Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
deburke
Enthusiast - Level 1

I have been waiting for months for information about this phone.  It has come out incrementally in very small bites and, slowest and most grudgingly of all, from Verizon.  Now, finally, Verizon has offered pre-order of the 16GB model.  I don't want the 16GB model.  I want, at least, the 32GB.  If that had been offered, I'd have pre-ordered today.  Now, I don't know what to do. 

The "sales associate" I spoke with said she had no information concerning the 32GB model other than it is not offered now.  Will it ever be offered?  She has no information about that. 

This is to be my first smartphone.  So, it is my first experience with the whole smartphone buying experience.  I am totally disgusted with the entire experience.  I'm tired of Googling every day for any scrap of information.  I'm tired of the stupid game the provider companies play with their customers.  Do they think they gin up interest and therefore increase sales by withholding information and leaving everyone interested to speculate amongst themselves about simple questions like which carriers are going to offer a phone, when each carrier might offer it, and when and if the different available models will be offered? 

I am not among the demographic groups that find it important to be the first to own a new device, I have only been anxious because I have finally decided it's past time to join the smartphone revolution and this seems like the best one to get.  However, you can only keep someone on the edge of anticipation so long before that anticipation deflates and I guess that's what has happened to me.  Today I reached the "screw it" point.  I have a perfectly good old LG that has served me well as a basic phone and I have an iPod Touch that does everything else I need, for now, with unlimited free data, so what's my hurry anyway?

Plus, in the course of searching for information on these forums, today, I discovered that there appears to be a long-term problem with Verizon and Samsung phones in the basic reception department.  While I love the idea of a pocket computer, I still primarily care about having a functional phone. 

I realize that nowadays, with these super giant companies, individual customers are invisible and 100% powerless.  Verizon doesn't care what even large blocks of customers think.  Oh, the arrogance...

Thanks for nothing Verizon.  Keep your damn secrets.  I'm moving on to other interests.

(Apologies to forum members--I know Verizon doesn't read here or care, but I can't get through to them and I had to vent somewhere.  Also, if someone could answer my question, I'd be really grateful.  Unfortunately I doubt that anyone can.)

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Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
Asmodian
Enthusiast - Level 3

My understanding is that the sales were too low on the 32GB S3 so Verizon dropped it.  The sales rep I spoke to was under the impression they will only offer the 16GB S4 (their line was "buy multiple SD cards if you need more space").  I believe this is also true for every other US carrier.  I too find this very disappointing, a 64GB SD card isn't the same and 128GB total sounds good to me.  Apparently carrying fewer devices is worth more than the increased profit margin of the few higher capacity models they ended up selling.  I would think more choices makes people happier and I hope they do realize that this market is changing so fast this may not always be true but... I am not holding my breath. Smiley Sad

If this really is your first smartphone I suggest not watching for information about up coming devices, every few months there will be new rumors about a new device the companies are not willing to talk about yet.  Just walk into the store (or online) and pick one that is currently available, it was probably the latest and greatest only a few months ago.  You can only have the "best" phone for 3 to 6 months anyway, this tech is moving very fast.  You might end up waiting for the next new phone forever.

The LG D801 with a Snapdragon 800 looks like it might be pretty nice.

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Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
ericreinhardt
Contributor - Level 1

I hope they do carry the 32gb because I use google music and believe it or not with google music you can only save music to internal memory. I have no room left and was going to purchase the 32gb galaxy s4. Right now I have the galaxy s3 and I love it except that its 16gb. I know i can get an 32 sd card and transfer from my computer but it so easy to just download right from my phone. I do everything from my phone.

Eric

Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
rcschnoor
Legend

You can also save to your phone's internal memory and then move the files to the SD card if you feel the need to do everything from your phone.

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Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
Not applicable

The 64 gb is plenty space for me on an external micro sd card.

however the customer should be able to choose the internal memory they want. 16 GB or 32 GB or 64 GB. That is

what the maker of the phone was offering. The processor is not the same as in Europe and now Verizon is saying how

much internal memory you can have.

Will the madness ever end?

Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
Capricorn1
Community Leader
Community Leader

As I understand it, the 64GB S4 is exclusive to AT&T - at least, for now. Sprint and T-Mobile don't have that either.

