BlackBerry Storm review
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted November 19th 2008 11:36PM
posted November 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.
The iPhone an ultimate smartphone?! A SMARTPHONE? I hope Engadget were joking on that one! Or they simply have become iGadget...
Honestly, I think most people who are coming to the conclusion that the Storm is crap should see for themselves. I think that ultimately it will come down to personal preference...I received my one (I'm in the UK on Vodafone) on Tuesday monring and haven't stopped using it since. When I typed my first blackberry messenger message with it I was fairly skeptical for the future compared to the speed at which I typed with my Curve...
The fact is though, before getting the Storm, i thought suretype wasn't for me, and that I would be using the full qwerty keyboard all the time (in landscape mode)...as Chuck (i think) pointed out a few pages earlier, the suretype is fast. I have found that suretype is actually a much faster way of typing a message with this phone...after a few days, I am typing at the same rate if not faster than i ever did with my curve (had a 8310 for a year and a 1/2), not to mention the fact that my messages are better spelt because of the 'advanced dictionary' function that comes into play when using suretype.
Other than that, I find the phone quite amazing. I also like the iPhone, but if ever something lacked on the iPhone it's email service as efficient as RIM's (which probably will never happen) and an instant messaging service as efficient (I am a fervent user of BBmessenger!). The fact is, RIM will keep their exisitng customers and will always receive new ones for those two prominent features, that the iPhone does not have and is unlikely to receive in the foreseeable future. Take my flatmate for example: he has an iphone on 02, but also owns a BB Bold just so he can use BBmessenger service...paying for a 2nd contract just for that feature!
I am very disappointed with the Storm.
I received mine on the launch day after sorting out an upgrade to my Lodamone contract.
I cranked up the phone as was immediately annoyed by the nearly 2 minutes it took to load from cold. You get a throbber graphic on the screen, which has no other options on it. At around 1m 38s something happened and the main interface loaded and I started to play.
First off I thought I would get the email side of the phone working, so went to mobileemail.vodafone.net and set up an account. I have got an IMAP mailbox which is my personal mail account, plus I set up a dedicated mobileemail.vodafone.net email address. I logged in with my user account as prompted by the phone, and it said it had configured the email accounts and I would start to recive email in around 20 mins. So I waited and waited, nothing happened. I could not get the phone to activate, even after speaking to Voda for a couple of hours and sending 5 sets of service books.
Eventually one of the test messages I had sent from my Mac to my IMAP account was received, and I thought that everything would now start to work. I have a shed load of emails into my account each day, so have emails stored in folders to keep things neat and thought they would all be downloaded and put into the view. How wrong I was, an hour in still nothing had happened, so phoned through to Voda again, and asked the tech on the line why it wasn't downloading the hole mailbox. I was then told that the way Blackberry email worked, I may not get the whole of my mailbox downloaded, only new messages. Plus he said he didnt think it would download the folders.
At which point I looked at my Nokia E61, which was still wirelessly picking up my emails and arranging them neatly in folders and blinking at me to tell me there were new ones and thought so it doesn't do IMAP mail properly, let's see what else it does!
I tried to use things like the Facebook app, which at first would not download. When I evetually installed it and fired it up, I was told that my service plan did not support the use of such applications. I spoke to Vodafone again and they assured me that my service plan was set up to allow the use of apps like Facebook, but the phone would not have it.
Next I tried to send contacts from my old phone to the Blackberry so at least I could phone some people. I came then across a another problem. My old phone is a Nokia E61 and have so far been able to sync the phone with my Mac without an issue. I read that PocketMac would allow the Blackberry to connect and sync with my Mac, so installed it and tried to fire some contacts over, but it wouldn't have it. Next I tried to send contacts via Bluetooth from both my Mac and my E61, that didnt work either. At which point I was getting a little stressed, as the phone that was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, was becoming proving to be a weak successor to my 2 yr old Nokia E61, which 'just worked.'
