Class-action lawsuit accuses Apple of misrepresenting iPhone storage with iOS 8

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  • Reply 101 of 368
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     

     

    No it’s not the “right” thing to do. Reasonably intelligent people understand the situation. It’s the idiots, their lawyers, and especially California laws who try to get something for nothing. Why else do you think there are so many warning labels on a ladder? Why do consumers have to be warned they shouldn’t stuff in their ears? Why do we have the Darwin Awards? I for one am tired of your ilk always coming up with reasons to blame a corporation for some little thing an intelligent person would find common sense in.




    I don't think my "ilk" is what you think it is.  I happen to be a libertarian and don't believe the force of law should be used to require companies to communicate in strictly prescribed ways.  I also believe that people and companies should be honest and forthright and that it's good customer service to provide clear, useful information about products.  E.g., I would prefer that Apple clearly point out that X GB of their advertised capacity (where X is a number like 3) is not available for consumer use, and that X may change over time.  Apple doesn't say that (outside of the support forums perhaps).  To me 3 out of 16 seems to reach or at least approach the threshold for what a reasonable consumer would be surprised by.  In your opinion, is there no such threshold?  What if only 1GB was available on a "16 GB" iPhone?  5GB?  

  • Reply 102 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    Neither do a lot of consumers who don't have any interest of a smartphone or tablet outside of internet-based usage. I know several that never use their Music or Video apps, and now that iOS 8 let's iMessage remove conversations older than x-days automatically they are saving even more space than before.

     

    True. I've had 2 years of iPhone 5 now, with 16 GB, and not only am running iOS 8, and have over 100 pictures, plus a handful of apps, but still have almost 8 GB of open space on the thing.  I just don't need more storage, and am glad I didn't have to pay for it.

  • Reply 103 of 368
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,679member
    Quote:


     The suit claims that Apple's "sharp business tactics" can take advantage of consumers in a "desperate moment," such as when they're "trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild's recital, basketball game or wedding."


     

    What the ...? Why no mention of too cute puppies or kittens? 

     

    This is such a load of BS. It's amazing that these idiots can dress and feed themselves, much less pass themselves off as functioning adults. Another blatant abuse of the courts and the class action lawsuit model, otherwise known as "keep slinging crap at the wall and see what sticks."

  • Reply 104 of 368

    Sleezy lawyers need to be convicted by the judge and given the death penalty.  

    The problem of law school these days is that there are so many lawyers, there aren't many jobs.

    So those lawyers hungry for money engage in these types of lawsuits to get their pie in the sky fortune.

  • Reply 105 of 368
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    I care. That's informative, even if I do wish that was never the marketing standard, that Apple use the IEC standard for binary, and that they use BASE-10 in iOS like they have used in Mac OS X for years.

    Yes, it will.

    1) Where is your conversion from GB to GiB? iOS 8 is not a 3GB or 3GiB OS.



    2) Again —and for the last time — If this complaint was valid and perceptive it would reference both the storage capacity and OS in both the same GB or GiB values, instead of switching between two similar but disparate measurements.



    Ok, so your complaint is with my "assertion" that the "OS and other stuff" take up 3GB instead of 3GiB or whatever?  

     

    Here's where I (and the complainants) are coming from:  "You said 16GB, but in fact we have maybe 12-13GB to play with."  I personally don't care what proportion of that missing 3-4GB is from formatting the drive, the OS, the virtual memory swap space, the apps I can't delete, etc., etc. I think it would be better if Apple addressed this more explicitly.  Would you have jumped all over me if I had said that Apple should say something like "On a 16GB device less than 12GB will be available for your apps and stuff" rather than "we're using 3 GB for the OS and stuff"?

  • Reply 106 of 368
    davendaven Posts: 721member
    No when Apple releases another iOS update and it takes up less space than the previous version, those in the lawsuit promise to pay Apple for the additional capacity 'given' to the users? How about Apple's memory compression technique they use on OS X as I recall. Should users pay for that benefit? Saved electrical costs because Apple keeps modifying the OS to reduce power consumption?
  • Reply 107 of 368
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jameskatt2 View Post

     

    Sleezy lawyers need to be convicted by the judge and given the death penalty.  

    The problem of law school these days is that there are so many lawyers, there aren't many jobs.

    So those lawyers hungry for money engage in these types of lawsuits to get their pie in the sky fortune.




    Unfortunately the US legal system clearly rewards this kind of behavior/action, otherwise they wouldn't do it. It's just a legitimate business opportunity to them.

  • Reply 108 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GregInPrague View Post





    Where is it said that Apple has to tell them the exact percentage of space used by the OS? All smartphones have a portion of storage used by the OS. Can you show me a company that is publishing how much space is available for personal content?



    Additionally the Apple Store, Apple.com and many retailers allow for free returns in a limited time period. If this was really a concern for someone they could have found it out immediately after starting their iPhone/iPad/iPod the first time or asking an employee or looking in the settings of a display model. The two options for the plantiff are that this is a cash grab or they're of subhuman intelligence.



