Not sure if you noticed, but RIM's first-ever full
touchscreen BlackBerry caused quite the ruckus when it splashed down late last year. While many were thrilled to have the common luxuries found only on a 'Berry underneath a clickable screen, there were quite a few outcries from folks who thought the whole thing just needed a few more days in the oven. Now that it's had a chance to make its way around (most) of the world, we're curious to see how users feel about
their purchase. Are you satisfied with the interface? Did RIM deliver as promised? Have the updates quelled any early issues you had? Don't hold back in comments below -- get loud, get proud.
posted Feb 13th 2009 9:11PM
i JUST know that someone like iEye or paul or some other mac-crazed-shortminded person is gonna scream the most annoying phone that we all have heard only about A BILLION times..
RAZR!
About 99% of us are here just waiting for it.
Ahh, the RAZR, the worst phone I had ever owned... and yes 2 phones later... I bought an iPhone... hate on me if you want, but it's a good phone :) And never got a chance with the Storm yet unfortunetly.
@ ross.
true, you cant say the iPhone is a BAD phone. It clearly exsels at what it does.
The blackberrys escel at what they do. its like comparing a truck to a sports car.
****excel
Isn't it an incredible accomplishment when you are universally known and then consequently hated on an entire website? For that, I think that iEye deserves a round of applause.
Normally, I woulda screamed "MAKE IT AN IPHONE" but in all seriousness, The Storm has alot to like, but it feels like an UNFINISHED PRODUCT.
build it better. tighter seems where the battery cover is locked in, higher quality buttons, higher quality side case...and better firmware - firmware not shared by previous phones.
Just amazing -- and a bit pathetic -- how the iPhone is there when it's not.
Did someone mention half-baked. Talk about eatin' raw. This is supposedly the BlackBerry answer for the question nobody asked. BlackBerry users hated touch-screens. Maybe not, they just hated iPhone touch-screens. The Apple just sticks in their mealy craws. RIM should stick to keyboard handsets. It's what they do best.
@ Kamil:
You know, people *talking* about iEye and Paul Chapel has become just as annoying as iEye and Paul Chapel.
Please. Stop.
@ImaYam
Or like comparing a phone to a phone.... also you spell "escell" "excel".
FAIL
Better Firmware, Get the damn app store thing up, a separate graphics chip, and holy shit where's the wifi.
But besides those its a pretty good phone
Needs more WiFi
Sheesh, all of these massive developmental wishes, and yet people complain ferociously about the lack of cut/paste on the iPhone...
get rid of the chucklefucking clicky thing under the screen and wifi =\
I would never have made it! What Rim should have done is add a touch screen to the standard profile. I have to ask, is a BB about media? Not really... The iPhone is, and the device nicely fills the space.
There are many great things about the BB, and as an iPhone user the device is pretty attractive. Competing head on with Apple was a mistake. That said, an OQO-ish like BB based on the Storm would be pretty cool. But, ditch the reliance on a touch screen.
I'd bet money that missing wifi was VZ's fault.
Wifi
Better Browser
No click screen
Click screen definitely is better than non. Honestly it makes a lot of sense once you've used it for a while.
Amen.
We seriously need a good, stable, flash-enabled, capacitive-aware (on supporting platforms), web standards compliant, cross-platform browser, YESTERDAY.
Everybody making their own webkit browser isn't bad, but it ends up being more work for everyone. Here's to hoping Fennec comes close to closing the cross-platform mobile browser gap.
i've used the clicky screen for a while and it adds nothing to the user experience and is definitely my biggest gripe. I'd def say scrap the click screen.
The click screen is definitely a pain in the ass. My friend works for Verizon and brought over a storm the day they came out so I could play with it, and it's painful. To type you have to click every letter which slows you down considerably.
I've thought up a few ways they could keep the click screen, but make it useful. You need to be able to tap too. I know people won't like me mentioning the iPhone, but the iPhone's keyboard is so much easier and faster to use because you can just lightly tap each key and type very fast. The storm needs this.
The click can still stay, but use it in a way like allowing you to drag your finger around almost like a cursor, and click while you're dragging, as long as everything still has the ability to tap for speed. I think that would increase the usability quite a bit, and it's certainly easily done in the software.
Other than that, the phone felt really slow and buggy to me, like someone else said, like unfinished software, but I was using the original firmware, so I can't say much as to what's updated since then. I feel that the Storm was a great first attempt by Blackberry, but like almost anything, the first version always sucks. Hell, the original iPhone was worthless until 2.0 (no 3g, no apps, basically just a simple phone with an expensive touch screen for little reason). I think that a Storm 2, or whatever it ends up being, will be a very good phone.
