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awdwhip · 11-01-2009, 08:02 PM

Like it's stated on the title. I just got off the phone with VZW and obtained 2 Storm 2's for 140.71 shipped to Bremerton, WA and the other to Eagle Pass, TX

I'm a VIP customer with VZW so I got an additional $50.00 off the 179.99 purchase price with contract renewal!

Another perk of being a VIP customer is that I get to upgrade every year without an early upgrade fee so next NOV I'll be upgrading to the next latest and greatest BB.

It did take me about an hour to seal the deal after talking to 3 different reps though.

Stale Pancake · 11-01-2009, 08:06 PM

That's a heck of deal. I paid full fair of $579 and I still love the deal. You're going to love the Storm 2. They nailed this phone so perfectly.

awdwhip · 11-01-2009, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stale Pancake

That's a heck of deal. I paid full fair of $579 and I still love the deal. You're going to love the Storm 2. They nailed this phone so perfectly.

Good to hear a positive comment.I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

The wife has a Storm 1 and hates it and has had it for less than a year so I hope she likes this one a lot more.

I think I can cope with the storm 2 for a year

Stale Pancake · 11-01-2009, 08:25 PM

Oh she's going to really be surprised then. They keyboard is much better. I passed on the S1 and bought a Tour. And then tried the S2 and had to have it. This keyboard is actually better than the iPhone experience. In my opinion, it's best keyboard experience I've had yet. Of course I've had it just a few days, but I've been purposefully typing just about everything on it to get used to it.

You can flick with this too. And wait till you see the copy and paste feature.

Seriously, prepare to see your wife smile. We really ought to be hearing a lot more press on this. RIM truly nailed it. Where are all the podcasts when you need em....

awdwhip · 11-01-2009, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stale Pancake

Oh she's going to really be surprised then. They keyboard is much better. I passed on the S1 and bought a Tour. And then tried the S2 and had to have it. This keyboard is actually better than the iPhone experience. In my opinion, it's best keyboard experience I've had yet. Of course I've had it just a few days, but I've been purposefully typing just about everything on it to get used to it.

You can flick with this too. And wait till you see the copy and paste feature.

Seriously, prepare to see your wife smile. We really ought to be hearing a lot more press on this. RIM truly nailed it. Where are all the podcasts when you need em....

Now you're getting me all kinds of excited! She's paying for half of the cost of the phone so 70 bucks for a storm 2 is almost unbeatable

I'm coming from a 8330 so I'm sure it's going to take me a bit to get used to the sure press screen.

I have been reading about the crappy battery life and the wifi not working. How has than been going for you?

Stale Pancake · 11-01-2009, 08:56 PM

Let it charge solid off the wall outlet for 16 hours and the battery should be great. I've been using my a lot as it's brand new and I am having a good ol time with it. So I'm not really a good judge at this point. I stuck about 700 MP3s on it. Bought Wall Street Mobile subscription, and I have been typing away like crazy. I've killed off a quarter of the batter and so I plugged it in. I have a Plantronics Voyager Pro head set. I talked on that with the storm for 2 hours just a while ago and that was part of that drain I had.

Someone in one forum had an issue with WiFi on his Belkin router. Myself and other both chimed in that we're good. Oddly both of us use the same router, which is a LinkSys G router.

I had an 8310 from AT&T before switching to the Tour on Verizon. So I know your keyboard very well. You have 3 options here on the Storm 2. Full portrait, full landscape, or the one with the two letters on each key. I very highly recommend the one with two letters on each key.

The trick is to forget that there are two letters on the key about 95% of the time. Don't tap it once or twice to get the left or right letter. Just type whatever you want. RIM's got a 35,000 word dictionary that will compare the keystrokes and figure it out extremely well. Seriously, even if it starts off with the wrong letter, just ignore it and type away. It will figure it out. I'd say I might have to change a letter or two in an entire email. And the more you use it, the faster you will get at fixing that. At this point for me, it's almost entirely muscle memory. So much so I plan on strolling into work on Monday and banging out an email as I always do in meetings and watching the jaws of everyone else drop to floor. I am greased lighting on this. If I even tried to type this fast on my tour the text wouldn't make sense even to me.

