[sna2760]

They say it takes a long time to start the storm up anyways red... but the simple fact is that he was using a .61 OS version..... um guys how old is that for us, we have all discussed this matter plenty of times, we all know that verizon will give us a better version, and please stop comparing this phone to the iphone cause it is not a iphone it is a blackberry.... need i say more

[Storm2]

I doubt you'll get .81, it is likely .65 - .70 at most. But, really, why are you guys so concerned about the version, as long as the firmware shipped has majority issues fixed, i'm happy.

[Storm2]

BlackBerry platforms are always slow to reboot, because the phone itself should never need to be turned off completely.

They say it takes a long time to start the storm up anyways red... but the simple fact is that he was using a .61 OS version..... um guys how old is that for us, we have all discussed this matter plenty of times, we all know that verizon will give us a better version, and please stop comparing this phone to the iphone cause it is not a iphone it is a blackberry.... need i say more

[Cybiker]

It is riddled with slow downs, errors, strange things happening in the photo mode, video mode, browser mode. I took a picture that took about the same time as the LG Dare, but when I went to view it, the phone took 2 minutes to load the photo! In fact it ultimately crashed the phone and I had to take out the battery and restart it (which it took by the to restart.. drum roll..... 4 and half minutes!)

I understand this is not the final software, but unless a miracle happens by Friday with the software, I would not recommend this phone to anyone since it is way too unstable. It seems no where near ready to be sold yet. I made the mistake of buying the Dare on opening weekend with promises of OTA updates and have never received even 1 since July! There seems to be some debate whether this phone can do OTA updates- well if it is like the LG Dare- there will be months of time without them.

As said before, you had an old software version. My store had the .71 software (Im fairly sure, it actually updated between uses from .65 to .71) I played with the software you used and it was horrible, the software I used today was near perfect, HUGE improvement

The keyboard...
Overall I liked it and thought it was an improvement over the Dare- too different from the iphone to compare so it would be a matter of preference which is better.
Presses down a little- (almost no audible click sound) and you can't see which button your finger is on btw (at least I couldn't). I'm not sure if I like it better or not than a regular touch screen? Also the software was so buggy that there seemed to be typing delays sometimes.
it feels like the Dare in Landscape- similar size buttons and look etc. The click part of the screen seems to minimize errors vs. my storm. The screen is pretty responsive, though the software is too slow to appreciate the hardware at this point. The scrolling on the iphone goes very fast when you flick your finger. On this thing, it is much slower- faster than the dare, slower than the iphone. Also you don't have to drag your finger like you do on the dare to scroll which is a great thing.

This is the reason why the key you have your finger over while just holding your finger on the screen highlights blue, so you know it recognizes which key you want your finger on, you gotta get used to this and eventually you learn the best spots to click and it works perfect. I actually typed in suretype (I have a pearl) and wrote BARELY slower first try which I thought was amazing, yes you do have to get used to letting the screen release and then reclicking but you get used to the rhythm and it gets to be very fast. Scrolling is fixed QUITE a bit in the new software.

Internet:

I tried my favorite safari websites- nbc.com, seeqpod.
NBC.com usually lets you stream "the office" but didn't work or display the screen properly. Seeqpod is an online music search that streams music- on
On the browser, the seeqpod didn't work on the Storm. The Yahoo page that came up was only the mobile yahoo page and I couldn;t remember how to force it to display the real page. I tried to go to goggle maps but it wouldn't let me not the application, just on the web).

For the pages that worked, I thought the experience was just ok. The software again was a huge problem. If you touch text or pic the phone zooms in- the problem is it is very slow so sometimes you accidentally touch something to zoom in and also clink on a link at the same time-when you just want to click a link- it doesn't recognize the link click just that you zoomed in. So you have to basically touch briefly then click without much delay or it will just zoom in. Also you have to zoom out by using a soft zoom out key rather than just tapping again- annoying!

Sometimes when I was in a page it took up the whole screen and sometimes there were icons on the bottom. When the icons went away I couldn't figure out how to stop a page while loading other than hitting the hard back button. Very buggy browser at this stage. Not sure why the buttons would go away sometimes and other times stay- i was not changing the page view or any other setting. I also cleared all history and cached but to not consequence.

Note that I tried the different modes for page viewing and one version turns finger into a pointer- i could see it working if the icon to click was very small but the page kept zooming in on its own when I would move around the cursor? Also the curser thing is like an inch above you're finger so you click an inch below something to actually click it! Overall did not like this feature with the cursor and think that no one will likely ever use it(just like LG Dare hand writing recognition bs)

The other way to view the pages makes the page the width of the phone screen and i'd rather see the page the way it was intended..

the browser has potential but it is too buggy to enjoy web surfing.

