Storm2, Eris & Droid

Ok so to be fair I am posting this here.

So I went to VZW today because I had the email. I spent at least a hour in there playing with these three phones. Now I will say that I have been more in favor of getting the Storm2 but I want to taste everything that is out there before I settle down with a new toy for a year. Before I break my review down I just have to say my review will not be full because I have come to the conclusion unless you physically have these in your hands without the tug a war teether they are in in stores there is no way to get a 100% feel experience of the device.

Touch screen- All phones.. couldn't full judge the devices as they have been so hand raped that I couldn't tell if they needed calibrated or what but everyone of them had a issue with response and typing, this is due to all the sh*t plastered on them for security and what not. Sense UI didn't respond all that great on the eris and the home buttons on the Droid ignored me. Storm2 doesn't really have these outside of the 4 keys and they worked fine.

Resolution- I have to say I was very impressed with the Droids resolution but all three of them would please me.

Wifi- Man there was so many damn people in there you couldn't boot a Nasa computer in there.

Feel- Love the size of the eris. Storm2 and Droid are hard to judge with all the crap on the phone but both look to be comfortable for their sizes.

Looks- Eris is a nice looking phone, not to sure how i feel about the track ball but overall I like the phone.
Storm2- Sleek looking phone nothing more to say.
Droid- Not bad looking for a Moto phone, but here is where I get picky. I just can't bring my self to over look the gold on this phone. I mean it reminds me of the idiots that drive around in their honda's with the gold accent package, it's not cool it's ugly. I don't know who's idea it was but he/she probably drives one of these ugly honda's.

OS- Seeing how I have never had a BB I can't really judge which is better but I will say I am very impressed with the Android software.

Last but not least the keyboard on the Droid. Let me just say it would be a lot better if they would of just made the slide feature for those that need to type on something physical. The D-Pad is just pointless in my eyes and the gold button doesn't help.

Overall all three phones are great and to say that you can judge one by playing with it in the stores for a few minutes or however long you were there is just not enough time. I mean I honestly think the only way you are going to get a good feel for any of these phones is to take full advantage of the 30 day trial on each phone. They need to be fresh out the box and only fondled by you and not gang banged all day by everyone and their mother.

I believe I may still go with the Storm2 because well there is just something about that phone that pulls me in. I can say as crazy as it sounds the gold is my biggest turn off next to the fact that its a Moto phone.

So there you have it.

Fastest & most capable: Moto Droid - but the cheesiest looking (Hello Herb Tarlek!).

Next up: HTC Eris Droid - trackballs suck

Last place & least capable: Storm2 - clickety-click screens are for the birds.

HTC Passion is coming & it knocks all of them into the weeds.

Originally Posted by TwinsX2Dad

Fastest & most capable: Moto Droid - but the cheesiest looking (Hello Herb Tarlek!).

Next up: HTC Eris Droid - trackballs suck

Last place & least capable: Storm2 - clickety-click screens are for the birds.

HTC Passion is coming & it knocks all of them into the weeds.

And will an add-a-line for me :P Can't wait for that one.

Originally Posted by TwinsX2Dad

Fastest & most capable: Moto Droid - but the cheesiest looking (Hello Herb Tarlek!).

Next up: HTC Eris Droid - trackballs suck

Last place & least capable: Storm2 - clickety-click screens are for the birds.

HTC Passion is coming & it knocks all of them into the weeds.

The Droid is the fastest and most capable? I think not.

The Storm 2 is not the same as the Storm 1 inside. MSM7627 is the processor that supports full OpenGL ES 2.0 and the API's are officially out from RIM. Also Flash API's along with full Adobe support for the GUI is out now as well. Haven't you read the front page lately?

The Droid Has OpenGL ES 1.5 running on the OMAP3430.

Both processors go toe to toe the lead due to it being somewhat newer and supporting OpenGL 2.0 would probably go to the MSM7627...

Keyboard is a total matter of opinion. On the Droid, it's tiny and flat. Have big hands? No typey typey for you.

Now.. IF you have the dough and want the Best? Sony's new upcoming Droid Offering will be the fastest and most capable Android phone on the face of the planet.

For WinMo I'd have to say the Omnia 2 and HTC HD2 would be pretty close... Or the Sony X series WinMo.. But that is leagues out of what most people on this forum own or can afford...

Edit: In the end it is up to you. All 3 phones are great. If communication is your main thing, nothing will ever beat a BlackBerry. And now with full OpenGL ES 2.0 support and Flash support coming in the very NEAR future (beta API's already out..) you certainly can not go wrong with the Storm 2 at all.

