Got Mine Today - FIRST STORM IMPRESSIONS
 

Hi
well my storm came today and it is fantastic, I can't believe the flexibility of this device it does everything. Only had it for a couple of hours and I have needed to pull the battery once, navigating around the menu systems seems OK but occasionally it does crazy things, hopefully this will be put right with updated firmware, so far 9/10

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

Wirelessly posted (Verizon 8830)

Yes.
Please share your experiences.

What do you mean by 'crazy things'?

And just a few questions;
- How long does it take to switch from horizontal to vertical views?
- Do you make many errors in typing due to the virtual keyboard?
- do you see the 'click touch-screen' as a pro or con?
- What are the pros and cons of the phone in your opinion?

Thankyou! :smile:

Storm orientation change
 

Crazy things? Can you elaborate?

Btw, how do you find the change of the orientation? I played with a pre-release Storm a few weeks ago and flipping it around caused some annoying delays. I wonder if they have made it better now...

i see the storm having quit a few problems in the future. thats my hunch anyway..or i could be totally wrong, but from what i gather already its got the making of several Help threads on Blackberryforums..... :razz:

Early days, but so far:

Browsing - 9/10
Typing - 6/10
Phone - 4/10

Lots of input errors when my thumb obscures the highlighted key, and correction (other than just backspace of course) is tricky esp when the text you want to correct is down near the top of the keyboard - it's strange, but the virtual keyboard "takes over" the screen, feels like an intrusion rather than a help.

This is particularly noticeable when I reply to a message, you can only see the current line of text below the header, so you lose context. Will be interested to hear other comments, but to me this limits Storm's appeal as a serious messaging device.

As to the phone app, can't help thinking back to when Jobs showed off his new baby - "Oh, by the way, it's also a phone". Well, I don't want the phone app to be an afterthought!

If I want to speed dial my wife from my Curve, I just press and hold the first letter of her name from the home screen and it makes the call. On the Storm, I have to hit the Send key to open the Phone app, then the dial pad tab (I have set it to default to Contacts), then press/hold the assigned speed dial number. Messy, but even fiddlier if you need to search for a Contact.

Am sure RIM will sell millions of Storms to those like my fellow bus passengers who use a touchscreen device as a browsing, SMS and entertainment centre.

But whether or not the screen physically moves when you press it, the game hasn't changed. Touchscreen great for navigation but unsuited to typing.

It's not all bad though. BrickBreaker is fantastic, 10/10.

In general it is fantastic; my first post was after only playing with it for 30 mins or so. After a couple of hours it’s clear that there is a technique you develop through use and every time I pick the device up it seems easier and works very very well.
screen orientation works pretty quickly, not instant but fast enough not to be irritating, I think previous statement of it doing "strange things" was mainly down to me not fully knowing my way around the device.
Can't find the GPS yet, thats my next job, it does come with some great apps, like windows live messenger and youtube. All in all it is better than the hype, anyone getting one won't be disappointed and it walks all over the iphone without any shadow of a doubt.

how's the sensitivity of the touch screen?
saw on 1 of the vids posted on the net , it ain't as good as iphone

OK, got mine this morning as well.

To answer your questions:

A) the switch is pretty immediate (saw one of the on line videos and realised the person tapped the top right corner is the accelerometer didn't do the job straight away);

B) the horizontal keyboard will take some getting used to. I am missing one letter to the right with my left hand, so just need to practice. Still, far far better than the iPhone;

C) didn't realise the whole screen moves when you click. Very nice feel to it. The touch seems to be very responsive and the scroll is spot on. I like it.

D) Can't yet vote on pros and cons as only had it for an hour but it looks like a Bold on steroids. The speakers are even more powerful than the Bold and the clarity is amazing. I think I'll miss my keys at the beggining but that will probably go when I start learning the shortcut keys.

IF I were to complain, I'd say I'd prefer to have the mini USB instead of the micro USB. This means a new car charger and more spare USB cables :-)

Can anyone who has one confirm is the standard BlackBerry maps application is there and working with the GPS, or maybe even Google maps with the GPS?

