BlackBerry® Storm™

[johnrobbfl]

I've had mine since 9:30 the day of launch.  I installed the OS upgrade which made a huge difference, and overall I like the phone but there have been some issues. 

Let's start with the POSITIVE

1. Superb screen - better than the iPhone

2. I find it easy to type with

3. Media player is very good

4. Voice sound quality is fanastic

5. Camera is very good and having video capabilities is great

6. Not to state the obvious; but Blackberry e-mail!

Now the NEGATIVE

1. Although I find typing easy, making corrections is another subject.  Replacing a letter or inserting a word is a hassle

2. Slow... Everything is slow; rotating the screen, going between applications, opening applications.  Too slow for a phone with this degree of technology in my opinion

3. Screen rotation does not work very well and usually requires the phone to be nearly vertical to function properly.

4. Bluetooth doesn't sound as good as some other phones.

5. No SENT items folder

6. Doesn't smoothly sync with a Mac

7. It's not an iPhone.

Now - I'm not a crazy Mac guy (although I do use a Mac) when I say it's not an iPhone.  The iPhone has had 2 years to improve and get better where RIM has had 3 weeks with their touch-screen phone in the market.  I think all the negatives I listed above could be fixed with software updates, and when RIM opens thier App store there should be a lot more "tweaking" that we could do to the phone.  

If the iPhone was available on Verizon would I get it over the Storm; probably.  That being said; any complaint I have with the Storm is nothing to the complaints I would have using AT&T.  

[DoctorNeutron]

CrackBerry has an excellent compilation of tips and tricks.  One that

I really liked on first reading: get into landscape orientation and

touch the text you want to change, but do not tap or click.  After

a few seconds the solid cursor will change into an empty rectangle

that can be slid along a line or down the page where you want to

make a change - then release.  After messing around with it, I am

getting pretty solid at text editing.  Like anything to do with

computers: IT can spot fear and hesitancy !

[califjewls]

Overall I really like the Storm. I have had mine for a week now and it takes some getting used to for sure.

What I like:

1. Blackberry email, contacts, calendar, browser, messaging, etc.. Blackberries are the best for customizing your phone to suit your needs.

2. The Media! I loaded the same movie onto my Storm and my brand new iPod touch and the movie looks much better in my opinion on the Storm!

3. The Storm may be bigger than my Pearl but I like the way it feels in my hand, solid easier to hold.

4. The keyboard takes some getting used to but I love suretype and I really like the landscape full keyboard, I just use both thumbs to cover the whole keyboard. 

What Im disappointed with:

1. You can not have shakey hands at all to use the camera, so its hard to take a non-blurry photo. I need to practice more I guess.

2. SYNCING! My Storm WOULD NOT sync using the PocketMac app. I use MissingSync now. Syncing in general can be tricky and frustrating with the Storm. I wish the Desktop Manager CD that comes with the Storm could be used for Mac's also. There are more and more Mac's out there RIM needs to catch up.

3. Not enough Apps, games, wallpaper, etc..

But most of the items that Im disappointed with can be fixed with RIM updates. When the iPhone came out it had a lot of problems also. I will be patient and keep my Storm and wait for updates because I know they are working on them.

[wobbster]

I really want to love it.  Still recommending it to everybody.  Getting used to typing.  Great browser.  Screen is amazing (movies look awesome).  Clock feature in the cradle is cool.  Speaker is incredibly loud and crisp. 

But I'm frustrated with a few things and I'm considering going back to the Curve.  (8 days left to decide)

• Verizon has been helpful, but I've had to call too many times.  The last tech told me that reboots are necessary with these types of devices at least every other day.  Not acceptable to me - Curve needed < 1 /month.
• Upgraded to the new software version last week.  Very pleased for a few days- now it's starting to degrade again.  Very slow to react when coming out of holster.  Every third time or so, I find myself waiting 10-20 seconds for the buttons to become active.  Accelerometer seems to be getting slower.
• Sometimes, randomly, after putting the storm into the holster, the movie trailer preloaded on the Storm starts playing while in the holster.  Super loud, blank screen - just audio.  Cannot mute, turn down, or turn off.  Just loud audio.  I have to pull the battery quickly.  (happened in a meeting - good thing the audio was not inappropriate.)
• I miss all the Curve's shortcuts.  Too many steps to find a frequently called contact.  But I can live with that.
• I cannot function without a working ALARM CLOCK.  Failed me 3x this week.  Alert popped up, but with NO SOUND. Not cool. Yes I checked all the settings and yes I tested it 20 different ways.  It was working, but now it's not.  My curve's alarm NEVER failed to work.  I cannot trust the Storm now.

Believe it or not, the Alarm issue could be the deal breaker.  Still deciding...

[enzo_mmx]

All I can say is I love it!

[DrBender79]

I'll say the same thing I say to the guys at the Verizon Technical Services counter every time I see them- I love the Storm, when it's on!  The problem is, the P.O.S keeps turning itself off randomly, and then when I realize it's off I have to wait 2 minutes for it to reboot.  In fact, I'm waiting for it to reboot as I type this!  There must be a software or network issue because I'm on my 3rd Storm now, and the problem keeps happening.  I formatted the device memory and the memory card, no help.  The tech guys tried a "hard reboot", wiped the memory, changed the battery, reinstalled the OS, no help. 
Oh yeah, and just today the ringer and alarm stopped working.  Super.
my friend's iPhone is looking really good right about now

[eysie]

It's slow,slow, slow--- too many bugs even after the update.When the features are programmed they don't necassarily work. If I wanted to reset something to get it to work all the time I would have bought a microsoft product. Bluetooth basically doesn't work so they need to add wi-fi for syncing. This is a HUGE dissapointment based on the pre-release hype. RIM needs to respond asap before they lose their customer base. I WOULD NOT recommend this product.

[wkwtech]

This is my 2nd Blackberry and I just recently had the Motorola Q and from my experiences with each device, you're going to have pros and cons.  I don't believe there is a "perfect" device on the market and everyone's needs are different.  For my needs, which are business related, the Storm does a wonderful job.  Emails, browsing, viewing documents, storing documents, etc but the phone quality itself is an improvement over my other devices.  My older Blackberry was a horrible "phone" but a great pda, whereas, the Storm has shown much improvement in that arena.  As far as the "Iphone" qualities of the Storm, I cannot answer that intelligently.  I can listen to music sitting in the airport sending out emails and that's good enough for me.  The camera works well for my needs but I'm not expecting a professional quality image from a phone anyway.  Battery life is so much better than the Motorola Q but that's just from my experience.  Once I did the OS upgrade, the Storm seemed to run much smoother.  I highly recommend hitting the forums and websites to get yourself acclimated to the intricacies of the Storm.  It does take some getting used to and I don't think 4 days or 1 week is a fair assessment for any product.  Hell, the first time my wife met me, she didn't like me!

[dkim0001]

If Verizon had the IPhone, I'd have one instead of the Storm. But they don't so I got a Storm because I cannot stand AT&T, and I'm okay with that. My main concern is how slow slow slow the Storm is. From switching from portrait to landscape. From swaping from one application to another. And especially from ending a call and going back to whatever I was doing before the call interrupted what I was doing on the storm. It's a pain and very frustrating. Even with the software update, I have seen little improvement. I can deal with how bad the camera is (even though it was one of the big reasons I wanted the storm). I'm coming up on my last week of ownership of the phone before I can return it and I'm thinking of returning it. I just get frustrated half of the time using it, and I got it to be a convenience.

[eysie]

The way to get this "brick" called the storm fixed is to make every Blackberry employee use one of these things. They would either fix it or take it off thge market