BlackBerry Storm now available on Verizon
By Thomas Ricker 
posted November 21st 2008 4:11AM
posted November 21st 2008 4:11AM
[Thanks, JR]
posted November 21st 2008 4:11AM
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I had hoped and hoped that I would like this phone despite the negative reviews. I went into a Verizon store when it opened. Firstly, they didn't have any phones. Apparently they were expecting a shipment 'sometime' today and we could wait if we wanted, or have it shipped on the 25th. No Thanks. They did have 3 storms that you could play with. So I played with one, and it was so disappointing. The clicking screen was pretty cool but the general text entry experience was poor ( I actually would prefer the LG Dare's virtual keyboard to this). Generally the touch screen just wasn't very easy to use.
I was the 14th person in line at the Verizon Store this morning. Right as I was about to talk to a representative I overheard another employee telling a customer being attended too they were out of phones.So they had 10 of the phones in stock? What?!?!? I believe Verizon has around 2500 stores nationwide... You are telling me they only shipped 25,000 out to the stores on the first day? VERIZON... what were you thinking???? Oh and also to the guy who said it was $369.00 to buy the phone outright with no contract, you are wrong.... It is $499.99! I ordered the phone, but I am still mad I didn't get my hands on one today...
I'll preface this by saying I was very excited about this phone and I kept my Verizon subscription alive just because of it.
However, I went into my local Verizon store yesterday and had a chance to play with a live Storm. I must say, I was very disappointed. I'm going to compare it to the iPhone because it's the mainstream touchscreen phone and the only other one I've had experience with.
This may be a new software/hardware issue, but the Storm did not implement the touch capabilities very well. BB used their current OS and just modded it to work with touchscreen. Whether or not this gets bettoer over time, hard to tell. At the moment, it is very... clunky. Scrolling through screens is a chore (no inertial scrolling, which even the Pearl's wheel had). Typing is not easy. The screen-button does not press easily; it actually requires some force. This becomes almost painful if you're trying to hold the phone with one hand and type with the other. One handed typing-holding was not as much of an issue if you typed with your thumb because of normal pressure applied by your thumb, but it was also slower.
I will say however, that the screen resolution was absolutely amazing. My TV doesn't have a resolution that nice. Sound was crystal clear, even on speaker. The phone itself had a very nice heft to it; it felt like you could drop it from a 3rd story onto concrete and it wouldn't be scratched.
Other than my annoyance with the force required to "push" the screen, most of these issues could be corrected by a software/firmware update. For now, I'm waiting...
I will wait 3 days for Verizon's version of The HTC Touch Pro before I make my decision. I hate Apple products and AT&T is garbage.
I feel your pain with AT/T...I had a monthly phone call to make for billing as they would mysteriously charge me roaming charges, claiming my phone had 'skipped' to a cell tower in Ohio (I live in PA)...I've despised them ever since, and that was 15 years ago. Still, I would give them and Apple a spin if the iPhone could handle Rhapsody...Don't like apple's attitude of CONTROL...didn't they mock a certain company about that in a famous advert?
And now I learn Verizon has disabled teh WiFi built into the Storm...to force you into a data plan? I do hope some new phone or company applies the ball bat of competition to those who will chose 'what is best for the customer' instead of letting the customer to decide.
Thinking of getting HTC Touch Pro instead of the Strom...surfing the internets, and what do I see? This, from Gizmodo:
"According to the rumors, the phone would be available online starting on the 24th, but wouldn't be in stores until December 1st. Touch Pro pricing is said to be $350 after a two-year contract and mail-in rebates, which is $50 more than what AT&T and Sprint are offering the phone for. But what's odd is that it seems Verizon will also reducing the specs on the Touch Pro, ditching the accelerometer and reducing the RAM to 192 MB. If that's the case, it will really bring new subscribers and customers..."
So charge more, and cripple the phone???? I think I'll soon be ditching Verizon. Can.You.Hear.Me.Now,Verizon?
@BILL
verizon did not cripple the storm RIM did not add wi-fi radios to the device in the first place on the vodaphone version ether!
verizon does not change the physical specs of any phone EVER they have never done it they may in fact re write the phone os to block features but as far as the device its self still the same as when it left the drawing bored!
Could someone clear something up for me. Go to verizonwireless.com and go to the phone drop down menu on the page, click on the storm from that menu. When it comes up what does the display price say? $99 right? (denoting a $70 rebate in small letters. Then click the buy now button, and it brings you to a page to purchase the curve.
You're going to be charged $169 today, and you'll probably receive a $70 prepaid Mastercard in 4-6 weeks through the mail. What exactly is in question here?
Waited in line for 2 hours for one.. Got one, and was up there... I wanted to just buy it, no new line, no upgrade available.. Verizon wouldn't let me :(
Fail. I guess I'm going to dump VZW now... Assholes..
I played with the Storm for a little bit last night and here are a few things I noticed about it. The screen quality looks very nice. The screen rotation was fairly quick and switches from suretype in portrait to qwerty in landscape. However to reiterate engadget's gripe, typing on it is definitely not as fast as other touch screen phones due to the fact that you have to apply enough pressure on every keypress for it to register. On this not, up until now I thought there was some tech that allowed for the actual screen to be pressed and register a click kind of like resistive screens but not really but I noticed last night that the entire screen portion of the phone was not built into the phone but rather on top of the phone. So when you're pressing to click something you're in fact pressing down the whole entire screen. I don't know about others but that would be an area of concern to me in the long run. Dust and other debris that can get lodged under the screen is a possibility and who knows if the screen won't get loose after multiple drops. Having played with the Bold right after, I would definitely recommend hardcore BB users to the Bold due to it's physical keyboard, awesome screen with amazing pixel density, and top notch build quality. I think the storm is definitly for the average/casual user.