However. The Droid is still a nice phone. I however hate the keyboard. And the transitions on the phone are way too slow and choppy.

Originally Posted by mrspock2002

The Droid is the fastest and most capable? I think not.

Um yeah - check out the first 5 minutes of the following video & you tell me which is the better browser.

YouTube - Motorola Droid Vs. BlackBerry Storm 2

My benchmark testing puts the processing of the Droid at nearly three times that of Storm 2.

Bear in mind I've been harsh on the Moto Droid, as well. Ask how many new Droid users I've insulted on CB alone.

Clickety-click... man, that Storm 2 feels cheap & that Moto Droid looks cheap with a really junk kepboard. Neither is worth my time & definitely not my money - they are both crap, but the S2 is more so.

Originally Posted by TwinsX2Dad

Um yeah - check out the first 5 minutes of the following video & you tell me which is the better browser.

YouTube - Motorola Droid Vs. BlackBerry Storm 2

My benchmark testing puts the processing of the Droid at nearly three times that of Storm 2.

Bear in mind I've been harsh on the Moto Droid, as well. Ask how many new Droid users I've insulted on CB alone.

Clickety-click... man, that Storm 2 feels cheap & that Moto Droid looks cheap with a really junk kepboard. Neither is worth my time & definitely not my money - they are both crap, but the S2 is more so.

How does browser speed make the phone faster?

It's the ONE downfall of the Storm 2. BUT that does not make the phone faster or slower. You need to specify what about the phone is faster.

The rendering of the pages isn't nearly as good on any BlackBerry as it is even on other devices that are two to three years old.

Get past the browser & email & what do you have left? Not a whole lot.

You also need to realize that the Moto Droid isn't a single processor device - it has a separate video processor, too. Take a look at the resolution between the two - again, the BlackBerry is generations behind. But this isn't from any processor advantage - any recent HTC or Samsung will pull drmatically higher resolutions, using slower processors. It is mostly the Bus that is the BlackBerry bottleneck, followed by the OS.

The Storm also cannot take advantage of the faster transfer speed of a Class 6 MicroSD card. It will accept them, but will typically run transfers at Class 2 speeds.

Internally, the Storm 2 has a lot more in common with 88XX & 83XX than it does with any current non-BlackBerry smartphone. Video rendering is slower. Bootup time is still atrocioius. Calculations take longer. It is an old device, right out of the box.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Spending some hands-on time with all three, my initial observations say that Twins is correct. My hunch is over the long-term, Twins would still be correct.

The Droid is currently the phone to beat in some areas. The screen is fantastic. Great rendering of HD video on YouTube. The Storm2? Meh. Video was also solid on the Eris, but I didn't check it through and through.

The Eris has a slick design, IMO. Style-wise, Eris FTW. Trackball might not be for many, but I never used it the entire 15 minutes I played with it, so no comment.

The keyboard on the Droid is a piece of ****. TOTAL fail on Motorola's part. And I don't care for the Storm2's keyboard, even with more sensors. I actually liked typing on the Eris and Droid's virtual keyboards.

Response on touchscreen was excellent on the Droid twosome as well. The display device VZW had for the Storm2 was still laggier than the others.

Functionality wise, I'd rate Moto's Droid slightly over the Eris. In this case, both phones beat the Storm2 hands-down on the consumer level, IMO.

Looks: Eris, Storm2, Droid, in that order. The Droid is ****in' hideous.

Quality: Same order as looks. The Droid has some weight, but still manages to feel bargain bin. Ironically, Motorola's Cliq has it beaten, and badly.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Video rendering is slower yes, due to the fact the OS does not implement the 3D processor portion of the DUAL CORE MSM7627 which has a DEDICATED OpenGL 2.0 compliant GPU.

This is EXACTLY what RIM is changing. The API for OpenGL 2.0 is FINALLY attainable from RIM for their OS. Up until now it's all been software rendered, GUI, video, etc.

There is a reason why ONLY the 2 inmarket devices: Storm 2, and the new Curve iteration can support what they are implementing and this is due to the MSM7627 processor. Which by the way is a very fast and very new mobile processor. It's what the Palm Pixie uses right now which has OpenGL 2.0 usage out of the box.

Once the Storm 2 and the new Curve have these new OpenGL API's in place things are going to be a whole **** of a better. The hardware the Storm 2 has is extremely high end. The Piezo tech screen is something that up until now NO consumer had access to use. RIM did a heck of a job with it.

