[lyf4ce]

I don't expect much from a phone. Then again, maybe I do - I guess it's all in perspective. But I do expect it to function well, as a phone. It seems to me that practically all the reviews written about the Storm have looked at the gadget's neat new features and really gone into depth breaking them down - the touch and click screen, the accelerometer, the browser, the music and video players, the camera, etc. I haven't really seen a review of practical use of the thing as a phone. So here I go, and for those of you fans of the Storm out there, you might want to cover your eyes for a bit.

Talking on the phone
To be fair, I believe the Storm suffers the same issues as other non-flip phones of the same size. In order to hear someone, I can hold the phone in a normal position to my ear. But in order for someone to hear me clearly, I must shift the phone down so the microphone is closer to my mouth, and since the speaker is then far from my ear I cannot hear if someone is trying to say something in reply to me. This means that there can never be a true 2-way conversation. Now, I know there are those that will say: "People shouldn't be trying to talk while you're talking anyway - that's just rude." But the fact of the matter is that it happens to everyone and is often a normal progression of conversation. I've never had this problem with any flip-phone I've ever had. Of course, I'm sure using a Bluetooth device is also an alternative, but I don't always carry one with me and even so that's not a fix for the problem, it's an inconvenient workaround. Big difference.

The other major problem I have with actually being able to talk on the Storm is with the touch screen. During a conversation a menu screen is displayed with buttons for Speaker, Mute, Flash, and Add Participant. A couple of these buttons change based on whether you're already on speaker or if you have another person conferenced in already. While on a call, if the phone is pressed ever so slightly to my face just a bit too hard, I may end up activating any of these buttons accidentally. I can't tell you how embarrassed I've been when having personal conversations and my face ends up pressing the Speaker button for all to hear within several yards of me. Or when I accidentally press Mute and the person on the other end thinks I'm ignoring them when I'm actually responding, believing I'm participating in the conversation. And don't get me started on clicking the Flash button with my face accidentally.

The thing I perhaps like most about the Storm during a conversation is that it seems to cancel out my background noise pretty well. Other people can hear me pretty clearly while I'm talking even if I have fairly loud background noise, which I frequently do at work. But considering that I have to move the phone down to my mouth to talk into the mic so people can hear me, this wasn't much of a surprise.

Features
The Storm is a neat gadget. It can do all sorts of things, and it's really a pretty cool device. That being said, here is my take on some features that I have come to expect from even much less expensive devices that are lacking in the Storm.

Delete All - This feature should be available at every menu location where it is possible to have a lot of entries. The main locations for this are SMS, the Call Log, Messages, any of the Media subfeatures (Music, Videos, etc.), even Contacts. The ability to delete 150 or so SMS messages all at once, instead of one-at-a-time, is invaluable! Just ask me if I'm sure I want to do it to make sure I know what I'm doing...

Add SMS sender to Contacts - There is currently no option to add someone's number from a text or SMS message to your contacts, or update an existing contact. When people change their numbers and send a text with their new number it's nice to be able to just use the text message to add/update their number.

Call recording - There are many situations where recording your conversation with someone else is useful. I understand the legality issues of "wire-tapping", but there are many other phones out there that will at least record what the other person on the line is saying. I don't see any reason this nifty little gadget can't do the same.

Typing - What can I say? I just can't type as fast on that on-screen keyboard as I can with a button keyboard. And my accuracy is atrocious now.

Other Issues
While the touch-and-click rotating screen is perhaps a revolutionary and useful feature, I've found it has its serious bugs. Before the release of the newer OS, the accelerometer was extremely slow and clunky. That issue seems to be getting better, but I still have other problems.

As I mentioned above, the touch screen is too touchy during a conversation. But that's not the only thing. Sometimes the screen goes blank during a call - no menu options at all. You can still click the screen and push buttons that should be there, the buttons just don't display.

Or how about the fact that, for some reason, the screen rotates during a phone call and goes on speaker. When this happens there is no button option to take the call off speaker, and no option to do so even when you press the Menu button. It's gymnastics to try to get the screen back to Portrait mode, let alone take it off speaker.