    If GM or Toyota sold a car with a 12 gallon gas tank (and also sold a more expensive model with a 20 gallon tank and made this a big part of their feature list) but you could only put 9.5 gallons of gas in it, that would be misleading, no?

     

    Forget the hyperbole of the lawsuit and whether their return policy (or other defense) will protect them in this case.  Shouldn't Apple (and all device makers) be more forthcoming about how much consumer-usable storage is available on their devices?  I'm not suggesting it should be included in the public ads, but it should be easy for someone to find this information on Apple's product pages.  And it isn't.




    It's a "universal" issue. It has nothing to do with "Apple".

  • Reply 109 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    Any excuse for a lawsuit, eh? Crybabies and ambulance chasers everywhere.



    I'm not defending the lawsuit.  But do I think they have a point and that Apple should be more forthright?  Yes.

     

    The fact that everyone else is as bad a Apple (or usually much worse) doesn't change the point.




    It absolutely, exactly changes the point. Just as the judge in this case will show you.

    Stay tuned.

  • Reply 110 of 368
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    I care. That's informative, even if I do wish that was never the marketing standard, that Apple use the IEC standard for binary, and that they use BASE-10 in iOS like they have used in Mac OS X for years.

    Yes, it will.

    1) Where is your conversion from GB to GiB? iOS 8 is not a 3GB or 3GiB OS.



    2) Again —and for the last time — If this complaint was valid and perceptive it would reference both the storage capacity and OS in both the same GB or GiB values, instead of switching between two similar but disparate measurements.



    Ok, so your complaint is with my "assertion" that the "OS and other stuff" take up 3GB instead of 3GiB or whatever?  

     

    Here's where I (and the complainants) are coming from:  "You said 16GB, but in fact we have maybe 12-13GB to play with."  I personally don't care what proportion of that missing 3-4GB is from formatting the drive, the OS, the virtual memory swap space, the apps I can't delete, etc., etc. I think it would be better if Apple addressed this more explicitly.  Would you have jumped all over me if I had said that Apple should say something like "On a 16GB device less than 12GB will be available for your apps and stuff" rather than "we're using 3 GB for the OS and stuff"?




    The specs don't say, or claim to say, how much space you have to play with - they simply describe the flash storage capacity of the device. Where does Apple (or any other manufacturer for that matter) ever claim that you will have 16 GB (for example) of space for personal files?

  • Reply 111 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post



    It's your responsibility as a consumer to adequately research and compare before purchasing. Grow up. This is how things work.

     

    Like it or not, there are consumer protection laws and truth in advertising rules.  That's how things work.


    According to all your earlier posts on this thread; you mean "just for Apple".

  • Reply 112 of 368
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jungmark View Post





    Don't car manus also advertise internal space of the trunk/cabin? How much of that is actually usable.

    Are shelves excluded from the calculation? In addition, they recommend you leave space around the sides for circulation. Is that taken into effect?



    Regardless he bought a 6 and could have returned it.

     

    I would assume that cubic capacity of a trunk is measured strictly by volume.  So if it says 6 cubic feet, I could fill it with 6 cubic feet of loose sand (if I filled it by drilling a hole in the top of the trunk and filling it that way).  So I wouldn't expect to able to store 2 3 cubic foot boxes, for example.  But I would certainly call foul if the spare tire and the wiper fluid reservoir ate into that advertised 6 cubic feet.

  • Reply 113 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TomMcIn View Post

    Operating Systems have been taking up real memory since the dawn of computers.

     

    An interesting point. At the dawn of computers, I think one had to install the OS oneself and, later on, there were choices of OS you could load. So describing the hardware did not involve outlining the potential space lost when an OS was installed. Even today, with a Mac, the ordinary user can run MacOS, or Linux, or even Windows. However, on an iPhone, I don't believe the ordinary user can run anything other than iOS. In effect, the OS storage overhead should be part of the description of the hardware.  Today's telephones are a different product being marketed, so the standards used at the "dawn of computers" really shouldn't apply.  Even fifteen years ago, cell phones of the day would tell you upfront at purchase that you could store only 20 txt messages and 100 contacts in the directory (for example).  It was precious space, and if the advertised numbers were wrong, I think it would have been misleading.  Somehow modern smartphone makers like Samsung now think it's legitimate to sell their phones based upon a capacity figure that is incorrect by a large margin, since onboard systems must use much of it. I recall that a year or two ago we here on AI were making light of Samsung for using over half the advertised storage for the OS and preloaded software on their phones.  I believed then that a lawsuit was in order.  I still believe it.  Alas, Apple is the one making the most money, and since they are similarly guilty, though by much less of a margin, I can see why the lawyers are suing them instead of Samsung.  FWIW, many other brands of smartphone do allow add-on memory cards.  Apple should have seen this coming.  Lawyers always sue the deepest pockets.

  • Reply 114 of 368
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Quote:



    Originally Posted by BobSchlob View Post

     

    According to all your earlier posts on this thread; you mean "just for Apple".


    I've never said that Apple should lose this lawsuit.  I hope they don't.  But if they do, it'll be because they didn't cover their asses sufficiently in their tech specs page.

