What Size Do You Need?

Lately I have had more than a few people come up and ask me what device and sized device they should purchase.  The release of the iPhone 4S and the newish 8GB iPhone 4 along with the holiday shopping season probably has a lot to do with the questions.  Who wouldn't like to find a shiny new iPad under their Christmas tree?  Or maybe a new iPhone?  Heck, there is nothing wrong with buying yourself a new toy every so often and I should know that!

I decided to write up some ideas and suggestions on the matter.  Keep on reading.

The size of device one should get depends first on the device.

iPad (And Other Tablets)

This one is not as easy as say picking what storage capcity you want for a phone type device so I'll start with it first.

The iPad has a larger screen and is designed for a larger experience than one has on a smaller device such as the iPhone.  The iPad only apps tend to be quite a bit larger in size and when you import pictures from iTunes they tend to run a bit larger as well.  If you're like me you also like to import the highest quality video for watching on the larger screen and HD videos run over a GB in size.

Above is a picture of the current storage situation on my iPad (32GB Wi-Fi White).  As you can see Apps take up the most space by far followed by photos, other, books, and a small bit of audio files.  This is what I mean about apps taking up a LOT of space on the iPad.  Of course this is a result of the data the apps hold.  I subscribe to several digital version of magazines and tend to keep them handy on the device along with a few games.  

Ebooks tend to not take up too much space as evidenced by the paltry 0.19GB of them on my device.  Consider that between all the ebook apps (iBooks, Kindle, Nook, and Kobo) I have in the neighborhood of around 200 books on my iPad right now but I have two years worth of Macworld, PC Magazine, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Our State, and Maxim magazines along with a few other one off issue purchases just within the Zinio app and that doesn't count the publication only magazines.

My point is that between apps and their associated data your free space will be eaten up faster than you think so keep that in mind.  If I had it over I would have purchased a 64GB iPad 2 back in March when it came out instead of sticking with the 32GB model.

If you are someone who is not going to be buying a lot of data intensive apps and will instead be relying on an iPad (or any tablet in general) for more ebook reading, light web browsing, the occasional video, and other such less data intensive purposes then you could get by with only the 16 or 32 GB versions with no problems.  Just remember, you cannot add more memory to your iPad.

Most Android based tablets tend to offer expandable storage via either a MicroSD or SD memory card and that is an option for some to be able to "grow" into their devices.  The problem there is that not all apps can be installed onto a memory card.  Also keep in mind that if you plan to switch out cards on a regular basis you may break some apps who store information to those cards by default.

iPhone (And Others)

You probably noticed I practically have no audio content on my iPad.  The reason for that is simple.  When I leave the house my iPhone is with me and if I want to listen to music on the iPad when I'm at home I can simply stream the music from my iTunes music library on my iMac.  If I need music when I'm out and about then my iPhone handles that for me.

Above you can see the storage breakdown for my iPhone 4 (32GB Black, Verizon) with a heavy amount of audio followed by apps, photos, videos, books, and other.  The video on the phone right now is stuff I shot with the camera and I've just been too lazy to pull it off the phone after uploading the content.  The thing about photos is that there are actually more pictures on my iPhone than on my iPad yet the amount of storage taken up is less on the iPad.  As for apps, there are quite a few on the iPhone but they are not as data intensive as on the ones on the iPad.

One thing about the iPhone, I try to keep 5 to 6 GB of space free at all times just in case I go on a photo or video shooting spree.  Both the iPhone 4 and 4S shoot HD video (720 for the 4 and 1080 for the 4S) and that can take up a lot of space faster than you may think.

One common refrain I hear from folks is that they want to pack their entire music library on their portable devices.  If one has that large of a library then they really need to invest in an iPod Classic or other similar device of similar capacity (160GB).  I'll often ask people why they want their entire collection in their pocket with them?  The odds are very good that short of a multi-day road trip they won't listen to a third of the music and some smart planning can ease their storage requirements.  I use the "one third" rule and only keep about a third of my music collection on my iPhone.  Every so often I will go through the music on my phone and add stuff I've not listened to in a while and take some stuff off that I'm not listening to with any regularity.

When I purchased my iPhone this past February the only two sizes were 16GB and 32GB.  I had planned on just getting the 16GB when I walked into the Best Buy store but after thinking about it I literally changed my mind just before the sales guy scanned the box and opted for the 32GB version.  I've found that for me that's the sweet spot for a smartphone device but others may disagree.  The iPhone 4S offers up a 64GB version and for those who MUST have all their music with them this is a good thing.  Just remember, it starts to get expensive when you start looking at storage capacities that large.

If one does not want to keep a ton of music on their iPhone, will occasionally shot a picture of video, some light app usage, and general phone usage they can also get the iPhone 4 in a new 8GB capacity.  Just remember, like the iPad you cannot add more storage to your iPhone once you buy it.

Just like I mentioned with the iPad most Android phones come with a MicroSD card already installed (usually 8 or 16 GB) and the save restrictions apply.  Not all apps will install to an installed memory card and switching cards may make some apps not work properly.  Do your research!

Conclusions

I've not touched on protable MP3 players such as the iPod Touch or new crop of Android powered players.  I simply do not have a lot of exerience with them and frankly, I don't see the need for them for the most part.  Just about every phone sold now can play music, not just smartphone devices and for the most part folks carry a cell phone of some sort around with them.

This post is biased towards iOS devices because that is what I use daily and and I've found them to be the best overall solution.  I've used several Android phones, Windows Mobile devices, an old Zen MP3 player, a WebOS device, and a BlackBerry and for me, at least, iOS is the best of class.

One thing I find as a recurring theme when people come to me asking about what device to buy is that they are not thinking a head to how they plan to use their new devices.  If one thinks a head then they can often times save themselves some money down the road.  For a tablet type device such as the iPad I tend to recommend higher storage capacities as they do tend to fill up faster while with phones I tend to recommend a middle ground (16-32GB) as that doesn't limit them in a way that a device with only 8GB will but with planning will pay off in the long run over spend the extra cash for wasted space.

Another good rule of thumb is the go through your devices every few months and take a long hard look at what you use on a regular basis as far as apps go and what you listen to and watch for audio and video.  If you're not making use of it get it off the device and free up some space for something you may want to do later.

Feel free to use the contact page if you have any questions!