The U.S. launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is imminent and Android fans are clamoring to get their hands on the Korean manufacturer’s latest flagship Android device. Anyone hoping to use the phone to store pictures, audio, and video, however, had better have an SD card handy.
Geek.com got its hands on an S4 this week and are now reporting that the smartphone will come with over 7GB of Android and Samsung software pre-installed. For perspective, that’s nearly half of the storage found in the 16GB version of the S4.
It’s been clear for a while that Samsung has been focusing its development and advertising on software. The company is trying to differentiate itself from other smartphone manufacturers now that Android device hardware has caught up with, and in some cases exceeded, Apple’s iPhone. Eye-catching software is a way to do that, but with it comes software bloat and apps that seem nice but are rarely used in practice.
The good thing is, Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones are also popular among the Android modding community. Modders have already rooted some versions of the Galaxy S4 and are working to unlock the bootloader for versions of the phone that are locked by U.S. carriers (such as AT&T). Once rooted, Samsung’s Galaxy devices have access to a wide variety of roms to choose from that do not come pre-loaded with crapware.