Buy the Largest Storage Possible on your Smartphone or Get A Regular Phone Just buy the largest storage size there is, even if you can only afford it in your second favorite brand of smartphone

Indian smartphone users are a picky bunch, but on the overall, very easy to fool. Pack in a lot of fancy sounding features, even if there exists a better technology that can enhance it further, make a celebrity endorse it and you've got sales that got through the roof. But most smart buyers will go through an elaborate method to decide their best pick. In an ideal situation, one needs to understand that cell phones are limited to their physic structure. Sure, they can technically invent a phone that's smaller than your pinky finger – but it wouldn't serve esthetically or be ergonomic to fit against your face – and would obviously lash out on features. Thus a physical shell of a smartphone has been limited to certain sizes give or takes a few inches and thickness, materials used. Within this limitations of space, current technology only allows one or few features to max out, depending upon it's primary use. And this sort of construction-cum-marketing approach makes sense. An avid music junkie might need a phone that focuses on a louder speaker and larger stereo sound, or have the ability for smoother play of FLAC files. A photographing or selfie lover would want a smartphone with a larger and better camera, and a business man would focus one that maximizes on productivity. However there are some factors where everyone ignores – everything doesn't matter if you don't have the storage to back your claims. It's like having a sports car but without fuel.

Storage is one factor Indians will rarely splurge on. Market surveys or even a casual look at your friend's choices, unless they're really into technology, would always focus on getting the smallest storage model of their smartphone. There would be tens and hundreds of times more users of the 16GB model rather than the 64GB model of an iPhone and similarly for the Samsung Galaxy series, or any other smartphone of that matter. This is a disturbing trend, because 16GB smartphone is best utilized for a really expensive paperweight that can also make phone calls, nothing else.

Granted, you don't care of features at all, or its unlimited potential and you only want to tell your friends and company or have the ability to brag that you're enriched with the latest smartphone. I'm not going to judge your choices, but understand that app sizes will only continue growing over the years. There are several factors that your smartphone storage is with buying the largest model, even though it comes at a steep price difference.

Photos are heavy. Really heavy

Ever wondered how many MBs a standard iPhone photograph will charge on your storage? Around 4MB on an average. Do the mathematics. What's the use of a smartphone that's got brilliant year by year and monthly photograph storage that makes scrolling through old memories a breeze if you're not even go0ing go through them frequently?

4K videos, HD & slow motion videos are heavier

Try checking the file size of a slow motion video captured, or your camera running to its maximums setting and seeing its file size. Even clicking a funny 30 second video of your dog trying to catch a ball and failing miserably will set you back at least 300MB – and that's a miser estimate. If you want your smartphone's maximum potential, it makes sense to have these memories on your device on the go, not just backed up on your computer.

Cloud services are not happening in India

Look at Apple's commercials saying you can backup all your data and settings on the cloud, anywhere and everywhere, and retrieve them on request in a similar manner. Good luck trying that out in India where internet data on your phone will cost you more than an arm and a leg. Cloud serves have not taken off here because of the agonizingly slow speeds with which they work. You want a smartphone that does this job seamlessly on the go without you watching it do its job – which isn't possible at these speeds. Suppose you splurge on an internet pack anyway, what now? Well, to backup a GB of data you'd have to spend a minimum of 300 rupees. But to be able to retrive the same 1Gb back from the cloud needs the same amount of internet consumption again! Try backing up a full 64GB on the cloud and retrieving it, and you'll end up spending the cost of your iPhone in the beginning – and spending hours of time on it.

There's no end to bloatware

Bloatware, or unnecessary undeleted apps and features that suck out all your storage seem to have no end. Apple's stock iOS is filled with things you or anyone else literally never uses, such as Wallet, Game Center, Stocks, Watch, Podcasts, Tips, News, Find Friends or even the annoying Apple Maps. These consume more space than they ever did. If trends follow through, this would only rise in the future as well. Account for the day when your OS would force you to update and it comes loaded with a file larger than your phone is designed for.

Apps are also getting heavier

The same app that you currently use would possibly have another update in 6 months but an additional 10-20% increase in its size. Sometimes the changes are just something as irrelevant as the icon change, but comes at a increase of 10-20MB! Apps are trying to pitch in more and more features along with ads in them (especially freemium games), and this would consume more space. Some even force users to use updated versions after a while for security reasons, so there's no escaping them.

External storage extenders spoil your whole phone's built

Sure, there are external storage connectors to every smartphone on the planet, including the iPhone, but at what cost? Why spend 500$ on your iPhone if you're going to look like the nerd that carries a charger thing around everywhere with it sticking out of its port all the time?

What storage space is your smartphone equipped to handle? Let us know in the comments on our official Facebook page Entrepreneur India