Grudgingly I installed the software on the beer mat in the box and tried to install the software into my Windows VM running in Paralells on my Mac. I made sure I was running it on a virgin VM with no other software running on it, so as not to hinder anything interfering with it. As the InstallShield window appeared on the screen it failed and gave me an error and quit.
At this point I made the conscious decision to box the phone back up and send it back to Lodamone. They asked me what I thought of the phone, and I told them!!!
Needless to say, the phone has now gone back and I will now wait to see what Q1 of 2009 brings.
Could someone please just tell me where I can find that beautiful wallpaper of the first picture of the review? Thanks in advance!
The fact that it does NOT come with built-in WiFi is a deal-breaker for me.
When at home (or at free public websites) and being able to use WiFi networks is a great plus & less likely to go over the download limit we are sometimes imposed (here is Canada, Rogers/Fido do not offer unlimited plans for the iPhone).
Overall, it looks liks a great phone with some minor irritants (the camera, touchscreen not fast enough for typing) but without WiFi, it's a NO-GO for me.
Does anyone know where i can get my hands on that awesome cartoon wallpaper in the photos??
I was about to buy this phone tomorrow, now Engadget changed my mind......thans Engadget. I guess i'll be waiting for the next best thing or get an Iphone
I still think you should give it a demo run. I'm a bit wary of Engadget and Gizmodo's review on the Storm. I've used jkontherun.com continually to get some honest reviews on computer hardware, and I'd say their review of the Storm appears to be a bit more factual/objective. I was a bit down yesterday when I read the negative reviews...but this morning I've decided to try it out first and make my own opinion.
i have one of these, the screen clicking means that i constantly click on the wrong menu option. the typing is terrible to use, constantly hitting the wrong buttons. i'd rather stick to the x1 anyday, a bit slower, but far more accurate
I was kind of looking forward to this phone, but the flaws pointed out in this review seemed valid enough to warrant the wait. Guess I'll stick with my clunky, twitterly appless Centro.
"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)."
Does this mean I can't add it as an account to the Storm and retrieve it through the messages app using IMAP like I do on my 8830 now?
Does anyone knows where to find the wallpaper from the first picture? Or the style name?
Haven't really read they review, got bored after the first paragraph, particularly when I got the following statement:
"and unquestionably raised the bar when it comes to expectations for features in new handsets. "
How!?
The iPhone is, after the Motorola V3, the most under performing handset on the market with regards to features, especially for the ridiculous price tag it has! Don't get me wrong I'm not an Apple hater per-se, I own an iPod, but the original iPhone simply didn't deliver basic things present in any other high end handset at the time (such as 3G), and the iphone 2.0, although updating some glaring exceptions, leaves others unresolved (Video capture anyone?). It shouldn't be up to 3rd party programmes to provide this sort of functionality, it should be in there as standard!!!!!
Grrrrrrrrrr!
Some of these comments make me feel like I'm watching a video on YouTube instead of reading a phone review.
Per some of the first comments, I agree that my wallet just went back in my pocket.
And please read up on the definition of "niggles". It has nothing to do with racism.
Blackberry has had 2 years to try to make a phone to beat the i-phone and still cant. Its amazing that apple was so far ahead of its time. I cant wait to see what they do with the future iphones!
Well, iPhone 1 and iPhone 2 looked identical. They did change the back to plastic and made it work on their 3G networks... even though 3G was already available during the first iPhone launch.
I can't wait for the next iPhone. My prediction, 3.5" screen... oh hell, it's gonna be the same thing. Once you get to "big glass screen" you can't go anywhere else!
twenty times is a bit of overkill.
then again, "joshua topolsky" did the mb/mbp review....
biased much?
If you are unwilling or unable to leave Verizon for some reason, is this the best phone available for their network?
Engadget compared it to the iPhone and Bold, but those aren't options for me, I want to know how this Blackberry compares to the other smartphone options from Verizon.
