[WingmanErik]

For those of us frustrated by having to press the menu button, and then send, after creating a text messege...... The shortcut is just to hit the menu button twice.

WOOHOO!

[papageno19]

You guys know you can hide the keyboard while youre trying to select text, right?

[TheBigNewt]

Messed with it for a half hour today at a store. My impression overall:. I now hear that more units are not going to be released until the software is fixed (around Dec. 5 for people who ordered today). Typing: is just OK, not nearly as fast or accurate at the BB keyboards of the Pearl/Curve/Bold. anticipating the next keystrike to type fast won't work well because you have to touch the backscreen to enter the letter But I expected that. No touchscreen will ever be as good as a keyboard for obvious reasons. I could live with that though, and learn to deal with it and get better I'm sure. I don't send long emails anyway. The dealbreaker for me was selecting things from a browser page with my finger as the cursor. You can't see what's under it (doh) and so I usually selected the wrong thing (try CBS Sportline and try and select College Football, or Fantasy Football or College Basketball--those selections are so close together you cover them all up with your finger at once). Scrolling up and down with the finger is awkward, but can be done. The "big screen" gets half as big when the keyboard appears, making it at least as small as a Curve screen if not smaller so for messaging the screen is no advantage. In short, the trackball as mouse is far superior to my finger as mouse/cursor, and that messes the thing up. If it had a trackball at the bottom between the keys it could be much much better.It's also hard to hold it in one hand and page down a long email stroking the screen, and paging down using the letter 9 ain't happening either. You can do it, but it's more difficult. It's very attractive, very pretty screen, very cool looking at the menus and stuff, but for a primarily messaging person I think the curve beats it. I'll look at the Bold next. Just my .02

[cracktastic]

I was able to get one yesterday morning. It's my first Blackberry so I have nothing to compare it to. In other words, take the following with a grain of salt:

A) Display: Love it. The colors are bright and vibrant. My only issue is the slight bleed through from under the screen. Rating: A-
B) Navigation: Again, I like it. The scrolling is rather quick as long as you remember to close opened apps your fine. Rating: Solid A
C) Camera: Slow. 3.2 Megapixels is nice but the camera is a bit slow. Rating: B
D) Keyboard: Meh. I like it. Having never used a full QWERTY keyboard on any other smart phone, I like it. Sure the buttons are small, but i like the tactile feedback. being on a keyboard all day at the office, it feels more natural albeit a bit slow. Rating: A-
E) Cosmetics: Looks good to me. Rating: A

That's about it. I've been using it for a day and have noticed my speed is increasing on the keyboard. I've sent emails and text messages and have had no issues. I've only popped the battery once and that was my fauly. I wasn't closing apps when I was done with them so the phone slowed down.

Nice phone, I'm hooked!!

[Arcangel]

why not just activate the cursor???

[Tressler66]

Got the Storm yesterday on the launch date. Arrived at Verizon store at 7:50 (opened at 8AM) - was #27 in line...by 9:30 I was back home ready to play

SO after reading countless posts on pros and cons - it is starting to appear that what you want to use your blackberry for will gauge what you think of it.

My first impression was one of satisfaction - I loved the look and feel of it. It has a great weight to it that makes it feel sturdy, while at the same time is not overbearing or heavy feeling. Screen is incredible both by look and also by touch. It took about an hour, but the touch screen won me over.

Pros of the touch screen - great navigation - hover/click functionality works well and seems appropriate for most applications/menus

Cons of the touch screen - TYPING - although, it appears that typing on a virtual keyboard is a skill, and one can learn how to do it. I would have to say that after one day, typing is becoming much quicker and more accurate. I have read a lot about the lack of calibration being an issue that may be addressed someday in a future OS patch...what I found works for me is to not look at the keyboard while typing. As I type this out now my eyes are glued to the keyboard on my laptop - I am just one of those typers...so it isn't natural for me to not look at the virtual keyboard while typing. However accuracy was way better for me when instinctively trying to find the keys rather than trying to aim. You just don't seem to hit the key you are trying to press as often as you would like - at first - you won't even be close and it will be rather comical - it's that different. People need to realize that it isn't necessarily bad, just new and different and it needs to be learned.

Before I move on to other pros and cons of this Blackberry, I want to add to the statement I made earlier:

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']what you want to use your blackberry for will gauge what you think of it.[/font]

I am fortunate enough to have a work issued 8830 as well as now upgrading my 2nd 8830 to the storm.
If I had to use the storm for work - my quote back to our IT folks was " I would run over it with my car...twice". I am lucky that I have the 8830 for work and the Storm for fun. The features I was missing when using the 8830 for personal reasons were almost all there in the Storm. The 3.2 mp camera/vid cam and more functional media apps are at the top of my head for reasons I was unhappy with the 8830. The storm really delivers here in making the phone geared more towards first time Blackberry or smartphone users.
Should you send more than 10-20 emails a day, or if you would consider yourself a heavy user of text messaging - my bet is you will say you hate this phone. It simply is not for you IMO. Should you be more of a casual "phone" user who listens to music on your device, takes/sends pics, a few txt messages, an email here or there, talks on the phone a lot - things like that - then you will think this is one of if not the best phone you've ever held in your hand. My guess is that RIM is cleverly reaching out to an untapped market for them and the corporate power users of Blackberry were not the real target here - they pretty much have that market sector all tied up anyway...but what they don't have is the "iPhone" user market - and they are trying to tap in to it.