@Andrew:
Your schtick on the click screen is spot on. The first thing I thought when I played with my friend's Storm was that the clicking action of the screen should've been implemented as an analogy to right-clicking on a PC. You suddenly have a two-button touch screen/mouse! But making that the primary was a fail.
iphone... haha pwnd @kamil
Base it on SnapDragon, make it razor slim.
it might just be because i have big hands but i really dont like thin phones, it feels like im ganna break them. i dont own a storm but when i was playing around with one it had a very nice hand feel, i wish i had more time to play with it to see what other function i would like corrected
and snap dragon does sound good if it doesnt become vaporware
The clickable screen is more of a failed experiment- I like the iPhone touchscreen more for everyday tasks.
I'd recycle them into iphones and Palm Pre phones.
ughh! i dont know if i should downrank you or up! so confusing!
clickable screen ftl
clickable screen ftw.
I tried the BB Storm, and the clickable screen is a great way to view menu items before clicking them. Trying it in the store though, typing messages with a 'click per letter' felt tiresome. Is it already possible to turn off the 'click requirement' for the keyboard only? Or would that conflict with any functionality?
I like the Storm except the lack of apps in the Application Center. Apple has the corner on the market when it comes to this. That is the direction that smart phones are going. More than just a phone with email and web capabilities. More like an all in one, connected platform of information.
I've had mine since the second week they were out. The first firmware sucked big time. The update to 4.7.0.75 has been very nice. My only gripe: lack of apps like the iPhone. If the new iPhone in June is anything like the rumors, I may just switch, jail break it over to Verizon [3G now in the States] and just eat the cost of the Storm.
http://corebrewing.com
Verizon 3G runs on its CDMA network, there is no way the Iphone will work on Verizon (or Sprint for that matter) unless Apple releases one with the necessary CDMA hardware (fat chance).
LOL.,.,what the!!!!!!did this guy just say iPhone on verizon?!?!?!?!?!?!?wow. He must be a storm user, says something about knowledge n judgement,.dee dee deee!!!!!!!!!!
I wish Apple would bring the iPhone to Verizon. It could only help them. If 10 million people use the iPhone on AT&T, 10 million more would use it on Verizon. Carrier lock-in sucks. But, Verizon might cripple the iPhone like they do with other multi-carrier phone.
Back on topic... I just bought a Blackberry Curve. I'm not impressed with the Storm. Two of my friends have it, and I don't like the click screen. I probably could deal with the iPhone touch screen if they had the iPhone on Verizon. I hear you get used to the iPhone after a while, and I'd love the iPhone to replace my iPod. But, for now, I'm a Curve user. It was only $30 with my upgrade!
P.S. The Curve is my first smartphone. I really like having a full keyboard... so maybe the iPhone isn't for me. Maybe in 2 years Verizon will get the next iPhone! Time will tell.
@michaelscrip . AT&T n iPhone have exclusive right till July of 2013. Its a mega million dollar contract .So after that all carriers will be able to carry the iPhone , then it will reeally start to take off in sales. Imagine every single carrier on the planet having subsidies on it. It would seriously only be like a $10 phone here in the states.insane!!!!
Yeah, but those contracts almost certainly have exit clauses if Apple wants to bail out early.
Still, the likelihood of Verizon getting an iPhone is low. We'll see what happens if they unveil a 3rd gen iPhone (guess we can't call it a 3G, heh)
From my understanding of it, Apple went to Verizon first, before going to ATT, to contract as the sole carrier for the iPhone. Verizon, however, wanted to put their crippling crapware interface on it and would not compromise (I guess they didn't see the potential success of the iPhone). Apple, of course, would have nothing to do with that, so they went to the more amenable ATT. I wish Verizon would have acquiesced...their network is much better where I live. Oh well...still love the iPhone.
Glad to see that Engadget commenters haven't changed a bit...
@philosopher
Here's a question for you to ponder:
Would a real philosopher actually quote Carlos Mencia?
"dee dee deee!!!!!!!!!!" ftl!!!
Cook the firmware a bit longer and get the app store online. Other than that, love the phone.
fire
I agree, the ability to shoot fire would improve this phone ten-fold.
iphone fanboy: "My iphone's 3g is lighting fast!"
Storm Owner: "Really? Cause mine shoots lightning and liquid fire at morons." *vahwooooooosshhshsh*
-*insert screams from Paul Chapel's screams here.*-
freaking typos... bah...let Jason sort it out today...
