BlackBerry Storm review
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Nov 19th 2008 11:36PM
posted Nov 19th 2008 11:36PM
It may seem unfair to open up the review of RIM's latest BlackBerry -- the Storm -- with a history lesson on the iPhone, but if you understand the market which Verizon and RIM hope to capture, then you understand the Storm, and it helps put this critique in perspective. The Storm, a widescreen, touchscreen device boasts many of the same features as the iPhone, but adds innovations like a clickable display, and comes packed with RIM's legendary email and messaging services. Mainlined into the biggest (and some say best) network in the States, the Storm is an almost deafening blast to the competition at first glance, but does it hold up on closer inspection? Read on to find out.
Industrial design
The Storm is a striking device. From the second you lay eyes on it, it's clear that a lot of time and care went into crafting this phone. The majority of the front panel is display, a large 3.25-inch (480 x 360) touchscreen sitting just shy of flush with a silver bezel that runs around the sides, top, and bottom of the device. The bands seem to be plastic, not metal, and trace the outline of the moderately thick (0.55-inch) phone, looping around the back, while the rest of the surface is a high gloss, piano black plastic. Below the screen are four familiar BlackBerry keys (phone, menu, back, and end / power), along the left is a convenience key and a micro USB port (RIM has eschewed the more common mini USB slot for the lower profile of the newer variation, though that seems to be the way the industry is headed), and on the right side is another convenience key, volume rocker, and (yay!) 3.5mm headphone jack. Around back, the battery cover is made from solid piece of brushed aluminum, and the camera and flash sit atop the plate, covered by a glossy plastic strip. Along the top of the phone there's a single LED to the right, and lock and mute keys incorporated into either side of the casing like soft rockers -- a nice touch. Generally, the construction of the hardware and components used seem higher in quality than previous devices from the company, with buttons that click tightly and a heft that tries (and succeeds) to communicate an understated class.
It's not completely rainbows and unicorns, however. We noticed backlight leaking in through the sides of the screen, which partially killed the continuity of the design (and had us raise eyebrows at build quality), and the screen sort of slides around when it's pressed down and held (more on that later). No deal breakers, but certainly a couple minor niggles we wish we hadn't seen.
Touchscreen
The touchscreen is where most of the attention on this phone will be focused, and rightfully so. Unlike similarly stacked competitors (the iPhone and Instinct come to mind) the Storm doesn't just boast a capacitive touch display, it also utilizes a completely unique "click" technology called SurePress which actually allows you to click the screen down like a mouse button. The purpose of this technology, ostensibly, is to provide two aspects to touch screens which are currently lacking in most devices: the ability to "hover" without selecting or moving an on-screen element, and the physical sensation of "clicking" when you type or navigate. The Storm's screen certainly provides those two things in spades, but our question is whether or not they actually improve the experience of using this sort of device -- and in our opinion, they do not.
Before we plunge into why we feel the hardware doesn't work here, we need to preface it with some information about the software. You can't really talk about one without the other.
What you first should know is that the operating system used on this phone is almost identical to previous BlackBerry OSs -- notably 4.6, as seen on the Bold. The main reason for stating that is because you must understand the basis for the UI design. All modern BlackBerrys use a QWERTY or SureType keypad coupled with a trackball for navigation, in addition to heavy emphasis on a pop-up menu accessible by the "menu" key from pretty much every section of the OS. The difference in 4.7 is not a paradigmatic shift away from this approach, rather, the company has added touch and multitouch functionality to take the place of trackball movements. What this means is that unlike the iPhone, which is most certainly the closest competitor on the market to this phone, the Storm's UI is not custom built for touch navigation -- touch navigation is added after the fact. Things which flow naturally on an iPhone -- flicking through lists, scrolling for a contact, moving around in a webpage or looking through photos -- feel inelegant and uncomfortable on the Storm. There's no inertia to movement, no assurance that your finger is the lynchpin to control of the device. The screen is sensitive enough, surely, but how its software reacts to those touches makes all the difference, and here the feeling is that you're never completely in charge of the phone.
BlackBerrys have garnered an almost mythic stature as the phone for email and messaging. One of the components of RIM's success for that model has been the inclusion of QWERTY keypads (and more recently the halved QWERTY SureType keyboards) on their phones. As any email addict will tell you, very few devices can compete. The slant from RIM's PR on the Storm is that the new clickable touchscreen delivers another high caliber typist's dream to their roster -- but that couldn't be further from the truth. Rather than the click making things easier, it actually makes them more difficult. As you press down to engage a "key," you're required to release before moving to another, which means that you can only type so quickly. In our tests, we were constantly frustrated by the staggering, laggy movement when trying to type with any speed. You have to let the click depress before you can strike another character, and that makes for a stuttery input process. Additionally, hovering over characters is represented by a blue glow, which looks nice when moving around, but in practice doesn't do a very good job of letting you know what key you're touching. We had spelling errors aplenty. All of this would be helped greatly by an intelligent software component that guessed what you meant to type -- much like the iPhone's predictive element. Unfortunately, what RIM provides is more of a glorified T9, which means if you type "fo," it doesn't know you meant to type "do." Ultimately we found ourselves slowly and carefully pecking out messages that should have taken less time to put together, clicking screen or not.
