Original BlackBerry Storm to get flick scrolling, better browsing through firmware update?

Despite Verizon's best efforts to ignore the obvious, RIM's BlackBerry Storm2 is not only official, it's (un)officially destined for Big Red's airwaves. If you're one of those slightly disgruntled Storm 9530 owners, however, you could be looking at a rather nice firmware update coming your way in the near future. According to phoneArena, the Storm and Storm2 will eventually be "practically identical" in terms of software, with a forthcoming update to add flick scrolling, tabbed browsing and threaded texting to the original. Of course, we should probably wait for VZW to confirm the existence of the Storm2 before expecting any formal word on this, but feel free to go about your day with cautious optimism.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:22AM]

Sure. I'll believe it when I see it. Fail.

[eminisp Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:28AM]

@ truth

As if you have a blackberry....TOOL...Why do you waste your time commenting on competitor threads?

SP

[TikiTeko Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:29AM]

He just like to push buttons for no reason. His comments are as useful as wisdom teeth.

[Rinum009 Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:37AM]

HEY back off the wisdoms....at least they go away!!!!

[MONKEY Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:42AM]

I already have flick scrolling and threaded texting via a leaked OS 5 for my Storm....

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:24AM]

this is old news if youve been following the beta OS releases. OS 5.0 WILL add this function on the original storm. threaded text/tabbed browsing should be on all devices with 5.0.. which is the 83xx and up...

[MRCUR Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:26AM]

As autoprime said, this isn't really "news". All of these features will be added with OS 5, which is of course coming to all of RIM's devices. Now of course the major difference is the 128MB RAM compared to the S2's 256. No matter what RIM does with its OS, the S1 will probably be a bit sluggish.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 5:24PM]

I upgraded to os 5.0.0.230, and there is nothing sluggish about mine.

[MRCUR Posted Oct 19th 2009 5:29PM]

Well then that's fantastic. I haven't personally used a Storm with OS 5 (yet).

[TomSawyer Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:38AM]

another cute "iPhone-killer." Moving on.

[Rinum009 Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:53AM]

not really....first it has to get its own over exaggerate commercial
.
[transformers music] DROID [/transformers music]

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:42AM]

The Blackberry Storm is the best paper weight money can buy. I know I have one.

[eminisp Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:40AM]

@ steve

Youre thirteen, why do you need one at such a young age.

SP

[N900 Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:56AM]

@Steve

That 128MB ram problem you had. Is it possible to put the memory for installing apps over to the MicroSD card, or is the RAM the only memory that you're allowed to use?

[B3astofthe3ast Posted Oct 19th 2009 10:56AM]

No threaded messaging in this day and age? WOW

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:06AM]

I know right... kinda like MMS. What phone would release without it?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:23PM]

@B3astofthe3ast: The Storm always had threaded messaging; the newer OS adds something that's called "threaded messaging," but is actually the same thing as the phone always had, except (a) in color, (b) sorted in the opposite order, and (c) totally screwed up and almost unusable. Okay, I'm hoping that that last one gets fixed in the Gold release, and that it's just one of the bugs still left in the betas.

[CJ100570 Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:00AM]

I love watching tools pontificate in an attempt to be funny.

[rpm9150 Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:37PM]

So you must love watching yourself in the mirror.

[CJ100570 Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:40PM]

WOW! That was an ingenious comeback Did you think that up all by yourself kyle or did your mommy help?

[ryker25 Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:08AM]

I own a 9530 and have an OS 5 beta on it. I have all of those features and the phone, compared to OS 4.xx, absolutely flies. I personally hate the threaded messaging, it is not done well in OS 5. The major difference will be the new screen typing input, it is a disaster on the 9530. The memory will be nice overall, most people I know run with minimum apps and have only about 20mb memory free. The 256mb will allow us to be more liberal with apps and keep performance steady. The wifi I could live without, big red has really good 3g in my area. I doubt it will be a firmware update though, all those listed features are software driven, including the flick scrolling.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:27PM]

When you say that the new screen typing input is a disaster, do you mean the new autocorrect feature? IIRC from the few days I had 5.0.1.230 on my 9530, that can be turned off, reverting back to the traditional autocomplete. And I agree that the new messaging s/w is a complete, useless mess, but I hope that will be better when the OS finally goes gold.

[LoosePampelmousse Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:22AM]

Benefit is this:

Moon has H3 (Hydrogen 3) in huge amounts. google it. A cup of the stuff can power your home for years, and is a super clean source of energy. H3 is given off by the sun. Earth's magnetic field diverts it from reaching our planet, but the Moon has been accumulating its surface for eons.

Currently, we are witnessing the beginning of an international race to stake property claim on the Moon. H3 can not only power the planet, but be used as a launch platform to other planets as well.

LCROSS impact was a necessary step in finding water ice. You know. As in water. H2O. We are made of this stuff. And if it exists there, we don't have to bring our own..

Anyways, those bitching that this was a waste of money, is like bitching about the huge cost of drill bits back in the day, searching for oil..

[Herbaceous Border Patrol Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:26AM]

Wut?

[LoosePampelmousse Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:37AM]

lol.

1Password saved my previous comment along with the actual login then auto logged with that comment.

haha.

mods please delete..

On topic:

I have Storm 1 running the latest flava of 5.0. It is much more responsive and snappy. However,5.0 does not fix the brutal talk quality and the terrible sure press mechanism..

Will be getting the iphone next, seeing as it's available on Telus soon. Whch by the way, are still on 4.7.0.122 (old)

[jellotime91 Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:38AM]

wait, and the iPhone has had this since... 2007? I just had to. It seems like every time the iPhone gets something it didn't have before people say "blackberry has had that for years".. *rolls eyes*

[eminisp Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:45AM]

@ sam

Theres a 13 month life cycle for tech. 2 years is not bad. MMS was added to the iphone this year. MMS came out in 2002. 7 years. Are you SERIOUS?!?!?!?

SP

[N900 Posted Oct 19th 2009 11:52AM]

They'll try and tell you why MMS isn't important. Just like they tell you how FM radio isn't important, MicroSD as well

And who needs multitasking? /s

Let's see what they cook up today =D!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:06PM]

A better browser is essential. BBB has to be one of the worst on any smartphone besides IE

http://www.rumorgadget.com

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:36PM]

Well, don't hold your breath for a new browser before Q4 2010 -- Q3 if we're very, very lucky.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:15PM]

Engadget's a little behind the times on this one... I've been running threaded texts and flick scrolling on my OS 5 BB Storm for about 3 weeks now. Others for a couple months. This was unofficially confirmed long ago.

[sip Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:40PM]

Forgive my insolence, but how does one update to this once it comes out?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:35PM]

One way: Launch Desktop Manager, click the "check for updates" link.
Another way: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/update/
A third way: https://www.blackberry.com/hhupgrade/

[sip Posted Oct 19th 2009 4:20PM]

Thanks buddy. I'm pretty excited for this.

[chr1shamm0nd Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:41PM]

phones deffinatly coming out soon....holding a dummy with a huge vzw logo on it right now in my hand

[CJ Posted Oct 19th 2009 8:08PM]

Penis tattoos a soooo 2003...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2009 6:19PM]

I already dumped my Storm... what a piece of crap. I learned my lesson.. sure type should have been called "sure to fu*k you up"-type.

Nothing new to see (or care about) here... move along...

[troyh72 Posted Oct 19th 2009 9:28PM]

Verizon will be releasing OS 5.0 for the original Storm, to coincide with the release of the Storm 2. This is so the original Storm users can have a similar experience as the Storm 2 users. Its coming fast, they are testing it now.