iPhone 4S Storage Question

[nope7308]

I've never owned an iPhone or smartphone before, so I need some guidance in choosing the appropriate storage capacity. Here are the relevant details...

My music library is about 16GB, and I intend on using simple apps on a daily basis (e.g., weather, bus times, newspapers, etc.). I don't know if these apps come preloaded, or if I have to download them individually (I suspect the latter). In addition, I was hoping to use the iPhone as my standard point and shoot camera. I don't anticipate taking too many HD videos, but I'm sure the high resolution pictures will eat up storage space.

I was tentatively thinking about getting the 32GB version just to give myself some breathing room. However, I'm not exactly sure how the iCloud thingy works. I presently have SL installed on my Macbook, but I could easily upgrade to Lion. Would iCloud remove the need for additional storage space? Based on this, what storage capacity would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Jman13]

iCloud will not allow music streaming, but if you have the match service, all of your music would be available for download to your device at any time. All iTunes purchases are available for download regardless of whether or not you have iTunes Match.

If you are going to store all your music, 32GB is obviously the minimum (the 16GB version only has 13.5GB of usable space, and you'll want quite a bit for Apps and photos.) 64 GB might not be a bad idea for you.

I typically keep about 2GB of music on my phone and I use Rdio for the vast majority of my music, and MeCanto for my local/personal recordings music, which streams all your stuff as well, and is pretty cheap. Rdio (and Rhapsody, and Spotify, and MOG) is awesome, and basically liberated my phone from the weight of storing music...I've got 12 million songs at my fingertips with zero storage space.

I have a 32GB right now, as I was always fighting the 16 GB on my 4, and I have about 10GB of apps, 2 GB of music and 1.5GB of photos right now, leaving a fair bit free, though I'm glad to have the space.

 

[nope7308]

Thanks for the response. How much storage is actually available on the 32GB model?

I now have two concerns. First, how many apps do you have installed? I was not expecting apps to take 10GB of storage! Next, I suspect my music library will swell to 20GB over time. Would this be cutting it too close?

How much storage would 10 pictures take? I wasn't really planning on buying the 64GB version because it sounded like overkill. Now, I'm not so sure...

 

[apd8]

Thanks for the response. How much storage is actually available on the 32GB model?

I now have two concerns. First, how many apps do you have installed? I was not expecting apps to take 10GB of storage! Next, I suspect my music library will swell to 20GB over time. Would this be cutting it too close?

How much storage would 10 pictures take? I wasn't really planning on buying the 64GB version because it sounded like overkill. Now, I'm not so sure...

With the new 8MP camera, the photo I took is about 1.5-2 MB each, but the size will be reduced if you sync over Photo Stream.

General apps are a few kb to a few MB. Apps that contain a lot of graphics could take up to a couple hundred MB.

I don't have very large music library, so 16-GB models are always good for me and the actual available size is 13.x - 14 GB.

 

[sweetbrat]

I have a 32GB white iPhone. I have 11.5GB (2265 songs) of music plus 1.3GB of audio books on mine. I currently have 41 apps, ranging in size from 2.0 MB to 152 MB each. I also have 6 photos, but not sure how to tell how large they are.

According to the info I see, the capacity is 28.2 GB, and I have 13.5 GB available right now. I was always running out of space on my 16 GB 3GS, which is why I moved to the 32 this time. Hope this helps you a little.

 

[Jman13]

Thanks for the response. How much storage is actually available on the 32GB model?

I now have two concerns. First, how many apps do you have installed? I was not expecting apps to take 10GB of storage! Next, I suspect my music library will swell to 20GB over time. Would this be cutting it too close?

I have 220 apps installed on my phone right now.