IPhone 5 doesn't have the right amount of memory?

I got a notification, today, saying that I had low memory, and when I checked, I had 12.9 GB full and only a tiny little bit free. I paid for a 16GB iPhone, so why can't I use all 16GB? Is there any way to get be able to use it? Is this a common thing?

Any electronics like smart phones, tabloids, laptop and etc… Has a built-in system(software/programs) which will takes up a little bit of your internal memory. For example, a laptop may have windows 8 which takes some of the memory away from the laptop itself. Same situation is applied to your iphone.

You should try to free up the memory by removing large apps, videos and etc…

The iPhone 5 is not limited to the amount of memory that is actually installed on your phone… You can actually get more memory for your iPhone using iCloud. When you get iCloud, you get 5 GB of free storage. That brings you up to 20 GB. If you need more, you can get memory in packages of up to 50GB. If you combine the 50GB iCloud package with your 16GB iPhone 5, you'll have a total of 66GB of memory.

I got a notification, today, saying that I had low memory, and when I checked, I had 12.9 GB full and only a tiny little bit free. I paid for a 16GB iPhone, so why can't I use all 16GB?
------- LMFAO! Oh the joys of non-ejumakated non-techies. Lmao. Oh I paid for a 16GB iphone. Blah blah blah… WRONG! You paid for an iphone with a TOTAL MEMORY of 16GB and 13GB FREE USER MEMORY. Your see my little igit, IOS and Android and windows and BB OS take about 3 GB of space. No IOS or Android = brain dead smartphone! It's a marketing ploy. Sales tactic. You can't sue. They were truthful. 16GB of memory. You and you ALONE assumed it was 16GB free. That ignorance is on you, per law. Smartphones, tablets, computers, laptops, netbooks, etc etc etc etc etc etc all use the same tactic. All LIST THE TOTAL MEMORY. Not the free memory. Take a MAC. Or a Windows 8 laptop computer for $999.99+tax. It has 800GB of memory! Cool heh? Minues Mac and Windows OS. And any additional bloatware. That 800GB will become 650GB-700GB for $999.99+tax

Think that is bad. What about this poor iphone crackheads that want a Iphone 4s 8GB. Lmao. 8-3 = 5GB free space. Ouch. Lol lol

What about those old 2009-2010 androids with 4GB internal memory. 4-3=1GB free. Thank god for SD cards! Lmao!

But Apple doesn't believe in SD cards. Bummer. That must suck! Lmao!

Is there any way to get be able to use it?
---------nope!

Is this a common thing?
--------YEP!

A 16GB phone will have around 12-13 GB free. The 2.5GB used is the operating system itself the phone uses to actually run. There's no way due to the nature of how the phones work.

If you got a notification saying you have low memory then remove stuff. If you don't have a lot on there it sounds like a software corruption and you need to restore the phone. As new. Not from a backup.

Yes it is a common thing. In fact its standard across devices with an operating system i.e. Game consoles, desktops, laptops, netbooks, other smartphones, etc. You don't get all the advertised space as what is used is for the OS & other important files.

@Android Core: forgot to mention the Samsung Galaxy S5 and that you only get 49% to use in some cases for the 16GB model as the rest is used for Android & Samsung's S features.

For the record iOS on average takes between 17-20%