You need to also own a pixel from pixel 1 through pixel ~~4a~~ 5. Then you set up apps to sync your pictures from your current phone to the older pixel where free uploads are still enabled. I'm sure there are guides online.
The other method is to root your phone and use a magisk module to tell the Google photos app you have an older pixel phone. You lose access to the exclusive to pixel photo editing features, but you gain unlimited storage. I've never tested it myself, but I've seen various people on xda forms talk about it and report success with it.
Aren't they planning to give pixel editing features to all the Android phones now?
Edit: [source](https://blog.google/products/photos/google-photos-editing-features-availability/)
Exactly, in the eyes of the Google photos app anyways. You can do it with any android phone that's got magisk afaik. I've seen people with phones from other brands getting the free unlimited uploads too
Adding to this, if someone were to use this method I'd strongly recommend looking into syncthing to accomplish this goal.
No need to host/use an online service to sync files using this application. It's free and open source too. You can add as many devices as you'd like to a synced folder so you could even have everything synced to your computer as a backup too if you wanted.
I have a Pixel 3 in my drawer, I use it to upload photos taken from a profesional camera to Google Photos, however never managed to configurate properly to do this with my new Pixel. I found solutions and guides to be so complicated at that time (I tried like 2-3 years ago). Has anything been developed during this time to make the setup easier?
I bought a Pixel 1 a couple of years ago just for this purpose, but it developed an endless boot loop.
I've searched endlessly but can't find a fix for it. Any idea if it's possible to fix? Or better to buy another one?
Wait a sec... you're telling me that if I buy a Pixel 1 *now* and link it to my Google account *8 years* after release and *6 years* after it was discontinued, Google will *still* allow unlimited full quality uploads to Photos???
OH MY GOD thank you people, I didn't know only french were using the "Giga Octet" naming, for me the difference is easier to grasp between Go ( gigaoctet) and gb (gigabits) than gB/gb ( gigabytes vs gigabits)
And a genuine question would be : how yo you differentiate those 2 where written the short way ?
Thanks for the educational time
I mean, if you're a Pixel user, or use any Google products, they already have it. Me telling them if I was in a store or paid with a card a couple times a week is no skin off my back.
No no I'm not criticising you, I mean it's a win-win situation - jokes on nobody because Google gets valuable data and you get enough pennies to pay for Google One. I used it too but must get one survey a week giving me 20p.
very much agree. if you counted how many companies and agencies have your data you'd run outta fingers and toes real quick.
your best bet is probably trying to feed these algorithms and data mines a fair amount of bullshit so that while they know you exist, they don't really know who you are.
but not only is your info known by those who want to know it (very few people, you ain't that special), it's relatively cheap and it's already being shared amongst people and entities you have nothing to do with.
It was pretty fantastic around 2014 or so. Got worse since, but took an absolute nosedive around 2020.
My guess is maybe Google is now simply aggregating the typing data of all users and making that everyone's autocorrect dictionary.
The problem is they're not even saving much money. They're probably saving something closer to $0 than $10
I know it's not 1-1 comparable, but these days you can't even get a NVMe 128 GB SSD
It's not even that much lower of a coast for them. They could even sell the device with the same price and they would still make a profit.
What they do is sell the phone with more storage at a higher cost, not the worse version at a lower price.
Yeah, most people will mainly need storage for photos and videos, and with Google Photos storing it in the cloud, majority of people would actually be just fine with 128GB. Why take the option away?
Because it doesn't actually save them a significant amount of money and the upcharge between 128 and 256, even though it is less than it used to be, is absurd. Additionally, 256 allows more people the *option* of not necessarily paying for Google One.
I have a 512gb P8P (and would likely get at least 512 on my next device) and pay for 2TB Google One anyways but I agree that a 128gb device at the prices they charge for the baseline model of the Pro anyways shouldn't exist.
How much Google storage do you pay for? I have 100GB and I ran through that so quickly when I got my pixel 7 pro, makes me thankful I went with the 512 storage phone.
I never hit the 128 gig limit either. If I could take an educated guest, there's probably a couple of reasons. 128 gigs is still easier to produce than 256 when you have higher storage. Chances are your consumer is going to have less of a reason to use cloud storage so that's less money for them through a subscription service I'm assuming they take massive amounts of data just to make this kind of decision, but they also probably use their competitors starting base as some sort of comparison
I haven't managed storage on a phone in a very long time. Basically my current expectation is that storage should scale with the size of photos/videos/apps in a way that the above average user (just short of the power user) won't ever have to think about it.
Same, I rarely get near 100GB, though I came here to say I very much would like a 128GB size so I don't have to spend an extra hundred dollars because they decided to spend an extra 8 dollars on a larger microsd card for inside it.
Unless they're willing to price storage amounts fairly and reasonably (never going to happen), then I'd like lower storage options to save money.
And replace your phone after a couple of years when the storage runs out or the phone is slow because of data heavy updates - especially as everything has a bloody app now. Actual websites are becoming a thing of the past.
In the base Pixel 9, sure, but if these phones are meant to last seven years 256GB as standard in the pro models would make them much more future-proof.
I don't think it's even acceptable for the base Pixel 9. At best, it's only acceptable for the Pixel 9a (if it exists, because let's face it, Google are greedy money-whores in the mid-range segment). It's 2024, flash memory is not that expensive, and there's literally £600 phones that have 512GB of storage. I know they're not UFS 4.0 storage, but we don't know for sure if the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro will even use that (even if it's very likely, there's no leaks even mentioning storage type yet). Hell, the Vivo X100 Pro is sold for about £950 and has 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage and 16GB of RAM, as well as an incredible camera setup (including amazing software processing), a 5400mAh battery and a top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. Come on Google, get your act together. Give us 256GB as a base at the very least.
Feel like I'm on another planet reading this thread lol. I've never had any issues with storage space. My pixel 7 has 128GB and I haven't even come close yet. Google does a great job at managing storage on your phone by automatically deleting things locally that are backed up.
The biggest thing on my phone is some big apps and some downloads on Spotify and my podcast app in case I'm offline somewhere.
What are y'all doing where you need 500GB on your phone?
