS model while the 3GS was current. The lower models were only previous editions. Based on Apple's timeline you could get any of the following concurrently (note I'm only listing 8GB and 16GB models, all 32GB and 64GB models were released with the 16GB ones:

    2010:
    iPhone 3G 8GB
    iPhone 3GS 16GB

    2011:
    iPhone 3GS 8GB
    iPhone 4 16GB

    2012:
    iPhone 4 8GB
    iPhone 4S 16GB

    2013: - bucks the trend slightly with the discontinuations:
    iPhone 4 8GB (continued from previous year)
    iPhone 4S 16GB (continued from previous year)
    iPhone 5 16GB

    2014: - Back to normal:
    iPhone 4S 8GB
    iPhone 5C 8GB (out of band release 6 months after the release of the 16GB model)
    iPhone 5C 16GB
    iPhone 5S 16GB

    Current Lineup:
    iPhone 5C 8GB
    iPhone 6 16GB
    iPhone 6+ 16GB

    Apple hasn't released a current model 8GB phone since 2008. The only 8GB models released were released at a time when the successor came out to offer a severely discounted alternative to the current model and get people hooked for future upgrades.

    My point still stands. The current bottom of the range model iPhone 6 is no less specced than the bottom of the range iPhone 3GS when it was released. The 8GB models made up a pittance of Apple sales due to their weird release dates.

  77. Greedy Lawyer Syndrome by pubwvj · · Score: 1

    Apparently they're not fully employed so the lawyers are having to make up absurd cases. Or maybe the lawyers are just starving.

  78. Re: Entitlement by SenseiLeNoir · · Score: 1

    Not to be too pedantic, but MTP actually has certain benefits over USB mass storage. It doesn't require the SD card be unmounted first, which causes many problems with appa which use SD card storage. Also file reads are atomic on MTP which is also important for these devices.

    There are some downsides to MTP but practically it works. And is a lot better than Apples nonexistent file system access.

    --
    Have a nice day!
  79. Re:Entitlement by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    MTP is nonetheless a standard and my file manager of choice has no problems with it. I can easily copy media and other files back and forth between various mobile devices, PC, and network drives from my desktop.

    It's true that there were issues with MTP support in Linux at one time, but my distro's handled it without any problems for a couple of years now.

    There are certainly limitations in the protocol (no parallelism, no true remote edit), and I would not want to see it take over USB mass storage wholesale, but it does work atomically at the file level, and it's oblivious to the native file system on the device. IMO it works relatively well for the purpose for which it appears to be intended.

    BTW, I don't own a single Nokia device.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  80. Re: Entitlement by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 1

    Yep, your Mom keeps stroking it while she sucks my cock and says the same thing...

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  81. Re:Entitlement by kommakazi · · Score: 1

    You had the option to get more storage when you bought your phone. Apple didn't force you to buy an 8gb device.

  82. Re:Entitlement by kommakazi · · Score: 1

    You are nuts. Guess what, I can erase OS X off my new Mac's internal drive upon receiving it without ever booting it, and run it off a live CD as well. No company on the face of the planet that sells a computer with software preinstalled advertises the amount of free space available after all the preinstalls. Here in reality, the capacity of the device is advertised, regardless of how much of it is used by any preinstalled software. Not to mention capacity is still advertised in the archaic 1GB = 1 billion bytes method, not true GB's we all use and see on our devices.

  83. Re:Entitlement by kommakazi · · Score: 1

    Cool story bro. Have anything to say relevant to the issue?

  84. Re:Entitlement by kommakazi · · Score: 1

    They do tell everyone. It's no secret.

  85. Re:Entitlement by red+crab · · Score: 1

    You surely can erase OSX off your Mac but what else are you going to put on it? Will it actually run Linux or Windows? By running another OS i imply getting the same level of functionality as Apple's OS provides. As for the archaic GB notation; every hard disk manufacturer/OEM reseller these days adds a footnote in tech specs saying that the actual storage space will be lesser than advertised space; as the OS uses a different (i.e. proper) method to compute the available space. I wonder in what age and what part of the world are you living in.

  86. Re:Entitlement by kommakazi · · Score: 1

    Windows, Linux, Unix, whatever you throw at it... or use a live CD and have the full HD wide open...