I have never owned a Blackberry device. I was stuck for the last three years on purchasing WM devices per my employer. I was very excited to see the release of the Storm. However, upon release, I have seen negative review upon negative review. What I want to know is this a review of the hardware or the OS? The OS can be improveed upon (which I'm sure it will be very soon per RIM standards). Is the hardware that crappy; that I should just bown down to Microsoft and purchase the Samsung Omnia or the HTC Touch Pro for Verizon? I am not eligible for four weeks to upgrade, so I will make my decision by then. I obviously will be testing all of these devices out for myself. However, I wanted to get an unbiased opinion for which way to go before then.

I think most of the problems are in the software. You can go to VZW and get one for thirty days and try it out. I read all the reviews when people put them out, but in the end I am going to decide for myself.

I think the problem lies in combining the BlackBerry OS with a touchscreen (as well as BlackBerry owners with Touchscreens.)

Once RIM gets the OS a little more refined and people get used to it I think it will be fine.

Agreed. It's the fact that VZ rushed RIM to release the device before the OS was ready. I love the huge screen but recognize the software isn't perfect. The great thing about this device is the large screen essentially is a blank canvas that RIM can improve upon through updates - same as the iPhone. Now it's not for everyone, but if you want the large screen for web surfing AND the BB email experience, there is nothing better today.

I agree with everyone else - it's probably not a hardware problem and the software was probably rushed. Also, I too read the reviews, and my first impressions have been pretty negative but I'm not giving up on it yet.