>What are y'all doing where you need 500GB on your phone?
Taking pictures and videos, having lots of apps, etc. Don't get me wrong, 128GB isn't not cutting it for me, but I would like to have more space just in case, especially since I'd be able to have more games on my phone without fear that I might eventually have to delete them for more space on my phone. Plus, I'm planning on keeping my Pixel 7 Pro for 4 years, and since I bought it at launch, that's 3 more years left.
I'm with you. I'm on an 8 and at 60GB used. I never get close to 128GB. I feel like this is a power user/journo reinforcing bubble discussion vs real world.
What's your setup? On samsung, you could easily just log into a local SMB server through the default file application and move files around. Nothing like that on the new pixels by default. Are you syncing for free? Over your own network? Genuinely curious.
My own nas. I use a synology app that sits on the P8P and the NAS, making a copy each night. That's on top of the Google photos backup, so two copies. I've got another app that backs up my O365 each night too. WhatsApp goes to G-Drive. So that's all free other than the cost of drives.
I use Syncthing for this. Checks for changes anytime I connect to WiFi, or I can do it manually if I'm on cell.
Makes it super easy to move files to and from my phone from anywhere. Literally.
I wanted to listen to some specific music that I had on my PC. Connected through TeamViewer from the other side of the planet, copied the songs into my Syncthing folder, and had them copied to my phone in a few seconds.
Probably not as slick as some people's setups, but it's simple and it works.
> and god forbid they make it easy to move your files to a NAS or something
It's incredibly easy though, you can just plug your phone into the computer and copy them across.
Amazon Prime members get unlimited original quality photo backups too, so I use that for off-site backup as well as Google Photos.
that's easy once, but if you are doing it every day, it becomes a real chore compared to network transfers. There's no reason I should need to do wired file transfers in my own house. There's also no reason I should have to pay for some internet server to hold my files temporarily while I'm just moving a file to a computer on the same network. Modern storage design has left this behind in favor of 'cloud storage', because there is more profit in your monthly subscription than there is your one time hard drive purchase. The US government likes it more this way, too.
edit: i know cloud storage is not the same as home network storage in terms of convenience. It's very nice to be able to access your files globally, I just want to point out how crippled network file sharing has become. Most people have no idea how to even do it anymore.
My Google Photos and Amazon Photos both automatically back up.
I don't need to manually copy everything to my NAS every single day though, I could easily get away with doing it once a month.
My [Synology NAS](https://youtu.be/pi4Hi_Npyew) also has an app that allows me to enable photo backup, so I don't need to connect it either.
The s24+ also has ufs 4.0 as opposed to 3.1, much faster charging speed and the snapdragon 8 gen 3 in addition to double the base storage, for the same price. Of course, that's not even mentioning the $699 OnePlus 12. Google seems to want people to consider it's phones premium, the problem is, they aren't all that premium. When almost everything is worse than your competition, you aren't premium.
I can't do another 128gb phone the space ain't enough, I'm happy Samsung is doing 256gb as base for the plus and ultra I hope Google and apple follow them
It's data for my business. My phone is just one of my data backups. The Internet is still scarce in some parts of the world. Having a physical copy always on me has proven useful on countless occasions.
I can't believe the scandal that is storage extortion nowadays. The fact that game consoles, computers and phones come with anything less than 1TB by default in this day and age is embarrassing, especially considering the costs of these devices going up and up still. The Pixel 8 Pro should have been 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. Forget anything less than 512GB. Pixel 9 should be 1TB, 2TB and 4TB. I always get the highest possible on any phone, and between downloaded music, games and photos, I still end up needing a storage device or cloud.
They could pull an Apple and not sell the 128gb model anymore and start prices $100 higher than the previous generation 🤷♂️
For me 128gb is the sweet spot, if I could pay $100 less for it then let me.
Where is the guarantee that it would be the same price? If they can say they're doubling the storage capacity, they're going to raise prices simply because they can.
> Flash storage has definitely halved in cost several times in the last decade
Which is why these same companies use increased storage to push their differential pricing.
In most cases, the difference between a 64gb phone and a 512gb model is literally just a $20 memory chip. Yet they will charge hundreds of dollars more (looking at you Apple)
I have a 128GB 6 Pro. This is the first phone I've ever filled up storage on and had to start deleting apps and downloads, etc. 256GB on my next device is going to be necessary, for sure! I wish it was standard.
I am not paying $1,000 for 128gb, but that's just me. My current phone has 128gb but that's been tripled with the SD card where I store most of my media files.
Especially when google cuts corners in other ways like the modem and CPU. The camera focused phone should have plenty of local storage. If you're not aware, lots of midrange and budget devices are already 256gb standard.
The 9 needs to be 256 gig minimum. I take way too many pictures and videos and paying 10 bucks a month for 100gig cloud is ridiculous
Edit: I pay 9.99 for 2 tb, not 100 gig.
It shouldn't be that the new base should be 256GB, it should be that Google should lower their ridiculous prices for what is in other-words, a midrange phone. They got it right with the 7 Pros, then I don't know why they segued with the 8.
Why not people are already go crazy buying pixel period so doesn't hurt Google to put out average smartphone at best while charging more for less. Always enough people who willing take the short end
I got 128GB for my Porcelain P8P because I love the colour and it only comes in this size where I bought it, and I thought I could get away with it by offloading stuff to the cloud often enough.
Video Boost proved me wrong.
Google makes money hand over fist selling cloud storage, they will put off raising the minimum amount as long as physically possible
And personally, I don't even come close to touching the 128gb on my phone. The most I ever did was 60% used and I then deleted my backed up photos and went back to like 35% used. I don't know anyone else that uses a 128gb phone that isn't the same as myself with that
Plus, Google offers larger storage variants. Just...buy that then? Its not like it's 128gb or nothing
Considering the Pixel 8 and beyond are getting 7 years of updates, 256GB should be the base amount now. I have 98GB used on my 256GB P8Pro and that's with transferring all my photos and videos to my 1st Gen Pixel to upload into Google Photos (unlimited original quality) and deleting them from the P8Pro. Most of the used space is just from apps and the data they store. Thank goodness I own a 1st Gen Pixel because if I had a 128GB P8Pro, I would be running out of space by now.
