[XelhaBB]

I have had mine for two weeks now and I will briefly list my assessment of pros and cons. I am also a newbie to the BB experience.

Pros:
Full touch Qwerty, works great with tweaks in options menu
Syncs with email and responds quick
Click screen allows thumbing of menus before committing to selection
Access to apps such as Flickr and Facebook

Cons:
Phone sporadically runs sluggish
Camera takes good photos but runs terribly slow and touch menu glitches routinely
0/S .65 is definitely full of glitches that upgrades should remedy
Ear contact with the screen during phone use can activate functions such as mute

I initially thought maybe I got a bad unit but the forum has convinced me most of this phone's flaws will be remedied with OS upgrades. I have decided to stick it out with the Storm being that despite its many flaws, I am still thrilled with its capabilities. If the glitches and speed issues are fixed, this phone will be just fine for me.

[blackberryking9]

i got mine today its awesome!

[hapishyguy]

Bold is the best. I have tried it and its nice. In my opinion its better than Storm. I checked the storm yesterday in a Verizon store and checked the Bold also in an AT&T store. Storm is nice but one cant type that fast to send emails or especially chatting/instant messaging. By the way, in Storm when using AIM you can put custom away messages. This is not present in any other blackberry out there. This is going to be a big hit for AIM lovers who want themselves to be posted their friends and others of their current situation. I remember when I used to work at cell phones people used to come and look for Blackberry Curve and ask if it makes custom away messages because thats what they wanted. So its a good news. So the screen is nice and the Storm itself looks good. It has good looks but because of the new Sure Type technology that RIM using on Storm I think people will have to get used to it. People are used to the scroll wheel. When I was checking out the Storm at the store and while typing and navigating around the menus my hands were constantly looking for the scroll wheel. With the scroll wheel you can move the cursor around if you want to edit something eg taking the cursor to the end of the line etc but in Storm it was very hard for me to take it to the very end of the line after the last word. I couldnt find a way. I believe there is a way but just like I was new most other new users might get frustrated. After all its a email device and you want to type fast and accurately. One does makes mistakes while typing but like said before practice will overcome this. I also felt that the Storm is a little slow in response and also while tilting when the screen rotates. Even when you navigate through the menus its slow. I checked the version on the Storm also to see if it was latest version and it was the latest version as it was set to "autoupdate". So far the phone looks good rather great but the new touch screen is definitely RIM needs to improve on. RIM needs to remember that no matter what people will compare every touch screen phone in the market to iPhone. So for RIM to put themselves ahead of the game they definitely need to improve the touch screen response and the slowness of the phone. But definitely its easier to type with less mistakes like iPhone on the Storm.
As compared I personally feel that Bold is a better option than Storm if you do not care about the touch screen. Also I am more concerned that if you drop the touch screen phone that does not have a physical keyboard its going to be a problem. Storm definitely feels sturdy but not as tough as Bold. Remember that Bold and Storm have the same processors and same speed but Bold is faster than Storm. It is probably that touch screen function definitely takes the memory of the Storm. Also remember that Storm does not have Wifii. To me which is something I definitely did not expect from RIM. Wifii is something that can not be added later even with the software updates as its a hardware issue not the software. Or unless they come up with a whole new Storm.
So Bold is good for people who want a faster phone and want to type fast emails and chat fast whereas Storm is good for people who want to have a stylish touchscreen phone and dont care or dont use or type emails and chat fast. Your hand will time to time look for scroll wheel on Storm as its fed in our brain that blackberries have scroll wheel.
Not downgrading Storm just telling the difference

[Blackberryer]

Just got mine up and runnng a couple of hours ago. I absolutely love it. I don't mean to downplay issues anyone else is having with theirs, but I don't see any of the big problems people have been grumbling about. I haven't encountered any lag, the screen is incredibly responisve, and picking up the typing has been pretty simple.

I'm coming to the conclusion that most of the folks disappointed with the device just dont' seem to get that a touch screen by its very nature will always be a different beast than a traditional BB. The keyboard will never be as good as a physical QWERTY. This is not a device for power users. It just happens to be, for my money, the best damn consumer touchscreen device available today. And I say that as someone who liked the iPhone and has no Apple ax to grind.

The phone is not perfect, and they need to address a few software issues for sure. However, the phone as it is is outstanding, and once those issues are addressed it's going to be that much better.

