Blackberry Storm

Fedex tracking says I'll have mine before 3pm Monday. I'll post again once I've played with it some.

While my previous post may have been somewhat negative towards Verizon, I still think they are the best carrier out there, at least for me in the area I live (Houston). The phone seems to be awesome. I was originally going to get the i760 because i wanted physical number keys on the front of the phone to dial from. Of course I went to get the i760 about 4 hours after Verizon pulled them out of the stores. Anyway, the Surepress feature makes up for it in my mind.

As far as the quasi-sluggishness that other have commented about, I noticed this on the in-store model as well. Not so much on launching applications but particularly on the switch from portrait to landscape. I wonder what type of accelerometer the Storm uses, physical or electrical? Surely it doesn't use a physical one, at least I would hope not, but that would explain the delay and flakiness of the switch between orientations. My Logitech Harmony One remote has a physical accelerometer in it to wake up when the remote is picked up. This is a physical metal piece in the remote that closes a contact when moved. I would seriously hope that the Storm does not uses such a device. That also makes for a somewhat annoying rattle in my Harmony One remote.

Oh well, guess I find out tomorrow. Sorry for those of you that have to wait until December, I'll stop complaining about my delays now...
 
Has anyone compared this with the Blackberry Bold?

I am not a huge fan to touchscreens, but that may be because I have never had a touchscreen phone. I guess I will need to demo both.
 
coolrunner84 said:
Has anyone compared this with the Blackberry Bold?

I am not a huge fan to touchscreens, but that may be because I have never had a touchscreen phone. I guess I will need to demo both.
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat as you. Although I have owned a iPhone (first gen), I still am not a huge fan of touchscreens. My company works on new construction (custom homes and a few commercial buildings) that are just not the place for a touchscreen to be. My hands get dirt on them every once in a while per day, but I do keep them clean when I do have to answer the phone. Would also like to hear from someone that has compared this and the Bold as well.
 
If you text alot or email alot I feel the bold is the way to go. The funny thing is i was all set to get the Storm until I went in and played around with it. For me the key board was to slow..I can type way faster on the Iphone, so that sealed the deal for me.
 
I'm not a fast two thumb typer so I think I can deal with it. What I really want them to fix is the OS sluggishness and the browser. I heard unloading VZ navigator helps the lag. Now if someone could get a third party app to work with the GPS, I'd be very happy. And even happier if someone get tethering working without paying the ludicrous VZ fees. 5 GB for 30 bucks? No thanks.

This phone is ripe for some software mods.
 
AeonF1 said:
I'm not a fast two thumb typer so I think I can deal with it. What I really want them to fix is the OS sluggishness and the browser. I heard unloading VZ navigator helps the lag. Now if someone could get a third party app to work with the GPS, I'd be very happy. And even happier if someone get tethering working without paying the ludicrous VZ fees. 5 GB for 30 bucks? No thanks.

This phone is ripe for some software mods.
Click to expand...

Tethering is $15 now, even on BIS, iirc. Blackberry Maps is supposed to work with the GPS and is free.
 
Does anyone know if you can disable the push part of the phone? so you can make your selections and clicks with out having to push down on the phone? if that makes sence.... lol
 
Eibach said:
Does anyone know if you can disable the push part of the phone? so you can make your selections and clicks with out having to push down on the phone? if that makes sence.... lol
Click to expand...

You can't. However, you might see it as a third-party app someday.
 
I just got my Storm as my company phone. So far I'm the only one with it ( IT guy) and I don't really like it so far. We have a senior vp with the bold and she let me use that for a while and it is much better for me atleast. I am a heavy email and txt user since we use BES and were very email heavy. Typing on the storm is a real chore. Maybe my big fingers just don't work well with it ( I'm 6'8) but the keyboard is fairly inaccurate with some of the keys for me. I constantly have issues with letters like 'e' and it always wants to type an 'r'. So far for me, the Bold is much more efficient for my heavy use. The Bold is also MUCH snappier as far as speed goes then the storm. The storm still seems sluggish even after the .75 update. Being the first touchscreen from Blackberry, none of these issues surprise me, but it does seem like it would be a huge hinderance to a lot of peope who use blackberries for work use. This seems more like a consumer phone which is visually very appealing but when you get into the actual practical commercial use of it, it starts to fall a little flat.