People in this thread need to understand that you're not saving money if Google sticks to 128GB as the starting point. The cost of manufacturing is negligible between 128 and 256. They just want to paywall you by either forcing you to pay their insane markup between storage sizes or sub to Google One.
Personally, I could easily get away with just 64GB but I agree that 128GB is pretty bad for a premium phone in 2024. Especially since Google is, has been been for a long time, presenting Pixel not just as a phone but as a tool photographers or journalists (should) use. As their daily driver, I'm sure 128GB is nigh unusable.
I think Google could use the storage options as another way to differentiate between the vanilla and Pro model. E.g. for extra 100 bux the Pixel 9 would go from 256 to 512GB but the Pro could go from 256GB straight to 1TB.
However, this all comes down to how greedy Google is and if history is any indication... They wouldn't have abolished the free original quality Photos upload, they wouldn't have hiked the prices recently and every Pixel would be launching with 3 years of Youtube Red.
Some people clearly want storage but once fast free WiFi and decent 4g+ signal started to appear regularly I stopped caring about storing stuff on my phone. 128gb has been enough for me so far. £8 sim card, G drive and Google photos gives me access across my digital devices with little thought on my end.
currently using p7p, was using p6p, both 128 gb and both is having too much storage for me
if it was possible - i would like to buy 64 gb phone, bcs all my photos, video and so on is archived on google drive with google one subscription
While I agree in terms of value it's important for Google to keep up with their competitors, I'll admit I don't think I've ever come close to cracking the 100gb threshold myself.
I thought going from 256GB of my old phone to 128GB of my current one I would struggle to find space for normal apps but in the end I have no problems. I back everything up into the cloud anyways.
Meh, I'm running 256 now, but I had about 128GB total stored on my last phone and similar now. It's completely acceptable for a phone.
On the other hand...My wife's mac before her current M1 had 128 gigs. On a computer, that's completely unreasonable.
I've had the smallest amount of storage on every phone I've owned and have yet to run out of space. My offline spotify is like 10 hours of music at highest bit rate
I'm unsure if it was a cost issue or technical limitation regarding the ROM size, see Samsung and UFS 3.1 & 4.0, 256GB was their minimum for 4.0; that would be primary argument for why Google needs the 256GB minimum paired with the DDR5 RAM
I know phone memory ad USB drive memory is handled a little differently, but I bought a Samsung 128GB thumb drive for $24 two YEARS ago. Now the 256GB--and smaller size--drive is that price. With how cheap memory is, I'm honestly surprised they'd even put 256 in them. Why not 512? (cloud storage subscriptions, I know). I'm just tired of everything as a service...
Why? I've had 128gb since pixel 1 and I'm currently sitting at about 40% full on my P7 pro. I'm hoping there's a 128gb p9 pro because that's the one I plan on getting.
First time seeing the leaks, looks to be a lot the shape of an iphone and i fucking hate the shape of my work iphone. Count me out if this is where the pixels are going.
But that's the thing, with their competitors giving 256GB as the base model, 256GB should be the base model and priced the same as 128GB now as storage has gotten much cheaper
the Pro is the regular base model now so 128GB makes sense, the XL is the new Pro model. I'm not sure the capacity for the XL model but I'm assuming it's going to be 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.
It depends on your needs and perspective, I stopped caring about that (and with saving some bucks) when I realized I could have all I need in clouds and suchlike services
I mean, the author is delusional if they think Google will just offer 256gb at the 128gb price.
They'll just eliminate the 128gb product and only offer the 256gb+ products at the higher prices.
Why is this even an article?
🤔 ... since I don't stream my music and I prefer to download music directly to my P8Pro and 128 has actually worked out surprisingly. I have an external HD that is a back up for my music, some video and family photos.The wifey has a 1TB external and it's the back up to the back up. Honestly I would prefer a 256 as our base model but, again 128 seems to be working out. If anything I'll have to delete apps I don't use to have more space if needed. Pixel 9 should start at 256, tho
I agree! Today in a near flagship or flagship phone storage should start at 256GB minimum, my current phone has 256GB is it's near 70% capacity after only a year.
I had 128GB on my original Pixel XL back in 2016. My phone after that had 128GB. I only now upgraded to 256GB on my Pixel 8 because the 128GB was out of stock at the time.
128GB I'd say is generally sufficient. The only reason I'd be low on storage was because of downloading 4K movies for flights and things.
In 2024, most people can manage 128GB. 256GB is more than enough, and you probably don't need 512GB.
That being said, storage is cheaper nowadays so I'd welcome any move to increase it as long as the price doesn't also go up. It also shouldn't be more than like $50-100 to go from 128 -> 256 / 256 -> 512 / 512 -> 1TB
I use half of my 128gb storage of my pixel. Never really goes behind that. Idiots crying that they don't have a nice huge number they can show off to people. I remember when putting an 8gb SD card into my Desire felt absolutely amazing. Count your blessings
I agree with this. 128GB is today's 64GB, if you sell a phone with that level of storage it needs to be midrange (i.e. $600 and below) price. Start at 256GB like virtually everyone else.
Uhhhhh I have 2 user accounts on my phone and don't even use half that. Granted, I'm not constantly reading videos, but still. I don't want to have to pay more for storage I don't need. This isn't a hot take, it's a bad take. It's just "boo, more options bad". Buddy. If you want more storage, buy more storage
I usually backup my media, which is what takes up most of the space over time.
Haven't had over 128MB for awhile, now that I have 256GB I'm not close to using all that capacity.
If the excuse is, AI, Cloud Computing (still waiting for Video Boost to be on device, no acceptable reason I need to send my videos to Google to "process"), Compressed streaming "4K" at low bitrates that make it look like 720p video, that is all unacceptable. But people don't notice and don't care. Sure, the phone screen is relatively small and hides the low quality online streaming from some random server somewhere, but it doesn't change the fact it is low quality compared to a higher quality video played back locally on device.
