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22mac

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 13, 2012
82
0
I'm going to buy my 5s sim free and so the extra memory really adds to the price.
I have also noticed that in resell value the lower option holds its value better.
How has everyone felt using a 16gb iPhone?
Do you always run out of space?
Do you use dropbox to back up photos and delete them from your phone?

Thanks.
 

Iphone5preorder

macrumors 6502a
Sep 20, 2012
873
466
I've always gone 16 but as cameras get better and videos require more space, 16 is just not enough for me. Going 32 this time. Good luck
 

tnick777

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2010
111
0
if you don't purge your phone, yeah it's not enough.

Currently

Songs 1,379
Videos 45
Photos 658
Applications 32

Total: 20.6 GB/28.2 GB
 

EM2013

macrumors 68020
Sep 2, 2013
2,472
2,304
If you don't plan on putting movies in it then it should be enough. If you play games on it then beware as a lot games now are 1GB or more and those will fill up your device quick
 

darknyt

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2009
604
98
Had to use a corporate 16 gigger for a year, drove me crazy even before I had anything bigger.

Now on 64. I use iTunes match and spotify, but mostly full all the time. Granted there are some apps I could probably do without having on all the time, I much prefer having the ability to keep them.

Was a sad panda to see we didn't get 128gb.
 

PDFierro

macrumors 68040
Sep 8, 2009
3,932
111
It's enough for basic uses. But anyone seriously wanting to take full advantage of the phone will go with at least 32.
 

AAPLinc

macrumors 65816
Jul 27, 2012
1,292
2
Hollywood, CA
I have 10.1gb free on my 16gb lol. So I'm only using 2.5gb.

Because... I don't have any music (I have a 3G nano), I have 11 videos, 156 photos, 44 apps (mostly games, Facebook, Instagram, bank/CC apps), and I'm jailbroken with a bunch of tweaks for fun.

So 16gb is enough for me, but I also like a clutter free phone. Usually when I take pics, I upload them and delete if I don't need them on my phone.
 

Kurso

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2013
304
3
I'm going to buy my 5s sim free and so the extra memory really adds to the price.
I have also noticed that in resell value the lower option holds its value better.
How has everyone felt using a 16gb iPhone?
Do you always run out of space?
Do you use dropbox to back up photos and delete them from your phone?

Thanks.

I am still on a iPhone 4 16GB. I currently have 975MB free. Here is the way I look at it:

Take the size of your music collection and add that to the number of movies you want to keep on your phone * 1.5. Then add 10GB to that. That is a good number to aim for.

For me the math works like this: 2GB of music, 0GB of movies (don't watch them on my phone), 10GB of everything else. 16GB is good enough for now but I'm getting the 32GB to plan for growth in app size.
 

ItHurtsWhenIP

macrumors 6502
Aug 20, 2013
409
28
'Merica!
I listen to music through Pandora One or SiriusXM app on my 16gb phone (not iPhone, but 16gb is 16gb). I don't know if it's available for iOS, but I've used Mecanto to keep access to my entire song library on the road. Decided internet radio was enough for me so I don't use that anymore. Never really used it much to begin with, but it was handy for a while. I do keep a playlist of favorite songs on the phone in case I need it, but that's usually no more than 20-30 songs and changes once a month or so.

I don't take a whole lot of pictures/videos, but do have a couple gigs worth that are all uploaded to dropbox now.

If you feel the need to keep every picture and video ever, along with a huge song library, and like mentioned many games and apps - probably go 32.

I'm perfectly happy with 16.
 

NastyNoble

macrumors newbie
Aug 29, 2012
16
0
Honolulu, HI
for me it works fine because i never put my whole itunes library on there and with all the radio streams i dont need to full it up with music. then i have netflix and hulu+ so i dont store movies or tv shows on there. pics are in the stream or dropbox so im cool with 16gb. i mean people are buying an new phone every year its cheaper on your pockets even though im not hurting for bread at all.
 

TallManNY

macrumors 601
Nov 5, 2007
4,691
1,545
Movies and video are what take up space: 1GB per movie or even more. Drop that out and limit yourself to "only" a few days of music and you can get by on 16GB now. But if you expect the phone to be a 2+ year phone, then you have to factor in Apps getting larger and larger. I'd go with the 32 GB if you are buying the 5S. And in fact that is what I will be getting.