This review pretty much pointed out alot of reservations I have with touch screen phones in general...
Ultimately, tho...I'd like to play around with an in store model to see if the issues are absolute deal breakers to me or not. If so, I'll just purchase the Curve until the 8900 comes out.
Ohhhh and what did I tell you....long live the IPHONE...oh look at that..an app that counts my caloric intake...that's random...yeah thats how many apps on the app store there are.....
so, i don't get it.
anyone remember this?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/08/blackberry-storm-9500-hands-on/
"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, since it easily leaves traditional touchscreen typing (even that hokey haptics stuff, Nokia, LG) in the dust."
why the big change of opinion?
(if someone else already brought up this older article already, sorry...)
No, didn't miss it...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Chebwa/stormx3.jpg
does anyone else really think that apple is just sitting there counting their cash going... YES MY Precious Iphone3g.. your mine..
They've got 6 months lead time bettering the iphone on this storm. If this was august then I think RIM was in the race but they're so far behind it's a joke. It's not as good as the iphone3g and it's still 6 months late to the party.
NO Wi FI No Storm:(
Sounds pretty sweet. But I'm still leaving Verizon to get a G1 next month :\
I think it's interesting that this review doesn't match up with Engadget's first impressions from a month ago at all. Paul Miller (I believe) absolutely loved the keyboard and thought it was the best touch screen keyboard in existence. Interesting.
Interesting indeed. Reminds me of how precious metals are artificially inflated/deflated in today's market.
"...that makes for a stuttery input process."
I'm sorry, but I have to call bullshit on your urgent need to be uber-hip. First I stumbled slightly over your atypical spelling of the word "linchpin", but when I came to "sluttery" my reading of this review came to a screeching halt. Off I went searching for the definition for this word that seemed to make no sense in the context in which it was used. Sure enough, it doesn't. Sluttery does indeed refer to sluts, the kind you don't take home to motha...
Stop trying to be too cool for school with all the pseudo-slang and whatnot. You're making me realize how anal I can be, nitpicking on grammar in an article like this. And that's not cool. Nice review though. I'll be scratching the Storm off my list now.
Go look up the word 'stutter' in a dictionary and then you will realize what a complete ass you are coming off as.
I blame my crappy workplace monitor. I SWEAR I thought that read S-L-U-T-T-E-R-Y, which I was suprised to find out was an actual word.
Hey, at least I own up to my mistakes. :P
I was def thinking about getting the storm. My brother has an iPhone and I have the Voyager. When i got the Voyager I was completely pissed off because they advertised this devise as an iPhone killer and it was not at all. Even though I will never switch iver ATT, becasue of their terrible service and lack of good customer service, I want an iPhone. The Storm caught my, as well as people like me who don't want to leave verizon, eyes because it is the first device that acually can compete with thei Phone in the market. All the other phones are just 2nd grade to the iPhone. The G1 is terrible so don't waste your time. It is the most flimsy piece of trash. I have an iPod touch and the effortlessness that can be put into navigating from menu to menu is amazing and that is what BB did wrong. Yes, the majority of their customer base in corporate America and yes, they should keep them in mind when making their products, but Apple didn't do that when they made their device and look at the success they are having. BB has so many other phones in teh market to choose from, so why couldn't they just make this phone as much like the iPhone as possible, to capture the same market and at the same time get back the customers that lef verizon for the iPhone. Verizon service is better, so by doing this they would have won. What verizon needs to understand is that iPhone and iPhone 3G is not the end, its the begining. Blackberry did not make one phone and Apple sure as hell is not either. The next iPhone will most likely blow away everything that is out at the time similarly to what the originals did.
Anyway, I know the iPhone cannot be hacked to work on the verizon network but does anyone know what ATT and APPLE'S contract is? Will the next iPhone be for other carriers? If anyone has legit proof or news of this please reply.