You should just be informed prior to rushing out and making a purchase - although it is very reasonably priced for what you get, that alone wonxxx8217;t justify buying it. Make sure it is the correct device for your needs and it will fully handle what it is you want to do with it. Some will love it, some will hate it. I am personally leaning closer towards loving it the more I use it and the better I get at typing with it.

The two things I absolutely hate about both of my blackberries is the lack of Wi-Fi and the lack of Flash support in the browser...I hate to say it, but there is where I will still use the iPod touch around the house.

I am anxiously awaiting the best parts of the iPhone, the blackberry email solutions, and now the features of the Storm to be bundled up in to one nice device...we are probably only a few years away if that, but someone will figure it out.

There are a few bugs...screen seems to not rotate quite right - usually after unlocking the screen or using the camera. Sometimes it just takes a good 10 seconds before it goes, and other times it is just stuck one way or the other. A little frustrating, but probably related to leaving background apps running and not fully closing when done....hold down the menu fey for 5 seconds or so and all of your running apps will come up (I believe your 4 most used apps or most recently used, or some sort of default list of 4 apps will always be there - anything else you may have left open and running)

Somehow I managed to open the camera while typing a txt msg on the virtual keyboard - not really sure how I pulled that one off, but it seemed like a bug to me - unless I stumbled over some obscure shortcut that I am unaware of.

not a bug, but on the 8830 I can hold down the mute button on top of the phone and it will put the phone in standby - mirrors as if it is in a holster. I have the silicone cases and do not use a holster, so religiously putting the phone in stand-by became a regular practice after my pocket dialed 911 6 or 7 times. The Storm has a similar function, however it only locks the screen. The backlight and screen still turn on if it is pressed - just to a theme background and a message stating that the screen is locked - you need to press the physical Lock/Unlock button on the top of the phone (depending which way you are holding it) to unlock it. Maybe there is a way to do it, but I want to put the phone in standby so that the screen wonxxx8217;t turn on every time it is touched - it will stay on until your preset backlight timer shuts it off - could be as long as 2 minutes each time that happens - that's a lot of battery life over time being eaten.

All in all, RIM came pretty close to what they were trying to do. Could have been a little more upfront regarding their target audience and what the device is geared to do. but the hype and the mystery is what put 26 people in line in front of me at the store, and many more behind me. It is just very important that you don't blindly jump in to a purchase for the wrong reasons. Don't buy one just because it's a new blackberry - you probably have loved using all of the blackberries you have owned - but you may hate this one.

[kurichan]

Originally Posted by brandon.aragon

wow, people really are crazy. how would you raise a a fuss over a phone. i mean i understand its a hot product but come on people

You're on a site dedicated to Blackberries.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, you're a certifiable idiot to even wonder why people are discussing this issue this way here.

[david_uk]

Nice review.

So, BBs are no longer just little QWERTY email devices, yet touchscreens are not for everyone.

Life has become more confusing. Thanks, Steve Jobs.

[robotpedlr]

Originally Posted by papageno19

You guys know you can hide the keyboard while youre trying to select text, right?

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!

[TheBigNewt]

Question: I hear you can move your finger cursor around on a webpage without it being right over the link and then select the link just by pressing the screen at that location. In other words you control the cursor from afar. Is that right?

[rachamphetamine]

From what I have seen of the browser on video is that the cursor will be somewhat to the left and above your finger, so you can see what you are selecting. Obviously this will vary by person and finger size.

[michal64]

i got one last night at vz store. So far i really like it, it IS slow, no question about it, but its not something that is in the way that much, and i think that will be fixed with an update. Overall i really like the phone, the more i use it (and from reading over here) its just getting better, for example moving the cursor back to edit text, first i figured its going to be a pain , but once you know how, its very easy .

too bad they dont have more apps that work on it, and are made for it,

[LynnFreeman]

Originally Posted by Jason Mark

Thanks for the input. If you can post back other opinions/review. Other members will be interested in other peoples take of the device.

See below youtube videos reviews by MobilityToday (one comprehensive review and one review of speed). Comprehensive one is about 28 minutes and very informative. My apologize if these are are old news, but thought some may find them useful. Enjoy!