NBC has agreements with Apple to do streaming video on the ipod, hopefully we will see something like that with blackberry.

When you go into the options for the browser you can actually tell the device to report itself as a blackberry, Internet Explorer, or Firefox. This allows you to browse full sites without it seeing that it's a blackberry and wanting to give you the mobile version. You can also choose "View full webpages" versus mobile as well.

With it showing the toolbar or not, when you tap the screen, without clicking it, it will show/hide the toolbars. This is awesome so you can see the full page without toolbars, tap the screen (Not click) show the toolbars, navigate to another page or zoom in/out, and then tap the screen again to hide. I found this feature by accident and i was extremely excited about it.

With the browser showing the hand/pointer thats something in the toolbar. The hand is for panning around a page, the pointer for precisely clicking links. The reason why the point is slightly up and to the left of your finger is so you can SEE the pointer and precisely select the link you'd like. This is an EXCELLENT feature and make ALOT of sense. If it was below your finger you wouldn't see the pointer and it would defeat the entire purpose.

Personally i think the browser is TOP notch and rival's the iphone's.

Photo:

The camera seemed similar to the dare though you had to hold phone steady longer and after it takes a pic- the screen goes blank for 3 seconds? not sure wtf its doing.

Camera is sped up quite a bit in the new software and the phone has image stablization built in so you get the best quality photo. you have to tap the screen and hold it to focus, then click the screen once it is focused to take the picture. The reason the screen goes blank is because it is saving the huge file and the same happens with the pearl/curve.

[jbjtkbw007]

Wow. Informative. I like that. Great addendum. Thanks Cybiker.

[Cybiker]

Wow. Informative. I like that. Great addendum. Thanks Cybiker.

NP, any questions feel free to ask. I am a store sales rep and spent about 3 hours with it today, I went through everything and the phone is amazing. The App Center comes pre-loaded as well for those who didn't know ( i heard it wasn't launching til 1st quarter) and is very basic for now but will be awesome.

Geotagging works flawlessly (just have to enable it in camera settings) and I love the feature. With flickr uploadr i'm going to be taking a lot of pics and uploading them!

GPS is unlocked for 3rd party apps but VZNav works very well.

I'll be watching this thread and PMs if anyone wants me to investigate anything tomorrow, althought I probably know most off the top of my head. and oh yeah, brickbreaker exceeded my hopes!

[Tumaz04]

Very well done cybiker.

[golfergirl13]

I'm new to the blackberry world. Since I have small hands, do you think the storm would be a little bit bulky? I have the blackberry curve and gotta admits its a little bit big for my hands.

By the way, since I'm new to the blackberry world, what does NE2 stand for?

[sdmilton]

thanks for your thoughts

[EraserXIV]

I'm new to the blackberry world. Since I have small hands, do you think the storm would be a little bit bulky? I have the blackberry curve and gotta admits its a little bit big for my hands.

By the way, since I'm new to the blackberry world, what does NE2 stand for?

New Every 2. It's a promotion that Verizon runs where if you spend a certain amount of money on your bill each month you can upgrade your phone at a discount every 2 years. I think if you spend over $59.99 each month, you get $100 off on your next phone, $50 off if you only foot a bill of $39.99.

(the 59.99 and 39.99 figures may be off by a bit, but the $100 and $50 figures are correct)

[Cybiker]

I'm new to the blackberry world. Since I have small hands, do you think the storm would be a little bit bulky? I have the blackberry curve and gotta admits its a little bit big for my hands.

By the way, since I'm new to the blackberry world, what does NE2 stand for?

The storm is very similar to the iphone, search youtube for blackberry storm iphone, you'll find a crackberry video which sizes them up. Unfortunately I cannot post URLs yet.

That video gives you a good idea, shorter than the iphone, wider, and a tad thicker. It is fairly heavy but it feels very solid and I wouldn't want it to be any lighter. I think it is just about the perfect size.

[Cybiker]

New Every 2. It's a promotion that Verizon runs where if you spend a certain amount of money on your bill each month you can upgrade your phone at a discount every 2 years. I think if you spend over $59.99 each month, you get $100 off on your next phone, $50 off if you only foot a bill of $39.99.

(the 59.99 and 39.99 figures may be off by a bit, but the $100 and $50 figures are correct)

$34.99-$79.98 for the line gets you $50, $79.99+ is $100, that is the cost of your calling plan so if you are a single line/primary you get a credit, secondaries unfortunately do not. That does not include the pricing of any additional features like text/packages (unless your on the select plan), other data, insurance, etc. Unless it is factored into your calling plan rate.

