[J S Machine]

This is kinda long, but yall hang in there. I have some good info here.

I've been a verizon user for about three years now. I had Nextel before that and finally got Verizon. In my neck of the woods in Alabama, Verizon or Alltel are the two best SP's.

I came from an LG VX8300 flip phone, so this BB thing is all new to me. So are touch screen phones. It was time for me to upgrade so I went with the storm. I waited until it was released on the 21st, and went and checked out the demo in the store. called verizon that night and ordered over the phone. Received my phone on the 24th.

I am very happy with the phone. There are some really neat features that I gained from upgrading to this phone, but also some features lost that I am still trying to get over. I'm going to put some things out there and maybe you guys can help me with them or comment on my opinions.

1. There is no seperate sent / receive folder for msgs. They all pile up into one folder, which is really agrivating when I am used to seeing two seperate folders.

2. After all the stuff I have read about deleting VVM and VZ nav, I am still unsure if I should delete them. If it costs me anything to use either one, they will both be deleted.

3. The accelerometer problem I saw another topic posted about. Mine does this too. Occasionally it won't switch over and I have to do a bat pull.

4. The phone is not a flip phone, but flat. Since it is this way, it is very hard to hold it between my shoulder and ear so that I can work with my hands. It will take some getting used to.

5. The browser is really nice, and the main reason got it is because my work keeps finding ways to block my net access. Now I can surf and they don't have to know about it. Although you are very handicapped compared to an actual PC, it is still there and better than nothing at all. The thing that has really gotten on my nerves about browsing is that I use back and forward buttons constantly on a PC. The BB only has a back button on the bottom, so if I go to far I have to hunt the links by zooming to get back to where I was.

6. Of all the typing tutorials and tips I have read, I think I have a better one. I don't do SIM card stuff, and my phone came in the mail. There was no way to transfer contacts over in to the new phone, so I entered each and every one, over 300 of them. Good practice for some functions and mainly the keyboards.

7. Where do I get ringtones? I don't use them hardly at all, but I would like to know where to get them in case I ever want one.

8. Why are all the icons that could possibly be on the main menu screen stuck in other folders? For instance I have the ESPN link and the Weatherbug link in my Downloads folder. I would like for them to be right up in the top on the home screen. I know how to move icons around, but how do I get them out of the DL's folder and onto the main icon screen?

9. The qwerty keyboard does not hide and show with the finger swiping trick you all talk about. It just doesn't work. I think I have gotten it to do it once, but usually I have to go to the BB button and select hide keyboard to get it out of the way. Is there a trick to this??

I did get some screen protectors, as I figured these would be good investments. I see no real difference with one in place, and I will leave it on until it gets too scratched to use. I also bought the little black silicone case protector as well, as I don't want to knick the phone up. As far as cases, this phone is very weird to me because not only is it long, it is wider than my other phone too. I have decided that it will not be carried straight up and down, but rather horizontal, and I am trying to get used to this too. Just seems like alot more phone on my belt now.

The way it has its own email is kinda cool too. The thing about that though is whenever you send a message it always asks what kind you want to send. according to verizon, if i send an email it is free beacause of my data plan, but if I send or recieve a txt it comes out of my plan. Its kind of pointless to even send txts anymore, seeing how an email is just as easy...The other thing about txts is that I really wanted ESPN alerts. However I will not be signing up for those because of the drain on my txts. I don't have unlimited txts, and even though it would be nice to get up to the minute score updates, I can't afford that. Bummer


That's all I can think of at the moment. Thanks for reading.

[SaMaster14]

I"m also new too blackberry, storm is my first one!

I don't have answers to all of your questions. but i will try and answer a few.


- the sent/recieved message folder thing takes some getting used to, but personally, I like it, and you can tell whether you sent or recieved the message by the icon on the side.

-VVM and VZ nav both cost extra a month. not sure how much, but i know there is a charge.

-accelerometer issue should be fixed with the OS update. I usually don't have to do a battery pull to fix it though. I just lock and unlock if it stops moving at all, and that usually fixes it.

-For ringtowns. I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can get those off of VCast with Rhapsody which was just released on the app center for download. so i would try that, or online.