Seriously, stick with the two letter key for a day. Just open the notepad and start typing away. Ignore that there are two letters and just get your figures used to this. There are only 5 keys from left to right and 4 keys from top to bottom with this setup. And that makes hitting the key incredibly easy and fast. With the quad sensor pads under the screen, you're going to see that very little force is needed and the key presses are perfectly even. Like a car that is 50/50 weight distribution front to back, this is quad distribution on all sides. Your wife will immediately get it. Tell her to be more gentle with it.

You know how typing long emails in tiny keys can leave you with extra adrenaline? You have to shake it off almost... Not here. You can bang out a long email and you'll be okay with it. This keyboard is amazing.

So Wifi; my experience is perfect.
Battery, I'll let you know when I can put this thing down for 5 minutes like a normal adult. Right now, I'm that kid on Christmas eve with a new fire truck and lot's of extra batteries.

awdwhip · 11-01-2009, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stale Pancake

Let it charge solid off the wall outlet for 16 hours and the battery should be great. I've been using my a lot as it's brand new and I am having a good ol time with it. So I'm not really a good judge at this point. I stuck about 700 MP3s on it. Bought Wall Street Mobile subscription, and I have been typing away like crazy. I've killed off a quarter of the batter and so I plugged it in. I have a Plantronics Voyager Pro head set. I talked on that with the storm for 2 hours just a while ago and that was part of that drain I had.

Someone in one forum had an issue with WiFi on his Belkin router. Myself and other both chimed in that we're good. Oddly both of us use the same router, which is a LinkSys G router.

I had an 8310 from AT&T before switching to the Tour on Verizon. So I know your keyboard very well. You have 3 options here on the Storm 2. Full portrait, full landscape, or the one with the two letters on each key. I very highly recommend the one with two letters on each key.

The trick is to forget that there are two letters on the key about 95% of the time. Don't tap it once or twice to get the left or right letter. Just type whatever you want. RIM's got a 35,000 word dictionary that will compare the keystrokes and figure it out extremely well. Seriously, even if it starts off with the wrong letter, just ignore it and type away. It will figure it out. I'd say I might have to change a letter or two in an entire email. And the more you use it, the faster you will get at fixing that. At this point for me, it's almost entirely muscle memory. So much so I plan on strolling into work on Monday and banging out an email as I always do in meetings and watching the jaws of everyone else drop to floor. I am greased lighting on this. If I even tried to type this fast on my tour the text wouldn't make sense even to me.

Seriously, stick with the two letter key for a day. Just open the notepad and start typing away. Ignore that there are two letters and just get your figures used to this. There are only 5 keys from left to right and 4 keys from top to bottom with this setup. And that makes hitting the key incredibly easy and fast. With the quad sensor pads under the screen, you're going to see that very little force is needed and the key presses are perfectly even. Like a car that is 50/50 weight distribution front to back, this is quad distribution on all sides. Your wife will immediately get it. Tell her to be more gentle with it.

You know how typing long emails in tiny keys can leave you with extra adrenaline? You have to shake it off almost... Not here. You can bang out a long email and you'll be okay with it. This keyboard is amazing.

So Wifi; my experience is perfect.
Battery, I'll let you know when I can put this thing down for 5 minutes like a normal adult. Right now, I'm that kid on Christmas eve with a new fire truck and lot's of extra batteries.

Well said, I'll take your advice and apply it when my phone comes in and I'll also pass this down to the wife.

I appreciate you POV and be sure to leave updates on the forum of your experience with your S2 to compare to mine.