     

    This is an Apple forum, so I'm saying what I think Apple should do.  I've never said that we need stronger "consumer protection" laws to force them to do so.

     

    So no, I don't mean "just for Apple" (whatever that means), but I mean "just for companies that are interested in being honest and forthright and care about ethics."

  • Reply 115 of 368
    True. I've had 2 years of iPhone 5 now, with 16 GB, and not only am running iOS 8, and have over 100 pictures, plus a handful of apps, but still have almost 8 GB of open space on the thing.  I just don't need more storage, and am glad I didn't have to pay for it.

    I was talking to [@]PhilBoogie[/@] last week about this. Most of the people I helped get into a new iPhone were perfect candidates for the 16GB model. Of course, I'm not helping those that would frequent this site (or even know it exists). These are typically the more basic users that still listen to the radio in their car, and likely AM talk radio stations.

    The first thing I do or ask (and have to walk them through it) is about how much capacity they are currently using. if they are using less than 8GiB I say a 16GB iPhone will likely be fine, although I do talk about the merits of the 64GB model since it's 48GB for only $100 which I think will help with the resale in 2 years. These are people that likely wouldn't update for at least 2 years and not understand why it's cost effective to trade-in their old device instead of paying their carrier that additional subsidized fee that just goes into their carrier's pocket. Most were also on Verizon and still prefer voice calls and voicemails over a text-based message, if that's any indication of the family and friends I was assisting.

    Finally, I do recall one person who has a 16GB iPhone 5 that I had to assist because it would not update to iOS 8 because it didn't have enough room. She is a surgeon and knows well enough, but she had the iOS bug which causes space to be erroneously filled (or at least reserved) and iTunes on her Mac wouldn't even mount it. After I resolved the issue with some special actions and a restore she did have about 4GiB of space free, but I recommended that when she update she definitely spend the extra $100 for the 64GB model.



    * I was able to save everything but her PDFs in iBooks. I thought those were saved to iCloud. Is there an easy solution to do this in the future or will each PDF in iBooks have to be forwarded to another service individually?
  • Reply 116 of 368
    rpt wrote: »

    Talk for yourself!
    We have 7000 iPhones supplied by my employer where I work, allmost all 16GB. This is not considered a problem, and a very tiny amount of our employees take opportunity of an offer to pay a modest amount out of their own pocket for a larger memory.

    Most enterprise iPhones don't have many apps nor media installed.
  • Reply 117 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     

    I would assume that cubic capacity of a trunk is measured strictly by volume.  So if it says 6 cubic feet, I could fill it with 6 cubic feet of loose sand (if I filled it by drilling a hole in the top of the trunk and filling it that way).  So I wouldn't expect to able to store 2 3 cubic foot boxes, for example.  But I would certainly call foul if the spare tire and the wiper fluid reservoir ate into that advertised 6 cubic feet.


     

    And yet I do believe when homes are described (and taxed), the number of square feet includes walls, utility closets, hidden vertical ducts, stairways, and other dead spaces. I'm not so confident that automobiles' interior space includes the seats and such, though it might.  The parallels aren't always consistent, which is why I think for the purposes of smartphone storage, one either has to consider only the history of consumer electronics, or even just the history of consumer mobile phones.

  • Reply 118 of 368
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by malax View Post

     

     

    I would assume that cubic capacity of a trunk is measured strictly by volume.  So if it says 6 cubic feet, I could fill it with 6 cubic feet of loose sand (if I filled it by drilling a hole in the top of the trunk and filling it that way).  So I wouldn't expect to able to store 2 3 cubic foot boxes, for example.  But I would certainly call foul if the spare tire and the wiper fluid reservoir ate into that advertised 6 cubic feet.


    How about the trunk lid hinges, which is hardware specific to the function of the trunk lid? On a lot of cars (not all) the hinges for the trunk lid encroach on the storage space; not when open but when closing or closed.

  • Reply 119 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post



    I was talking to @PhilBoogie last week about this. Most of the people I helped.... still listen to the radio in their car, and likely AM talk radio stations.

    You got me pegged--NPR on my local AM station.  :)  LOL!

  • Reply 120 of 368
    malax wrote: »

    Ok, so your complaint is with my "assertion" that the "OS and other stuff" take up 3GB instead of 3GiB or whatever?

    Yes.
    Would you have jumped all over me if I had said that Apple should say something like "On a 16GB device less than 12GB will be available for your apps and stuff" rather than "we're using 3 GB for the OS and stuff"?

    1) That's still not accurately stated.

    2) I would not have "jumped all over" you if your comments had clearly isolated the fact that Apple uses decimal notation to advertise capacity and the binary notation to advertise capacity in the OS. I would not have "jumped all over" your comments noted that this was an industry issue, not an issue isolated to Apple or iOS. I would not have "jumped all over" you if your comments would have converted between decimal and binary. I would not have "jumped all over" you if your comments would have noted that the lawsuit doesn't convert from decimal and binary. I would not have "jumped all over" you if your argument was clearly framed as a desire for Apple to show that user-accessible storage area for post default installation to be noted on their Tech Specs page as either GB or GiB.
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