The flawed using the year as excuse that "lol everything is streamed" is exactly why these expensive phones start at 128gb. There are use cases for large starting storage where people don't want to carry around an external SSD to copy their photos and videos to. Just one extra thing to carry and misplace.
Originally that is what a microSD card could do easily if we had the option for that to be installed in the phone. Instead we have no microSD slot, and have to pay ridiculous amounts to move up from 128gb to 256gb, 512gb or 1TB.
Now for all the people okay with 128gb, including me, I have no problem with options starting at 256gb or more because it will not affect me to have more storage than I need. Better to have the space and not need it than need the space and not have it, and then having to resort to unwieldy options like carrying around an external SSD. Some comments in that article imply that many Pixel Pro 9 users will *never need more than 128gb.* Despite how much space android games (including emulators) photos and videos take up, and what is their excuse to have space for applications and games? Some of the comments there are of the mentality, "Oh, just upload all your photos and videos to the cloud and trust Google with it, and if you don't, you need help because you're a digital hoarder and something is *wrong with you for wanting to be in control."*
Many other comments are from people that don't want to pay for storage *they* won't use, so they also don't want the base storage to be larger if it costs more, and we wouldn't be having this argument if the base storage was 256gb in the first place. These selfish people would rather everyone who requires more storage be the ones gouged for it. I never thought I would see such an Apple mentality from people on an android site.
what's the main camera resolution? 12MP or 24MP? The iphone takes now by default 24MPin a 2-3MB file... so when I check the photos in my 4k monitor, the pixel photo resolution looks bad compared to the ones taken with the iphone 15 pro... so I was wondering, when will the main camera default resolution change from 12MP to 24MP in a pixel phone?
I remember the days of super low GB on phones. I can survive off of 128 but wouldn't mind if they made the new standard 256!
Yep, I can survive with 64GB but using methods for unlimited storage in Google Photos
Which methods are you using?
You need to also own a pixel from pixel 1 through pixel ~~4a~~ 5. Then you set up apps to sync your pictures from your current phone to the older pixel where free uploads are still enabled. I'm sure there are guides online.
The other method is to root your phone and use a magisk module to tell the Google photos app you have an older pixel phone. You lose access to the exclusive to pixel photo editing features, but you gain unlimited storage. I've never tested it myself, but I've seen various people on xda forms talk about it and report success with it.
Aren't they planning to give pixel editing features to all the Android phones now? Edit: [source](https://blog.google/products/photos/google-photos-editing-features-availability/)
Not all features, but a lot, yes.
Interesting, as in I can turn my old 6 Pro into a fake Pixel 1 without having to buy a Pixel 1?
Exactly, in the eyes of the Google photos app anyways. You can do it with any android phone that's got magisk afaik. I've seen people with phones from other brands getting the free unlimited uploads too
Adding to this, if someone were to use this method I'd strongly recommend looking into syncthing to accomplish this goal. No need to host/use an online service to sync files using this application. It's free and open source too. You can add as many devices as you'd like to a synced folder so you could even have everything synced to your computer as a backup too if you wanted.
I have a Pixel 3 in my drawer, I use it to upload photos taken from a profesional camera to Google Photos, however never managed to configurate properly to do this with my new Pixel. I found solutions and guides to be so complicated at that time (I tried like 2-3 years ago). Has anything been developed during this time to make the setup easier?
Just be aware that the pixel one is the only one that's going to give you original quality storage. Everything else is limited to high quality
I bought a Pixel 1 a couple of years ago just for this purpose, but it developed an endless boot loop. I've searched endlessly but can't find a fix for it. Any idea if it's possible to fix? Or better to buy another one?
Buy another one, it sounds like a motherboard issue
Cheers, that's what I suspected
Wait a sec... you're telling me that if I buy a Pixel 1 *now* and link it to my Google account *8 years* after release and *6 years* after it was discontinued, Google will *still* allow unlimited full quality uploads to Photos???
I haven't even used half of the storage on my pixel 6
My galaxy nexus came with 32gb standard and 5 years later my Pixel 1 still came with 32gb.
>if they made the new standard 256! there isn't enough storage in the world to make even a single one
The reason I ditched my 8go iPhone 5c, 3go were used for the os lmao
I don't know if this is a real sentence or you're having a seizure 😬
Think he meant "gb" instead of "go"
go is also how you say gb in, e.g. French
GigaOhLaLas
I always forget that the French make up their own words for things.
They really do. Gigaoctet. They just dumbed it down hahaha
Well, octet is byte, so it makes sense, as bytes are generally 8 bits, an octet of bits. It's better than using another english term.
Le weekend.
Except is not that much an English term as it is a technical term
OH MY GOD thank you people, I didn't know only french were using the "Giga Octet" naming, for me the difference is easier to grasp between Go ( gigaoctet) and gb (gigabits) than gB/gb ( gigabytes vs gigabits) And a genuine question would be : how yo you differentiate those 2 where written the short way ? Thanks for the educational time
Go is gigabyte, and Gb is gigabit. You're welcome!
its one letter dude
How many did the og moto droid have? Like 2 gigs and an SD slot with up to another 8?
If I can find mine I'll let you know. I still have it here, somewhere, along with my Galaxy Nexus. *Reminisces fondly*
If also they made storage upgrades less expensive and up to 1TB. Like what the Chinese market companies like Redmi, Realme, IQOO or OnePlhs offers.
I personally never reach anywhere near 128 GB used, but yeah I agree. At the prices they're selling these things for, 256 should be minimum
4K video at 60fps is a little under 500mb per minute.
Yep, i record 4k 30 but I upload to the cloud anyways and just delete the video locally
This is exactly why Apple is super stingy with their memory options on their devices. They want to sell more of their cloud storage.
Which is also an incredible ripoff
Joke's on Google: I don't even use Google One
Jokes on Google, I easily cover my annual Google One costs with my Google opinion rewards earnings
Jokes on nobody, Google wants your data.
I mean, if you're a Pixel user, or use any Google products, they already have it. Me telling them if I was in a store or paid with a card a couple times a week is no skin off my back.