Stale Pancake · 11-01-2009, 09:32 PM

I'd love to hear what you think when you get it. Especially your wife's opinion since she hated the first one. I didn't like it either and wouldn't buy it. So far, I'm hearing a lot of positives.

awdwhip · 11-01-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stale Pancake

I'd love to hear what you think when you get it. Especially your wife's opinion since she hated the first one. I didn't like it either and wouldn't buy it. So far, I'm hearing a lot of positives.

I'll get her opinion of the S2 when she has played with it for a few days

XelhaBB · 11-02-2009, 11:32 AM

awdwhip,

how did you attain VIP status with Verizon? I've been with them for a bit and have spent a lot of money with them. I am about a year into my Storm and would love to upgrade for the BOGO deal and get the wife and I new Storm 2's.

tach18k · 11-02-2009, 02:33 PM

The $179 is after the $100 rebate, and $50 off of that is $129 each, but still need to lay out the $229 first, also need to add the mobile power as they use a Micro Mini USB now and not the standard, so another $30, and no case encloser, so another $20 for that. Out the door you close to $310 or so.

tach18k · 11-02-2009, 02:34 PM

The typing on the 2 letter phone pad is bad for single letters, it doesnt like Vanessa so it can not figure it out, need to edit the word list.

Stale Pancake · 11-02-2009, 09:09 PM

Okay, first full business day with the Storm 2.

Listened to music for 70 minutes this morning. 100 minutes this evening.

Typed 47 emails of varying length during the day. Received all my personal and corporate email, about 90 messages as it wasn't super busy today.

BBM about 9 messages

Read the mobile WSJ for 70 minutes (while listening to music and sending messages)

Talked on the phone for about 25 minutes over numerous short calls through the day.

Played with VZ Navigator for about 10 minutes.

Had WiFi off all day.

Drained 60% of the battery after 14 hours before I plugged it back in where it is now.

Racerdj · 11-03-2009, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stale Pancake

I still love the deal. You're going to love the Storm 2. They nailed this phone so perfectly.

Correct! They got it right!

Mike Dimich · 11-03-2009, 11:22 AM

Nice this phone is sounding so much better than the strom 1!

awdwhip · 11-03-2009, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tach18k

The $179 is after the $100 rebate, and $50 off of that is $129 each, but still need to lay out the $229 first, also need to add the mobile power as they use a Micro Mini USB now and not the standard, so another $30, and no case encloser, so another $20 for that. Out the door you close to $310 or so.

Not me! Normally you would have to hash out the money up front but they made and exception for me and I was only charged 140.71 for the 2 phones.

I instantly received the $100 rebate and the $50 VIP discount over the phone.

They did originally try to get me to pay for each phone up front and then I'd receive a Visa gift card in the mail with a credit of the cost for the 2nd phone plus the rebate but I told them that I didn't want to do it like that so they transferred me to some other rep and then another until they gave me this sweet deal.

I'm sure this kind of deal doesn't happen to most people but I'm glad it happened to me

Oh, and you can get an OEM car charger and protective case for less than what you mentioned on Amazon.

awdwhip · 11-03-2009, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XelhaBB

awdwhip,

how did you attain VIP status with Verizon? I've been with them for a bit and have spent a lot of money with them. I am about a year into my Storm and would love to upgrade for the BOGO deal and get the wife and I new Storm 2's.

I'm in the military so that's why I have "VIP" status and receive a 25% discount on accessories and 15% on my bill

awdwhip · 11-03-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stale Pancake

Okay, first full business day with the Storm 2.

Listened to music for 70 minutes this morning. 100 minutes this evening.

Typed 47 emails of varying length during the day. Received all my personal and corporate email, about 90 messages as it wasn't super busy today.

BBM about 9 messages

Read the mobile WSJ for 70 minutes (while listening to music and sending messages)

Talked on the phone for about 25 minutes over numerous short calls through the day.

Played with VZ Navigator for about 10 minutes.

Had WiFi off all day.

Drained 60% of the battery after 14 hours before I plugged it back in where it is now.

Sweet! Keep in mind people, that he charged his phone for 18hrs before he fired it up

So maybe that's why his battery lasts so long.