Sprint's pre-ordering for the S4 is closed until tomorrow. ("Sorry, we're out of stock. PRE-ORDER CLOSED - CHECK BACK ON 4/27") I don't know if that means they haven't started yet or ran out of the first pre-order stock. Sprint is only offering the 16GB model on the web site. On their web store, AT&T is only offering the 16GB model. They've already announced the 32 and 64GB models, but they aren't available via pre-order. T-Mobile isn't giving out any details about their S4 yet. They are just taking names.

This may just be a manufacturing choice. It may be that Samsung's S3 sales were overwhelmingly skewed to the low-end model, so they are making mostly the same on the first runs of the S4. As the production of the 32GB model ramps up, we may see it offered as well. I also wouldn't be surprised if the higher capacity models are only available in stores in a ploy to get customers in front of a representative so they can be upsold/crosssold accessories, insurance, etc. It makes sense in that if you are willing to pay $50 more to get a part that costs $2 more to manufacture, you probably have money for other things.

As far as the expansion slot, I'm somewhat afraid of it. I originally heard this on a podcast and have been able to partially confirm it. The NAND (aka flash) memory used in devices like this is binned according to how many write cycles it can perform before failing. (Reading doesn't wear it out.) The highest quality is being used in solid state disk drives (SSD drives) since a lot of writing is expected. Within those, NAND is binned for enterprise, pro and consumer models. The next quality bin is used for devices like phones, cameras (internal memory), and tablets, where a lot of write cycles are expected, but not quite the level of those used for SSDs. For both of the previous uses, the memory is not user replaceable if it fails so reliability is important. After that is a bin used for USB drives. It fails often by comparison, but is simple to replace - buy a new one. At the very bottom, is the bin used for SD, mini-SD, micro-SD card, Compact Flash and the like. Basically, those can be expected to fail. They are also easy to replace - with new ones. The recommendation was to either use them as semi-permanent storage by writing to them very sparingly (e.g, once) or never put anything on them you don't have a copy of somewhere else.

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Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
ericreinhardt
Contributor - Level 1

Hi rc i have tried and tried as well as alot of people. For some reason google music hides the music somewhere. I checked all over to transfer like that and no luck. I know there are many discussions on it but nobody has an answer. If you know or find out how please let me know. I have been trying forever.

Eric

Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
japetty
Specialist - Level 1

I would like for you to post a link as to where you read all this because I have not read anything of sorts about this memory and have used this sort of memory for years and have never had issues as those you speak.  I have used this in all my smartphones and I use several cameras that use it and I have 3 satellite radio pods which use this memory as well.  Please post some internet links to this information.  I would like to make arrangements before some issues arise.

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Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Hi deburke. We do care! And I'd love to help get you into the smartphone you've been anxiously awaiting. As a few of the forum members have suggested, the S4 is only available in the 16GB model through the presale at http://vz.to/ZuYhEO. Although there's no information about if a different version may be available at a later date, the 16GB S4 does allow you the ability to a 64GB SD card, improving the memory available to a whopping 80GB. You can easily save downloads and pictures to your memory card, leaving more of the internal memory available for things like messages.

If you are interested in knowing when the next latest and greatest products are coming, the best place to go would be http://bit.ly/dDumph to sign up for alerts.


Thank you
JenniferH_VZW

Please follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

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Re: Is Verizon going to offer the 32GB and/or 64GB models of the Galaxy S 4?
rushmore69
Enthusiast - Level 3

Jennifer,

Thanks for the reply, but please expect a lot of complaints from users expecting the 32GB version, in part due to the small 9GB of storage that is free on the 16GB S4.  You can not install apps on an SD card or cloud, but sales staff in stores are misleading customers telling them they can install apps to the sd card.

Just six games from EA and Gameloft will fill the 9GB up, not counting other apps on the device users would install.  The average game install counting data for newer 3D games is about 400MB, and the EA and Gameloft games average 1.5GB each.

I really hope Verizon plans on upgrading to a 32Gb version, or it will not be a good move for this device, due to the small space available.  I will move my plan of four device that I have had for several years and move to a carrier that will offer a 32GB version.

Thanks