Speed: youtube.com/watch?v=4PsdsxbuKRY&feature=channel] YouTube - Storm Speed[/url]

Comprehensive: youtube.com/watch?v=0RXagnb8oPQ&feature=channel] YouTube - Verizon Blackberry Storm[/url]

[Arcangel]

I dont seem to understand what the hell people are talking about!!! What lag time or typing issues or buggy ui. I have had mine for two whole days and none of these issues even arise. My friend also has no issues. Many people whom i have spoken to and purchased one have none of these issues. i am so confused. we also found that when verizon takes the zip tie that they have on the phone off, all of those issues on the phones in store go away. it seems to be the pressure that there lock system is applying on the outside edges of the screen that mess it up in store.

[koki]

ok i've had my 9530 for 2days now, and sure there are some bugs and lag(every now and then) but as for the keyboard im typing just as fast and accurate as a curve, but it did take getting use to. I have the screen sensitivity set high and key rate fast, this helps. As it stands now all profile names share the same settings this blows cant wait for that fix. the music player is smooth and can always run in the backround, your volume button doubles as forward/playback(i like). When i type a sms i can see 4 lines of text w/o having to scroll down or drop the keyboard(that works for me, better then 1 line)but if needed the keyboard will hide away with a swipe from top to bottom and the opposite to bring it back. movies look great, play smooth and fill the whole screen i had no problem putting them on and playing them back (i have'em in 3g2 format). camera takes great pictures but it just takes too long a good 3-5second and the gallery is super laggy.
battery life for me doesn't look like ill get more then a day and a half but im use to plugging it in every night.there still a lot to learn about it but i got that much up and little more out of couple of days with it.

[Doowron]

OK, all the hoopla is now like the election, a thing of the past. The 8830 is my 3rd Verizon BB and I am a heavy user as I get 100+ emails per day. I just spent 20 minutes at Verizon playing with the Storm and if you a heavy user like me, I would run from this much anticipated BB. First of all, the software isn't even ready for primetime. As I am using it and I am making comments like, 'it won't change to the horozontal screen' and 'man this is slow to recognize type' and 'I hit f and g comes up' and 'why doesn't navigation work' and 'what do you mean you have to order it because you ran out already?' The sales rep said that "don't worry, the new software upgrade 'should' fix those things when it comes out in 2 weeks." So let me get this right, the Storm doesn't work, it is slow as hell and I am going to upgrade my phone? What a let down guys! I will say that if you watch MP4 then it is an advantage and yes the screen did go horizontal for video, but not for the web. I know there would be a learning curve but I can type as fast as I want on the 8830 and it keeps up while the Storm is like using an old digital camera as it has a lag. Heavy users beware beware beware!

Objective user here and my 18 months is up and I can switch very easily so it isn't the money. I would of done it if it was half of what I expected.

Cheers - D

[TheBigNewt]

I get the impression that the demo units in stores don't perform as well as your own unit will (which makes sense). One that I tried froze/locked and I couldn't get it working again, then the guy next to me did, etc. There's no way to do a battery bull to free the thing up. I'm gonna give it another go myself, haven't given on it yet. A lot of posters here really like it I can see that.

[AllanRosen]

Originally Posted by wgimenes

Much happier today after day 5 of the Storm.

A light tap of the screen brings up the progress bar and you can click on it and slide quite accurately.

The typing is getting much better as well.

One gripe still to sort is how to move the cursor to the end of the text once you move back to correct a word without losing the will to live

Not sure if the answer is the same as the older BB's, but on my BB, you press the button in the lower left hand corner (with the upward facing arrow), and then move the trackball. That will move the cursor to any part of the email you wish.

[hudres]

Originally Posted by jnyost

So far I'm pretty happy.

1. Phone crashed with an Exception and wouldn't work properly until I pulled the battery.
2. NONE of my applications transferred. Guess the device is just way too different.
3. Love the form factor and the screen. The screen is as nice or nicer than my iTouch.
4. Selecting takes some getting used to. I think I'll be very proficient by the end of the day.
5. It sucks they moved from mini to micro usb. Time to buy an adapter.

Re: #2: Could you give us an idea of what applications you had? I use a lot of apps and this is an issue of concern. Thanks 73

[wgimenes]

Originally Posted by AllanRosen

Not sure if the answer is the same as the older BB's, but on my BB, you press the button in the lower left hand corner (with the upward facing arrow), and then move the trackball. That will move the cursor to any part of the email you wish.

Allan, I was referring to the media player. Lightly tap the screen to bring up the progress bar. Sorry if unclear.

You mention trackball and makes me wonder why did Blackberry decide not to have one with the Storm. It would make a lot of sense.

Another nonsense, Vodafone UK doesn't seem to be able to activate one of my Storms to BES. One worked fine out of the box while the second has already taken 4 calls to their technical department already with no result.

Anyone else out there with Enterprise Activation difficulties?