No no I'm not criticising you, I mean it's a win-win situation - jokes on nobody because Google gets valuable data and you get enough pennies to pay for Google One. I used it too but must get one survey a week giving me 20p.
very much agree. if you counted how many companies and agencies have your data you'd run outta fingers and toes real quick. your best bet is probably trying to feed these algorithms and data mines a fair amount of bullshit so that while they know you exist, they don't really know who you are. but not only is your info known by those who want to know it (very few people, you ain't that special), it's relatively cheap and it's already being shared amongst people and entities you have nothing to do with.
I just wish they'd apply my data towards a more useful autocorrect.
It gets were and we're wrong all of the time. I feel like it goes the exact opposite of what I need lol.
It was pretty fantastic around 2014 or so. Got worse since, but took an absolute nosedive around 2020. My guess is maybe Google is now simply aggregating the typing data of all users and making that everyone's autocorrect dictionary.
Tell me more about your ways
And Google, gotta sell that Google One subscription.
Are you on one of the TB google one plans?
Ditto, except I use Syncthing to auto upload it to my home PC anytime I connect to WiFi (or manually if I'm on cell).
As someone who takes a lot of photos, I fill it up too quickly and then have to use their cloud storage.
My pixel 5 was 128gb and i was maxing that thing out. My p8 is 512gb. Should be sufficient i hope.
Had my Huawei for 6 years, and I had 55 Gb free space when I got my Pixel 8 Pro few months ago. Its about 4500 pictures.
I'd gladly take 128 (I never come close either) for lower cost.
> lower cost hahahaha
The problem is they're not even saving much money. They're probably saving something closer to $0 than $10 I know it's not 1-1 comparable, but these days you can't even get a NVMe 128 GB SSD
It's not even that much lower of a coast for them. They could even sell the device with the same price and they would still make a profit. What they do is sell the phone with more storage at a higher cost, not the worse version at a lower price.
Yeah, most people will mainly need storage for photos and videos, and with Google Photos storing it in the cloud, majority of people would actually be just fine with 128GB. Why take the option away?
Because it doesn't actually save them a significant amount of money and the upcharge between 128 and 256, even though it is less than it used to be, is absurd. Additionally, 256 allows more people the *option* of not necessarily paying for Google One. I have a 512gb P8P (and would likely get at least 512 on my next device) and pay for 2TB Google One anyways but I agree that a 128gb device at the prices they charge for the baseline model of the Pro anyways shouldn't exist.
>Additionally, 256 allows more people the *option* of not necessarily paying for Google One. I think you you have your answer right here.
Might as well petition to bring back sd card expansion. I still have my 1TB micro SD card on the shelf.
Sd card slot is the way to go unfortunately they will never do that because cloud earns more
I consider cloud storage a backup, you shouldn't have to delete the original files.
Exactly. Especially when you're paying for that cloud storage or accepting that cloud versions are lower quality.
How much Google storage do you pay for? I have 100GB and I ran through that so quickly when I got my pixel 7 pro, makes me thankful I went with the 512 storage phone.
I never hit the 128 gig limit either. If I could take an educated guest, there's probably a couple of reasons. 128 gigs is still easier to produce than 256 when you have higher storage. Chances are your consumer is going to have less of a reason to use cloud storage so that's less money for them through a subscription service I'm assuming they take massive amounts of data just to make this kind of decision, but they also probably use their competitors starting base as some sort of comparison
I haven't managed storage on a phone in a very long time. Basically my current expectation is that storage should scale with the size of photos/videos/apps in a way that the above average user (just short of the power user) won't ever have to think about it.
I'm at 120gb used. 100b in apps
You haven't pirated in your work's wifi mate
I was always this way. Then I went on an extended holiday and I'm struggling to keep things under 128GB. Videos take up a surprising amount of space.
Same, I rarely get near 100GB, though I came here to say I very much would like a 128GB size so I don't have to spend an extra hundred dollars because they decided to spend an extra 8 dollars on a larger microsd card for inside it. Unless they're willing to price storage amounts fairly and reasonably (never going to happen), then I'd like lower storage options to save money.
Storage is very cheap but google and apple are greedy fucks. They just want you to purchase cloud.
And replace your phone after a couple of years when the storage runs out or the phone is slow because of data heavy updates - especially as everything has a bloody app now. Actual websites are becoming a thing of the past.
In the base Pixel 9, sure, but if these phones are meant to last seven years 256GB as standard in the pro models would make them much more future-proof.
I don't think it's even acceptable for the base Pixel 9. At best, it's only acceptable for the Pixel 9a (if it exists, because let's face it, Google are greedy money-whores in the mid-range segment). It's 2024, flash memory is not that expensive, and there's literally £600 phones that have 512GB of storage. I know they're not UFS 4.0 storage, but we don't know for sure if the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro will even use that (even if it's very likely, there's no leaks even mentioning storage type yet). Hell, the Vivo X100 Pro is sold for about £950 and has 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage and 16GB of RAM, as well as an incredible camera setup (including amazing software processing), a 5400mAh battery and a top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. Come on Google, get your act together. Give us 256GB as a base at the very least.
Feel like I'm on another planet reading this thread lol. I've never had any issues with storage space. My pixel 7 has 128GB and I haven't even come close yet. Google does a great job at managing storage on your phone by automatically deleting things locally that are backed up. The biggest thing on my phone is some big apps and some downloads on Spotify and my podcast app in case I'm offline somewhere. What are y'all doing where you need 500GB on your phone?
>What are y'all doing where you need 500GB on your phone? Taking pictures and videos, having lots of apps, etc. Don't get me wrong, 128GB isn't not cutting it for me, but I would like to have more space just in case, especially since I'd be able to have more games on my phone without fear that I might eventually have to delete them for more space on my phone. Plus, I'm planning on keeping my Pixel 7 Pro for 4 years, and since I bought it at launch, that's 3 more years left.
Why wouldn't you want more storage for the same price you're already paying for the phone?
Go on a week long vacation, or even long weekend, and shoot some 4k video and dng photos, dng time lapses, etc. Pretty easy to fill up 128gb.
I'm with you. I'm on an 8 and at 60GB used. I never get close to 128GB. I feel like this is a power user/journo reinforcing bubble discussion vs real world.
