[adamrasz]

This is my fist post so bear with me. Thanks.

Okay, so like many people, I bought the Blackberry Storm off EBay, and it arrived 2 weeks ago. It came with a used Verizon SIM card inside so I know it was on Verizon, but had been unlocked according to the EBay sales description.

This little thread is how I got it all together and customized the way I want it for AT&T and my lifestyle.

1. I unpacked all the contents, cables, and the actual phone.
2. I removed the old Verizon SIM card, and inserted my old AT&T SIM from my Blackberry Pearl 8100.
3. The Storm came with a 8GB memory SDCARD so I just left it in there. (When I finally plugged in the Storm to my PC the SDCARD opened as a separate drive in mass storage mode, and I went and just deleted all the songs, files, etc, in the folders on the SDCARD, but left the folders there)
4. I turned on the Storm and knew I was in for a process. Haha.
5. Okay, first off I had the blackberry desktop installed on my PC, if you don't, go to blackberry.com and download it.
6. Next, I went to Verizon's website, and downloaded the latest device software, version 5.0.0.328 and saved it to my PC. (Verizon wanted a phone number on the verizon network to download this, and I just used their sample phone number on the website, I think it was 123-456-7890 or something, lol.)
7. Actually here, I need to remind users if they don't have a blackberry internet plan, to go to ATT.com or call ATT and have that added to your account. Must have it!
8. I used a great tutorial from blackberryforums.com click HERE or if the link doesn't work here it is: Unlocked Storm on AT&T or T-Mobile - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community Thanks JSANDERS!!!!!!
9. Okay, back to my epic saga, lol. I followed the link in step 9 from JSANDERS, and downloaded the AT&T service books to my PC, and followed steps 2-6. (NOTE: for some reason, when I went throught the add-remove programs wizard, it didn't remove the file the first time. I had to reboot the Storm, and replug it in to the PC, then follow steps 2-6 exactly a SECOND TIME FOR IT TO WORK CORRECTLY!!!! You will see the name of the file being removed - you can't miss it!!!! Then you know the process worked. )
10. Okay, step 7 go to the website: https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=mycingular and create a new account, or login. Okay, here is where I got stuck, where is the send service books button?? It is under HELP. Click on help, lol, and there is the send service books button. BOOM!!! Then I got my first email saying the Storm was registered with the wireless network and then a second email after I added my GMAIL account on the website saying it was setup correctly, and I should get new mail in 20 mins.
11. All right!!! So far so good!!! Now, I followe steps 8-10 from JSANDERS, and got full EDGE with full bars and I was ecstatic lol .
12. I went through my phone and changed some various things like my time was wrong for some reason, so I went to options>date/time>and set my time zone and selected auto-update time zone, and use network time. I think in like 5-10 mins the network time finally caught up, had me worried for a second though, haha.
13. Next, I went to options>language and text input>input style selected word completion AND show text input options (to give you the choice between different keyboard styles).
14. Next, options>memory, make sure media card support is on, and mass storage support is on and auto enable mass storage mode when connected is set to yes.
15. Next, options>mobile network, make sure network says AT&T!!!!, network technology is GSM/UMTS, and I set mine to 2G since Storm only gets EDGE not 3G.
16. Next, options>owner, I entered my own name here!
17. Next, options>phone options>voicemail, I changed my access number to my phone number xxx-xxx-xxxx. Left password blank. Works fine!!
18. Next, options>screen-keyboard, changed font size to 10, backlight brightness to 60 (saves battery big time), backlight timeout 20 secs (also saves battery), auto dim backlight to OFF, LED coverage to OFF (also saves battery), key rate to FAST, Right convenience key to Quick Launch (3rd party app - more about that in a minute!), Left side to nothing (for VLINGO, a 3rd party app, more about that in a minute too, lol ), menu style to full menu, tap interval to 100, hover period to 100, and swipe sensitivity to 0.
19. There is always many things to customize on the Storm or any blackberry, but this should get anyone started!!!
20. Now to fine tune my Storm, including apps and Theme. Read on!!
21. First the theme. (I researched a bunch before I even got the Storm, while I was waiting for it to come in the mail.) I settled on the MINIMAL BOLD THEME. Works flawlessly (except for the white bars after reboot which can be fixed from homescreen by pressing blackberry button, blackberry button again, options, click layout, click one row, save, click two rows, click save) Lol, I know it sounds like a pain, but not too bad, and this them runs sooooo smooth, never any lag EVER!! Get it here OTA or read about it first HERE or if the link doesn't open here: http://forums.crackberry.com/f131/mi...-theme-213440/ THANKS RSMIFF!!!!!!
22. Now the best part, the APPS!!!
23. I was saying earlier about assigning the right convenience key to quicklaunch. Most people think Quick Launch is the #1 blackberry app. It lets you select anything on your blackberry from the one convenience key. I set up mine to have the camera first in my list, so 2 clicks on the right side convenience key goes right to camera. Then one more click takes the picture!!!! Love that!!!
24. I will list my quicklaunch items in order quickly: Camera, video recorder, contact - new, lock device, memory cleaner, bluetooth toggle, media videos, media pictures, pandora, sound profiles, and wikipedia search. Just my personal preferences. Also set the right convenience key inside quicklaunch program to select items and left to close quicklaunch.
25. Okay, quick note, there is a cool app that backs up your 3rd party apps, and does some other things more technical I don't know about from RIMGEEKS called the Blackberry Swiss Army Knife or BBSAK for short. GET IT!! Here is the website: RIMGeeks.com • View topic - [Beta][8/18/09] BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife v1.5 If you brick your BB, you can restore your apps at least.
26. One more quick note while I am thinking of it. If you use AIM chat, or YAHOO chat, they were not working for me. Not connecting anyway. So I followed someone's advice, and deleted both apps under options>applications>at the top where it says third party switch to ADD-ON. Lol, took me a while to find this part of the applications menu. Then go to mobile.blackberry.com and under instant messaging re-installed both AIM and YAHOO chat OTA (over the air (from the phone itself)) and now they work like a champ!!!
27. Okay, to wrap up this long winded saga, here is a list of my other apps: VLINGO, BEBUZZ FREE, WHERE, WEATHERBUG, VIIGO, PANDORA, GOOGLE MAPS, TIME MOBILE, GMAIL, METERBERRY