Otherwise, there are a few great implementations of the screen -- copying and pasting, which is the norm on RIM phones, is fully represented here with elegant multitouch functionality. You just grab the beginning and end of a section of text you want to snag with two fingers, and a menu pops up along the bottom for copy / paste duties. In the browser, you can hover above a link with your finger before clicking it (a big help on crowded pages), and you can double tap (not click) to zoom into pages, though there's no way to back out other than hitting the minus magnifying glass. We don't think the technology used for the screen is a dead-end by any measure, but it has a long way to go before it's honestly competing with the iPhone for virtual keyboard domination. Right now it's a nice idea with less in the way of usability than we need. If speed isn't a concern, you'll probably find it manageable, but for BlackBerry addicts and those accustomed to typing on the iPhone, this will be a disappointment.
Besides the new technology behind the display, the screen itself is fairly tremendous. Colors are rich, and contrast is solid. The brightness isn't quite as eye-searing as the iPhone at full tilt, and doesn't even approach the supernova 8830 we've got here, but frankly, how bright do you need it? Everything looked sharp and clear, though we've gotten a little spoiled by the Bold's incredible pixel density, and now other phones seem to pale in comparison.
Software
As we said, 4.7 isn't a huge step up over 4.6, but there are a number of improvements worth mentioning. Navigating through menus and the home screen is still very much a typical BlackBerry experience though. The phone has two levels of "application" screens, the initial landing screen, which gives you eight app icons of your choosing, and a deeper level which displays all of your folders and programs. You can use the touchscreen to hover (or select) each of the icons, giving it that blue glow, but we found it annoying that you couldn't drag your finger across the selections and have the glow follow you (as it does when typing). It gets stuck on the first thing you touch, and you have to re-press to move to another icon -- it seems like it would be more convenient to have the selection follow your movements, but the phone doesn't seem to know the difference between a quick flick up or down and a selection. You click down on the screen to launch an app or make a selection in a list, and you can swipe up and down to move through the list of apps, though it's not nearly as smooth as it should be. BlackBerry fans used to a real keyboard and shortcuts might find themselves a bit lost here when trying to get around quickly -- you can set one of the convenience keys to pop open the virtual keyboard, but it doesn't seem to recognize long presses, shortcuts, or find-as-you-type contact searches like traditional RIM devices (typing on the Storm just takes you to the dialer, why we don't know).
Most components of the UI which require scrolling don't seem drastically changed, but you can now jump through lists by up-down gestures. Again, we found that the lack of inertia made this seem stiffer than expected, though it worked well enough when moving around the phone. RIM has added a few visual tweaks to the OS on the Storm, like crossfades and sideways swipes of pages which admittedly give it a bit more polish, although they seem largely superfluous (don't worry, we feel the same way about the iPhone's zooms and scrolls). Overall, transitions between screens and inside of apps do seem a bit more sluggish than the performance on the Bold, but whether this is due to those new effects or a higher CPU load given the touch recognition and screen size, we can't say. We did find ourselves missing the speedy response of a traditional BlackBerry, and also felt like responses lagged behind our movements enough to be annoying. There seemed to be a few noticeable bugs floating around, and at least one that ground the phone to almost a halt -- when quitting the browser on a page that was still loading, it turned the navigation on the home screen to molasses. Another flaw we had crop up was accelerometer related, an irksome bug that rendered the portrait-to-landscape switching (and vice versa) non-existent. We can't say if that was hardware or software related, but the details count, and those little snags take points away.
Thankfully the browser has been considerably updated. If you have any experience with RIM's last attempt at mobile browsers (the Bold), then you know what manna from heaven any fixes would be. 4.6's browser is, in a word, unusable. Load times are painful, rendering is only sometimes accurate, and mostly it's just a tortuous mess to get around in. We can honestly say that the Storm's implementation is leaps and bounds beyond what the company has previously offered. Pages load quickly and are generally formatted correctly, navigation is much snappier (zooms don't take hours to redraw), and scrolling is tolerable, if not as buttery smooth as we prefer. And ultimately, that's a point that must be made -- while the browser is much better than earlier versions, and is an admirable attempt, it's still a bit behind Mobile Safari and the G1's Webkit-based "Chrome light," lacking support for more advanced features like multiple tabs. Why RIM doesn't build something from scratch (or buy a license from Opera) is a question for the ages -- we can't imagine anyone has any real affection for this experience. Still, for casual tasks and most browsing, you could certainly do worse, and it's nice to know that a lot of energy went into this update.
On the messaging and email front, very little has changed here from earlier RIM phones, save for some of that visual flair. Particularly when it comes to email, the use of screen real estate and selection of fonts seems dated when compared with the iPhone. We won't complain about the email service itself, delivery of messages was rock solid (of course), but a quick glance at the iPhone versus a quick glance at the Storm provides a strong juxtaposition of design languages. Reading email on the BlackBerry was an inconsistent experience, and highlighted the feeling that not too much trouble had been taken to freshen up this UI and format it for the bigger screen. Under the hood, we found account management simple enough, but those looking for solid Gmail integration (like, say, all the people Verizon and RIM hope to lure away from Apple's camp) will be seriously let down. There doesn't seem to be any decent alternative for getting Gmail the way you're used to, save for Google's own app (which is remarkably good save for a few issues).