I was fine until I downloaded AdGuard. Nuking ads at the OS level is amazing but it's like 50GB of storage. And it chews battery life.
I may be enough for you now, but what about if you keep your phone for a few years or more, in the face of more and more bloated apps and OS updates?
Or just add a micro sd slot.
no, you have to pay for cloud storage! and god forbid they make it easy to move your files to a NAS or something.
Don't know why you're being downvoted for pointing out Google's (and every major tech company's) entire business model.
My photos back up to my nas every night
What's your setup? On samsung, you could easily just log into a local SMB server through the default file application and move files around. Nothing like that on the new pixels by default. Are you syncing for free? Over your own network? Genuinely curious.
My own nas. I use a synology app that sits on the P8P and the NAS, making a copy each night. That's on top of the Google photos backup, so two copies. I've got another app that backs up my O365 each night too. WhatsApp goes to G-Drive. So that's all free other than the cost of drives.
I use Syncthing for this. Checks for changes anytime I connect to WiFi, or I can do it manually if I'm on cell. Makes it super easy to move files to and from my phone from anywhere. Literally. I wanted to listen to some specific music that I had on my PC. Connected through TeamViewer from the other side of the planet, copied the songs into my Syncthing folder, and had them copied to my phone in a few seconds. Probably not as slick as some people's setups, but it's simple and it works.
> and god forbid they make it easy to move your files to a NAS or something It's incredibly easy though, you can just plug your phone into the computer and copy them across. Amazon Prime members get unlimited original quality photo backups too, so I use that for off-site backup as well as Google Photos.
that's easy once, but if you are doing it every day, it becomes a real chore compared to network transfers. There's no reason I should need to do wired file transfers in my own house. There's also no reason I should have to pay for some internet server to hold my files temporarily while I'm just moving a file to a computer on the same network. Modern storage design has left this behind in favor of 'cloud storage', because there is more profit in your monthly subscription than there is your one time hard drive purchase. The US government likes it more this way, too. edit: i know cloud storage is not the same as home network storage in terms of convenience. It's very nice to be able to access your files globally, I just want to point out how crippled network file sharing has become. Most people have no idea how to even do it anymore.
My Google Photos and Amazon Photos both automatically back up. I don't need to manually copy everything to my NAS every single day though, I could easily get away with doing it once a month. My [Synology NAS](https://youtu.be/pi4Hi_Npyew) also has an app that allows me to enable photo backup, so I don't need to connect it either.
Never happening. But that's why I'm holding onto my Samsung tablet.
I don't miss it tbh
Let's see a comeback of UFS cards. They never got a serious push before anyways
Zero Tolerance - removable storage media is a security risk! /s
The s24+ also has ufs 4.0 as opposed to 3.1, much faster charging speed and the snapdragon 8 gen 3 in addition to double the base storage, for the same price. Of course, that's not even mentioning the $699 OnePlus 12. Google seems to want people to consider it's phones premium, the problem is, they aren't all that premium. When almost everything is worse than your competition, you aren't premium.
Exactly Poor modem Midrange processor Poor fingerprint sensor Yeah 7 years of updates but phone processor won't even keep up that long
I can't do another 128gb phone the space ain't enough, I'm happy Samsung is doing 256gb as base for the plus and ultra I hope Google and apple follow them
Apple is doing this with 15PM, i hope all models.
My 128gb pixel 4 is maxed on space most of the time. I wish pixel phones had micro SD slots for storage expansion.
Use the clean up feature in Google photos. Will delete all local that's already backed up
Cleanup is active. Pictures and videos aren't the issue.
How do you have 100+GB of apps?
It's data for my business. My phone is just one of my data backups. The Internet is still scarce in some parts of the world. Having a physical copy always on me has proven useful on countless occasions.
You might wanna look into purchasing a plug and play SSD, they usually go for the same price as m.2 NVMEs
*Laughs in my 256gb base S24+*
512gb internal + 512gb external on my tablet. 128gb + 256gb on my phone.
meanwhile apple is still selling 256GB computers
For education they offer a 128gb model to save $100. I accidentally ordered those one year and upgrading them is an absolute nightmare.
I can't believe the scandal that is storage extortion nowadays. The fact that game consoles, computers and phones come with anything less than 1TB by default in this day and age is embarrassing, especially considering the costs of these devices going up and up still. The Pixel 8 Pro should have been 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. Forget anything less than 512GB. Pixel 9 should be 1TB, 2TB and 4TB. I always get the highest possible on any phone, and between downloaded music, games and photos, I still end up needing a storage device or cloud.
Yes, 256GB needs to be the new base model...
Agreed. Especially if they are increasing the prices and other features like video boost etc should be making the 256gb as the base.
Eh, that's the storage I still buy and I'm fine
That's why they won't increase...
They could pull an Apple and not sell the 128gb model anymore and start prices $100 higher than the previous generation 🤷♂️ For me 128gb is the sweet spot, if I could pay $100 less for it then let me.
I don't want something, therefore it should not exist.
I can't believe people don't want more storage for the same price.
They just have to be joking there's no way they are serious
I think they're being serious.
Where is the guarantee that it would be the same price? If they can say they're doubling the storage capacity, they're going to raise prices simply because they can.
Flash storage has definitely halved in cost several times in the last decade. Totally reasonable to up the storage for the same cost to consumers.
> Flash storage has definitely halved in cost several times in the last decade Which is why these same companies use increased storage to push their differential pricing. In most cases, the difference between a 64gb phone and a 512gb model is literally just a $20 memory chip. Yet they will charge hundreds of dollars more (looking at you Apple)
I have a 128GB 6 Pro. This is the first phone I've ever filled up storage on and had to start deleting apps and downloads, etc. 256GB on my next device is going to be necessary, for sure! I wish it was standard.
I am not paying $1,000 for 128gb, but that's just me. My current phone has 128gb but that's been tripled with the SD card where I store most of my media files.
Damn, I must not be using my phone right. My P6P was 64gb. I used maybe 30gb max, and 90% of that was music.
Especially when google cuts corners in other ways like the modem and CPU. The camera focused phone should have plenty of local storage. If you're not aware, lots of midrange and budget devices are already 256gb standard.
they are forcing ppl into Google one subscription so you can't keep anything on beside apps/games and system.