[jnyost]

Originally Posted by hapishyguy

Bold is the best. I have tried it and its nice. In my opinion its better than Storm. I checked the storm yesterday in a Verizon store and checked the Bold also in an AT&T store. Storm is nice but one cant type that fast to send emails or especially chatting/instant messaging. By the way, in Storm when using AIM you can put custom away messages. This is not present in any other blackberry out there. This is going to be a big hit for AIM lovers who want themselves to be posted their friends and others of their current situation. I remember when I used to work at cell phones people used to come and look for Blackberry Curve and ask if it makes custom away messages because thats what they wanted. So its a good news. So the screen is nice and the Storm itself looks good. It has good looks but because of the new Sure Type technology that RIM using on Storm I think people will have to get used to it. People are used to the scroll wheel. When I was checking out the Storm at the store and while typing and navigating around the menus my hands were constantly looking for the scroll wheel. With the scroll wheel you can move the cursor around if you want to edit something eg taking the cursor to the end of the line etc but in Storm it was very hard for me to take it to the very end of the line after the last word. I couldnt find a way. I believe there is a way but just like I was new most other new users might get frustrated. After all its a email device and you want to type fast and accurately. One does makes mistakes while typing but like said before practice will overcome this. I also felt that the Storm is a little slow in response and also while tilting when the screen rotates. Even when you navigate through the menus its slow. I checked the version on the Storm also to see if it was latest version and it was the latest version as it was set to "autoupdate". So far the phone looks good rather great but the new touch screen is definitely RIM needs to improve on. RIM needs to remember that no matter what people will compare every touch screen phone in the market to iPhone. So for RIM to put themselves ahead of the game they definitely need to improve the touch screen response and the slowness of the phone. But definitely its easier to type with less mistakes like iPhone on the Storm.
As compared I personally feel that Bold is a better option than Storm if you do not care about the touch screen. Also I am more concerned that if you drop the touch screen phone that does not have a physical keyboard its going to be a problem. Storm definitely feels sturdy but not as tough as Bold. Remember that Bold and Storm have the same processors and same speed but Bold is faster than Storm. It is probably that touch screen function definitely takes the memory of the Storm. Also remember that Storm does not have Wifii. To me which is something I definitely did not expect from RIM. Wifii is something that can not be added later even with the software updates as its a hardware issue not the software. Or unless they come up with a whole new Storm.
So Bold is good for people who want a faster phone and want to type fast emails and chat fast whereas Storm is good for people who want to have a stylish touchscreen phone and dont care or dont use or type emails and chat fast. Your hand will time to time look for scroll wheel on Storm as its fed in our brain that blackberries have scroll wheel.
Not downgrading Storm just telling the difference

Write in paragraphs so it is easier to read.

- Bold isn't comparable to a Storm. They aren't in the same class. It'd be closer to compare the bold to a curve except the curve has a better form factor than that huge bold.
- Suretype is not new. Been out for a while now. If you don't like it then just rotate the device.
- I agree, a track ball would be a nice addition. I think even an enter key would help.
- Still not sure why people even bring up wifi. Never missed it on any phone I've had.

[TheBigNewt]

I don't have a Storm yet, but just a word of advice (I've said it before): unless you can get them to pull the battery, using one in a store will be very very slow. There's probably no free memory left. People take pix, mess with it, and it get used up fast. Check the free memory before you use on in a store. One I tried had zero, and it still tried to work.

[Doctor Neutron]

Flipping speed from portrait to landscape was specifically addressed / improved in (75).
EVERYBODY needs to check out, in depth:

ULTIMATE Official tips/tricks ONLY - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com

[Phil_Storm]

how about a lack of flipping from landscape to portrait altogether? getting stuck in landscape mode quite often? not sure if .75 addressed that one...

[tombronx53]

When will Adobe, BlackBerry and Verizon get together? I would like to see a mobile version of the Adobe Flash Player 10 be available soon.

Anyone have any updated info?

[thetruth]

I've had my storm for five days now and so far I'm in love. I did the .75 upgrade and my phone isn't laggy at all. Although typing in landscape takes some getting used to since the keys are bit small. My only problem is that I can't access the options menu without removing my battery. Other than that, everything is good.

[archpopoy]

Originally Posted by robotpedlr

Found this in another post on here by someone else...but saved me much frustration. Reprogram your right convenience key to be the virtual keyboard. That way you can turn it on/off anytime... that was one of my biggest issues (one of them)...but fixed it. Thanks to who ever posted that tip!

Awesome tip!

Over here at Canada, we're just getting the Storm!

I've been making sweet fondlage (if there's a word) with my Storm and I was trying to figure out if there's a way to pop the keyboard in and out.

Best tip ever.

Cheers!

[archpopoy]

Originally Posted by archpopoy

Awesome tip!