Just my .02
 
I bought the storm 3 weeks ago and I love it

although it has many faults and is slow and unresponsive at times I still prefer it to the iphone as I am the I want to be different kinda guy :)
 
After a few weeks of using the Storm I have to say I'm pretty pleased. I was unhappy with the performance at first however the recent OS update to .75 has made thing feel snappier.
 
devman said:
After a few weeks of using the Storm I have to say I'm pretty pleased. I was unhappy with the performance at first however the recent OS update to .75 has made thing feel snappier.
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yes it certainly has thank god I would have returned it if I was suffering from the lack of responsiveness any longer it was really was that bad at times..
 
Although the Storm looks to be the better overall phone, I'm sticking with the Bold. I'm so used to AT&T's MediaNet and all of it's dos and don'ts
 
NASTY_LOS said:
Although the Storm looks to be the better overall phone, I'm sticking with the Bold. I'm so used to AT&T's MediaNet and all of it's dos and don'ts
Click to expand...

If you already have a Bold, switching to the Storm would be very much a lateral maneuver, imho. If I had been an AT&T customer at the time I'd have a Bold in my pocket right now, but I was on Verizon so I got a Storm.
 
i tried the storm when it first came out and then yesterday with newer OS. At first i thought it was terribly slow and glitchy, however when i tried it yesterday, it was running a whole lot better and faster. I also noticed that three different phones they had on display ran very differently, so i wonder if time since they have been hard reset matter.

I really like the clickable screen, it is alot easier to type on than a regular touch screen, especially in portrait sure-type mode. I tried Samsung Omnia which was sitting right next to storm, and found omnia's touch screen alot harder to use. I will most likely go pick one up for myself when they get it in stock at local verizon store.
 
i'm just curious as to how fragile these things are. I work at a fedex office store and have seen a ton of these going back. Some people have said that it broke. Others have said that the update hasn't fixed anything. What's the deal?
 
zenit said:
i tried the storm when it first came out and then yesterday with newer OS. At first i thought it was terribly slow and glitchy, however when i tried it yesterday, it was running a whole lot better and faster. I also noticed that three different phones they had on display ran very differently, so i wonder if time since they have been hard reset matter.

I really like the clickable screen, it is alot easier to type on than a regular touch screen, especially in portrait sure-type mode. I tried Samsung Omnia which was sitting right next to storm, and found omnia's touch screen alot harder to use. I will most likely go pick one up for myself when they get it in stock at local verizon store.
Click to expand...

This makes me want to take another look at the Storm. I was really excited and when i got the chance to look at one myself I found it very very slow. Maybe it was just that phone though... Thanks for reawakening my spirits :)
 
The demo one at my local Verizon and another one in Houston was both hella slow. Also reports by reviewers also claim the Storm is sluggish, especially when your tilting the phone. Maybe a couple of updates will resolve these issues.
 
I can confirm that the update makes the phone much more snappy. The auto-rotate function is still not as fast as I'd like it to be, but it is much better than before the update. Mine still gets stuck every now and then, but nothing a little shake doesn't fix. Overall, I love the phone and am glad I didn't cave to the fruity pop-culture goliath. I mean Apple and the iPhone if the dripping sarcasm was too thick.
 
The one thing I'm used to now compared to the iPhone is running my IM and other apps in the background. I like how Live Messenger simply disappears into the Storm and integrates into the Messages folder with all the other communications. Being able to see all the incoming "stuff" in one place is handy.

I signed up for Facebook finally yesterday and installed the Facebook app. It gives me notifications for that in the background too, with a little Facebook logo at the top. Nifty.

I discovered that the camera is almost useless. It takes SO long to actually snap, and can't seem to handle any kind of motion, it makes action shots or Kodak moments impossible. Out of the dozen or so pictures I've tried to take, about three have actually come out in a presentable way. The rest are blurry or took too long to snap to capture the subject.