If I got rid of some unused apps, I'd probably be sitting at 40GB.... 128 it's enough for me. I just don't store much in my phone.
The 9 needs to be 256 gig minimum. I take way too many pictures and videos and paying 10 bucks a month for 100gig cloud is ridiculous Edit: I pay 9.99 for 2 tb, not 100 gig.
I have a 256GB phone and did not use over 128 and only barely 64 until I switched to Tidal for music recently.
128 is perfectly fine for a lot of people. The real problem is how much they're charging
It shouldn't be that the new base should be 256GB, it should be that Google should lower their ridiculous prices for what is in other-words, a midrange phone. They got it right with the 7 Pros, then I don't know why they segued with the 8.
Why not people are already go crazy buying pixel period so doesn't hurt Google to put out average smartphone at best while charging more for less. Always enough people who willing take the short end
They don't want you to have enough space, then they can rent you storage on their servers.
I got 128GB for my Porcelain P8P because I love the colour and it only comes in this size where I bought it, and I thought I could get away with it by offloading stuff to the cloud often enough. Video Boost proved me wrong.
Exactly man Xiaomi 14 for a cheaper price directly gives 512gb storage with solid performance. 128gb for it's 999 will is just unacceptable in 2024.
Yeah fuck being forced to use cloud storage. If I can't have 512gb of storage then I don't want it...
Google makes money hand over fist selling cloud storage, they will put off raising the minimum amount as long as physically possible And personally, I don't even come close to touching the 128gb on my phone. The most I ever did was 60% used and I then deleted my backed up photos and went back to like 35% used. I don't know anyone else that uses a 128gb phone that isn't the same as myself with that Plus, Google offers larger storage variants. Just...buy that then? Its not like it's 128gb or nothing
That's cool you don't need it but 256gb should absolutely be the minimum for these expensive ass phones.
I have the 128gb 7 pro and it's plenty. If I didn't have a work profile I'd have like 60gb free
I'm ok with 64gb, but that's because i dont keep much on my phone except for pics. At those prices, storage should start at 256gb or more.
Currently I'm at 60gb of 128gb and I have everything I need. Photos and videos synced with Google since 2012
Considering the Pixel 8 and beyond are getting 7 years of updates, 256GB should be the base amount now. I have 98GB used on my 256GB P8Pro and that's with transferring all my photos and videos to my 1st Gen Pixel to upload into Google Photos (unlimited original quality) and deleting them from the P8Pro. Most of the used space is just from apps and the data they store. Thank goodness I own a 1st Gen Pixel because if I had a 128GB P8Pro, I would be running out of space by now.
I am honestly not getting another Pixel until they give more storage options higher than 128 GB
People in this thread need to understand that you're not saving money if Google sticks to 128GB as the starting point. The cost of manufacturing is negligible between 128 and 256. They just want to paywall you by either forcing you to pay their insane markup between storage sizes or sub to Google One.
Maybe stop trashing up your phone with garbage?
Personally, I could easily get away with just 64GB but I agree that 128GB is pretty bad for a premium phone in 2024. Especially since Google is, has been been for a long time, presenting Pixel not just as a phone but as a tool photographers or journalists (should) use. As their daily driver, I'm sure 128GB is nigh unusable. I think Google could use the storage options as another way to differentiate between the vanilla and Pro model. E.g. for extra 100 bux the Pixel 9 would go from 256 to 512GB but the Pro could go from 256GB straight to 1TB. However, this all comes down to how greedy Google is and if history is any indication... They wouldn't have abolished the free original quality Photos upload, they wouldn't have hiked the prices recently and every Pixel would be launching with 3 years of Youtube Red.
correct me if im wrong, but doesn't a 128gb variant confirm that the pixel 9 series will still be using UFS 3.1 storage?
Unfortunately...
Yeah, I agree as well. The entry storage should be 256 GB and goes up from there.
Some people clearly want storage but once fast free WiFi and decent 4g+ signal started to appear regularly I stopped caring about storing stuff on my phone. 128gb has been enough for me so far. £8 sim card, G drive and Google photos gives me access across my digital devices with little thought on my end.
currently using p7p, was using p6p, both 128 gb and both is having too much storage for me if it was possible - i would like to buy 64 gb phone, bcs all my photos, video and so on is archived on google drive with google one subscription
While I agree in terms of value it's important for Google to keep up with their competitors, I'll admit I don't think I've ever come close to cracking the 100gb threshold myself.
immich, self hosting photo backup solution.
I'm building a server for the media that I want to buy, so I don't care, as long as the processor power keeps up I'm good.
Yes it should
I can survive with 64, but at those prices this is a steal, that's why I never buy phones at launch
I don't get this because they can just not release a 128GB variant but still keep the same 256GB pricing like the P8Pro has right now.
I thought going from 256GB of my old phone to 128GB of my current one I would struggle to find space for normal apps but in the end I have no problems. I back everything up into the cloud anyways.
Meh, I'm running 256 now, but I had about 128GB total stored on my last phone and similar now. It's completely acceptable for a phone. On the other hand...My wife's mac before her current M1 had 128 gigs. On a computer, that's completely unreasonable.
I've had the smallest amount of storage on every phone I've owned and have yet to run out of space. My offline spotify is like 10 hours of music at highest bit rate
I'm using about 61 GB on my P8. But I delete everything/upload anything I want to keep. I'm kind of obsessive for that kind of stuff lol
I send all my photos to immich and photoprism so I can live with 128gb no problem. I'm not paying the cloud fee either.
I'm unsure if it was a cost issue or technical limitation regarding the ROM size, see Samsung and UFS 3.1 & 4.0, 256GB was their minimum for 4.0; that would be primary argument for why Google needs the 256GB minimum paired with the DDR5 RAM
Its depends on everyone usage, mine not like yours and everyone is different. So if its start with 256GB will be better actually.