On that note, third-party software is still a bit weak for the platform, and essentially non-existent for the Storm itself. It doesn't look like using this phone will break any (or most) of the software already out for BlackBerry devices, but there's also not much taking advantage of the new format and screen real estate. In particular, something like the Facebook application -- which Verizon and RIM are pushing hard with the launch of the Storm -- is a poor stand-in for the iPhone offering, sporting exactly the same functionality it does on an older RIM device. Reps from the company assured us that their version of the App Store was coming, and they do have a tidy application manager on the phone already, so we're hoping that third parties really step up their game with the introduction of the Storm.
Because the phone is being marketed as a convergence device, it's got an extra emphasis on media functions. In truth, the media players / browsers are almost identical to 4.6's options, though again there's some nice visual flair added. The bigger screen allows for larger artwork to be shown off, and it's a match made in heaven for video playback. Management of media is still pretty standard -- we copied files back and forth between the microSD card (8GB is included with the phone), but there's no flashy Cover Flow or anything. In fact, we noticed a slight graphic glitch when moving from portrait to landscape, which might be nothing, or may be due to the fact the phone has no hardware acceleration for graphics.
All in all, the software feature-set the phone ships with is incredibly strong. There's a broad selection of applications, including the "To Go" suite that allow you to view and edit Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents. Average (and even not so average) users will be hard pressed to find something that's missing, and RIM makes it easy enough to grab key software if someone wants it. You have to hand it to them, they cover pretty much all the bases... save for one nasty omission.
We were a bit stunned to find out that we couldn't sync the Storm with our Mac out of the box. We don't mean "hey we couldn't sync with iTunes" (we're not insane), we mean, "hey, we can't sync this, at all, in any way." For the few Mac users that also happen to dig BlackBerrys, there's a piece of software RIM offers free of charge called PocketMac, which does a half decent job of at least throwing your contacts, calendars, and other assorted must-haves onto your device -- but you're out of luck if you buy a Storm. Apparently, the software needs an update badly, and if you expect to enjoy the same service it provides to something like a Bold, you'll be surprised and annoyed (as we were) to find this doesn't let you sync your data. For that, right now, you're going to have to go download (and pay for) something like Missing Sync. It's pretty outrageous to us that in crafting a device so obviously aimed at the iPhone's marketshare no one thought to make it accessible to Apple users even a little. Look, we know it's not a huge segment of the market, but it's there, and if history has taught us anything, it's a segment to be reckoned with.
Phone / Data
When it comes to sound quality and reception for making actual phone calls, you can't beat this combination. RIM phones generally have loud and clear earpieces and speakerphones, and Verizon -- love it or hate it -- has a great network. Those two facts are certainly apparent when it comes to the Storm. We found the earpiece to be plenty loud, and the speakerphone equally booming. If we had a complaint, we'd say the mid-range was a bit shrill on the phone. The Bold, by comparison, has a much warmer, well-rounded output. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint, and if you're looking for sheer network-clutching goodness, this is a pretty damn good choice. In addition to Verizon's CDMA, EV-DO, Rev. A madness, the Storm sports a GSM radio (a number of them), so you can grab HSPA in the rest of the world, and truck on some sweet, sweet EDGE here in the States.
Speaking of that EV-DO, the download speeds and network stability of the Storm seem pretty tight. Although the phone omits WiFi, as long as you stay inside decent Verizon coverage areas, you won't feel that sting too badly.
Camera / GPS / Battery life
In general, picture quality was excellent on the camera, which offers a healthy 3.2-megapixel resolution. The only problem we had -- and it was a big one -- was the fact that it took ages to focus and snap a shot. There were numerous times when trying to photograph something that we lost the shot because of the length of time it took the camera to kick in. In broad daylight, things fared a slight bit better, but when using the flash, it was pretty hard to get good results. This seems like something that could take a simple software tweak to fix -- we know the camera looks nice, we just need it to take photos faster. A lot faster.
One of the nice things about the Storm is that it's not just capable of doing still photos, but can shoot video as well. Results are mediocre, allowing capture up to 320 x 240, with quite a bit of heavy artifacting. Still, knowing that you can pull this out to grab something reminds us -- yet again -- that this is a necessary basic for modern cellphones.
Using the device for navigation garnered excellent results in terms of signal reception and tracking, but having to slug through the abysmal Verizon Navigator software isn't exactly joyous (dudes, that intro animation is the worst thing we've ever seen). It would be nice to see some third party options on the device for PND duties, though at least Verizon tries to throw a lot of content into the mix (movie times, traffic, local search), no matter how heavy handed it feels (real, real heavy handed).
Since we had a very, very limited time to test the phone, we can't really give you solid figures on battery life. In casual use, however, the Storm seems to be going strong even after a heavy workload: browsing, media player, and phone calls. We've had the phone on and chugging all day, and it's only seeing about about a 30 percent drop in life so far. If this keeps up, you can color us officially impressed with the juice you can pull out of this thing.