Somehow have an option of whether or not you want to use the click touch screen. Like an option you could turn on/off in the UI.
that is such a major fail of an idea that its awesome. thats like saying "i hate that end call button below the screen. i should just be able to change a setting 'in the UI' and have it go away".
i think what you're going for is either remove the clicking screen completely, or make two versions, one with, one without. i support the former, as the latter is highly unlikely.
@ ham sandwich
I agree with Bill, have an option to allow it's use or not. That way, if you are trying to type away, you're not stuck with waiting for it to unclick all the time. Or at least give it as an option for typing.
@super
what i was referring to was the absurdity of suggesting that a hardware button be somehow modifiable by software. i wholly agree with both of you, however in the fact that something needs to be done about the clicking screen's...well...persistence in making you click it.
@ a ham sandwich
I think Bill Jobs and Super S are saying that they'd like the option to just tap the screen to type, like on a trackpad.
I think that, as of now, you have to physically click to type on the keyboard, while the tap is reserved for another action.
If you really have a problem with the clickable screen, this isn't the phone for you. It is what it is, why do people seem to be unable to understand that? Maybe the iPhone, or HTC Touch Diamond is the right phone for you instead.
Personally, I really like the phone... there are definitely some bugs to work out, but overall, it's pretty good!
A software switch might not be an option, but a hardware switch certainly would be. The clickable screen was what first got me interested in this phone, but after testing it out I decided to pass. I can imagine situations where the clickable screen would be desirable, but I found it to be a bit distracting in typing attempts -- I type too fast for the click to respond correctly. Just have a slider that lets you shift it to "no click" and I'd be very happy with the physical side. I haven't used the UI enough to comment -- but several of the Verizon apps that populate other phones like my Voyager are certainly worthwhile. VZ navigator is a very competent GPS and Visual Voice Mail has become indispensable.
@k_r_y_p_t_o: Easy boy, This _is_ a "how would you change X" thread remember.
@a ham sandwich: Modifying how an OS interprets a keypress can most certainly be changed. Granted, the more complex you make the options, the more chance there is for bugs. But WinMo has settings to remap all but the most critical hard buttons on any hardware and they work flawlessly.
Anyhow... I'm really loving some of the suggestions all over this thread on how to make better use of the click screen. If RIM takes some of them to heart, they might actually make something awesome out of it.
run iPhone 2.2.1 on it!
Wouldn't have made it .....
touchscreen bold or curve would have been enough...
im sorry i do not make enough to make those kinds of decisions....
put a key pad on it and get rid of the touch screen
Well I own one and have also owned the Jesus phone too. I think that they need a new firmware update and it will be better.
That's easy. Give it a hardware keyboard and you've got the best BlackBerry, and therefore the best messaging device, that's available.
slow day on engadget? cmon guys this is classic troll bait. give me a reason not to read gizmo.
it is troll bait, but it's also interesting
Guys, it isn't troll bait. Engadget posted the same "how would you change" about the iphone and the 3G (and innumerable other devices.) It's a valid question that lets the users gripe about the glaring misses that all handsets have. Hell, the writers here even threw out the stereotypical misses that the iphone (first time around was "should have physical keyboard" humorously enough.) and the 3G have.
And once you've identified it as troll bait, you can do one of three things:
1) Participate in a valid discussion.
2) Join in the trolling.
3) Go enjoy this troll-free holiday on the rest of the articles while the trolls are busy here.
I'd make it good.
But seriously, they should have made a new special OS designed to work with the touch features, at the moment, it's just a slow, buggy implementation of the normal BlackBerry OS on a touchscreen phone. And oh yeah, Wi-Fi would be nice. As an avid Jailbroken and Unlocked iPhone 3G owner, I can't wait for the Pre. If the Pre's sold outright for a reasonable price, I'm buying one.
Restrict the clickscreen to typing only. On anything else, u don't need to click.
Make the scroll continue according to the momentum of the finger's swipe.
I think you have it backwards. Make the click screen for everything but typing. That is where all the troubles seem to happen. When you're trying to type quickly, you end up hitting the next letter before the screen unclicks, therefore missing that letter. So bypassing the click while typing would greatly speed up typing and allow for better accuracy.