I just want to be sure Vodafone haven't crippled the GPS so it only works with their (paid for) Navigation service.

The GPS software shipped with mine is Vodafone "find & Go" which is a Telmap system, just used it and it works great and free. Also comes with google maps and blackberry maps, they all found my location so I don't see any problems all the GPS options seem to be there so can't complain.

its middday and I'm 3 quarters through my battery, no calls or emails just gps for an hour and a couple of hours looking around the phone, looks like the downside to this multifunctional all encompassing, super screen, do everything device will be the battery but i guess that won't be a surprise (will be ordering a spare battery on monday)

BlackBerry Maps is loaded and Google Maps can be loaded directly from the Storm using the new Application Loader. Both appear to work with GPS.


Only read below if you want to read about a brief and initial comparison with the iPhone. Not relevant if you are locked into a non O2 contract or don't have an unlocked iPhone!

I was really keen to go back to the excellent messaging capabilties of the BlackBerry having used the iPhone on T-Mobile (factory unlocked from Italy!)

I think the Storm is an excellent step forward for RIM but I'm finding it not nearly as fast or polished as the iPhone which is dissapointing. My main cons so far are:

The classic BlackBerry speed and ease of use just isn't there for me. Screen rotation is much slower than the iPhone, the keyboard in landscape mode needs some getting used to - I keep making mistakes although the portrait mode SureType works well, and the point made above about quick dialling was a key feature for me previously which is missing in the Storm. Need a number of clicks to start dialling a contact. Both maps apps are slow at refreshing, browsing isn't as ingenious, smooth or fast as iPhone although I believe Flash is available unlike the iPhone. Ability to add new and quality Apps fast and cheaply is what makes iPhone special. RIM have taken on the idea with the App Loader but the quality and range is understandably poor at present - hopefully this will improve with time. Phone appears to get hot quickly too - maybe just mine and maybe because I was charging it while using it. Scroll feature is jerky. No wifi which can be a shame if you want to give your tariff a rest and utilise the many hotspots out there. Memory is low bt expandable. Synch software is still not as advanced as iPhone. Youtube image quality is not as good as iPhone (did a side by side comparison) although Storm loaded faster. Locked on Vodafone.

The pros noticed immediately are:

Sharpest display I've seen! Camera and Video Camera are excellent. Messaging is excellent just as you expect from BlackBerry including Push email. App Loader is a welcome feature and will get better. Clickable screen is nice - gives the reassurance of selection but may need getting used to at first. Also may slow down typing if you are a fast typer. Big screen area. Smart looking handheld. All the usual BlackBerry apps and more loaded including MS Office editing software. Internet is fast and best display on BlackBerry to date. Shows the satellites locked on by GPS. Calendar, task, notes are much better than iPhone. Test editing capabilties are better thsan iPhone. Can receive MMS unlike iPhone. LED notification. Notifications alerts are custmisable unlike the iPhone.

I'm sure I'll notice more as I use it.

Oh my how can they not have home screen shortcuts and no speed dials. Oh well. Since my BOLD is mainly a business device I will stick to that. I still think the best combo is a BOLD and an iTouch

I have stickied this thread and changed the name to FIRST STORM IMPRESSIONS

I have yet to see the holster and curious what it looks like. Anyone have any pics?

I am curious to see if the learning curve, which was mentioned, will minimize some of these cons. I know when the 88xx came out, people were complaining about the lack of space between the keys and then they adjusted.

Thank you for making a stickie on this.

Really helpful post, especially the point about limiting the screen space when replying. I will probably still check it out but given that I use my BB heavily as a messaging device for work, not sure I can switch from my Bold.

One of the the things that I was really pumped about on the Bold and to a greater extent on the Storm was the ability to watch videos. Most (virtually all of my videos) are iTunes downloads and I learned that you basically can't view these on a BB because of the DRM. Kind of sucks and makes the Storm a little less appealing.

I have had it working on Vodafone with Google Maps and Blackberry Maps.

Was a little concerned at first as I could not see a GPS menu icon, but open the apps and it kicks in automatically

It appears to come with the pouch.Vodafone Storm Unboxed | BlackBerryNews.com