Wrap-up
It's clear from the device itself and the massive promotional push that both RIM and Verizon are giving the Storm that they view this as a proper threat to the iPhone's dominance in the smartphone market. Over the last few weeks we've been bombarded with commercials, leaks, press releases, and special events all celebrating the arrival of the Storm, both here and abroad. So it seems fairly obvious that yes, the companies believe they have a real contender on their hands -- and in many ways they do. The selling points are easy: the phone is gorgeous to look at and hold, it's designed and backed by RIM (now almost a household name thanks to their prevalence in the business and entertainment markets), and it's packed with features that, at first glance, make it seem not only as good as the iPhone, but better. The only hitch in this plan is a major one: it's not as easy, enjoyable, or consistent to use as the iPhone, and the one place where everyone is sure they have an upper hand -- that wow-inducing clickable screen -- just isn't all that great. For casual users, the learning curve and complexity of this phone will feel like an instant turn off, and for power users, the lack of a decent typing option and considerable lagginess in software will give them pause. RIM tried to strike some middle ground between form and function, and unfortunately came up short on both.
Going into this review, we really wanted to love this phone. On paper it sounds like the perfect antidote to our gripes about the iPhone, and in some ways it lives up to those promises -- but more often than not while using the Storm, we felt let down or frustrated. Ultimately, this could be a great platform with a little more time in the oven, but right now, it feels undercooked -- and that's not enough for us.
Ooooh.
thats what she said
Oooh is right. I was pretty stoked about it, but after this review my interest has kind of waned. Hopefully Engadget will review the media play back capabilites.
When you read something like this and the response comments you can't help but wonder how much money in promotions and advertising Engadget just nullified with a single well written article.
All those people who had their wallets out just put them back in their pockets.
ohhh look at the pics i wonder whos pocket lint covered iphone that is can u say apple fanboy bias review?
I would probably be low ranked instantly for this, but how is this not any more lipstick on a pig than TouchFlo3D on the HTC Touch HD?
Both OS's are bringing Touch navigation to OS's never designed for such usage, and I think the Touch HD does it better.
Never was interested in this phone anyway.
Was this a review, or a comparison?
Well the review was good, but coming from Engadget you can only trust it so much.
As everyone knows they are very pro Apple and for them to say something is better than one of there products might be very very hard for them or impossible.
The review might be 100%, but it's going to come down to opinion if the buyer thinks it's just as good as the Iphone.
I take this review with some truth, but I will have to see it for myself because again it's Engadget...
oooooh?
I said..."damn"
I thought the STORM was gonna blow my iPhone away. Besides Copy/Paste, which it seems to me iPhone should have right now, the Storm seems to me from this review to be a wasted effort.
Did they say that there was no WiFi at all?
I have never been an apple lover, but I gotta admit, the iPhone and their new Mac Book are ABOVE EXCELLENT products and they just seem to be getting better while others are playing catch up.
No the iphone doesn't appeal to many hardcore gadgeteers who perfer SD cards, DivX and other specialty features, I'm happy to own one and I like what it does for the $300 I spent on it.
I don't know, it seems like a lot of the "problems" with the phone are just minor things that would come from anyone who is more used to an iPhone. I bet if he used the Storm for a couple years before he reviewed an iPhone, he'd have a lot of similar issues as would anyone.
@linuxamp
Thats what journalism is supposed to be - harsh and unrelenting. Advertisers buy space based on eyeballs and everyone wants an honest voice they can rely on. Engagdet will be fine. Keep the good reporting up guys.
From the Engadget Hands On back on Oct. 8:
"But the true test of any touch-based phone is typing, and we won't hold any punches here: we're in love. In fact, we like it enough to pit it against regular button-based keyboards,"
So what happened? How can you love it and then say it is terrible?
i just thought id put a comment on here, as im from the UK and the storm has been out for a week now, i work for vodafone (verizon to you lot in the states) and because of this i get to use the handset day in and day out to demo it to customers, so i feel quite qualified on saying how it is to use, now there have been comments on if media playback is good, and i can say its better than any other phone i have seen (and yes that includes the iphone) the screen is 18% better quality, and it really shows, on uk ones theres a film trailer pre installed, which pretty much all customers are wowed by, then theres email push, for which u cant get a better service than blackberry, not in the uk at least, and the screen, which seems to be the biggest doubt from this review site, well let me say it is different, which means it will take some getting used to (just like any other new toy) but you can calibrate the touch sensitvity, along with just about every other option you may wish for! so i have myself ordered one, which i cant wait for, but the screen is something to be considered before buying, but if you are undecided between the iphone or storm, heres a few pros for the storm,
1) swappable batteries - keeps you mobile, because isnt that the point?
2) expandable memory (will take 16GB micro sd card) so storage is never a problem.
3) the camera, the iphone is 2.0px without a flash, which even by the cheapest phone our store sells (£30) is quite poor.
4) screen quality, as i have already mentioned, and stereo bluetooth, the sound is very good too.
now i know i havent put the screen in the pros, and thats because it wont be for everyone, no phone ever is, but the pros above really do show where the iphone lets itself down
i hope this will help you lot, because i know its not out in the US yet, so having used it, for more than 1 hour, im not just another opinion, because iv seen it and used it.
"From the Engadget Hands On back on Oct. 8:
"But the true test of any touch-based phone is typing, and we won't hold any punches here: we're in love. In fact, we like it enough to pit it against regular button-based keyboards,"
So what happened? How can you love it and then say it is terrible?"
