[dimsum]

I currently have a VZW Perl and need to upgrade, within the Verizon Wireless set of phones, to a GSM or other EMEA-compatible handset.

The intent of this thread, hopefully useful to more than just me, is to discuss whether the Storm is the best worldphone Blackberry choice in the VZW ecosystem. It's not to compare the Storm to the iPhone as getting an iPhone is not an option [for me], or comparing the Storm to the Bold (as VZW does not offer a GSM-compatible Bold).

Any thoughts?

[toptechexperts]

*Just realized you were asking about the 8830, not the 8330*

I currently have both(Will drop the 8330 once the Port goes through)
If you are using it for a lot of email/messaging the 8330 is far easier to use(At least for my big fingers) I have found that I am learning new things everyday with the storm that make it better, although until they sort out some of the lag I still prefer the 8830. The storm has a gorgeous screen, and web-browsing is much better(even though I can't seem to hit the right keys about half the time) It would help if I could calibrate the screen as I always seem to hit below the key I am trying to press.
I still can't get over how laggy it is... I would trade the transition effects for a more responsive phone any day. I am sticking with the storm as it will no longer be my primary business phone, and I have faith that they will work out some of my complaints.
Both phones are great, but you may want to wait and see if they can work out some of the negatives. The 8330 was excellent out of the box, and to this day still think it's the best device I have used.

[YourMobileGuru]

The 8830 is antiquated and slow. I've had one for nearly a year and retired it when I got my storm. a lot less memory, no MMS. Very basic browser and no HTML email unless you did the OS 4.5 update. The software was, however, very solod.

The Storm is ultra modern with a superior web browser and HTML email right out off the box. Faster processor and a lot more memory. It is faster, but the OS has some glitches which RIM is working on fixing. We are getting leaked OS updates about once a week or so now. The official release are solid and stable, if a bit slow or glitchy. Some of the betas (.83 in particular) have some more serious bigs that a business user may want to avoid and stick with the official builds.

The Storm has a touch screen keyboard that takes getting used to BUT the 8830's keyboard consists of keys that are flush against the housing and equally hard to get used to, IMHO.

[BlackBerry Guy]

There are some rumours floating around that the 8830 is going to be replaced this quarter (mind you they are for Sprint, but the other CDMA guys can't be too far behind). So there very well may be a CDMA 90xx coming in the near future.

As for the 8830 and Storm - what are you looking for? Any preference for physical keyboard or are you fine with virtual keyboard? Do you need a camera?

[Terrigno]

I have the 8830 also and bought it for a back up with my 8330 that I used. I am still selling my 8830 because I have the Storm now and I have the Curve as a back up to that honestly. I never used the 8830 but I did notice the keys were very diffrent then the Curve keys. Not sure how to answer this but the Storm can become very addicting after awhile of owning that I can tell you

[dimsum]

...As for the 8830 and Storm - what are you looking for? Any preference for physical keyboard or are you fine with virtual keyboard? Do you need a camera?

I've tried the Storm keyboard briefly in the store, might go back tomorrow and try it again for a longer period. It felt a little weird, but not too bad. I like the keyboard action both on my Perl and on my iPod Touch, wondering mostly if I'll get used to the one-button feel.

Also, when I played with the Storm the first time, I got a little frustrated with navigating around in the browser (including zooming in and out), although, again, this is compared to the iPod Touch which is awesome for things like that. Compared to the browser on the Perl, it was awesome.