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Pic taken with Curve.
I also wanted to provide a summary of my very brief experience with the Storm (also at the Chicago location). Some of this stuff is repetitive of things that others have already posted elsewhere, so please don't flame me if you find my information unhelpful. I just want to relay my experience.
The first thing I noticed was how solid and sturdy the unit felt. The glass absolutely feels like glass. In fact, it feels like a slab of marble. As you click the screen in, you don't get a snappy, flimsy click as if from a computer mouse. The screen and the motion feel very solid and sturdy. It feels very much like the mid-generation ipod buttons, with a lot more mass. The movement went about as far as an ipod button too. Not too shallow, not too deep. Again, it almost feels like you are clicking on a slab of marble. There was no flexion in the screen whatsoever - and consequently no discoloration. That being said, I do realize that the pressure causing the discoloration is likely coming from the inside rather than the outside.
The second thing I noticed was that the screen doesn't just go up and down. It has the ability to rotate slightly. So, for example, if you press on the upper right quadrant of the glass, the top right corner of the glass rotates up, such that the gap closes near the top right, but the gap on the top left is still present. Does that make any sense? I think this is what helps make the button presses feel localized. It is obvious that the glass doesn't just go up and down, but it was neat to see it in action.
The UI was slow and glitchy, which is obviously why the V-reps were VERY hesitant to let me take a look at the live unit. I had to convince and sweet-talk the reps to let me see the unit -- and I had to explain that I was fully aware that the software was not ready and that the unit would not run the way it was supposed to. Finally, after the blabbering and chit-chat, one of the girls pulled a live unit out of her pocket, and let me play with it. As an example of the slow UI was the "rotator," as one of the reps characterized the accelerometer, which was very slow and unresponsive. When I turned it to landscape, I had to wait about 3 seconds. Nothing new to report there.
I only really had the opportunity to type on the unit. I did nothing else. No battery pull, no browser, no media player, no nothing. Just typing. If I felt that I was being invited to keep my hands on it longer, I would have. But the reps were hovering around me like vultures ready to snatch up the Storm from my hands.
Typing (while in landscape) confirmed some of the concerns that I had with the unit. How will I type fast if there is only one button? As stated here numerous times before, when typing fast on a normal qwerty, people tend to press the next key before completely lifting off the previous key -- so there are fractions of seconds when two keys are pressed down. Obviously with the Storm, you can't do that.
Now, in my struggle to understand how the Storm would feel, I previously held my Logitech Revolution mouse in my hands and rapidly thumbed the button. I was surprised to find that I was able to click the button as fast as possible and still maintain separate and distinct clicks. But, on the Storm, you can't achieve this kind of speed. The glass is much heavier than a mouse button, and because of the differences in build, the recoil of the screen is much slower than that of, say, a mouse button. What resulted was a limitation on the speed at which I could get distinct button presses, the limitation based on the time it took for the screen to recoil. I was able to type very fast -- but not as fast as my Curve.
All this said, I literally played with the thing for 4 minutes. With time, I feel that I could probably type on the Storm just as fast as my Curve; it's merely a matter of learning a new style of typing -- changing my muscle memory. It felt amazing in my hands. Smaller than it looks in pictures. And solid as a rock. I'm super stoked for this thing to come out!!!Last edited by liquidsense; 11-07-08 at 02:13 PM.
11-07-08 01:42 PM - If I was in the market for a media/browser-centric smartphone I wouldn't hesitate to go for the Storm. I noticed you have a Bold... if your more into it for e-mails and text... I'd wait until that touchscreen/slider 'berry comes out.
Good review, have been curious about an unbiased feel for the unit. Not sure if I'd want to be an early adopter and would rather see what follows in the BB touchscreen lineup?11-07-08 03:15 PM - Oh btw u stated in your review that it is smaller than it looks in the pics.
But looking at all the review vids in the blog area. Looking at the people hold
it; the phone still looks pretty substantial.
Thanks again for the review..................................
This will be my Xmas and birthday present since I was born in Jan....
AKA
S1
11-07-08 09:02 PM