Like seriously...I'd love for someone at engadget to address that...I genuinely want to know the reasoning behind that. Unless it's already been addressed, i'm not looking thru 7 individual pages.
All these reviews makes me laugh. It boils down to 2 things. #1. Att's network stinks when compared to Verizon. No matter what you do with your iphone, if you are outside your major city the reception stinks. Isn't that why you have the phone to begin with. #2. Rimm's email and business application suite is hands down the best. It's no contest. Nobody in the business world will ever buy an iphone which means there isn't any upside to Apple. It is only a function of time for Rimm to continue to impose into Apple's market share.
My wife has the iphone and I have the Storm so it is a perfect match but so far I get calls and can make calls when she doesn't have reception. Did you ever happen to look at the coverage maps???
Lastly, the reason the iphone must have wi-fi is because their 3G network stinks. Call the Apple store and ask them. They will tell you to have the 3G turned off unless you want your battery life to die. The iphone MUST use wi-fi becuase it has to. Verizon's network is solid AND the 3G network actually works! Amazing! Isn't that the reason you bought these phones as well? For a quicker network?
Synopsis, I now have a phone that works any where in the world on the fastest network in the world with the best email and business suite in the world and with a much longer battery life! All the other extra tools just make the Storm even stronger.
I was looking forward to the Storm review... I am iin the UK and we had it a week or so before the Yanks, my missus fell in love with it and wants to change her iPhone 3G for it... well after reading this I don't think I'll be recommending it to her, I mean I rely on these reviews for any Tech I'm gonna pick up, so thanks guys for the honesty...
does anyone know if they will come out with a better software for the storm?
"...and truck on some sweet, sweet EDGE here in the States..."?
Umm. I'm guessing you may have meant 3G? EDGE is far slower than EV-DO Rev. A... it's actually the main reason why I'm dumping T-Mobile and moving to Verizon!
I like the G1...
The blackberry storm is the worst device ever. They key board doesnt work and anyone who expect to use this for business email is joking. Its great for some you tube videos, but to make a call from the phone book, or use it in the car with blue tooth is just impossible. They offer a 30 day money back refund so after 4 days... Im about to ship mine back. Beware of Blackberry Storm... this device is not ready for prime time.
I really like the Storm. I think the update has fixed its problems.
http://Storm-Blackberry.com
i still dont know if i like the button screen on this thing, it seems like it would feel wierd
Reminds me of the iRiver click. Interesting concept but a step in the wrong direction when touch screen is the way to go.
Personally I like the no feedback method, as it allows me to use my iPod Touch during the middle of long lectures without anyone noticing the 'click' 'click' sound coming from under the table.
On the other hand, feedback seems to be something that the elderly and disabled often require in their technology to tell them if they preformed an action or not. My grandma (god bless her) hates using her glasses, so she needs the feedback to know if she did something.
On the whole, I think that both methods have their own ups and downs, and they should make it an optional feature (if not in the settings, than upon purchase) for all touchscreen devices in the future.
I don't think that it requires you to click. I believe you can still use it without clicking. Think of it as the New MacBook/MBP's touchpad, you can click or tap, works both ways.
@holycow - Actually, it does require you to click. Tapping does no real action. You have to actually physically click the screen in order to cause any change. You can tap all you want, but all it will do is "hover" over that button.
I've toyed around with this device, and yes, it does take a couple of minutes to get used to the clicking...but I don't find it that horrible. I'm a fairly fast typer (faster than average, but not as fast as some of the hardcore iPhone users) and I found that initially, my speed on the Storm was slightly slower...initially. After about 15 minutes worth of typing (over about a 2 hour span) I found that I was about as quick on the Storm as I was on the iPhone.
This "click screen" also offers some other advantages....if you're in your message list, simply hovering on someones email address will do a search for all messages from that person...or, if you hover on the subject, it searches for all messages in that thread...very handy feature.
Navigating in the calendar (I'm a fairly heavy calendar user) is better...it allows you to swipe left or right to move a day/week/month forward and back...iPhone requires you to tap arrows.
The other thing that I liked was that when you plug it in (like the Bold) it goes into a Clock mode...couple that with the sync pod and you have a bedside alarm clock that you can take with you. Yes the iPhone does alarm also, but the display is blank for the most part (or shows the battery charging) which doesn't make it the best for a bedside clock.
But back to the click...It's great for navigating the device, and OK for typing...not perfect, but still acceptable to me. I don't think anyone who has an iPhone could type as fast as they do now when they first got it, it also had a learning curve.
For those who are unsure about the click, well, really for anyone, I'd say that you have to remember that this is just the reviewers opinion on typing. My experience has been different, and yours may be as well. There are limitations to the device, but there are limitations with a lot of devices, the key point is to take what people have said are good/bad, and try those things for yourself. Do you agree that the typing sucks? Then it's not the device for you. Do you actually like typing on it? Then buy it. When I can get this device, I'll pick one up and switch between my iPhone and the Storm because they do things differently.
Zro
@zro
great insight! its nice to hear another perspective on it. it sounds to me like main point you're trying to convey is that you need to try it for yourself. ill have to get myself down to a verizon store and try it out!
