Out of the box, is only 4.69 gb of the listed 8 gb capacity normal?
This is the space available when I turned it on. I realize that OS and apps take up some space but this seems like a lot.
Yes, because of system software. If you go to the General tab under settings, then tap Storage, you can see where the memory is being used. It's also a good idea to tap the application cache to clear it once a day or so.