-You can move the icons. highlight them, click the blackberry button and move. you can either move stuff you downloaded to a different folder, and in some cases the home screen. And hopefully when new themes come out, you can do more stuff with icon moving.

-the keyboard swipe up and down works for me... not sure why it doesn't for you though, sorry.

[CSSVT]

VZNav is 10 per month and VVM is 2.99 i believe.

VVM will probably be free sometime soon though...doubt their numbers will be too high on that. I believe the Music ID program they have for vcast phones used to be 1.99 or 2.99 and is now free so If that's any indication, VVM will be free within a year or two (MHO)

[kcinkiller1]

Ya i hope visual voicemail is free soon.

[noaim]

hey I don't currently have time to sit down and answer all these questions I will get into more detail in a few I am in the middle of something but.

RINGTONES >>> you can use a regular NON protected drm free MP3 for a ringtone....

you have way more control over ringtones then you did on your previous phone.


1. There is no seperate sent / receive folder for msgs. They all pile up into one folder, which is really agrivating when I am used to seeing two seperate folders.

Believe me after time of use you will see that this is actually a much better thing to have.. with a BB its much more like a computer when it comes to messaging and this is actually a advantage.. it will keep messages together such as if the person replys to your message then it all stays in 1 conversation as you reply back and forth you will see that this is actually really good once you get used to it.

2. After all the stuff I have read about deleting VVM and VZ nav, I am still unsure if I should delete them. If it costs me anything to use either one, they will both be deleted.

If you do not want to pay for these services uninstall them they are PAY for use programs.. if you ever want them you can get them back easily. Free up the memory if you do not use.

3. The accelerometer problem I saw another topic posted about. Mine does this too. Occasionally it won't switch over and I have to do a bat pull.

This will more then likely be fixed in a software update. The phone is new and there is still some problems with the os/software.

4. The phone is not a flip phone, but flat. Since it is this way, it is very hard to hold it between my shoulder and ear so that I can work with my hands. It will take some getting used to.

You have other options if your interested such as getting a bluetooth device which would allow you to simply put the phone in your pocket or on the desk. I was recently at best buy and noticed they had a sale on a motorola one for 25 bucks. I grabbed it yes its not the quality of a jawbone or something but I will never believe that a bluetooth is worth as much money as they want for those. Once again this isn't a complete solution but its a option.

5. The browser is really nice, and the main reason got it is because my work keeps finding ways to block my net access. Now I can surf and they don't have to know about it. Although you are very handicapped compared to an actual PC, it is still there and better than nothing at all. The thing that has really gotten on my nerves about browsing is that I use back and forward buttons constantly on a PC. The BB only has a back button on the bottom, so if I go to far I have to hunt the links by zooming to get back to where I was.

It wasn't untill very recently that phones even became capable of displaying the pages as they do now. Its getting really really close to the browsers becoming almost identical to pc ones. Your jumping in on a new technology and its making huge leaps. Its not perfect but its dang close to it =)

6. Of all the typing tutorials and tips I have read, I think I have a better one. I don't do SIM card stuff, and my phone came in the mail. There was no way to transfer contacts over in to the new phone, so I entered each and every one, over 300 of them. Good practice for some functions and mainly the keyboards.

Typing on a touch screen is a love or hate type deal. There is people who will love it and people who won't. I like it a ton so this doesn't bother me. There looks to be a future bb device that incorporates both a keyboard and touch screen this may be fore you later down the road who knows

7. Where do I get ringtones? I don't use them hardly at all, but I would like to know where to get them in case I ever want one.

This can be any non protected mp3 file. Your storm came with a 8 gig memory card and when plugging into the computer you can enable mass storage mode. This gives you direct access to storage points under your diskdrives on the computer much like a USB key drive. The one labled Blackberry2 is the media card when you go into it you will see a folder named blackberry then in that folder there is a variety of folders for different purposes. The on labled ringtones you can drop any mp3 and select it as a ring tone.. You may even beable to select ring tones out of the music folder as well but I haven't even tried yet.

8. Why are all the icons that could possibly be on the main menu screen stuck in other folders? For instance I have the ESPN link and the Weatherbug link in my Downloads folder. I would like for them to be right up in the top on the home screen. I know how to move icons around, but how do I get them out of the DL's folder and onto the main icon screen?