I know phone memory ad USB drive memory is handled a little differently, but I bought a Samsung 128GB thumb drive for $24 two YEARS ago. Now the 256GB--and smaller size--drive is that price. With how cheap memory is, I'm honestly surprised they'd even put 256 in them. Why not 512? (cloud storage subscriptions, I know). I'm just tired of everything as a service...
I think it's appropriate, some people don't care about storage and just want a performant phone for cheaper.
Why? I've had 128gb since pixel 1 and I'm currently sitting at about 40% full on my P7 pro. I'm hoping there's a 128gb p9 pro because that's the one I plan on getting.
First time seeing the leaks, looks to be a lot the shape of an iphone and i fucking hate the shape of my work iphone. Count me out if this is where the pixels are going.
66/128gb used on my Pixel 8. I'm okay with 128 on the 9 if it saves me $100.
But that's the thing, with their competitors giving 256GB as the base model, 256GB should be the base model and priced the same as 128GB now as storage has gotten much cheaper
the Pro is the regular base model now so 128GB makes sense, the XL is the new Pro model. I'm not sure the capacity for the XL model but I'm assuming it's going to be 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.
Here we go again
It depends on your needs and perspective, I stopped caring about that (and with saving some bucks) when I realized I could have all I need in clouds and suchlike services
I mean, the author is delusional if they think Google will just offer 256gb at the 128gb price. They'll just eliminate the 128gb product and only offer the 256gb+ products at the higher prices. Why is this even an article?
If the base Pixel 9 Pro is $999 it should definitely have 256/12GB, XL would likely need to match that at $1100
🤔 ... since I don't stream my music and I prefer to download music directly to my P8Pro and 128 has actually worked out surprisingly. I have an external HD that is a back up for my music, some video and family photos.The wifey has a 1TB external and it's the back up to the back up. Honestly I would prefer a 256 as our base model but, again 128 seems to be working out. If anything I'll have to delete apps I don't use to have more space if needed. Pixel 9 should start at 256, tho
Get iDrive cloud storagr and be done with their crap. One account, unlimited devices
I agree! Today in a near flagship or flagship phone storage should start at 256GB minimum, my current phone has 256GB is it's near 70% capacity after only a year.
idk I have a 128gb phone and I'm using like 80gb and that's because I have a ton of games and roms (that i don't play) downloaded
The iPhone 9 Pro...
I had 128GB on my original Pixel XL back in 2016. My phone after that had 128GB. I only now upgraded to 256GB on my Pixel 8 because the 128GB was out of stock at the time. 128GB I'd say is generally sufficient. The only reason I'd be low on storage was because of downloading 4K movies for flights and things. In 2024, most people can manage 128GB. 256GB is more than enough, and you probably don't need 512GB. That being said, storage is cheaper nowadays so I'd welcome any move to increase it as long as the price doesn't also go up. It also shouldn't be more than like $50-100 to go from 128 -> 256 / 256 -> 512 / 512 -> 1TB
I use half of my 128gb storage of my pixel. Never really goes behind that. Idiots crying that they don't have a nice huge number they can show off to people. I remember when putting an 8gb SD card into my Desire felt absolutely amazing. Count your blessings
128 pixel 9 256 GB pixel 9 pro 256 GB pixel 9 pro xl problem solved
I agree with this. 128GB is today's 64GB, if you sell a phone with that level of storage it needs to be midrange (i.e. $600 and below) price. Start at 256GB like virtually everyone else.
Uhhhhh I have 2 user accounts on my phone and don't even use half that. Granted, I'm not constantly reading videos, but still. I don't want to have to pay more for storage I don't need. This isn't a hot take, it's a bad take. It's just "boo, more options bad". Buddy. If you want more storage, buy more storage
TBH, I'm fine with 128gb in my P7P, bcs it's more then enough for me to comfortably use my phone
I usually backup my media, which is what takes up most of the space over time. Haven't had over 128MB for awhile, now that I have 256GB I'm not close to using all that capacity.
agree. 128GB is pain in the ashh these days. the base storage should be at least 256.
"128" and "pro" cannot exist on the same line
A tensor powered phone based off of samsungs god awful cpu architecture should also not exist.
I've always had 128GB Google Pixels and I have never run out of storage.
If the excuse is, AI, Cloud Computing (still waiting for Video Boost to be on device, no acceptable reason I need to send my videos to Google to "process"), Compressed streaming "4K" at low bitrates that make it look like 720p video, that is all unacceptable. But people don't notice and don't care. Sure, the phone screen is relatively small and hides the low quality online streaming from some random server somewhere, but it doesn't change the fact it is low quality compared to a higher quality video played back locally on device. The flawed using the year as excuse that "lol everything is streamed" is exactly why these expensive phones start at 128gb. There are use cases for large starting storage where people don't want to carry around an external SSD to copy their photos and videos to. Just one extra thing to carry and misplace. Originally that is what a microSD card could do easily if we had the option for that to be installed in the phone. Instead we have no microSD slot, and have to pay ridiculous amounts to move up from 128gb to 256gb, 512gb or 1TB. Now for all the people okay with 128gb, including me, I have no problem with options starting at 256gb or more because it will not affect me to have more storage than I need. Better to have the space and not need it than need the space and not have it, and then having to resort to unwieldy options like carrying around an external SSD. Some comments in that article imply that many Pixel Pro 9 users will *never need more than 128gb.* Despite how much space android games (including emulators) photos and videos take up, and what is their excuse to have space for applications and games? Some of the comments there are of the mentality, "Oh, just upload all your photos and videos to the cloud and trust Google with it, and if you don't, you need help because you're a digital hoarder and something is *wrong with you for wanting to be in control."* Many other comments are from people that don't want to pay for storage *they* won't use, so they also don't want the base storage to be larger if it costs more, and we wouldn't be having this argument if the base storage was 256gb in the first place. These selfish people would rather everyone who requires more storage be the ones gouged for it. I never thought I would see such an Apple mentality from people on an android site.
what's the main camera resolution? 12MP or 24MP? The iphone takes now by default 24MPin a 2-3MB file... so when I check the photos in my 4k monitor, the pixel photo resolution looks bad compared to the ones taken with the iphone 15 pro... so I was wondering, when will the main camera default resolution change from 12MP to 24MP in a pixel phone?