[TXLady]

I've had the Storm 2 for a week now. I figured it would take a week to adjust to the touch screen but right now, I've leaning towards exchanging it for a Tour. (I know I like the Tour -- I have one for work, just without the camera.) I guess I'll give it another week but I expected that everything would be fine after the first week. It's not. I really miss the keyboard and when I needed to make a personal call today, reached for my work Tour and used it because it just was too much hassle to deal with the touch screen. If I don't like it now, is another week going to make a difference?

I do like the nice big screen but I just miss the keyboard.

Anyone here who stuck it out after initial trepidation and ended up liking it after all? Anyone who stuck it out too long and really wishes they'd gone ahead and swapped before the time ran out on doing an exchange? I guess I'm wondering if it's a you like it immediately or you don't thing.

[Murphy5111]

I loved my curve keyboard and thought it was the best phone I'd ever owned. When I got the storm 2 I really liked it but it did take about a week of heavy usage to get really used to the keyboard. Now I can type a lot faster on the storm and like it even more than the curve. I would say that after a week or two if you don't love it then you'd probably be better off with a physical keyboard?

[amsolo]

With VZW, don't you have 30 days? You will pay an exchange fee anyway.

So, why not keeps a couple more weeks so you can be sure you can not live without the keyboard.

Just make sure you use that Storm as opposed to the Tour so you can see what it is you don't like. In another week or so you will know.

[XelhaBB]

I came from the Curve to the Storm. There is no comparison in keyboard speed. I can type faster on the Storm. I got huge mitts too.

As a woman, you probably have a lot smaller hands and fingers. Typing on the Storm should be a dream for you. My wife has the Pink Curve and after using my Storm to type out an email, she is hot to upgrade to a Storm 2.

Give the Storm a chance to grow on you. You are simply used to a physical keyboard. However the Tour is a great phone, and if you are simply stuck on the notion of going to one you should. If your mind is not open to change, go back to a physical Qwerty and save yourself the hassle. I have a few friends who simply are not amenable to change. But be aware eventually you will be FORCED to change in many aspects as technology advances by leaps and bounds these days. It is amazing how we ALL eventually adapt when we HAVE to.

[Cory]

IMHO it sounds like no matter how long you try the Storm2, your heart is really not in it - my suggestion is to go back to the Tour and quite trying to force yourself into something you really don't believe in. After all, to say that "dialing a phone number is a hassle" on an S2 - you push the phone icon, a large key pad comes up, type your number, and away you go - I just don't think you will ever appreciate the touch screen. Run quickly into the night with your Tour...

[XelhaBB]

I am completely on board with you Cory. I avoided going exactly where you did with the issue of the Storm being a "hassle". Touch screen interface in the Storm is about as hassle free as you can get.

To make a dialed call on the Storm you do 2 things. Touch the green physical key. A big dial pad appears on the face and you enter the phone number and press send. That's a hassle?!

I'll tell what a "hassle" is. That &#$! trackball on the other Blackberry phones. I will not return to the hell of the trackball and the smaller screens on the other Blackberry models. I do admit the Tour is a hot looking phone, but that trackball!! Arrrgh!

[bossfan61]

I don't think anyone believes using the phone keypad on the Storm is difficult. On the contrary, it's great. Perhaps the OP is referring to trying to make a call from within Contacts. Scrolling thru Contacts on the Storm and trying to press the right name can definitely be a pain. How about if there are multiple numbers within a contact? Trying to press the right one is hard, too.

This is what's holding me back from going from a Curve to a Storm - even though I really want to try a Storm. Just way too many instances of pressing the wrong item, especially when using the Menu's.

[TXLady]

I'm sorry that I didn't give more detail about why I am finding the Storm 2 to be a hassle. Some of you act like I am personally attacking you since I don't love it immediately. I was hoping for a bit more encouragement which is why I asked in my original post:

Originally Posted by TXLady

Anyone here who stuck it out after initial trepidation and ended up liking it after all? Anyone who stuck it out too long and really wishes they'd gone ahead and swapped before the time ran out on doing an exchange? I guess I'm wondering if it's a you like it immediately or you don't thing.

