BlackBerry Storm Launch: Hundreds Queue, Plenty Disappointed

[JMcEntegart]

This past weekend saw the launch of the BlackBerry Storm, RIM’s first touchscreen device, as the all business, no nonsense company take one more step into the social world of email and twittering on the go and MySpace Mobile.

BlackBerry Storm Launch: Hundreds Queue, Plenty Disappointed : Read more

 

[Guest]

I played with a storm for about 15 minutes. I hated how slow it ran, how buggy it was. The browser isn't that good. And I just didn't like the clicking screen. I'll be keeping my iPhone 3G NEXT!!!

 

[Guest]

I picked the phone on friday, but decided to wait till monday to comment. The phone works great. It never crashed phone calls were clear and no dropped calls. I did notice the occasional lag. I have read there will be an update soon to fix the lag. Some of my family members have the Iphone so I know what it can do and I will say they both work very well. After playing with the keyboard in both sure type and qwerty mode I have to say i like it better than the Iphone. It takes longer than 5 minutes to get use to it. My opinion the IPhone and Storm are great phones. I will recommed the storm to anyone who ask.

 

[ccstooge]

If you want an IPhone for non-business use - fine, awesome, enjoy. But the two struggles are different when it comes to *Business* and I suspect the Blackberry will always be better for business usage - for Exchange especially! At least if you pair it to the BES and it fails you have meaningful error messages or helpful support - easy enough. With the IPhone "Support is limited as you need to call Microsoft about Exchange" (what I was actually told when I called Apple today when both POP and Exchange failed on the IPhone but succeeded in IE and Outlook - RIM support is definitely superior here because they have their own application). But as we live in a majorly MS business world, the IPhone is not business email/calendar/contact (read - Exchange) friendly at this point. I actually like the IPhone's keyboard more than the Storm because of not having to click the screen, but I wouldn't recommend either if you're a business professional.

 

[AndrewMD]

I played with the phone at three different Verizon locations this weekend and I must say it was a very disappointing experience. RIM will need to bring an update to this unit FAST as the lag times and querkiness is too alpha release stage...


Being a Verizon customer myself, Verizon doesn't have any other phones that impress me.

 

[aracheb]

i went to Verizon to buy the storm, but after using it for a while, i realized that i wasn't the big fuzz they announced.
very beautifull, but i need to type a lot in my blackberry to get the work done when i'm not in the office and this new thingy that they try to implement here, it just not for me.
i'll stay with the world edition. the only reason that i would switch to the storm would be the 3g capabilities, nothingless, and i also realized that it is really slow and freeze sometimes..

 

[ccstooge]

I think the whole "click" feature of the keyboard on the Storm doesn't fit what customer's really need - to be able to type quickly while knowing what they are typing. It takes too much force for the click for an average user and there is lag in thumbing quickly due to the click, so say you type 100 wpm you can't simply go to thumbing a few dozen. Like choosing a keyboard for personal use, the Storm just doesn't fit. I tried adjusting the sensitivity and it didn't help.

 

[Guest]

I am having second doubts on the new BB Storm. I am reading too many comments online that are negative. I don't remember ever seeing negative comments when the iPhone hit the market. One important thing I am experiencing is the inconsistency of the carrier Verizon. I am a new customer to this carrier and they have given me the complete run around since Friday. After promising to get the phone overnighted I am still waiting for it. I have called Verizon over a dozen times and they still can't locate my order even though I have provided the order number. I also informed them that I received an email confirmation and still they can't find my order and provide me with a FED EX tracking number. Needless to say all charges including overnight shipping was deducted from my account on Friday morning. For being a first time customer to Verizon it is not encouraging. Then again first impressions are everything and they have failed...going back to my previous carrier of ten years.

 

[Guest]

people try to talk about things thay dont even know about. I was one of the first to get the storm and I can tell you it is just the same as the Iphone, but with more enterprise functions. the clickable screen is what makes the diferance, not to say anything about the more "grown up" programs on the storm.