Over here at Canada, we're just getting the Storm!

I've been making sweet fondlage (if there's a word) with my Storm and I was trying to figure out if there's a way to pop the keyboard in and out.

Best tip ever.

Cheers!

Hang on---

sliding the keyboard up and down hides it too.

ok, that was better.

Thanks again : )

[kd78]

Got a Storm today. I currently use a TMO Curve but couldn't resist trying the Storm out even though the reviews have been pretty horrible on all sites.

I have soley been using various BB's for the past 8 years.

My thoughts:

1) At first touch, the phone seems to suck because of lag, touch screen usability, lag, the OS not being fully reworked to properly and intuitively use the touchscreen, and lag.

2) After playing around with it for most the day, I think I do prefer it to my Curve because of screen and browser and future potential. The lag seems to lessen as you use the device more after a reboot. Also, the typing is VERY accurate it you use the correct thumb for each letter and you don't try to type to super fast. It is annoying that I can't type at FULL speed but I think another firmware update should be able to resolve this issue.

3) I am going to hold on to it for another week or so and make sure I really feel like switching to Verizon from TMO as I am a huge user of UMA and don't want to give it up. Although the $129 unlimited talk and data plan through verizon is a great deal.

4) My main problem with this thing is that the app store sucks. When is it going to get populated with a lot more applications? Also, I don't see many applications that have been either designed or redesigned for use on the storm. There is no reason that the facebook application, for example, shouldn't be as functional as the iPhone version with the real estate and touch screen of the Storm.

Anyways, my two cents.

[Sailmaker101]

As for new APPs or an APP Store, the iPhone didn't have an APP Store for quite some time after it was originally launched. Don't know why people keep complaining about an APP Store for the Storm...it'll be here soon.

[kd78]

Originally Posted by Sailmaker101

As for new APPs or an APP Store, the iPhone didn't have an APP Store for quite some time after it was originally launched. Don't know why people keep complaining about an APP Store for the Storm...it'll be here soon.

Sailmaker, in my opinion, this is a lame argument for not having a proper app store on the Storm.

Just because the iPhone took a few years to release an iPhone 3g doesn't mean it would be ok for the Storm to develop 3G support sometime "soon".

RIM should have developed or had more third party software ready to go at launch. As it stands, the storm has almost NO third party apps that are designed specifically to utilize its touch screen. Currently, using the Storm is like having any other Blackberry except you are painfully navigating through it with a touch screen. The device would be 100x better if it had apps ready to go from day one.

[thunderstorm]

Got the Storm yesterday and just love it. Everthing working well - but I still did the upgrade which was a piece of cake. The main reason I chose the Storm over the iPhone was because of email - and that's something that Apple needs to address amongst other things the iPhone is lacking.

[gecko215]

Just got mine on Dec 15 and hate it at first due to the lag issue but needed the big screen (50+old) and cant see that much with the 8130 and/or 8330. I'am on both ATT (buss) and Verizon (personal) and had the Bold for 3 weeks and never impressed the with ATT coverage in So. California (drop calls) and had been waiting for this type of device where I can have both carriers all in 1device.
After 3 days of playing with the Storm, I just made a final decission today to keep this one and keep my ATT as voice only.

Late last night I did the following to my Storm and the result is much better and the orientation/camera lag had been improved.

1. Update O/S to V4.7.0.76 (platform 4.0.0.96)
2. Delete Visual Voice Mail
3. Install BBWeather
I could not be happier now since I have a bigger screen that I can see and I use ATT during the day and Verizon after hours and week end all in one unit.

[danwright]

Convert from 8830 World Edition here and don't really have any issues that haven't been discussed. Biggest gripes are battery life, camera speed (or lack thereof) and message cursor issue. Too me those are minor gripes that I expect in a gen 1 phone, all in all I'm pleased.

[ScottRPriester]

Originally Posted by hudres

Next, don't expect your phone messages or e-mails to come flooding in as they do with the earlier, more primitive models. I have had the phone about 14 hours and I am just getting e-mails from 8:30 this morning. Phone calls and voicemail took about 5 hours to catch up. (I am in the NY area. This could be very different elsewhere)

Definitely not the experience I had/have here in Pittsburgh. Just as with my former 8830, email receipt and delivery is virtually real time.

[ofelas]

Originally Posted by ScottRPriester

Definitely not the experience I had/have here in Pittsburgh. Just as with my former 8830, email receipt and delivery is virtually real time.

Agreed; real time email delivery just about anywhere I've travelled to, just like with my previous BB's.