If you're a Windows Phone 8 user who has noticed a chunk of your storage capacity consumed by the mysterious "other" category, Microsoft is finally speaking out on the problem.

PhoneArena reported Saturday that an inquisitive Windows Phone 8 user went straight to the source in an effort to find out why their device storage was slowly being consumed by unknown content from the unknowable category.

The affected user reached out via Twitter to Microsoft's Corporate Vice President for Windows Phone Program Management and Design Joe Belfiore, the man responsible for the look and feel of the company's mobile operating system.

Belfiore replied with his own tweet suggesting a temporary fix for the issue: turning off the auto-upload feature of SkyDrive, which automatically pushes new photos up to the cloud as they're taken.

Shrinking storage

"On 'other' storage: some improvements coming in future updates, it will get better," Belfiore tweeted in reply to user @Shounencritiic, confirming that some kind of software update will be necessary to fully address the issue.

In addition to Twitter, afflicted users are making their way to various Windows Phone-related websites and message boards in search of a solution.

Judging from user comments, a free Windows Phone Store app called Shrink Storage can help reclaim 1GB or more from the "Other" category until Microsoft comes to the rescue with a true fix.

Windows Phone 8 users can check what's consuming internal storage space from Settings, although it's unclear exactly what "Other" might include, given that the operating system already has its own category.

Via PhoneArena