Wow, I must admit that is a very sleek looking phone. I still dont think I will give up my IPhone 3G to go back to Blackberry again.
jess
http://www.privacy-center.vze.com
So, all in all, it sounds like a pretty good phone, but it's not "Diamond" in the rough. (As in the Diamond Pro from HTC!). Still kind of surpised I don't see more comparisons drawn between that and the Storm.
This device will sell like hotcakes. Its not an iPhone. Good! Most hardcore Blackberry users could not survive with the simplistic iPhone. The apps will come, including a good third party browser, hopefully.
This device isn't looking to steal iPhone sales, but bring some of the iPhones features it lacked to the table. Its done so well, and kept its core functions at the same time. Look for RIM to return to top seller in America, because a simple fact remains. While the iPhone does alot, the Blackberry does things the iPhone just can't do, and multitasking is just one of them.
Engadget writers love the iPhone, as do Boy Genius Report. But the iPhone isn't the world beast its made out to be. That role is reserved for the Nokia N95 variants, which outsold the weakling iPhone, fueled Nokia' and S60 OS's dominance over Apple, RIM, AND WinMo.
But they never talk about an N95 8gb killer, which was and still is the true iPhone killer. I suspect that's why at&t won't subsidize the N95's, to protect iPhone's high profit market..
Since this is on Verizon, what are the chances that big red is going to cripple some functions on the Storm.
Besides the already crippled maps of coarse. (VZ Nav mapping)
Speaking of which, can we use any other apps for navigation?
BBMaps is free and included on the Storm.
Looking at this review from someone with a verizon curve and owner of an Iphone 2G and Iphone 3G I have this to say:
I'm using the Curve now and from an Iphone 3G standpoint, it works. Compared to my late Iphone 3G:
-Better battery life
-Better camera w flash
-shoots video
-removeable memory
-removeable battery
- I can last an entire day with it automatically checking my email, myspace, facebook accounts.
- I dont need to set the brightness to the screen to something i have trouble viewing in daylight
- Turn by turn navigation
- MMS!
- Better 3G Network
Now the Iphone 3G does have its advantages, but they are mainly:
- Better looking interface, better music player, better apps
- larger screen
- thinner
- easier music sync
- better web browsing experience
- wifi
I would say typing experience is based on your preference. I seem to prefer the physical qwerty to iphone. But as long as the "sluggishness" of the storm doesnt overshadow the better/more features I'd say that the "prettiness" doesnt hold a candle to the usability of the storm.
I would assume that when compared to the curve that the storm would come out ahead, with only advantage a qwerty keyboard and snappier interface, and for power users that could be a deal breaker understandably.
Ive noticed with phones that initial impressions are iffy, kind of like driving a car, youre not completely accustomed to using it, so id like to see a review after getting a few weeks of use with it as well
"- Better 3G Network"
Please define better. More coverage, faster speeds, the ability to use voice and data at the same time?
We talked about this when the Storm was first announced to be in production, in order for it to be a real competitor, the Storm would need to nail down the keyboard and OS/UI. One review thought the keyboard was incredible and could go head to head with any keyboard, the other not so much so we'll leave that to those who will actually try it themselves. As for the OS/UI, I knew RIM wouldn't develop a new OS and like I originally thought, the OS isn't fit for the touchscreen.
The Storm (OS) is basically the same as ANY other BlackBerry but now the navigation is not a trackball but touch. And I totally agree with the review, just thinking of going through menu after menu with touch is pretty tiresome.
Other than an addition of a touchscreen and slight improvements to multimedia (browser, media player), there's nothing to really go crazy about. Assuming the keyboard really doesn't change anything (in terms of accuracy and efficiency), it's just another BlackBerry with a touchscreen.
(As of right now, no one should really be saying the Storm is better than the iPhone or vice versa or talking smack about the other because everyone was down on the iPhone for keyboard and not having this and that but what is the Storm bringing, pretty much nothing the Storm is exactly that, again, since we're still waiting for a verdict on the keyboard...)
