Do You Really Need A 32-gigabyte iPhone?

By
On December 8, 2008

The rumormill is beginning to build for MacWorld 2009. Once again, we’re seeing all sorts of buzz. Some are a bit interesting but many of them are simply rehashings of previous rumors. Yes, I am referring to the "larger than an iPhone but not a slate tablet" and the "Apple NetBook" rumors. Yes indeed… here we go again.

Having gotten caught up in previous rumor-fest-fever over the last year and a half, I’m gonna take a pass on this one. Yes, I will simply wait and see what actually happens . . . . . . .

Oh, who am I kidding… I want to see a tablet 2 to 3 times the size of the iPhone!!!  Please, Uncle Steve… pretty please?!

Unfortunately, something tells me it isn’t happening this year either.

I won’t however, be surprised to see the release of a 32-gigabyte iPhone, though. With the increase in capacity, the reduction of price, and the ability to put more and more memory in the same physical space, it seems inevitable that the iPhone will jump up to the same capacity as the largest capacity iPod Touch. Here’s the thing, though- I’m not all that interested in it. In fact, I’m not interested in it at all.

This is a new realm for me. I’ve always wanted the bigger, better, and faster devices. Even since making the move to Apple, while I have increased the life of a device, with me they still tend to make it to eBay rather quickly and in pristine condition. But if a 32 GB iPhone comes out I won’t be jumping.

It isn’t that I’m not concern with getting the most capacity possible. No, it is the fact that, thanks to my iPhone’s allmost-always-connected WiFi and 3G and some superb apps-  I really HAVE all the capacity I need.

Think about it-

My iPhone has 16GB of space. Over 15 GB of that is available to me. That means all the apps I want, plenty of music, a few key movies or podcasts and some important documents. We forget that 15GB is a lot of space.

My MobileMe account has 20GB of storage space and thanks to OneDisk I can access all my files stored there with ease.

I have a SugarSync account that I got after being part of their Beta Testing. That account has 55GB of space and can be accessed with ease thanks to their iPhone app.

My home iMac had a 500GB drive with additional 500GB and 120GB drives connected (not including the drive used for TimeMachine). With BriefCase, I can grab almost any file I need off of it and with Mocha VNC or RemoteTap I can see and control my iMac.

So let’s count it up-

  15GB
  20GB
  55GB
500GB
500GB
120GB
———-
1210 GB        And I want to upgrade to a 32GB iPhone why????

When the time comes, and I need to replace my iPhone 3G, I will of course continue to look for the device that has the greatest capacity possible. But for now, my 16 Gigabyte iPhone is serving me just fine and I don’t see any reason to consider upgrading until the feature set on the iPhone improves significantly. How about you? If a 32 Gigabyte iPhone comes out will you be upgrading?