 

[Guest]

You guys have no idea what you're talking about. Once again Blackberry and RIM fall victim to another biased review by the iPhone fanatics who are too "trendy" to give the Storm any consideration. I can text just as fast on the Storm as I could on my 8703e with a physical qwerty keyboard. Ever heard of a learning curve? I know for a FACT that it took you iPhonies just as long (and probably longer) to pick up on the button-less glass plate on the iPhone so stop with the "I played with it for 5 minutes and didn't like it" bit. I've had mine for 4 days and the lag is minimal, calls are perfect, camera works great, and I've taken several videos with no problems. Lets not forget the removable storage and battery option. Are you just upset that RIM didn't make it flashy enough for you, with smooth transitions and cool effects? Bluff called.

 

[deredita]

I've been a Verizon customer for about 9 years now, and was very disappointed by my current phone I've had for the past two years because of how quickly the batteries went on it, and how slow the phone was (~ 10 seconds to pull up my contacts list).

I went over the weekend with the intention of ordering a Blackberry Storm, now that my contract is up, and after trying three different units - I was left extremely disappointed by the phone. I found it to be slow (which I can not tolerate) and not very user friendly.

Now, I have no idea where I am going to go from here. I like the quality of Verizon's phone service and how I get reception almost everywhere, but dear Lord, they have some of the worst phones. My other choice is the iPhone, which from what people have been telling me is amazing, but the service is terrible, and many times find themselves without any service once they are away from major cities.

 

[aracheb]

Seawolf

stop you angry kid, fanatics complains..
I been a blackberry user for more than 4 years, now and I dont think i will change. But this blackberry storm is just not for me, the thingy clicking the screen is not useful, beside you make a lot of typos with the virtual keyboard. I can tell, i have big fingers. I have my curve now and there is no way that i will change it for a storm. Storm is good for kids, like Trix, like i saw so many people in the store were i was saying cool, this is so cool. And i was wondering do they really know what a blackberry is for?.
and beside the application lags big time, my curve never lagged in any application. And i never seen an iphone lagging either, well i can't really tell about the iphone i haven't used for more than 10- 20 minute in all it lifetime.

 

[Guest]

I waited until the Storm came out to get some hands-on with it versus the iPhone, which I was also considering. My use is for business and here's what mattered to me and why I ended up getting the iPhone over the Storm.

Network: A tie between AT&T and VZW. I read bad things about AT&T. Rubbish. 3G works fine for me wherever I have been (including greater Jacksonville, FL and New York City and inside airplanes).

WiFi: Advantage iPhone but not a Storm deal breaker. WiFi is a bit faster than 3G at home but not by much. I measured the bandwidth with an iPhone application: WiFi 1200Kbps, 3G 900Kbps. (3G actually beat WiFi on the upload side.)

GPS/Nav: Huge advantage Storm, no comparison whatsoever. VZ Navigator turn-by-turn simply blows away the GPS/Google mapping feature on the iPhone. I will miss VZ Nav.

eMail/Calendar/Outlook Contacts: Connecting/synching with gmail and Exchange is trouble free on the iPhone. I can only surmise the Storm will be too.

Applications: Advantage iPhone; hard to beat the iStore.

Typing: I did not like the Storm's click screen. The iPhone makes a clicking sound and pops up the key pressed for identification. I don't know what all the fuss is about there being no tactile feedback.

Editing documents: A Storm feature that I couldn't see myself using much. How much editing of Word and Excel am I really going to do on a small smart phone screen, no matter who makes it? Not much, I will use the laptop for that. Yes, you can read Word, PDFs, Excel and many more on the iPhone.

Camera: Big advantage Storm.