I'm sure this poor phone is going to become an abandoned stepchild soon enough. Blackberry will either let the touch screen idea die off, or will release some magical new Storm successor that fixes everything but I'll need to wait two years to buy -.-;
 
Still on the bench here. Either stay with verizon and get a Storm (the lack of wifi is annoying) or change over to ATT and get the iPhone 3G.
 
SuperSubZero said:
The one thing I'm used to now compared to the iPhone is running my IM and other apps in the background. I like how Live Messenger simply disappears into the Storm and integrates into the Messages folder with all the other communications. Being able to see all the incoming "stuff" in one place is handy.

I signed up for Facebook finally yesterday and installed the Facebook app. It gives me notifications for that in the background too, with a little Facebook logo at the top. Nifty.

I discovered that the camera is almost useless. It takes SO long to actually snap, and can't seem to handle any kind of motion, it makes action shots or Kodak moments impossible. Out of the dozen or so pictures I've tried to take, about three have actually come out in a presentable way. The rest are blurry or took too long to snap to capture the subject.

I'm sure this poor phone is going to become an abandoned stepchild soon enough. Blackberry will either let the touch screen idea die off, or will release some magical new Storm successor that fixes everything but I'll need to wait two years to buy -.-;
Click to expand...

the camera issue is improved dramatically with firmware .83. It is about 2 or 3 times faster when taking shots and the screen doesn't go black anymore - great great improvement.

The blurry shots will happen on ANY camera phone when shooting in low light - low light = lens needs to open up = slower shutter speed = blurred motion. You just need to understand the limitation of these camera phones before saying how crappy they are (the iPhone is even worse without a flash and a shitty lens).

The Storm is not perfect and still needs maybe 1 or 2 firmware updates to get it to iPhone smoothness territory but it is NOWHERE NEAR AS BAD as a lot of people say on the web (most of whom have never even used one for more than a day).
 
Just ordered mine for X-Mas gift :) Played with it at the Verizon store in Fremont and it was fairly snappy that I felt confident using it daily. Though poorly designed websites that have tons nad tons of images/file sizes seem to choke it pretty badly
 
Bonjour43ma said:
the camera issue is improved dramatically with firmware .83. It is about 2 or 3 times faster when taking shots and the screen doesn't go black anymore - great great improvement.

The blurry shots will happen on ANY camera phone when shooting in low light - low light = lens needs to open up = slower shutter speed = blurred motion. You just need to understand the limitation of these camera phones before saying how crappy they are (the iPhone is even worse without a flash and a shitty lens).

The Storm is not perfect and still needs maybe 1 or 2 firmware updates to get it to iPhone smoothness territory but it is NOWHERE NEAR AS BAD as a lot of people say on the web (most of whom have never even used one for more than a day).
Click to expand...

If a ten minute test run does not immediately impress me, I usually do not reconsider the product again. I do not care about the products potential nearly as much as I care about immediate usability. The fact that I am still pondering the Storm shows how much I abhor getting the iPhone, but unless the Storm can prove to me that it can become the phone I want, I just might switch over to ATT for the Bold.
 
amoeba1126 said:
If a ten minute test run does not immediately impress me, I usually do not reconsider the product again. I do not care about the products potential nearly as much as I care about immediate usability. The fact that I am still pondering the Storm shows how much I abhor getting the iPhone, but unless the Storm can prove to me that it can become the phone I want, I just might switch over to ATT for the Bold.
Click to expand...

get the iphone then - it's made simpler to use (even a grandma can use one).

don't switch for the bold since a CDMA version will come out soon anyway. I don't get why people switch networks for ONE PHONE (except for the iphone, I guess) since phones come and go but the network is always there, improving and getting more coverage.

oh well. Sounds like the Storm isn't the phone for you then...
 
Here is what I look for in a phone in this order:
- Reliability
- Email
- Browsing
- Nice screen (big and high res)

So far the Bold and iPhone fit the picture as the Storm fails on number 1, but if a software update can fix it soon, then I am down.
 