I love my BlackBerry but the UI/OS is the deal breaker NOT Wi-Fi. Right now I'm probably holding out for the "Niagra"
I do understand that someone compares a new smartphone's features to the iPhone's one but for god's shake do you really HAVE to blow steeve jobs in the introduction of a RIM's storm review ?
And like NO mention of the Touch HD which IS a competitor here in western developed countries (i.e. europe)
I know that by the time being it really feels good for you American to see an American product actually worldwide successful but you've got to admit you're making it a little bit bigger that it actually is...
wow.. posting the same review twice.
are you hard up for news or do you want to make sure that everyone knows your apple fanboys?
where can we get that wallpaper that's in the main image of the review?
All these people jumping on Engadget for hating on the iPhone need to go read Time's review, and PC World.. Nobody likes this thing. I was really looking forward to it, too.
Er, I mean the storm. Stupid no-editing function.
Yeah and maybe you should go read CNET's review which has it rated as Very Good! Stop with the biased opinions and let people make their own decisions already!
I appreciate in depth reviews which compare phones. There has to be a measuring stick, after all. And most of the comments have been good as well, although I must admit there are some acronyms and terms used that are lost on me, such as "PND". The Storm seems to be impressive, but like the iPhone it has its moles and warts. It guess it all depends on where you like the mole to be - Cindy Crawford's face or my ass.
I'd like to invite some comment and advice here. My two sons and I are switching out of Sprint (who isn't?), mostly because they have no coverage off the highway in northern Michigan where we have a summer home. Our phones are five years old and not worth a dime. Time to upgrade as well. I am looking at the LG Envy for my sons partly because they are SMS/text message power users - what teenagers aren't? For myself, however I was considering the Storm, the HTC Touch Pro or the Omnia which is to be released in about 3 weeks. I am leaning toward the Omnia, especially after this review. I am not what you call a power user, if you haven't figured that out by now. What I am looking for is an up-to-date convergence device that will sync with Outlook/ ACT!, an mp3 player, GPS, and FM or satellite radio. Am I on track here with the Envy for the kids (one's at college, they both want scheduling capability in addition to a good keyboard (physical or virtual), they both already have iPods. Which of the three new phones would you recommend and why? If you don't like the Omnia in particularly, why?
Thanks everyone for reading this and responding. I can tell there are alot of really smart people that read and post on this board, so your advice will be well considered.
I had one for a while now, It's super accurate to input data.. but it's slow because you have to fully release your finger before pressing a 2nd key
AT&T SUCKS. Period. I don't care what area you're in. You are delusional if you think otherwise. I agree that Engadget is very biased towards the iPhone and consumers should decide for themselves.
Sorry shatter your theory, but I get 5 bars wherever I go in Fresno, CA. So to say that "ATT SUCKS OMG" just isn't true. Not for me at least. And that's all that matters.
I have been toiling on this decision for 6 months.....yes SIX months. I'm off contract now with Verizon and I'm thinking about a switch to ATT just for the iphone. I was all set to be at the VZ store at 7am tomorrow to pick mine up. Also, I am a phone-a-holic, I read every review on every phone Engadget is my home page and I frequent several other sites too. This review devastated me. I actually lost sleep over it lastnight. I'm not sure what to do. I can get the storm for $99 with all the discounts, new every two and other stuff.....but I am not sure now...key areas for each phone:
1. iphone - no MMS (I know third party coming....), no video (rarely used, but still nice to have) and I wonder how well i will type on the keyboard. Last but not least.....I have to switch carriers.
2. Storm - The click has me nervous, but I can try it before I buy it i guess, no WIFI (not deal killer, just disappointed), keep VZ (best network in my area).
What do I do??????????? I'm so torn.....really....I am.....
Help me Obi wan....your my only hope...