Originally Posted by XelhaBB

Give the Storm a chance to grow on you. You are simply used to a physical keyboard. However the Tour is a great phone, and if you are simply stuck on the notion of going to one you should. If your mind is not open to change, go back to a physical Qwerty and save yourself the hassle. I have a few friends who simply are not amenable to change. But be aware eventually you will be FORCED to change in many aspects as technology advances by leaps and bounds these days. It is amazing how we ALL eventually adapt when we HAVE to.

I'll give it a little while longer. I am not normally resistent to change. I am however very disappointed in the touch screen so far. I was really looking forward to the Storm. I expected it to be much easier than it turned out to be. Thought I'd master it in a day or so and I'm disappointed that it's taking so long. I hope I can come back in a few days and laugh at this but today isn't the day.

Originally Posted by Cory

IMHO it sounds like no matter how long you try the Storm2, your heart is really not in it - my suggestion is to go back to the Tour and quite trying to force yourself into something you really don't believe in. After all, to say that "dialing a phone number is a hassle" on an S2 - you push the phone icon, a large key pad comes up, type your number, and away you go - I just don't think you will ever appreciate the touch screen. Run quickly into the night with your Tour...

As stated above, I really wanted to like this phone and was looking forward to it. However, compared to a keypad, it is more of a hassle. So far anyway.

To start with, to enter my password, I will probably have to correct 2-3 of the 4 characters at least once while I'm entering it. On the keypad phones (my work Tour, the 8900 I had before I switched to Verizon, the others that preceeded them, including a Pearl at one point), it's much quicker and I don't have to painstakingly position my thumb or finger above each key to enter it and even then, I'm still at about a 50% error rate at least.

Yes, dialing a number is not too bad. Except that I don't have very many numbers that I actually dial. Most are in my contacts list and were on speed dials. Using the contacts to find one is a hassle. Plus the reduction to only 9 speed dial keys (with one taken up by VM), is a big hinderance. I had approximately 20-25 programmed on my 8900 plus the same on the Tour. I use them extensively.

Originally Posted by XelhaBB

I am completely on board with you Cory. I avoided going exactly where you did with the issue of the Storm being a "hassle". Touch screen interface in the Storm is about as hassle free as you can get.

To make a dialed call on the Storm you do 2 things. Touch the green physical key. A big dial pad appears on the face and you enter the phone number and press send. That's a hassle?!

I'll tell what a "hassle" is. That &#$! trackball on the other Blackberry phones. I will not return to the hell of the trackball and the smaller screens on the other Blackberry models. I do admit the Tour is a hot looking phone, but that trackball!! Arrrgh!

See above ref dialing. Obviously, this is a case of YMMV. I have no problem with the trackball. I've already said that the larger screen is nice but if it's not functional for me, a nice looking screen is not very useful.

Originally Posted by bossfan61

I don't think anyone believes using the phone keypad on the Storm is difficult. On the contrary, it's great. Perhaps the OP is referring to trying to make a call from within Contacts. Scrolling thru Contacts on the Storm and trying to press the right name can definitely be a pain. How about if there are multiple numbers within a contact? Trying to press the right one is hard, too.

This is what's holding me back from going from a Curve to a Storm - even though I really want to try a Storm. Just way too many instances of pressing the wrong item, especially when using the Menu's.

Thanks for at least trying to see where I was coming from. I think the bottom line is that not everyone uses the phone the same way nor do they react the same way to a new device.

[fkjr2]

I hear ya - I am coming from a Bold - I have had the Storm 2 for 5 days and love the screen real estate - I looked at the Bold just now and hate to go back to the puny screen. Reading emails and viewing images are great on the Storm!

I would honestly practice as much as you can - search this site for tips and tricks - and then after 1-2 weeks make the judgment call.

I was honestly torn between having a full keyboard and the touchscreen but I have come to realize that my poor eyes are starting to thank me for the larger touch screen

I am typing quite fast now and know it can only get better and faster from here.
Good luck!

[plumcrazy]

I had 2 curves, went to the storm1, loved the phone and everything about it EXCEPT the typing. it does take about 2-3 weeks to get comfortable with it. but i just couldn't type well on it no matter what setting i had. UNLESS i typed very slow.

went to the tour, typing is same as the curve but now my eyes are getting older and i miss the large screen. the OS's seem similar enough to me, the touch screen is very easy to navigate.

tried a storm2 this weekend and to me, the typing feels very similar to the storm1.... so im stuck.

id tell you to give it another week or so. then decide if you want a large, nice screen or a physical keyboard. you cant have both unfortunately.