The Browser aspect has been an issue. If you would have read and paid attention to the Dev Con RIM put on you would know Flash is VERY near for the Storm 2, Curve and all the new devices coming out. Not only for the browser but for the GUI and programs. It just so happens the first 2 devices capable of this new tech from RIM shipped prior to the implementation of this stuff. BUT has what it takes to run it all.

The ONLY thing the Droid has over the Storm 2 is the browser. Navigating the Droids menu's are very choppy and lag horrendously. Not fluid at all. Which has been a major nit pick of all the reviews. The phone ships with OpenGL 1.5 and is capable of OpenGL 2.0 once Android is updated for it, yet even with the 3D hardware the menus still are choppy.

The Droid in my opinion is still a Beta device - and I'm not alone in this thought. While the phone is great, the OS just isn't up to snuff for the hardware it is now on. YET. OpenGL games run at a much lower resolution than the displays maximum allowable. The benchmarks are there, read them if you wish.

On top of that there's no official IM clients a few third party ones do exist though.. Email is very poorly implemented if you use anything other than Gmail and it's a pain in the **** to actually use the device as a phone. Bluetooth is just plain ******** on the thing. You can't fully use voice activation - you still need to touch the contact you want to call regardless. It just brings up a list. What is that??? No doubt the hardware is great. But right now Android OS to me is still beta software. I and a lot of others would not use the device if you plan on using it for communication.

Originally Posted by Fried Rice Mofo

Spending some hands-on time with all three, my initial observations say that Twins is correct. My hunch is over the long-term, Twins would still be correct.

The Droid is currently the phone to beat in some areas. The screen is fantastic. Great rendering of HD video on YouTube. The Storm2? Meh. Video was also solid on the Eris, but I didn't check it through and through.

The Eris has a slick design, IMO. Style-wise, Eris FTW. Trackball might not be for many, but I never used it the entire 15 minutes I played with it, so no comment.

The keyboard on the Droid is a piece of ****. TOTAL fail on Motorola's part. And I don't care for the Storm2's keyboard, even with more sensors. I actually liked typing on the Eris and Droid's virtual keyboards.

Response on touchscreen was excellent on the Droid twosome as well. The display device VZW had for the Storm2 was still laggier than the others.

Functionality wise, I'd rate Moto's Droid slightly over the Eris. In this case, both phones beat the Storm2 hands-down on the consumer level, IMO.

Looks: Eris, Storm2, Droid, in that order. The Droid is ****in' hideous.

Quality: Same order as looks. The Droid has some weight, but still manages to feel bargain bin. Ironically, Motorola's Cliq has it beaten, and badly.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Oh I 100 percent agree. The hardware is great on the droid - minus the keyboard. It's the OS that is still beta. There is just way WAY too many things wrong with it to serve as a phone. Which is why I and a lot of others consider the Droid a toy - nothing more. Even the music player is just plain bad.

Edit: Read my post above about the Storm 2 hardware wise.

Here's your hardware comparison - straight from RIM.

BlackBerry - Storm Specs for 9550 and 9530 - Discover Blackberry Storm Specifications

They are so "different" that RIM doesn't even have to give them separate pages.

And there is still no multitasking UI.

So yeah anyways like I said all three have great features, but for ME personally I am going to go with the Storm2. I personally think have of all the arguments on CB are funny it sounds like everyone just needs to get a damn netbook and call it a day. I mean I want my phone to do certain things but half of all you on CB want the funking thing to think for you and sh*t out Nasa speed. lol Those with all these ideas on how company a can do it better than company b or what company b did better than company a need to take your all know greatness and make us this phone that you envision so we can all go back to our regularly scheduled programs. :eek:

This is just a general statement not directed towards anyone. That is all.. Carry On.

Originally Posted by GT_Bullitt

So yeah anyways like I said all three have great features, but for ME personally I am going to go with the Storm2. I personally think have of all the arguments on CB are funny it sounds like everyone just needs to get a damn netbook and call it a day. I mean I want my phone to do certain things but half of all you on CB want the funking thing to think for you and sh*t out Nasa speed. lol Those with all these ideas on how company a can do it better than company b or what company b did better than company a need to take your all know greatness and make us this phone that you envision so we can all go back to our regularly scheduled programs. :eek:

This is just a general statement not directed towards anyone. That is all.. Carry On.

Let's see here - not a smartphone user. You a self-professed Apple fan who has spent much of his time questioning others & stirring things up in the CrackBerry Newbies, Android & Storm forums. You come into the VZW forums for the first time & again demonstrate an opinionated & self-contradicting bent. Your very first post on this site one month ago was as follows:

Originally Posted by GT_Bullitt

Hello everyone. Thought I would come over and get comfortable here as I am getting ready to get into a BB. My debate is to go with the Tour or the Storm 2 when it comes out. I am pretty worried about the Storm as it seemed to bomb hard the first time around but I like the touch screens so this puts me in a rock between a hard place type situation. Well anyways I'll figure it out shortly and be sure to post up what I am going with.