[drkeng]

Great review. Good question about software v. hardware issues. Frankly, I'm surprised how everyone is so committed to getting this phone the day it comes out. I'm on the list, but am pretty sure I'm gonna hold off. I can't wait to see how everyone likes it once they get it--especially the typing. I don't know how software can make it better; I made a lot of mistakes when I tried it last weekend. Plus, who wants a phone that takes minutes to reboot or whatever. If I have wifi access, I can just use my itouch (always charging in my car) to surf the web or check gmail. Starbucks gives 2 hours a day free now and when is there not a *$ nearby? I could be looking at an env2.

[orange7esq]

.61 is like 2 months old... even .65 is much better.

gizmodo or engadget review was similar to mine and they have .65

[orange7esq]

As said before, you had an old software version. My store had the .71 software (Im fairly sure, it actually updated between uses from .65 to .71) I played with the software you used and it was horrible, the software I used today was near perfect, HUGE improvement

***my response-any pics for evidence of software version ..........71?

This is the reason why the key you have your finger over while just holding your finger on the screen highlights blue, so you know it recognizes which key you want your finger on, you gotta get used to this and eventually you learn the best spots to click and it works perfect. I actually typed in suretype (I have a pearl) and wrote BARELY slower first try which I thought was amazing, yes you do have to get used to letting the screen release and then reclicking but you get used to the rhythm and it gets to be very fast. Scrolling is fixed QUITE a bit in the new software.


****my review- is right inline with gizmodo, engadget and bgr- this is not a conspiracy against the storm- just facts of using the device..


NBC has agreements with Apple to do streaming video on the ipod, hopefully we will see something like that with blackberry.

****My response-I went to nbc.com- not some strange site- the phone's browser should be able to either trick nbc.com into opening the real web page found on fiefox, etc. or actually display the page as it was intended for the iphone. This is just silly to discuss agreements between large fortune 500 companies- are you telling me that RIM/VZW cannot have an agreement- and are left high and dry from NBC- what a joke!

When you go into the options for the browser you can actually tell the device to report itself as a blackberry, Internet Explorer, or Firefox. This allows you to browse full sites without it seeing that it's a blackberry and wanting to give you the mobile version. You can also choose "View full webpages" versus mobile as well.

****my response- this would have helped maybe with NBC- though who wants to go to a bunch of different settings- out of the box should just work on NBC.com!

With it showing the toolbar or not, when you tap the screen, without clicking it, it will show/hide the toolbars. This is awesome so you can see the full page without toolbars, tap the screen (Not click) show the toolbars, navigate to another page or zoom in/out, and then tap the screen again to hide. I found this feature by accident and i was extremely excited about it.

****My response- maybe it is supposed to work that way- but, because of the laggy slow software it simply doesn't. when you tap the screen it zooms in sometimes, other times shows the toolbar and then other times just zooms in farther instead of recognizing the click.

With the browser showing the hand/pointer thats something in the toolbar. The hand is for panning around a page, the pointer for precisely clicking links. The reason why the point is slightly up and to the left of your finger is so you can SEE the pointer and precisely select the link you'd like. This is an EXCELLENT feature and make ALOT of sense. If it was below your finger you wouldn't see the pointer and it would defeat the entire purpose.

*****My response- the arrow is too far above the finger and makes this feature a novelty and unusable. Also the software is slow and there is a delay of the arrow when you move your finger- similar to using a desktop computer where the mouse is dirty- you move the mouse and there is a delay- makes it really hard to click on things!


Personally i think the browser is TOP notch and rival's the iphone's.

******My response- nobody would agree with your statement and all of the major gadget reviewers are also not on your side for this one.

Camera is sped up quite a bit in the new software and the phone has image stablization built in so you get the best quality photo. you have to tap the screen and hold it to focus, then click the screen once it is focused to take the picture. The reason the screen goes blank is because it is saving the huge file and the same happens with the pearl/curve.

*******My response- camera is too slow to take pictures. The blank screen for a second would be ok- but it is about 4 seconds. Also- I was told at VZW to change the resolution size of the pic so the phone could display it more easily- if I do that- than wtf is the point of a 3.2 mp camera?

*********My final response to the demo- this phone is not ready for prime time. I don't work for VZW like you do, so I have nothing to gain in my article. I want a new phone since I dislike the LG Dare that's all. Unless this phone undergoes life saving surgery by Friday, it will be a bust- one that is talked about for years (like the Voyager!)

[dsignori]

Well I'm not sure the OP understands that while the version HE tested was exactly like he described and that no one is arguing any of it, that the new software that will be available around launch will fix most of it. Odd responses ...