I used my Storm for 2 months, then decided it wasn't worth the high cost. The browser was horrible, I could get better internet on my KRZR K1m cell phone. No WiFi. No Apps. It was very sluggish/slow. The camera barely worked it seemed like. Problems with setting up email. No Mac support. The battery life was HORRIBLE- and I'm talking about just using the phone/email/text and quick browsing, who knows what it would be if I tried to use the camera and music stuff. Screen and speaker gets dust/crap stuck in the edges. Overall this device is labeled as "Junk" in my mind. And I really don't have high standards and I really wanted to like this thing ( I waited forever). The best thing I I liked about it was the keyboards w/suretype, still not better than the iPhone's though. But when asked how to change it- all I can say is make it more like the iPhone, the iPhone is in a whole other class of devices simply put. I am waiting for the new iPhone to hit this summer, I rather go cell phone and ipod touch for internet if I need it. Sorry BlackBerry.
I can tell you have never used one because i can go a hold day on my storm listening to slacker radio and doing email and still have plenty of juice to talk to my girl at 9. i in no way think that the storm is better than the iphone but as far as battery goes it will trump and iphone any day.
What, do you want me to send you a picture of my Storm? I can tell your an idiot.
How would I change RIM's blackberry storm? By giving tmobile rights to it.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the clickable screen. It was definately a risk worth taking, if only as a proof-of-concept. It just didn't go over as well as it could have. Either find a way to improve it or ditch it.
Other things....if they ditch the clickscreen, then give it a slideout keyboard (landscape plz...one thing I REALLY don't like about the Pre is the vertical slide)
Wifi and maybe by version 2.0, LTE
roll out the 4.7.0.103 update to everyone
put a peice of plastic behind the middle of the battery door at the factory (this makes the clicking SO much easier)
only 1 audio channel at a time on the 9530 while you can have multiple sounds on the 9500? Why?
Disable home screen in landscape.
An option to disable clicking.
Java is old and weak, get over it RIM.
And the list goes on....
REMOVE THE CLICK SCREEN!!!
HATE IT!!
HATE IT!!
HATE IT!!
I went back to my Curve. The touchscreen still needs a lot of work before it will compete with a real QWERTY. Found it too annoying to type the simplest of text and the click screen was finicky depending on where you were clicking. Hopefully the second rev of the Storm will address these issues.
I am not a fan of the click screen. There are other browsers you can get from the stock that are better.
Its different from an iphone. If they made it more similar to an iphone, why would you get the watered down iphone? Just go buy the one from apple. All in all RIM made a great iphone competitor. Some people will favor one or the other.
PS: Ctr + C / Ctrl + V
as a serious blackberry user and after owning the 8700c,8300,8800 and the STORM i was disappointed in the the performance, the previous 3 blackberry's did a much better job in email, text, media , and viewing files. the storm had major lag even after the updates and after testing some beta software was still alot of lag. i was able to type fast but no matter how i config the storm the system was unable to keep up with the speed of typing. i feel that blackberry might have lost some customers because of the storm . one thing that rim needs to understand is that most of the users are serious blackberry users and the keyboard is important .
i would suggest rim should develop one with a slide-out keyboard and a touch screen it would have been much better; they would have gotten most of the users who wanted to go to the storm but did not due to the fact that the storm has no key's . that is the only things i would change.
i did hear some people say that make it thinner to be honest if you make it any thinner it will be hard to hold and type just like the iPhone i own and don't use because cant get used to the touch screen for the amount of work i do.
you have a storm and an iphone? you must be really rich and hold 2 contracts with at&t and verizon, or be really rich by canceling contracts, or just be putting silicone cases on your RAZR while you dream about having such things...
Yeah and I own 17" mac n 15" mac oh n new 8" Sony .,.u have no credibility bro,.admit u made bad decision by going with bb
I can see it now no further comments at this time and dinosaur laser battle picture. He's trying to bring out our inner fanboyism.
one more thing to add RIM makes a great product to bad they did not take a step back and look at storm and see what some of the flaws might be, they def dropped the ball on a product that COULD and i mean COULD have been a major player in the pocket pc , iphone, and pre market . if you were comparing rim with out the storm to others hands down business tool wise rim has the award for that. they might need to build more business tools then media tools leave the toys for the kids :) lol
Did anyone read that article earlier today. Not sure if was stating iPhone officially has most traffic of any smartphone in the united states , it finally overthrew blachberry. If anyone has more information on this please let me know. Anyone .,? Anyone.,.?I'm at movies , I can't google right now.
