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Hey everyone,
As most of you Vets know, I have been wanting this phone since June. I remember when there was only 4 topics in this forum! Well, we are less than 24 hours away and I am so excited!
Anyways, I have been calling the Circuit Citys around my area and today I finally struck gold! My local Circuit City had a Storm to play around with! I drove there and walked up to the counter and said, "Hi, I called earlier and was told you guys had a Storm to play with?" They all looked at me and said, "Who told you that?" They all laughed and one of them held it up and was like, "I'm not giving it to him, I dont want to get in trouble!" So one of the other guys took it and gave it to me as I promised not to run out of the store with it
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We all have heard about the size and weight and everything like that, so I wont talk about it too much. It is thinner than the Curve, heavier, and feels amazing in the hand. Donezo, end of conversation. This thing feels great and is thin enough for the pocket. Don't listen to reviewers who say, "Uh, well its bigger than the iPhone...so it sucks!" Please, the iPhone is basically the same size.
The OS version I played with was .65 and I will say that while I had a few hiccups in the navigation of the phone, it was not very bad at all. But I can confirm that tomorrow's Storms will either have .80 installed on them or they will be OTA updated with it. The rep I was talking with was actually in the middle of flashing a Storm to .80 while I was there. The accelerometer was a little slow, but nothing that irked me too much.
The first thing I tried out was scrolling in the menu of the homescreen and I gotta say, it was very nice! The videos we have seen probably didnt know they could change the sensitivity of it because the one I used was very, very smooth. Scrolling in the browser was very smooth and so was scrolling in any sub-menu.
After that I immediately went to compose an email/SMS. I just HAD to try the typing, right? I first tried the SureType and I have never used it on a Pearl and I must say, it was very, very cool. It worked great and I could type almost as fast on my Curve using the SureType keyboard; and this was my first time typing on a Storm! I am going to be using the SureType a lot
. I then flipped the phone (waited for the keyboard) and began typing on the full QWERTY. While I made a few mistakes, I found it extremely enjoyable. I wasnt as fast as on the SureType, but with time I can see myself FLYING on this keyboard. I had trouble when I first got my Curve, but now I am extremely fast on it. I expect the same to happen on the Storm 
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After doing a little more typing, I went to the camera application. I had heard that it was slow at taking pictures so I wanted to see if this was true. I lined up the photo, pressed the button, saw the auto-focus work, and voila! The picture was taken in 1 second! From start to finish, the whole process took 5 seconds. Not too shabby! I had my friend Dan with me and I took a picture of him, check it out:
Looks pretty decent, right? I think the camera will look even better if I took the time to line up a nice shot, but for now, I am happy with it. One of the only times I had some lag (edit: really bad lag) was when I was trying to send the picture. I clicked the "send picture" button and clicked on "Email". That was a bad idea because the phone was not set up to send email yet, so it tried bringing me to the Set-up manager, I exited out, and thats when it started to lag. One part of the screen was there while the picture of Dan was not, and I waited for about 20 seconds before I got the "Send as MMS" option. I did that and it sent it in 5 seconds! That was fast!
After the camera app, I went to the Media Center and played the ever-popular Babylon AD clip. It was amazing. The sound was so loud I had to lower it so people didnt walk over, hoping to look at the Storm, too. The picture, as you all know, was basically HD quality. I am going to be loading some movies onto my 8gb card tomorrow night! I didn't have time to look at the music app, but I am sure it is like the Curve's only!
One of the main reasons I got a Blackberry was for the ultra-reliable and syncable calendar. Every single thing I do goes into my Curve's calendar. Thats right, everythin-...hold on. My Curve is telling me I have to go to the bathroom...be right back........... Ahhh...ok, I'm back, sorry. So, the calendar...how did it fair? Well, at times it was good, and at other times it was a little iffy. Selecting a day and time in that day was easy, but when I tried fine tuning the event, I had some trouble. I couldnt just go to the time and type in, say, 5pm. It was a little harder. I even had to click it a couple of times to make it register. Maybe that was the .65 OS...I hope.
In conclusion, this phone is going to be great. I am looking forward to it even more now because I used one! The typing is definitely going to take some getting used to but I believe in the end it is going to be just as good as my Curve. To all the people who are worried because of these reviews coming out: Don't let them sway your decision! Use one in the store first! No, better yet, buy it and then use if for 30 days! If you do not like it, you can return it (for a $35 restocking fee). I can almost guarantee you will enjoy it and not return it (that browser is worth keeping it by itself!). I hope I have cleared up any doubts and would be more than happy to answer any questions.
Thanks!
-Stang68
PS: Small disclaimer. I am a self-proclaimed Apple Fanboy. I own everything Mac and love it. I will never go back to a PC. I wanted an iPhone from the second it came out. If one came out for Verizon today, I would sit in the store for an hour with the Storm and iPhone in my hands, just staring at them. (I would most likely get the Storm, though. What can I say, I'm a Crackberry addict, not just an Apple fanboy!)Last edited by Stang68; 08-04-20 at 09:14 AM.
11-20-08 02:55 PM - Haha, I actually have a pic of him on my Curve, but its crappy, crappy quality lol. I am sorry to say, though, that Conan is an iPhone 3G user...I actually helped him set it up haha. "Who's that intern/assistant who is good with gadgets? Have him help me set this thing up." lolOh, when you get YOUR Storm, can you take a picture of Conan and send it to me11-20-08 03:11 PM
- Wait till you show him the Storm... he will smash his iPhone to bits. He is one funny cat. Love him and the show.Haha, I actually have a pic of him on my Curve, but its crappy, crappy quality lol. I am sorry to say, though, that Conan is an iPhone 3G user...I actually helped him set it up haha. "Who's that intern/assistant who is good with gadgets? Have him help me set this thing up." lol11-20-08 03:17 PM