Two things are readily apparent to me - you came here looking to see what kind of argument you could stir up and to brag about your ultimately uninformed choice. Why uninformed? Because your reasoning & your jabs indicate as much.

I should get a netbook? Bah - netbooks are for Apple users - they can't compute & they are limited in what they can do. There are handhelds on the market that rival netbooks for the same price as a BlackBerry. So why should I get a netbook when my devices do nearly as much, plus I have real laptops I can use instead?

You are still in your smartphone infancy & it is obvious you're jumping on the smartphone bandwagon as a status thing. You came here with BlackBerry as a predetermination for BlackBerry wanting to know Storm, or Tour. Along comes Droid to knock down your choice. it may be too much phone for you, but regardless, your previous words & knowledge indicated on this site do not show you as a capable or informed reviewer - just someone who likes to get reactions & hopes people will validate your choice.

In summary, don't come around with your mind made up, acting like it isn't, talking about things you do not know about.

Wrong answer but thanks for playing. My point was to say i don't think you can make a decision on a phone just by playing with it for a couple of mins. I'm not trying to stir anything. Apple doesn't make net books thats a winblow thing. I was just stating that most sound like they want a mini laptop instead of a phone. Just so you know i study people like you and a few others who deal with there more than i do so i have a better understand what i will be getting into but in the long run i'm ultimatly going to purchase what I like and not what's shoved down my throat. So take it as you will and have a fine navy day good sir.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I swear Microsoft pays Twins to promote Windows Mobile.


@ Topic, I hated the Eris, I also hated the Imagio, due to it being Windows Mobile, the TP2 was nice, but still, but on the Storm 2 and Droid, I cannot decide, I just want the both so bad and I have played with them both, but its such a hard decision, both are excellent phones.

I have been tossing around the idea of dumping my BB for a droid, but email is a big part of my BB and I am not sure I am going to like the way the droid does email.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by ssanders2k7

I swear Microsoft pays Twins to promote Windows Mobile.

I suppose they also pay me to talk up iPhone, Symbian & Linux? I use them all, unlike most people here. I also don't make up stories about businesses & age, now do I live with my parents. With all of that & considering my age, & profession, I would have to say I know a bit morr of the intricacies of products & life in general.

Overall, a rather ignorant comment from you.

Originally Posted by ssanders2k7

@ Topic, I hated the Eris, I also hated the Imagio, due to it being Windows Mobile, the TP2 was nice, but still, but on the Storm 2 and Droid, I cannot decide, I just want the both so bad and I have played with them both, but its such a hard decision, both are excellent phones.

You "hated the Imagio, due to it being Windows Mobile (but) the TP2 was nice" - rather interesting assessment you came up with. What is the TP2 running & how does its hardware differ from the TP2 except keyboard? Same screen, same processor, same memory, but the Imagio has the better WM OS.

You hared the Eris, but are considering the Moto Droid?

I really hope I am not the only one to notice these contradictions & cast some serious doubt as to your ability to review these devices. You make about as much sense as the GT guy.

Twins,Regardless of your liking the iPhone, Symbian, Linux, etc.. you still come here and talk down the BlackBerry product and it's obvious you promote Windows Mobile more than anything.

I like many others here have a different life than on the internet. You have no proof that you actually get to handle pre-released devices or "test" them no more than I when I acted like I was a 35 year old "business professional" - so what's your point? Forget who I am and who you are and what you say you have done, it is still my opinion.

Moving forward - When I said I hated the Imagio I meant that it was the same ole same ole Windows Mobile OS that is still lagging behind the rather new Android platform and other operating systems out there. The silver lining to the TP2 is the keyboard, BUT it STILL has 6.5 and that's a killer for me.

Anymore clarification before you go on with your regular scheduled programming of "Mr. Big Shot Telco Builder/Tester/RV Owner/Camping Trip/Always on CrackBerry 24/7 with nothing else better to do"?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Originally Posted by mrspock2002

Keyboard is a total matter of opinion. On the Droid, it's tiny and flat. Have big hands? No typey typey for you.

Being the "all of the above" type when it comes to tech, I didn't really wanna get into this conversation. But I must make such a comment here. I get "fat finger syndrome" complaints no matter what phone people are calling in about. :rolleyes:

Thread closed at OP's request!