@philosopher
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/02/13/iphone_owns_51_of_us_smartphone_traffic.html
Whoa, does just having a lot of internet traffic make a phone a smartphone? i dont think so, indeed the iphone is good for browsing, but it is not a smartphone, i could never call mine one after having used a BB and a winmo which deserve the smartphone tag for all they can do, iphone no.
iphone is a very good multimedia device with a cool factor, it will take a lot of work from apple to make it a smartphone no matter what they want to call it.
i think apple and BB should stick to what they do best and not try to compete with each and lose out on their focus, or let them not do "beta" release, there is enough room for a few great phones to coexist peacefully!
I would like to play doom on my storm
I HATE it. Had 3 generations of the full qwerty blackberries. I hated the storm. The click screen is gimicky and just navagating around is slow. I have an iphone 3g now and I love it. I still love the full qwerty blackberries.
I traded my BB Curve at work for a BB Storm. Anyway, I wish I'd never made that choice. It sucks. I'm so used to the iTouch that it's painful to do anything on the Storm. If you have seen the ads on TV, then take their actual movements of operation to the extreme. The "Click" they talk about is an actual button (one button) in the middle that has to be pushed to initiate any command. It has the pressure sensitivity of the iTouch where you barely touch the screen and it is highlighted but you have to punch down on the screen and hear the "Click", yes here the "Click" for it to make it do anything. That’s except for rotating the screen. Yes it rotates the screen so easy that you can't even pull it out of the holster to answer the phone and you have to wait for it to come back to portrait mode to get your bearings so you can answer the call. That's if the phone even accepts your command of pushing the button. You have to "Highlight/Push/Click" several times before the phone gets a clue that it’s to answer the phone. Ok I think you’re getting the picture... IT SUCKS AND I CANT BELIEVE THAT VERIZON EVEN THINKS IT COULD EVER BE AN IPHONE KILLER. IT'S NOT! Ok maybe I'll give it more time (longer than I already have) and maybe it will grow on me... NOT!!!!!!!! IT STILL SUCKS AND I'M ABOUT TO GO CRAZY IN THE MENTAL KIND OF WAY!!!!! Now that I have that off my chest. :-) It’s really bad. Their R&D must be on Crack or something. And for the record I’m NOT a MAC person. Windows all the way.
wow, some pretty strong opinions of the click screen. I for one (maybe two or three at this point) don't mind it too much. Granted, it's my mother in law that has it. I will say it needs the ability to calibrate. Her screen is off just a bit and you can't adjust it. Size is definitely an inhibiting factor and the browser needs a little bit of work.
I have had the Storm for a month now and am so far happy with it. One big complaint is the lack of applications in the App center. I also wish they would do something about that damn portrait keyboard, I have found it to be almost unusable! As good as the phone is, its still no iPhone, which is the phone I would buy if AT&T's coverage wasnt so damn terrible where I live. Before I bought the Storm I had the Omnia and that phone drove me nuts. The camera was awesome, but it was laggy, and that stylus hanging off just sucked.
The new OS updates have full qwerty in portrait.
try splitting the keyboard in half. from the T to the left use only your left finger from the Y to the right only your right finger and keep them close to the screen when shifting to different keys. I think it helps. In no way im I saying you cant type but just give it a try and let me know. Thanks
The click screen has no business being involved with text input, and in my opinion, renders the Storm completely useless as a messaging device. Text input should be accomplished solely with screen taps, as is the case with every other worthwhile touchscreen handset on the market. If RIM feels the need to provide Storm users with a tactile typing experience, then they should implement haptic feedback.
That said, I think the click screen certainly has its place, acting as a right mouse button (ie. bringing up context menus) while tapping allows one to confirm selections. It's not a bad idea, it's a bad implementation of a great idea. The best part is, I think there's very little wrong with the Storm that couldn't be fixed via software updates.
I'll bite if they iron out the kinks, and release a GSM version with North American 3G bands.
(am I the only ex-BlackBerry user who really, really, really, really misses BlackBerry Messenger?)
I wish they would have given it WiFi and a Qwerty-board or a capacitive touchscreen. Basically, I wish they would have gone either the Bold route or the iPhone route.
I hope that Verizon gets a version of the 9330 soon. I'd even be happy with an 8930, I just don't want to have to deal with the Storm. My dad has one, he loves it, but I think it is mediocre.
/repost
What the hell is a 9330?
And the Storm does have a capacitive touchscreen.
It has the surepress shit which doesn't make it a capacitive touchscreen in my book.
A 9330 would be a CDMA 9300.
Then what is a 9300?
The screen is capacitive because it takes the electrical impulses from the tips of your fingers to activate a "touch". Its a hybrid, that incorporates two touchscreen technologies.
The 9300 is the 8900 with 3G.