[jtneedham]

Wirelessly posted

At first I was ready to smash this thing with a hammer! I stuck it out and in three weeks I was hooked on the 9530 storm. I simply love it. Give yourself ample time,hopefully you'll feel the same.

[the maddman]

It took me about a month to get used to my Storm. I "got" to test it for work so I was stuck with it no matter what, but now I'm just as fast on it as I was on my 8830. I will be getting a Storm2 next week too, hopefully I'll like the screen on it as well.

[WHATSABB?]

Originally Posted by Cory

Run quickly into the night with your Tour...

Haha!

[woodworthjohnca]

Originally Posted by TXLady

Yes, dialing a number is not too bad. Except that I don't have very many numbers that I actually dial. Most are in my contacts list and were on speed dials. Using the contacts to find one is a hassle. Plus the reduction to only 9 speed dial keys (with one taken up by VM), is a big hinderance. I had approximately 20-25 programmed on my 8900 plus the same on the Tour. I use them extensively...

Maybe an app like QuickLaunch would be useful for this. This provides a custom pulldown menu of, among other things, speed dial numbers.

So, with QuickLaunch, it places a touch button on the screen (or any place else. It can be customized). You touch it, a pulldown menu appears with of list of potential contacts you might want to dial, and you press the one you want to dial. I don't think there is a limit on the length of the list...It becomes scrollable if it won't all fit on the screen.

QuickLaunch can do many other things as well.

Disclaimer: Not a shill. Just a happy user.

[nlk10010]

Basically I agree with most of the comments here. Coming from an 8830 the screen real-estate on the Storm 2 is marvelous, I love the browsing experience. But I came within a hair's breadth of smashing this thing against the wall: after three weeks I simply CANNOT get used to typing on the Storm 2. As was mentioned above, my error rate is maybe 33% and typing an e-mail of any length leaves me out of breath. More than once, believe it or not, trying to correct my mistakes I've accidentally hit the menu key and then Send so my recipient gets a half-written message (with a bunch of errors in it). SureType is actually better for me because then it suggests words, but when the word isn't in the dictionary it's a nightmare to correct.

I just came from looking at the Tour and, frankly, I couldn't stand the tiny trackball. The physical keyboard, while far from perfect, at least gave me some security when typing. I also tried the new 8530 curve and the trackpad is fantastic and the keyboard is nicely laid out, although it's only Rev0. Both Tour and Curve, though, aren't MUCH of an improvement over my 8830, browsing-wise.

So I WANT to love the Storm 2 but I break out in a cold sweat every time I have to write an e-mail.

[TXLady]

I'm doing a little bit better with this thing than I was a week ago. I'll probably keep it.

What is working for me is turning on sure type in portrait mode which is how I usually use it. I started out with a Blackberry Pearl almost 3 years ago and never had a problem with sure type so it's working pretty well now and gets me past the typing in my password which was driving me nuts. Still have to live with fewer speed dials but I'll make do with that. And, as stated in original post, I do love the screen.

If I need the full qwerty, I turn it to landscape so still have that available.

[bossfan61]

Originally Posted by TXLady

...and gets me past the typing in my password which was driving me nuts.

How are you managing the password issue? That is driving me nuts when I test it in the stores. Can you actually add a password as a saved word in the dictionary?

[TXLady]

Originally Posted by bossfan61

How are you managing the password issue? That is driving me nuts when I test it in the stores. Can you actually add a password as a saved word in the dictionary?

I don't think so (saving the password as a saved word).

What I did was change my password to a numberic sequence. Using the suretype keyboard, it's very easy to switch to numbers as soon as it comes up. Then typing in the numberic password is easy.

[TXLady]

Well, I guess I need to give an update. I've decided the Storm2 is not for me. I did come to really like using the touch screen for everything except typing. I made a drastic switch -- I went for the Droid which has both screen and keyboard. It's going to be a whole new learning experience but, I'm looking forward to it. And I have my keyboard back.

[JSanders]

Man I really like the Storm2 screen, especially the typing. It's so dang easy and simple, and I am feeling like I am actually as fast or faster than on my Bold.