When you select the learn more on the home page it links you to a second window that list the storm for $99.
Here is the link to the second window: http://estore.vzwshop.com/storm/
Pull the trigger? Let's be realistic. The way things are now, some of us don't have the money for bullets!!! Still want it tho! I'm puting it in next months' budget!
There are two stores in Hyannis, MA: the full VZW corporate had 20 phones available (!), all sold out in minutes. I went across the street to the smaller store in BJs, which opened an hour later at 9:00 AM. They only had 5 available (!) but I was able to grab one... just had to wait outside in the frigid temperatures for 30 minutes to do so.
I've been paying an extra $40 - $50 a month to my VZW acct the last few months so that I can charge the next handset I get to my acct that has a credit. With NE2, it was looking like I was going to get a "free" Storm (even make $50 off the MIR). Because I had to work today and couldn't wait outside of a store, I called VZW and spoke to a rep for my upgrade. I had read plenty of positive and negative feedback on the phone and decided I was going to my chances and order it. However, the rep told me that should I trade in the phone for another one, or even turn in the phone (and get my NE2 option back), I would have to pay a $35 restocking fee. When did this start? There was never a restocking fee before. I wonder if this is a new policy that went into effect very recently in anticipation of a lot of people buying a VZW phone (Storm) and getting a significant amout of returns/exchanges. Does anyone know when this changed? Anyways, looks like I'm actually going to have to drive to a store and test it before I buy it.
Its a shame that the market is in such turmoil, or else we could get a full comparison in sales between the two competitors. We'll never be able to get an accurate readout of the success of this touchscreen vs the iPhone due to the fact that, with the market and economy taking such a drastic downward spiral, not as many individuals can even afford to go out and get this. The economy was so much better during the release of the iPhone than now that sales in general will be down after Christmas, regardless of its popularity. Oh well.
I don't know why anyone would buy one. I went in and played with one for about 20 min and the phone was a complete piece of junk. It crashed and lagged like hell and this is coming from someone who is on verizon and walked into it wanting to buy one.
In my very humble opinion it really seems like an Alpha / Beta release, I do not see it as a ready-for-mainstream phone. In a few months to a year with some solid software patches it will be really cool, but as it stands, it seems almost unusable.
FYI,
RIM has said a new free OTA software upgrade for the storm is due "in a few weeks" that is said to dramatically improve speed and performance of the OS
I've had a BlackBerry Pearl on Verizon since the beginning of the year, and I have loved it, so when the Storm came out, I had high hopes for it when I went to try it out. I was very disappointed. The build quality of the phone is top-notch, the screen is wonderful, the size is perfect, and the graphical part of the interface looks awesome. However, the physical interface really let me down. I found it frustrating to use - the phone lagged when something was selected, the touch wasn't very accurate, and it felt like the screen's mechanics wouldn't last after 2 years of heavy typing. Also, I noticed that the back of the phone got very hot. Overall, the part of the Storm that matters the most, and that I had the highest hopes for, is unfortunately a failure in my opinion. I love BlackBerrys, but I was disappointed and left wanting with the Storm. RIM could have done much better. I guess it's back to my Pearl for now...
Also, I forgot to add, the accelerometer in the one I used was terrible. It kept switching into landscape even if I held the phone perfectly upright, and when I deliberately moved it to landscape, it took forever to switch or didn't switch at all. And, when I went to try out the text selection feature, it froze up and had to be restarted.
$200 for a phone with no Wi-Fi... DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
please tel me where i can get this blackberry strom
i want to buy online froma company to ship me to UAE united arab emirates
and please tel me where can i buy online thanx
I got my storm yesterday and i will say the touch screen was a little difficult to use ( AT FIRST ). now on Day 2 it has actually become very easy to use.. i think it takes a little time to get used to the way it works but when all said and done it works pretty well and very easy... Verizon was short on stocking their stores due to an issue with the OS which had to be fixed by RIM. So VZW stores only got half or less of the quantity they initially ordered. I work for a verizon indirect location this is what we were told in an e-mail from verizon. Overall i like the phone very much and being a die hard Blackberry fan i know RIM will come out with software updates in the coming weeks/months that will fix many of the issues people complain about if you like the phone get it it will only get better... RIM strives for perfection.
I walked into the store to play with this for about 30 minutes and I must say, the Storm is sadly a complete dud. The clicking screen is a nightmare to use and will slow down your typing speeds to a crawl. Additionally, the entire interface looses the snappy responsiveness typical of other Blackberries. Commands take half a second to respond which is super annoying when you're navigating through menus and emails. Everyone keeps forgetting that a touch screen was the most /hated/ feature of the iPhone, while good UI, browser, and responsiveness is what was most loved.
how does verizon spend so much money pre-marketing and marketing a phone that you cannot get?
Pros:
-Nice high res screen
-Stellar Blackberry mail system
-Verizon's great network
Cons:
-No Super Monkey Ball
-Can't travel back in time.
I think I'll pass...
screen name + comment = thumbs up to this guy