I've had the phone for almost a week now and the click takes about an hour to get used, to but It's really good now. On the whole the Storm is like a subdued version of the iPhone. The worst aspect of the phone is the lack of WiFi. Most of the time it doesn't matter but it would be nice to use my wireless router at home.
the keyboard on this is like the touchpad on the new macbooks
Lot of lint going to get caught underneath that screen.
well said zro... well said
actually i just got done playing with one at the mall kiosk and i gotta say the build quality is excellent feels like your holding a Ferrari and the click screen feels just like your keyboard but it dont go down as far other than that it really feels like your pushing individual buttons (or keys) all and all I am really happy with the phone yea it was extremely slow but nothing a software update cant fix as far as screen resolution goes this thing blows iphone out of the water makes iphone look like a calculator screen.
I love it!
Love is overrated.
Mad props@ the eboy background :D
Eboy is the SHIT! I have a great appreciation for pixel art!
That is the exact wallpaper I have on my computer right now...
sigh....
Don't worry, your iPhone and iLife are safe. No one is threatening the bubble of safety. It's just an alternative.
he was kidding right? A whole second!!?? This reviewer needs an outlet; a low tech hobby. The Storm was fast enough and very nice to look at. A true iPhone "killer, contender".
Contender, yes... killer, of course not.
Competition is good. It means better products for lower prices.
Ya, when he said how "long" it took the storm I instantly thought about "9 SECONDS! I gotta get to work in 4 SECONDS!"- Dane Cook
Actually my hobbies are editing Wikipedia and singing in the rain. I'm not sure how either one of those will help him out here.
then i guess im still making sweet love with my iphone ^_^
Apparently engadget is too, what with lines like: "The iPhone has soared to become the ultimate smartphone, the must-have accessory that everyone from celebrities to your mom wants -- nay, needs -- to have in their pocket" in their review.
How's that for an objective standpoint to begin the review from.
That's exactly what I thought when I began to read the review, Nerdtalker. How am I supposed to believe the reviewer's opinion if he starts it out by an epic paragraph glorifying the iPhone. True, the phone is an amazing success, but it does NOT belong in this review.
Yeah, I didn't even read further than that. Obviously they're not even trying on being neutral or balanced on Engadget. When a review of a different product starts out like an iPhone advertisement, it's time to really wonder what the fuck is going on.
@Hashbrown Hunter - The reviewer may have glorified the iPhone, but that in no way means that he is lying or even writing fake information in the review. I am very finicky when it comes to phones, and definitely have gripes with the iPhone, but at the same time, the points that the reviewer hits on about this phone makes sense.
I type very quickly, and most times i get frustrated with the iPhone's keyboard for not recognizing my quick consecutive taps and inputing it as one. But just like the reviewer, I am sure I would go crazy if I were to wait for the screen to pop back up to type the next letter. Perhaps if you time it, on paper it may seem like not a big deal, but if you're tapping away on those keys, getting in 2-3 letters per second, even half a second completely destroys your rhythm.
Also, yes, the iPhone was a huge hit, and BECAUSE it was so huge it does have a place in this review. It is not like the iPhone is in the entire review, popping in constantly. The review is obviously on the Storm, giving lots of info on the device. Obviously the Storm's BIGGEST contender is the iPhone 3G, and when these companies create their phones they're trying to outdo the other companies, and when people are purchasing the phones, they are comparing multiple phones to choose the best one. So it definitely belongs at a certain point in this review, as that's what people want to know.
I can definitely say at least for myself, when I purchase something, I don't just want to know what the product is like, but I want to know what it is AND what's better about it than the other products it's competing with. I would like a reason why I should purchase THIS product rather than it's competition. If someone is reviewing the product, and the product has a close competitor as the Storm has with the iPhone, yes, I would very much appreciate the reviewer to compare the two.
Whenever the iPhone is mentioned in reviews, there are always comments like yours. But really, what would we do with reviews that only told you about the product itself? Well, for one, we wouldn't have a starting point; something to compare it against, so that we have a better idea of what the phone is like. If the iPhone does these things well, I would like this new device, that I may potentially have, to do better. Most people know what the iPhone is, how it works, what it does, and more importantly, one it does WELL, so it would not only make sense, but be good to compare the Storm against the iPhone (on top of the fact that... it's so obviously already meant to be compared anyways.. probably even from when RIM came up with the device). And two, if it weren't to be done in the review, we would end up taking two seperate reviews, one of the Storm and one of the iPhone, and comparing it ourselves.
Comparing is good. It makes for improvement and innovation.
*this comment is pretty long.. lol... sorry about that everyone
@David: tldr
Well that's pathetic.. You couldn't read the review because they (rightfully) praised the iPhone?
And please tell me why it "didn't belong in this review".. No just kidding, don't waste my time. Just read this:
As Engadget already said the iPhone is THE most relevant aspect of this phone's review because the Storm was built from the ground up as a DIRECT competitor to IT. Not the Instinct, and not the Voyager. The one and only iPhone. They only bring up the buzz and success surrounding it because that's what the Storm is going up against as well. They can't just expect to kill the iPhone on paper, they need to break through the (undeserving or not, it doesn't matter at this point) intense hype surrounding it first. They point that out because if they give you a review and it comes up just even with the jesus phone you might be left with the impression that it succeeded, but sadly that's simply not enough. "On par" doesn't break through hype, you need a grand slam for that.. (and now you understand why - which was their original goal to begin with)
I know some of you still don't like Apple's little phone and I'm sure you never will, but come on, don't be so ignorant that just because YOU don't agree with Engadget's statement, you can't concede that the general smart phone buying public does.
