Microsoft claims the entry-level model of its first-ever tablet, the Surface RT, has 32GB of storage space. Andrew Sokolowski would like to respectfully disagree. The man, a California lawyer, is suing Microsoft for false advertising alleging the Surface tablet he bought does not have the 32GB storage space the company advertised.

A lawyer in Los Angeles, Sokolowski claims that he bought a Surface with 32GB of storage last week. According to Sokolowski, he quickly ran out of space after loading the tablet with music and Microsoft Word documents.

Much to his surprise he discovered that a significant portion of the 32GB of storage space was being used by the Windows RT operating system and pre-installed apps such as Word and Excel. Microsoft's claim of 32GB comes with quite an asterisk next to it; in reality there's just 16GB available for use.

Sokolowski's lawyers filed the lawsuit alleging false advertising and unfair business practices Nov. 13 at the Superior Court in Los Angeles. They are seeking class action status.

Sokolowski is seeking to change how Microsoft advertises its device and hopes to force the company to give back revenue and profits that resulted from its alleged wrongful conduct.

Microsoft responded in a statement that the company believes the suit is without merit.

"Customers understand the operating system and pre-installed applications reside on the device's internal storage thereby reducing the total free space," the company said. Microsoft pointed to the fact that people can add storage to the Surface RT via the microSD slot and USB port.

Microsoft was forced to confirm on Nov. 5 exactly how much usable storage space its Surface tablets come with out of the box. The company says on its website that the 32 GB Surface has 16 GB of free space while the 64 GB version has 45 GB free. The Surface started selling Oct. 26 and Sokolowski bought his device on Nov. 7.

Rhett Francisco, Sokolowski's lawyer, claims that his client never saw Microsoft's responses, and said the details on its website are "buried."

"They make you search and dig for it specifically, or you would never find it," Francisco said.

Mobile devices advertising more storage space than they actually provide is nothing new. In fact, it's common practice.

Regular hard drives and flash drives provide less usable memory than their labels advertise, mostly because "there are two definitions of the word 'gigabyte.' That means that, right off the bat, consumers get about 7 percent less space than advertised. A 16 GB drive, for example, has about 15 GB available for use," according to USA Today.

On flash drives, the kind used for tablets, yet another component takes up space. A certain portion of the memory space is reserved to replace "cells," which wear out over time. Because of this, Apple's16 GB iPad has a storage capacity 11 percent lower than what's advertised of14.3, while the 64 GB model stores 57.2 GB.

On the iPad, the operating system and Apple's pre-installed apps have their own, separate memory space. In contrast, Microsoft's operating system and apps share memory space with the user.

Not everyone is convinced Microsoft is guilty. Research director for technology research firm Garnter, Michael Gartenberg, claims Microsoft has been incessantly said the Surface tablet would have less memory than advertised. It's "unsurprising," he says, that the new Windows RT operating system and almost full-version of Office take up such a big portion of the memory.

"I think they made it pretty clear to consumers what they're getting," Gartenberg said.

Microsoft Surface tablet features

The RT sports a 1366x768 HD screen, while the PRO has a 10.6-inch Clear type Full HD (1920 x 1080) screen with 16:9 widescreen.

That means they are among the biggest tablets in the market. If you are not satisfied with the typical 10.1-inch tablet, you can go for the Surface tablet. Along with the touch keyboards with the device, you can turn the machine to a small notebook.

The Surface tablet comes with five Touch Covers. Different from typical keyboards, the Surface keypads provide a smoother typing experience thanks to their touch-based surface.

The Surface tablets mount both front and rear cameras. The front camera, named life cam by Microsoft, makes the tablet ideal for video chatting through Skype or other services. Using the rear camera, you can capture images and video clips.

Microsoft puts forward better memory options with the Surface tablets. The device comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB options. The 128GB is available only with Surface Pro. Further, you can expand the memory using external memory sticks thanks to microSD card slot. That is, you can store enough data including music, software items and video in external clips.

The 3mm Touch Cover can be connected to your Surface tablet with a single magnetic click, so, now you can type text and send messages quite easily.

The Surface's tablet housing features a revolutionary kickstand. Along with fully functioning keyboard and track-pad, the integrated kickstand helps you place the gadget in both portrait or landscape modes.

According to Bloomberg, Surface will only be able to go online using a short-range Wi-Fi connection. This is a stark contrast to Apple's iPad 3, which has a 3G option, and a faster LTE connection.