Generation: Advantage iPhone. We’re on the second iteration of the iPhone whereas buying a Storm would have made me a test pilot.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[foldsomething]

[citation][nom]deredita[/nom]I've been a Verizon customer for about 9 years now, and was very disappointed by my current phone I've had for the past two years because of how quickly the batteries went on it, and how slow the phone was (~ 10 seconds to pull up my contacts list).I went over the weekend with the intention of ordering a Blackberry Storm, now that my contract is up, and after trying three different units - I was left extremely disappointed by the phone. I found it to be slow (which I can not tolerate) and not very user friendly. Now, I have no idea where I am going to go from here. I like the quality of Verizon's phone service and how I get reception almost everywhere, but dear Lord, they have some of the worst phones. My other choice is the iPhone, which from what people have been telling me is amazing, but the service is terrible, and many times find themselves without any service once they are away from major cities.[/citation]
I'm in the same boat... I wanted a more robust phone that can keep up with my busy schedule and multimedia needs... I tried the Storm in store and I was surprised at how slow it seemed. I really expected more from the hype. With all that said I was still willing to buy the phone... but just experienced a customer service nightmare where I was quoted one price over the phone and then called back the next day with a new price... seems like bait and switch to me... especially because this happened to me with Verizon 3 years ago on a different phone. Anyhow, my contract is up in March, and I'm really thinking just drop Verizon (even though I LOVE their network) and go over to an iPhone because I'm disappointed with Verizon customer service and phone selection.

 

[Guest]

hasn't anyone learned not to buy a 1st generation product without expecting a few hiccups along the way? i mean look at the first Iphone, hardly the best piece of technology, innovative? yes, but certainly flawed. I don't expect the storm to be this lousy that long, RIM knows what it needs to do to compete and will probably make a pretty awesome 2nd gen one now that they know where their weaknesses lay in the public's view

 

[Guest]

Once I found the advanced settings menu and was able to adjust the typing speed and lag time adjustment features, it's more than able to keep up with my typing now. Don't have any complaints and already have my 16 gig micro SDHC full of movies and music. Its not listed but it plays xvid and divx with no problems. Look forward to the updates that can easily speed up the slow browser bugs. I even have full java-scripts turned on and its not bad - what can you expect from a 524 mhz processor in a phone anyway - its not like its a Core i7 with a dedicated graphics card. One of the most crisp, best displays i've seen yet (especially since the HTC Touch HD isn't coming to the US). Was going to get the Samsung Omnia but the resolution doesn't even compare.

 

[HD Boy]

Anonymous wrote: "...WiFi: Advantage iPhone but not a Storm deal breaker. WiFi is a bit faster than 3G at home but not by much. I measured the bandwidth with an iPhone application: WiFi 1200Kbps, 3G 900Kbps. (3G actually beat WiFi on the upload side.)..."

Dude, your vision on the value of WiFi is extremely limited and your own WiFi network is in need of serious troubleshooting. We're seeing WiFi download speeds that are about 330% faster than 3G on our home network (even with a relatively slow Comcast Internet connection). I think WiFi is a must-have feature in a modern cell phone. In fact, WiFi makes a cell phone a more versatile device.

Besides a faster Internet connection, we've added Apple's wonderful Remote software application to our two iPhones, and can control our iTunes whole-house audio system with either. AppleTV control is coming, and I'd guess, universal remote capabilities for all the home A/V components. With WiFi, the iPhone also can be used to control appliances, our heat/AC, and new, wireless room lighting we added to three different rooms using SmartHome Insteon devices (which also are linked to our local ethernet/WiFi network). In fact, any WiFi-enabled phone can be used to control these functions, although the unique and rock solid iPhone/iPod touch are emerging as the industry standard for home automation.

 

[Guest]

Guys, BlackBerry has released a new firmware for the Storm. This release has Reduced lag and response time of the Storm. Users have reported that this release has made a huge difference in performance. Visit http/smartphone-guru.blogspot.com/2008/12/blackberry-storm-bug-fixes-with.html for a list of bugs fixed by the firmware update.
The only bad thing is that this release is not for Apple Mac users. Yep, BlackBerry does not support Apple Mac that well... visit http/smartphone-guru.blogspot.com/2008/12/blackberry-storm-firmware-upgrades.html for System Requirements.