First off, it's 8.5GB of usable space of the 15.4GB of total space on the phone once we convert it from 'marketing' sizes to real sizes. So, there is 6.9GB of stuff taking up space on the phone out of the box.<p>Second, 8.5GB of space is just fine for most uses, at least according to Google. They sell a Nexus 4 8GB with only 5.5GB of space free on it.<p>Third, and this is the key point here, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a handy microSD port so you can add all kinds of memory to it. Memory that is a lot less expensive than going up a size. You can get a 64GB class 10 microSD card for under $60, just a bit more than going from an 8GB Nexus 4 to a 16GB Nexus 4.<p>The one sad point is that Google is making it harder to utilize the microSD, harder to move apps to the SD card (unless you run CyanogenMOD like I do), impossible to store your music/video on the card (movies you rent/buy from Google can't be saved to microSD, in a vain attempt at preventing piracy), etc.