• VLingo works awesome! I set it to my left convenience key, and you can click it and search using Voice recognition, write a memo to yourself, and some other cool features. Crackberry app store has this one.
• Bebuzz free lets you get blinking LED when you missed calls, emails, etc. Cool app. Blackberry app world has this one.
• Where lets you search for movie showtimes, cheap gas, etc by GPS. Blackberry app world has this one.
• Weatherbug is a must for me, shows weather and picture of sun, snow, etc right on the screen without clicking. Blackberry app world has this one.
• VIIGO lets you read RSS feeds from news, sports, or whatever. Good easy to use screen. Blackberry app store has this one.
• Time mobile is awesome, set it to text view. Just like reading the magazine!! Crackberry app store has this one.
• Pandora radio is my all time favorite It figures out what songs you like and its free, plays songs that I love always. Soooo smart!!! Blackberry app store has this one.
• Google Maps and GMAIL are handy. Google maps actually works like GPS unit, showing your location moving and everything. GMAIL is okay, I push everything to my main messages window, but keep the GMAIL app to access my subfolders created at GMAIL if needed occasionally. I think you can get these from Google Mobile from your phone browser.
• Meterberry is everyones second favorite. It shows your battery level, allows you to reboot (battery pull simulation), and other things. Good app. Crackberry app store has this one.

The OTA links to download the Blackberry app world HERE and Crackberry app store HERE. Both of these are a must to me. Download and install your own apps!!

Thanks for reading. Please post comments and other tips below for new Storm users, from Verizon to AT&T, to help them get setup.

Update: Browser configuration: Go to browser>options>browser configuration and put a check in Support JavaScript, Show images, and all others except Allow Javascript popups. Go down to Browser Identification. Now here is the important part. I switched it from Blackberry Browser to FireFox. Now I can use the Google mobile app WITH VOICE!!!

Download the Google mobile app with VOICE SEARCH HERE.

PS. TIP: may need to switch the Browser Identification to IE or Blackberry for different sites if the webpage is not loading right, like the words are cutting off or it's hard to read.

[phillyphreak]

I think most people want to know why you did it rather than how you did it. A sub-par phone on an inferior network. Kinda like playing your Zune through TV speakers...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Taterfry]

Cool story bro!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[cgull]

Cool story bro!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

^This^

Now can you please get an iPhone 3GS working on Verizon's network?

[rock54]

I think most people want to know why you did it rather than how you did it. A sub-par phone on an inferior network. Kinda like playing your Zune through TV speakers...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

What's par for phones?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Dave12308]

^This^

Now can you please get an iPhone 3GS working on Verizon's network?

How the **** could you do that? A bolt-on CDMA chipset?

[mikecella]

this is what i used as a guide for my storm http://blackberrystorm.wikidot.com/g...bile-w-unlock]

[phillyphreak]

What's par for phones?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I don't want to hijack this guys thread (already I see how excited people are with the notion of doing this themselves) but par for this phone to me would be full functionality of basic core applications, phone calls not least of all. But no, a year and boat loads of leaks, hybrids, and a couple of horrible official releases later and I still never know if my phone will decide to randomly switch to speaker mid call! Media player still not fixed. At least the alarm clock works right...

Hijack over. Enjoy your Storms on AT&T.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ProBuilt]

I think most people want to know why you did it rather than how you did it. A sub-par phone on an inferior network. Kinda like playing your Zune through TV speakers...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

No. I could careless about why. I just want to know the how. I recently made the same accomplishment with the help of the forums here. If there was a debate of "why" the "how" would not have happened.