Too bad he didn't compare how slow the iPhone is to load the callendar app when biatching about the 0.5 seconds he had to wait for the storm. Seriously, get a bit of perspective. My iPhone goes from Home to calendar in 4 seconds (yes 4 whole seconds) - SMS in 5 seconds contacts in 5. That, to me, suggests that the Storm is pretty fast.
Why are so many people complaining about how they compared it to the iPhone, but nobody seems to care that they compared it to the BlackBerry Bold? Neither one is the product being reviewed, and both are mentioned with similar frequency within the review.
All they're doing is comparing it to two of the most similar products on the market (similar in completely different ways) to say how it stacks up.
The only thing that I have a problem with in some of these reviews is that they all seem to be written from the perspective of an iPhone user, making comments about how hard it is to switch from being highly acclimated to the iPhone's touchscreen typing to something else, but this review is okay by me because they also compared it to switching from a physical QWERTY keyboard. Being a phone that is attempting to get the best of those two worlds, both of those comparisons are valid.
@David
your points are kind of valid, but the article was a review, not a comparison. i understand you can't completely avoid it, but every feature set was a comparison to the iphone. not very objective, its obviously biased toward what the author is used to and comfortable with...
@ David:
I am aware of this and I'm not some stupid anti-fan of the iPhone. I think it's a great device and many of my friends and family own one.
But with this websites repeated history of bias towards Apple in general, it doesn't help when they begin the review with the iPhone's march to success.
I would assume that they pushed the Storm out as fast as possible, and didn't have the Mac software up to par in time. Plus, most Mac users are all Mac all the way, or not the business users that blackberry targets. I'd still expect them to push it out eventually since hey, you can dream.
Pushed it out as fast as possible? Must not be a verizon customer. Verizon is many things, and one of those is slow. They "test" the hell out of their phones before releasing them, or so they say.
But as far as Mac compatability goes, I don't thing Blackberry really does that at all, on any phone, on any carrier.
of course. anyone who uses is a MAC is going for the iphone. Whatever small percentage of Mac users would be interested in the Storm can't be enough to waste time developing the software.
@mattbates: Verizon tests the hell out of their phones? None of their highly-advertised, non-smartphone phones ever work correctly. Ever.
I hate it because Verizon has the best network but the worst (in terms of software, really) phones around.
Yeah right they test these phones...
My friend had a palm treo 700p on verizon and it was the worst piece of you know what ever created!
Yet the 700p on gsm was a damned good device, although it did have its crashing problems.
He had his replaced TWICE.
They crippled this phone, and frustrated my friend to NO END, just like they CRIPPLE just about every device they put out there.
Please come to ATT
Does that mean you prefer AT&T to VZW? Eeek!
Sure does in my area.
Do people really not understand that the best cell service depends on your location? I would love to pay sprint prices but would have no service where i spend most of my time whereas I can get 3g from ATT home in olympia, work in seattle, and all the way across the state at school in pullman. So of course ATT would be the best choice for me.
PS
Not an iPhone user, going to stick to my clunky tilt till windows mobile 7 comes out :(
Agree James,
ATT is much better than VZW in my area too. Sprint was ok. T-Mobile is actually very good.
James, I'm on sprint (paying sprint prices) in Moscow ID, and can drive to Seattle and keep a signal I think the entire way. I think sprints network out here has improved as of late.
@ James
6.5 is coming out next spring. I shudder to think about when 7 is coming out...
Could you tell me one thing, does it with an the at & t SIM card? Haha.. No seriously, if I leave the country, I assume any SIM will work on it right?
uh.. no. Verizon = CDMA / ATT = GSM
the GSM version is going to be released overseas only
Yep, it is a World Phone and can use any SIM. It can even run on AT&T and use EDGE. That's in the review which jimmy obviously didn't read.
It has GSM radios in it so yes it has a SIM card holder. It doesnt make the best of sense to buy the phone at retail just so you can use it on AT&T.
sorry for this idiot's comment. it will be released for verizon if u use it 6months on there servie they will unlock it for u and yes it does have gsm im sorry people dont read the thing before they comment on it. it supportsUMTS/HSPA: 2100 MHz
North America: 850 MHz GSM®/GPRS networks
North America: 1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Dual-Band: 800/1900 MHz CDMA/Ev-DO networks
and thats straight from the spec sheet on blackberry
is this a verizon only deal?
will RIM release it to other carriers later on? i dont mean 2 years from now. i mean like 2 months from now...
It's a Verizon exclusive, but like all these exclusivity agreements, if VZW doesn't meet their sales standards, it will then be available on other networks, likely AT&T. But really, I don't see this happening. This is about the only phone Verizon has going for it. They got rid of any nice, cheap flip phones, and have moved to having a huge stable of lackluster touchscreens. I think this will probably be the best phone they've got. That and the enV2.
I didn't know I cared so much about what Engadget thinks...I'm actually a little bummed. *pumps fist in air*----"WILL THERE NEVER BE AN IPHONE KILLER!!!?!?!?!?!? WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?"