When highlighting a icon you can click the bb button. There is 2 options for moving Move and Move to folder if you select move to folder a strip shows up on that strip if you select HOME it plops it in the main menu... so you can pretty much drop the icons anywhere you want in the menu.

9. The qwerty keyboard does not hide and show with the finger swiping trick you all talk about. It just doesn't work. I think I have gotten it to do it once, but usually I have to go to the BB button and select hide keyboard to get it out of the way. Is there a trick to this??

The swipe - basically if the keyboard is up just quickly touch the top of the kb and slide your finger straight down to the bottom. This will hide the keyboard swiping from the bottom up when its hidden will bring it back up (however I have noticed that bringing it back up does not work in all applications. If the application is running in compatibility mode (older applications usually) the keyboard stays on in most of them.

[mike240se]

i doubt Visual Voicemail will be free soon, they now have to pay licensing to some company that had it patented. which means they have to eat it or pass it off to you, guess which one they choose.

[chuckh0308]

I have 1325 (and growing!) MP3's to chose from for ringtones! SPeaking of which, I highly recommend if you use your MP3's you copy the ones you want to use as ringtones directly to the ringtone folder. It's a LOT easier to find the one you want that way instead of searching your whole music folder. I use different tones for different callers, so this made the most sense for me. If you just want one ringtone for everyone and want to select them at random then this won't be as important probably. I should add that I move the MP3's around using the PC with the phone connected. I don't think you can move music files from the music folder to the ringtone folder from the phone. Or I just haven't figured it out yet?

I used the VZ Nav yesterday to find someone's home that I hadn't been to before. I've heard a lot of complaints about it, but I found it quite handy and liked the fact that it rerouted me when I started going a different way than it's initial plan. But yeah, it's $10/month. Apparently it's easy to get Nav back if you delete it and change your mind later.

I haven't had any trouble with my accelerometer hanging up. however, I do confuse it regularly by having the phone at weird angles where it can't decide which way to go. I doubt they'll be able to fix that one until they can program the phone so it has psychic abilities and can sense what I'm thinking!

I use bluetooth for everything, so I can't help you with the holding the phone thing other than to suggest you try using a bluetooth device. I've been using one so long I can't even hold a phone up to my head anymore for more than about 30 seconds.

I'm not crazy about having all my msg's in the same folder either, but I'm getting used to it. Perhaps if enough people request that they might change it later with an OS upgrade?

I think the screen protectors are a good idea...I have them too. If not for your fingers, for everything else you may get up against the screen in your daily travels.

[bleekerbee]

1. There is no seperate sent / receive folder for msgs. They all pile up into one folder, which is really agrivating when I am used to seeing two seperate folders.

2. After all the stuff I have read about deleting VVM and VZ nav, I am still unsure if I should delete them. If it costs me anything to use either one, they will both be deleted.

5. The browser is really nice, and the main reason got it is because my work keeps finding ways to block my net access. Now I can surf and they don't have to know about it. Although you are very handicapped compared to an actual PC, it is still there and better than nothing at all. The thing that has really gotten on my nerves about browsing is that I use back and forward buttons constantly on a PC. The BB only has a back button on the bottom, so if I go to far I have to hunt the links by zooming to get back to where I was.

8. Why are all the icons that could possibly be on the main menu screen stuck in other folders? For instance I have the ESPN link and the Weatherbug link in my Downloads folder. I would like for them to be right up in the top on the home screen. I know how to move icons around, but how do I get them out of the DL's folder and onto the main icon screen?

9. The qwerty keyboard does not hide and show with the finger swiping trick you all talk about. It just doesn't work. I think I have gotten it to do it once, but usually I have to go to the BB button and select hide keyboard to get it out of the way. Is there a trick to this??

That's all I can think of at the moment. Thanks for reading.

1. You can ask the phone to hide sent messages in the SMS and MMS options menu. Also, if you want to view sent messages, you can select the "view folders" option under that menu.

2. VVM is $3. VZNAV is $10. Per Month.

5. When navigating in the browser, you can hit the menu button, and select either "back" or "forward, depending on what direction you want to go.

8. You can select "move to folder" in the menu, then pick the "home" folder.

9. Swipe down from the top of the keyboard to the bottom. Keyboard should hide itself.