A lot of people who purchased the Samsung Galaxy S 4 have turned the device on only to realize that only half the storage promised is available to use. The reason so much in the 16 GB of internal storage is full as soon as the device is turned on has to do with a huge amount of software bloat. The BBC network in the UK has a TV show called Watchdog.
The show is a consumer affairs program and it is set to air an episode of an investigation into Samsung’s popular smartphone. The episode will reportedly air on May 15. While most of us in the US won’t be familiar with Watchdog at all, apparently the show is very popular and has been on the air in the UK since 1980.
The program reportedly has a long track record of investigative journalism that has at times resulted in consumer rights complaints and even the creation of new laws stemming from its coverage. While it’s unclear exactly what the episode will cover, it’s a safe bet that considering almost 8 GB of the 16 GB storage is filled up with Samsung installed software right out-of-the-box that will be the main focus.
Samsung certainly risks consumer ire when it advertises 16 GB of storage and only half that amount is actually available to users. Granted, it’s straightforward and easy to delete the content you don’t want making bloatware more of an irritation than a true fault with the smartphone. However, it certainly wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the show to result in Samsung having to be more clear about how much storage space is actually available.
[via SlashGear]
“Granted, it’s straightforward and easy to delete the content you don’t want making bloatware more of an irritation than a true fault with the smartphone.”
Not true, without rooting you cannot remove the pre-installed Samsung software. You can only disable it which hides it but it still takes up the space on your phone
Exactly right. The article is wrong. The bloatware cannot be uninstalled to free up memory on the S4.
All storage amounts on phones are inaccurate at best. If you buy a 64 GB SD card you are lucky to get 56 GB of actual space. If you buy a 16 GB iphone you are lucky to get 10 GB of space. This has always been the case. It seems a bit weird how now all of a sudden we are going after Samsung for this practice. Seems like something Apple would pay the BBC to do.
So stupid. Why not investigate EVERY company then since that’s what
everyone does. They were not the first nor will they be the last for
this practice.
I smell foul play singling out Samsung for an industry wide practice.
Being investigated by Watchdog is like being licked to death by a kitten.
They’ll cause outrage and embarrass someone from Samsung PR and then forget it