You know i don't think there will be...
I know the second i post this there will be 40 pple calling me an isheep but whatever...
The way i see it, the iPhone does an incredible job of appealing to the general population. It appeals to the business users because of wifi and all that other great stuff, and it also works for the high school student that just wants an awesome looking phone. It seems to me like RIM wasn't going for a business phone because of the lack of wifi and the fact that it's slower than the Bold. They wanted a consumer iphone competitor and they've got a pretty strong one, better than any of the other half assed shit out there. When you really get down to it, the difference is that apple has ONE phone to deal with and they can focus in on it and make it awesome whereas RIM is dealing with 4-5 phones on several different carriers in the US and thy have to deal with making the OS work and all that stuff.
you have to take what engadget says with a grain of salt. The writing on the site has gone down hill for a while now.
Pleease! The iPhone is NOT a business phone. Just because some companies support it doesn't mean it is a business phone. You can drive in the snow a car fitted with summer tires but that doesn't make those tires winter tires.
You know...it's not so much that I want an iphone killer as much as I just want the iphone on Verizon. Talk about dropping the ball. And yeah I know why they didnt do it, but if given a chance to do history over Verizon would accept Apple's deal faster than you can say "Can you hear me now?". You know why? Because they wouldn't lose anything from that deal, they're just greedy (as is Apple, c'mon now seriously), could you imagine how many subscribers this phone would have brought to Verizon?!?!
"Now America's Most Reliable Network, Thinks Different"...
Oh well, here's to 2010 and hope...
Dude verizon will never have the iPhone for various reasons, first Apple will never cripple the device by removing WiFi just so Verizon can screw their customers, 2nd, there's no way in hell Apple will let Verizon preload their crapware software on it for the purpose of again screwing the customers. China was the biggest mobile carriers in the world & Apple has turn them down cause they have ask Apple to remove Wifi and cripple the device
"WORD TO THE G!"
They used the word "niggles" , ummmm
"Niggles" has no relation to the word you're thinking of ...
hhahaha... niggles...
I smell a major fail....
Kind of feel the same way about the iPhone. I was thinking about selling my iphone and ditching my att contract for this JUST so I can copy/paste, but I think I'll have to try it out in store first. Apple could fix all of this for me by just implementing it
its not the speed i didnt want.. lack of wi-fi made me changed my mind.. its a no go for the storm.
This phone has decent build and will likely see a hefty software update to work out some of these early issues. While it is not an Iphone (what is?!?), the models I have seen and what I have heard, it is only a first step in Rim's advancement plan for business and consumer markets to converge. I think it will be the second best touch phone and VZ users and Blackberry fans will swallow it up ASAP...
I must say, very nice writing!
What I really want to know is whether it's GSM-unlocked. As it is quadband, I'm wondering if I could technically buy it retail from Verizon and pop in my T-Mobile SIM card.
Thanks god I didn't have to buy this Blackberry Storm craps! After reading the reviews link below, I'm getting a G1 instead!! PLEASE READ these reviews before buying.
http://www.mortgagebrokers4london.co.uk/article.php?article_id=1120
http://www.gsmarena.com/blackberry_storm_9500-reviews-2534.php
Never heard of 'em.
I think this was a great review. I bought a storm and subsequently returned it. I hated it, the software which was easy to understand but made complicated by the touch screen. Navigating through the device was time consuming and annoying. And the Mac situation is crap. I guess its time for the iPhone 3G as the old one has kicked the bucket... Unless Engadgets hearing any whispers of a new iPhone! Naaaa didnt think so!
I don't know why anyone thought the clicky screen was a good idea. The great thing about the iPhone is that, for a touchscreen, you can type very quickly because you don't need to waste time applying pressure, just a light tap and you're on to the next key. Other touch screen phones like pressure sensitive touchscreens, or apparently the Storm, just make things slower by having you press down on the screen, and since you're pressing the whole screen, you can't click another key while the other is on its way up like you could on a phone with separate hard keys.
I emailed pocketmac about working with os 4.7 and this was their response:
Hello,
Our software Pocketmac for Blackberry will support the Blackberry Storm upon release.
-- Jessica B
PocketMac Customer Service/Support
http://www.pocketmac.com
http://www.pocketmacsupport.com
I used the Blackberry Storm 2 weeks ago for half an hour. I twittered all about it and my followers were astonished how negative I was. I'm so glad the Engadget nailed it.
1. The touch software was an afterthought
2. The click screen was a hindrance and drastically slowed typing (my girlfriend who used it agrees)
3. The build quality just didn't compare with iPhone or the bold (which we used as well)
4. The screen's contrast and polish as far as UI goes was just poorly executed.
5. The camera still doesn't compare with Nokia N95 or iPhone.
About your last point, the camera doesn't compare to that of the N95, but it's a lot better than that of the iPhone.
i can see the nokia winning the camera but lets see why it does its like what 5MP the storm 3.2MP iphone fails in @ 2MP
The Opera browser on N95 loads alot faster than both of these....
at least with the storm we have a choice with opera and chrome lite iphone still stuck with the super slow safari
I'm not impressed. They advertise like it is the best product ever innovated and RIM can't live up to the hype. Get it right the first time or don't stand a chance. Blackberry's have multiple buttons- stick to that approach