Sorry to go long here, but I think the storm is getting more bad criticism then it should. It doesn’t come without flaws, but it does take some “user adjustment”. I have owned a Palm, BB Pearl, and an iphone. I owned the iphone for a very short time, because of its lack of email capabilities. (I use several email accounts, and you have to go into each one individually, unlike the BB which pushes it all together like outlook.) I loved my Pearl, despite the small frustrations I had with the keyboard.
Yesterday when I picked up my Storm, I was worried at first because I was struggling to navigate around the phone, pressing wrong buttons and becoming increasingly frustrated. Throughout the day though, I noticed it was becoming easier and easier to use. You have to "retrain" your brain, because it is different than the other Blackberries. It was similar to switching from the full keypad on my Palm to the suretype keypad on my BB. After a couple days, I was typing quite fast. I have found that to be the same with the Storm. One thing I began picking up on (which is a much nicer feature than the iphone) was how the key lights up first so you know which letter you are pushing before you push it. You avoid having to backspace and make corrections once you get used to it.
Once I finally got everything set up, I decided to try google sync to sync calendar and contacts instead of Markspace Missing Sync (I am a mac user). I learned very quickly that google sync really caused problems. I struggled with lag and other issues, and then I started to have error messages pop up. Last night I finally "wiped" my handheld, including all 3rd party software, and decided to start over. Since I have done that, it has really worked well. The lag is minimal, and no more errors and such. I would compare the lag timing as similar to a "fade-out" when you use powerpoint or a slideshow. It really is not that bad. I also had no problem using missing sync. Everything synced great the first time. (Mac Users: Make sure you reset the sync history before syncing the Storm for first time. Click on "help" and "reset sync history". Also reset your isync history. This is done in isync, under "preferences", "reset sync history".)
Some things I have figured out in my early experience (I am not much of a user guide reader, so sorry if this is in there.):
+ I set one of my right convenience keys for the Virtual Keyboard. There are a couple applications where the keyboard does not automatically come up, or sometimes you want to get rid of it. It is a nice quick option.
+ I was having issues switching from landscape back to portrait mode. If you press and hold the red power button for a couple seconds, it switches back to the home page in portrait mode.
+ In the browser, I love the feature of lightly double tapping (brushing) the screen and it automatically zooms into that part of the web page. (No blue light on this one!)
+I would not recommend downloading 3rd party software at first, until a software update has come out. I know I will be careful, and make sure there are user reviews on 3rd party before I download it. Right now, the phone is so new, there is not a lot of experience out there.
+Visual voicemail is pretty cool. Too bad it costs $2.99/month. Let's criticize Verizon on that one.
If you went out and bought the Storm yesterday, then you are certainly a pioneer, and can be helpful for Blackberry. I am sure they want to know some of the frustrations users have so they can make their product even better. I imagine they will be coming up with a software fix soon, as they have more and more user feedback. But for now I think it is a good phone, and it will only get better. Give it a few days before running back to Verizon to return it.