I've got 5 32 GB with a ton of Apps but music and video is largely just in the cloud and I've got 14 GB left.
 

Holte139

macrumors regular
Jul 26, 2012
117
4
Birmingham, England
I find 16GB enough for me. I have a 32GB iPad as well though so I have no problem with managing my apps because I use them both for different things. For example, on my iPhone I'll just sync the apps I use most, plus a small number of my favourite albums and a few small time-waster games. I'll save all the memory-eating apps and proper games for my iPad.
 

OutSpoken

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2009
902
106
UK
16GB has always been enough for me.

I dont store music on my phone, i stream instead and since buying my iPad 3 last year, I now game less on my iPhone and more on the iPad, so again space saved there.
 

drb1992

macrumors 6502
Oct 4, 2011
311
0
A big factor in what storage capacity you need is how much music you plan on keeping on the phone. I use Spotify so luckily I don't have to actually store most of my music on my phone, so I am surviving with a 16gb model. But I wouldn't mind a larger capacity, so I could store more music onto my phone.
 

thogin

macrumors regular
Mar 27, 2011
113
150
Games take up a lot of space, too. For instance, Infinity Blade 2 by itself is nearly 1GB. Put a few games like that on your iPhone, you'll be wishing you went with 32GB.
 

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,408
its enough if you dont store your entire music library on it.

my entire music library doesn't fit 2 iPhones w/ 64GB each :p


------

TS, it all depends if you are going to use it for gaming & music, those two can take easily a lot of space. If you don't' care for music nor games a lot and you just want a few of each then go 16GB. Some games are more than 1Gb, the majority go around ~300MB average. The bigger and better looking the bigger the size of it. Also the now free apple apps take some good space too.

I hate this is the third time I have to pay an extra $100 for 16GB more of storage. Apple has enough money, couldn't they just take a smaller profit on the 5S this time. This is one time I say Jobs would agree w/ me since they are presenting two iPhones models at the same price point.
 

0007776

Suspended
Jul 11, 2006
6,473
8,170
Somewhere
I'm getting by with an 8GB right now. It all depends on what you need/want on it. Look at that and see if 16GB is enough space for you.
 

iz2sick

macrumors 6502
Oct 19, 2011
288
0
It's enough for basic uses. But anyone seriously wanting to take full advantage of the phone will go with at least 32.

Anyone seriously wanting to and unwilling to take extra steps to make the 16gb work.

My phone is superglued to my hand. I have two toddlers so pictures and videos aplenty.

Though I don't listen to music a lot, I do love my tunes especially when snowboarding.

And apps... I have tons of apps.

So how do I make it work on a 16g? Simple... I take the extra steps to sync and erase. With music, I just sync the playlists I'm listening to at the time. I have thousands of songs on iTunes, but I listen to them in spurts. It's unnecessary for me to keep all my tunes on my phone at all times.

But yea, get more space if you can't be bothered with syncing your device all the time. Oh, and if you like to save movies/shows on your phone. Those take up 16gb real easily.
 

Spacial

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2013
463
0
It's the ideal size for the mainstream user. Apples perceived as a must have gadget for seniors and others that want to look good. But most of that demographic is oblivious to all of the features and how to use them. They just want to be like their kids.
 

swish2351

macrumors 6502
Feb 28, 2010
354
2
Michigan
I have 16GB on my current iPhone 4S. I barely ever take pictures, and never take videos. I still have 6GB free, I will probably go with 16GB again for the 5S. Only way I'll go 32GB is if they are out of 16GB
 

gonzalo12345

macrumors member
Sep 14, 2012
72
7
16GB isnt much; thats roughtly 14GB of usable memory, with music, photos and apps it will fill up pretty quick. I curently have a 32GB iphone 5 adn might get the 64GB 5s since i have like 1gb left on mine.
 

iz2sick

macrumors 6502
Oct 19, 2011
288
0
My questions are:

1) Why do so many of you keep your entire music library on your phone at all times? Do you honestly listen to every single song regularly?

2) Why don't you guys upload your pictures and videos more often to your computers or back up drives? I personally can't stand scrolling through hundreds of pictures on my phone. Plus it makes it a chore when you finally do want to upload the pictures.
 
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