My question to the OP, have you had the problem with the dissapearing BB Maps? And did you solve it?

Thanks for the detailed post. Not bad for a first attempt, from one Newbie to another.

[phillyphreak]

No. I could careless about why. I just want to know the how. I recently made the same accomplishment with the help of the forums here. If there was a debate of "why" the "how" would not have happened.

My question to the OP, have you had the problem with the dissapearing BB Maps? And did you solve it?

Thanks for the detailed post. Not bad for a first attempt, from one Newbie to another.

This just in: how to get your DVD's to play in your VCR. Detailed walk through coming soon...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[adamrasz]

My question to the OP, have you had the problem with the dissapearing BB Maps? And did you solve it?

No, I use Google Maps, and actually I deleted the blackberry maps shortcut. Google Maps works really well, there is one just for the Storm. You probably know that, and just want the BB maps working, but I am a big fan of Google's Apps and have been using them on my phone for years now (Pearl).

To PhillyPhreak: I can totally understand if I got the Storm like a year ago, and had to do a 1000 upgrades on the OS and all kinds of apps not working, etc, I would be pissed too bro. But as of right now, the Storm is working flawlessly for me , except as you said the volume on the MP3 player I can't seem to use at all? The volume up/down buttons skips tracks. Anyone know how to turn the volume up or down when using the MP3 player?

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!!

PS. I am thinking of getting an all-in-one chat client like BeeJive or IM+. Has anyone used BeeJive on the Storm?

Peace,
Adam

I heard Obama was using the Storm? Is that true?

[bdnate]

cool story i have unlocked storm every thing seems to be working on att network butwhen I down loaded pandora it dosent work same with slacker radio please help if you can
thanks

[adamrasz]

cool story i have unlocked storm every thing seems to be working on att network butwhen I down loaded pandora it dosent work same with slacker radio please help if you can
thanks

Thanks!

I have Pandora working great! Love it too. Probably my favorite app.

Okay 2 things, first I would go into Options>Applications>Click on Pandora>Click on Edit Permissions. Make sure they are all set to allow. All of them! My pandora didn't work until I did that. Then do a battery pull, and try again.

Second thing is (if that didn't work) if you don't have blackberry app world installed, I would install it, and delete your old pandora. Then download pandora from there. It will auto detect your Storm and download a new version. Then make sure all permissions set to allow, and do a reset.

Let us know BDNATE!

[smhism]

except as you said the volume on the MP3 player I can't seem to use at all? The volume up/down buttons skips tracks. Anyone know how to turn the volume up or down when using the MP3 player?

You have to barely tap the buttons to control the volume on the default settings. you can also try to go into options >screen/keyboard (i think) > and change the key rate setting to something slower. This way it'll see the press as a normal press and not a press and hold that would skip through to the next song.

[adamrasz]

You have to barely tap the buttons to control the volume on the default settings. you can also try to go into options >screen/keyboard (i think) > and change the key rate setting to something slower. This way it'll see the press as a normal press and not a press and hold that would skip through to the next song.

Thanks Smhism!!! I changed it to normal, and now it works like a champ!! That was one of the most annoying things I needed to fix!

Hey Smhism, did you get a pair of blackberry earbuds with your Storm? I thought they were just the same ol boring ones you get with every phone, but when I plugged them in, and hit the button, it starts your mp3 player, then hitting it again pauses it. (it also of course answers and hangs up when a call comes in).

Now the question - Can you FF to next track using that button on the earbuds???

Later,
Adam

[bdnate]

thanks for answering when i tryed to down load it from bb app world it came back no network support that seams to be the problem across the board with any app i try to install

[MK3_2slow]

thanks for answering when i tryed to down load it from bb app world it came back no network support that seams to be the problem across the board with any app i try to install

well its in the OS so you will not be allowed to download it. if you want just follow what i did in my post and try it out for yourself....yes its a PITA but im happy after messing with it for a while i finally figured it out. hope it works for you.http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/v5...mments-379399/

[adamrasz]

thanks for answering when i tryed to down load it from bb app world it came back no network support that seams to be the problem across the board with any app i try to install

Well one thing I would try is to make sure under options>applications and blackberry app world, give it permissions to allow everything.

Make sure that you have the right blackberry app world version, maybe delete the one you got, and redownload it OTA from blackberry.com

that would be my best bet!

- Adam

[adamrasz]

well its in the OS

I recently reinstalled OS 5.0 and it improved my connection I think.

I went to the thread about OS install http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/al...-betas-123176/

and went to BlackBerry� Software Updates

and clicked on update

then it downloaded a loader app, and when i restarted the desktop manager, and went to add/remove programs then under more options I selected delete all applications.

This wiped my phone and gave me fresh OS 5.0, but for some reason kept all my apps. Had to configure everything from scratch, passwords, settings, etc, but the apps were still there. Meterberry remembered my activation code even!!


Now I have a much better network connection full EDGE and pandora works great, same with email, etc...


Has anyone else tried this with success??