[lindros2]

Just received mine (wife's) this morning.

For those who are basing reviews off of 10-15 minutes in a store - don't. It takes a while - on a device in your hands at a comfortable place - to really get a feeling for it. The "3D clicking" is accurate, and probably there will be an "iPhone-style" tap (w/o click) at some point via software.

I believe we have a newer-revision (better screen-click mechanism) device, and the software isn't that bad. You really have to "flick" the screen to get it to turn around (sometimes).

Email is standard BB fare. Spellcheck is handy - especially on a virtual keyboard device.

Apples-to-apples: compared with my BB8703e, Google Maps loads in about the same amount of time, but screen refreshes, street view, satellite, and traffic on/off happen about 5X-10X faster.

Only real complaints/issues:

1. Finger-tracking in the browser is nowhere near to where my finger is. So selecting a drop-down (i.e. on ESPN) is impossible. Not "nearly impossible" - it's literally impossible unless you put it into pointer mode.

2. Getting keyboard to show/hide (when assigned to side convenience key) is unreliable. No clue what the device is thinking.

3. Facebook app is crap. "Version 1.3" my arse.

4. It took 1 hour and a 25 minute call with VZW support to get the data network to start up. I was in 1xev (lowercase) and puzzling them.

5. You have to sync it with a computer (once) to get it to charge (via any means). Didn't know that.

All of these will be solved with software.

[webmstrk9]

On 2 of your points, 4 and 5, could you provide the details of your conversation for 4 as to why the lowercase and what was the fix. I have seen this a couple of times.

Point 5, I have a mac and well, syncing isnt a real option for me, but I do get full charges when connecting to the charger and usb cable. For the record, I have sync'd with pocketmac but ONLY after charging it the first day.

[TheBigNewt]

1. Finger-tracking in the browser is nowhere near to where my finger is. So selecting a drop-down (i.e. on ESPN) is impossible. Not "nearly impossible" - it's literally impossible unless you put it into pointer mode.
What does that mean specifically? I had trouble selecting anything in a browser window. How do you overcome the problem (what's the pointer mode)?

[lindros2]

Clarifications:

1. Finger-tracking -- Background: We were *really* struggling trying to click on things like drop-down boxes or buttons around drop-downs. If you turn on "pointer mode" (pointer icon - center icon on the bottom row of icons to the left of the zoom + icon) you will initially see a zoom icon but as you drag your finger around it changes to a selection icon (hand/finger?). Otherwise (in hand/scroll mode) you're just guessing, which doesn't work.

4. I honestly don't know if the network was clogged (it was "Black Friday" after all) or what, but it took over an hour to get the 1XEV (capital) data network to work. The tech support guy was equally confused, and two battery pulls + removing/adding data didn't do anything. I chalk it up to slow data activation. Once it "hit" everything was super-fast.

5. Sync'ing (plugging into a computer once w/ BlackBerry Desktop running and recognizing the device) was pure luck. My battery was draining like mad and finally I plugged it into a computer. I confirmed this with other current users (Curve, Bold, etc.). I think it may have to do with people stealing and/or sending BB's abroad without fully activating them (remember that the BB Storm is a dual CDMA/GSM device).

One more note:

6. The speaker is LOUD. Holy macaroni.

[ronx]

I charged mine (and my wife's) completely before ever connecting it to my computer to sync. She still hasn't connected hers to a computer at all and is able to charge whenever she needs to using the standard charger.

[Arcangel]

me too i have never had any problems charging or syncing. ps when you wanna select something try double tapping the screen till its large enough.

[lindros2]

Charging was an issue with mine. No idea why. This is a "common" problem - charger plugged in, lightning bolt over battery showing, but battery does not charge.

Double-tapping screen did nothing for me. I could zoom in until the dialog box was nearly the size of the screen but some drop-downs are just too much of a pain and pointer mode works better.

[PDXbyStorm]

Originally Posted by lindros2

5. You have to sync it with a computer (once) to get it to charge (via any means). Didn't know that.

All of these will be solved with software.

Interesting. I noticed yesterday my battery lasted SIGNIFICANTLY longer than it had for the previous week that I've had my Storm. I thought it might have been because I unclicked the "log in automatically" to Yahoo Messenger and AIM.

But I did do a synch yesterday for the first time (other than just doing some media moving via the software, as I had done before). Maybe that's it.

I don't know... but all I know is that at the end of the day, I had only used 25% power, rather than the full charge I had the previous days.

[lindros2]

Originally Posted by PDXbyStorm

Interesting. I noticed yesterday my battery lasted SIGNIFICANTLY longer than it had for the previous week that I've had my Storm.

With Verizon I find that some devices (i.e. RAZR) are more sensitive to maintaining 3+ bars signal strength (and therefore lowering battery life) than others.

Especially as this is a first- and/or second-revision OS, I wouldn't be surprised to see battery life increase with better cell tower logic in the upcoming firmware updates.