I have .83 installed on mine. Overall speed is faster espeically the Camera, which is now usable when you need to take a quick snapshot. There are still some minor bugs and glitches (this is a leaked OS afterall) but the official one should be even better.

If you guys go search crackberry forums or howardchui forums you can find lots and lots of info /feedback on the Storm. The general consensus is that it gets better and better after each firmware update. Look like they rushed the phone to the market without having a proper OS on it... but the good thing is that software issesu can be fixed, whereas hardware will be tougher.

The big hurdle for most people is still the clickable touchscreen... some people just can't use it and some don't want to adopt to it. Try it first, if you don't like it, move on, the phone is not for you. But there are many others out there that just LOVE the phone (myself included) so there is definitely still a market out there for this particular model.
 
Eibach said:
Do you have patch notes?
Click to expand...

no patch notes yet since it's leaked. Wait for the official one for that.

but in general, most users have noticed improvements in :

- OS speed
- camera speed
- stability
- battery life
- touchscreen responsiveness
 
amoeba1126 said:
Here is what I look for in a phone in this order:
- Reliability
- Email
- Browsing
- Nice screen (big and high res)

So far the Bold and iPhone fit the picture as the Storm fails on number 1, but if a software update can fix it soon, then I am down.
Click to expand...

most of Storm's issues are software-based...

and the iphone being reliable? ha! tell that to my friend that has taken his in for service 3 times in the past year.

I would get the Bold if you don't like the touchscreen on the Storm.... the Bold is a speed demon for power users. everything's super fast on it.
 
when I used my friend's storm I didnt like that touchscreen keyboard. I was really thinking of getting one until after using that, I can see the frustration that would happen.
I have yet to try it again after the patch though.
 
I am thinking about getting the Storm but it won't be until May when the contract renews. So hopefully by then, most of the bugs will be worked out.

I read and seen reviews that say the Storm is slow to rotate when you change it's orientation, is that still an issue?

Also, is there anyway to stream internet radio like shoutcast on it, if not is there any chance of it happening? I really like to listen to some stations on shoutcast and would be nice to listen to them when not near a Wifi network and without resorting to use my PSP.

I am sticking with Verizon mainly because it is the only network you can get in West Central Ohio. We finally got EVDO coverage in August, so using a phone like the Storm is possible now.
 
leward said:
I am thinking about getting the Storm but it won't be until May when the contract renews. So hopefully by then, most of the bugs will be worked out.

I read and seen reviews that say the Storm is slow to rotate when you change it's orientation, is that still an issue?

The screen was really never THAT slow to rotate in the first place, but now the rotations is pretty much instant (Depending on whether or not the phone is currently lagging)

Also, is there anyway to stream internet radio like shoutcast on it, if not is there any chance of it happening? I really like to listen to some stations on shoutcast and would be nice to listen to them when not near a Wifi network and without resorting to use my PSP.

There is a program that can stream radio (Normal FM radio from around the world) and its free. I can't remember what its called but it works great.

I am sticking with Verizon mainly because it is the only network you can get in West Central Ohio. We finally got EVDO coverage in August, so using a phone like the Storm is possible now.
Click to expand...

The phone still has a long way to go. .83 was good for some people, but a lot have downgraded back to .75 because .83 caused too many lock ups and and phone rebooting problems. RIM has until Jan 16th to work out the bugs, or I'll be returning mine... Unfortunately...

It has a lot of potential.
 
i gave up on mine. back on my pearl. rumors of a blackberry bold first quarter for verizon.

mine had a bad click screen, main reason i returned it. .75 fixed some stuff but not enough to keep this device in that state
 
According to crackberry.com the .83 firmware is pretty much a sample of things to come but it's still very buggy. An updated .85 surfaced which seems to clear up a lot of the bugs. I'm not betting on any new firmware before the new year, but I would hope within the first couple of weeks they have something new. Mine's on .75 still and has been getting slow in a "memory leaking" sort of way, and I have been meaning to reset the battery to try to clear it up.
 
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