Let's talk about GPS and Wi-Fi for a minute. I read the specs for the Storm before I purchased it so I never expected it to have Wi-Fi. Verizon's 3G network has been great for web browsing. I can understand, and have indeed experienced, instances where Wi-Fi would have been nice, but lack of it hasn't really effected my overall productivity yet. And we all know that Verizon loves to make you pay for VZNavigator. While use of Google Maps would be an excellent thing, again, I knew going into the purchase that Verizon isn't really wont to unlock the GPS functionality entirely. Another "nice-to-have", but isn't really necessary for functionality.

So....
The other reviews I've seen have extolled the Storm's technology and it really is a revolutionary gadget. In terms of moving technology forward, I believe Blackberry is taking large steps. And no new technology comes without the price of learning from a market testing trial-and-error period. We have to learn to expect that new advances will always come with some period of time before the technology can be perfected. But we must continue to make advances.

That being said, functionality should not be sacrificed for the sake of a few neat new things. If a device is not functional it is useless for its intended purpose. The Blackberry has traditionally always been more than just a phone. And for most of the features that it contains other than a phone it works pretty well. The camera, the music player, the LCD screen for video playback, the Docs-to-Go and email features all prove the device's versatility and work pretty well. But the phone functionality of the device is extremely lacking and has a long way to go before I can consider it appropriate for my needs.

[noaim]

while some of your complaints may be valid I really don't understand the having to move the mic to your mouth..

I put the storm on my ear and hold the thing almost away from my face.. its just how I hold a phone..

and people hear me perfectly clear..

I am not saying you aren't experiencing what your experiencing but is it the difference in someones voice or is the unit

because there is other people who have complained partially about what you say with that as well..

I have not experienced this at all.

[lyf4ce]

It is a problem with my device. I have tried letting someone else use my phone to call and see if they have that problem and they do. I also know at least 3 other Storm users who are experiencing the same issue.

[asmallchild]

you can delete all

place one finger on the top message, place another on the bottom message

there you go, now you're deleting more than 1 at a time

[lyf4ce]

Ok, I'm not sure if you think that is funny, but it's not. I know I can delete multiple messages by highlighting and selecting. But have you tried deleting multiple screens of messages all at the same time? As soon as I try to scroll to the next screen the highlighting jumps around and I lose what I highlighted. Instead, it highlights an entirely new selection.

This is NOT a "delete all" feature, and is definitely NOT convenient.

Let's see, I have 150 messages (approximately 12 or 13 screens of messages) and wish to delete them all. Click the Menu button and select the Delete All option...

OR

Do it your way and highlight 12 to 13 screens of messages to delete them. Or try to highlight multiple screens of messages and have the selection jump around on you.

Which would YOU prefer?

[barnettj]

you can delete all

place one finger on the top message, place another on the bottom message

there you go, now you're deleting more than 1 at a time

I was wondering how or if that could be done. Thanks.

[fecurtis]

The screen lock app fixes the issue with hitting the mute or speaker button with your cheek.

[dhendriksen]

Ok, I'm not sure if you think that is funny, but it's not. I know I can delete multiple messages by highlighting and selecting. But have you tried deleting multiple screens of messages all at the same time? As soon as I try to scroll to the next screen the highlighting jumps around and I lose what I highlighted. Instead, it highlights an entirely new selection.

This is NOT a "delete all" feature, and is definitely NOT convenient.

Let's see, I have 150 messages (approximately 12 or 13 screens of messages) and wish to delete them all. Click the Menu button and select the Delete All option...

OR

Do it your way and highlight 12 to 13 screens of messages to delete them. Or try to highlight multiple screens of messages and have the selection jump around on you.

Which would YOU prefer?

I have never seen multiple screens of messages. I just tried an deleted over 250 SMS message in about two seconds using this method.

The easier way however is to highlight a date and select "delete prior".

Take a little time to gain familiarity with the commands and you will like the phone much better.


In regards to the having to hold the phone wierd, that doesn't seem right. There are probably 70 Storms in my office and I haven't heard of that problem, nor have I experience it myself. Hitting the buttons with my face was a problem until I got the screenlock app.

I'm not saying this is perfect, I think it still needs a few tweaks. I think the accelerometer should disable while on a call, but that is my only real gripe.

Dan

[Travisl1213]

well if you want to delete all messages then select the top one then hit the bb key then select delete prior and it will erase all entries prior to the one you have selected

also if you get a message or call and you want to add to your address book then select the number then hit copy, then open you adress book find the contact and hit edit and paste the number there

this is not a problem for this phone this is how blackberrys are made