[chrisb3]

I went up to the Verizon 'Grab the Storm' or whatever the promotion is called that's going on on 46th & Broadway in Manhattan at lunch today. They're giving away 100 Storms at the event (well, you'll get a gift card in the mail to go buy one). Between a 2 hour wait to try to win and pouring rain, I didn't bother getting in line (plus I was on my lunch break). The contest goes until 7pm tonight for those who are in NYC and want to check it out.

But, at the booth where the winners collect their prizes, there's a guy who had in his possession, a Storm. I asked nicely and he let me play around with it for a few minutes. The unit he had was a pre-production unit (doesn't anyone have the final?).

The screen is really gorgeous. The screen is one giant button. You actually feel it click when you push on it. The web seemed pretty snappy, but did slow down a bit when we browsed to a page that has alot of javascript in it. You can view pages in portrait or landscape and switch between them at will.

He didn't have email set up on it so I couldn't try that out, but I did type a bit in the memo pad. Typing is ok. I found it to be a bit slow. I'm a pretty quick typist on my 8800 and I found that the Storm wasn't keeping up with me.

Whatever version of of the BBOS the Storm was running definitely had some issues. I did witness the unit get a battery pull because of a crash (though I don't remember what caused it). The unit takes about 3 minutes or so to reboot from a battery pull.

I hear that the OS that the Storm will ship with should resolve the typing issues along with the javascript issues noted above amongst other tweaks and fixes.

Was I impressed by it? Yes. Very. But I'm not 100% sold on the virtual keyboard.

I'll wait to see how well the final production model works before I decide to leave AT&T for VZW and the Storm.

I only got to spend 10 minutes (5 actually toying around with it), but I'll try to answer any questions.

[correia]

Did you happen to use BB Maps to see if the GPS was unlocked to apps other than VZ Navigator?

[chrisb3]

Originally Posted by correia

Did you happen to use BB Maps to see if the GPS was unlocked to apps other than VZ Navigator?

No I didn't, I only got a few minutes with it and then a crowd started to form when people realised he had a Storm. I don't remember seeing the icon for BB Maps, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

[kjjb0204]

Thanks for your first impressions! Can't wait to try it out too!

[annonymous1]

Did you watch any video clips on it or test out the camera? What did you think?

[EvanDM]

Did you try out the browser?

[massgolfer]

I too tried the Storm yesterday in London yesterday. I found typing on it was easier than the iPhone due to larger 'buttons'. I think the virtual keyboard is good enough for an occasional text message or email. The pressing on the screen did feel like one was pressing a button even though the entire screen depresses.

One thing I was a bit dissapointed with is the speed with which the screen went from horizontal to vertical and vice versa. There seemed to be a 4-6 second delay before the keyboard or web browser changed into vertical.

[sleeper55]

Was this still a beta phone? If so keep in mind you were using beta hardware and beta software. neither were the final production parts. It is possible that it will be different with final hardware and software. hold judgement till the release.

Originally Posted by massgolfer

I too tried the Storm yesterday in London yesterday. I found typing on it was easier than the iPhone due to larger 'buttons'. I think the virtual keyboard is good enough for an occasional text message or email. The pressing on the screen did feel like one was pressing a button even though the entire screen depresses.

One thing I was a bit dissapointed with is the speed with which the screen went from horizontal to vertical and vice versa. There seemed to be a 4-6 second delay before the keyboard or web browser changed into vertical.

[chrisb3]

Originally Posted by annonymous1

Did you watch any video clips on it or test out the camera? What did you think?

They guy who had it was playing around with the camera/camcorder function. Looked pretty good. The camera is only 3.2MP (I think).

[chrisb3]

Originally Posted by EvanDM

Did you try out the browser?

Yes I did. Some sites loaded quickly (ESPN, Google) others, not so much. The beta OS still has some issues with javascript on full HTML sites.

There's a zoom key for zooming in and lightly touching the screen will scroll. Pressing the screen will activate links or zoom as well. The screen reoriented quickly from portrait to landscape.

[massgolfer]

Originally Posted by sleeper55

Was this still a beta phone? If so keep in mind you were using beta hardware and beta software. neither were the final production parts. It is possible that it will be different with final hardware and software. hold judgement till the release.

Nope, not beta version. This is the real deal. Despite that, I ordered mine in a Vodafone store in Canary Wharf and will be getting it today or tomorrow (unless they screw up their deliveries).

[hclsolutions]

i cannot wait to get mine any day now

[Mmagot]

yeah i sure hope the typing issue gets cured. I as looking at it to get one in the future

[complexx]

4-6 second delay when going from vert to horiz?!?!?!? yikes! i hope they fix this with software...

[Demon]

Originally Posted by complexx

4-6 second delay when going from vert to horiz?!?!?!? yikes! i hope they fix this with software...

This was already corrected.

[jaywax]

I also got to try the Storm in Times Square. I found the shifting from horizontal to vertical fairly quick. I also typed an email message quickly and without flaws. It feels like you are actually pushing buttons. We went to a NY Times website and it reacted fairly quickly. Also saw some streaming video which looked great.

[aslamc]

Got mine today at 9:30 am... maybe I was one of the lucky few to get is so quick...

with all the hype about the 9500 storm I was really disappointed, have been playing around with it since morning and just a while back i put the sim back in to my BOLD.

it is very slow, you end up making a lot of errors in selecting and have to keep pressing the back button...

[xGMiLLZx]

yea, i really dont really got a good feeling on typing on a virtual keyboard.

thats why im leaning toward the g-1

[baggyp]

I just got to play with the STORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My local Verizon has a demo unit. It is running 4.7.0.61. I think that's the beta version. It did not have Blackberry maps installed. The lag in screen rotation was not bad at all. The OS was very responsive. It took me about 5 seconds flat to get use to the keyboard (screen). It felt solid, much heavier than my curve. I like a phone with some weight to it. The browser was snappy, i loaded the Verizon home page in under 5 sec. I like when you push in on the screen it zooms. The screen is glass. The click from pressing the screen is really faint to hear. It's more you feel it.Over all this phone is AMAZING!!!!!!I'm sorry this is all jumbled together but im driving home from work typing on my laptop.....posted at HOFO too.....

[annonymous1]

Originally Posted by Demon

This was already corrected.

So how long does it take now to change from vertical to horizontal views.. is it instant? or is there still a small time delay?