[cyclmpc]

I was curious to hearing any opinions/stories on supporting the Storm in a business environment. I've never owned a Storm, but I can't imagine the Storm being very efficient without wifi, full keyboard, and 3G in a business environment. Anyone out there support Storms via BES and how you might be dealing with O/S changes or deployment? I'm curious on your experiences. Thanks

[kurichan]

The Storm has 3G, and any Blackberry is fine without WiFi in any environment.

It deploys on BES like any other Blackberry.

The keyboard is a question of personal preference. I used one for a month, hated it, and returned it. Some *claim* they are fast on the Storm keyboard (I've yet to see anyone show me what I'd call "fast" on a Storm keyboard, but if it makes them feel good, they can keep dreaming).

[SteveO86]

All depends on your users really... My users started with the 8830 then after speaking with out carrier they decided to be nice and give us 8330 instead... now some of my 8830 users are having "issues" and need "replacements"... I can't only imagine how many "failures" I will have when Alltel gets the Storm...

As far as fucntionality it's up to the user, whether they can deal with a touch screen or not. I'm good with my Curve, got 2 of them 1 Business/BES 1 Personal/BIS... As long as your area (and work area/building) has sufficient CDMA coverage the speed should be great, the Storm is the first BB to use EVDO Rev.A

The Storm will deploy like any other BB EA/Software configs all the same just because it's a touchscreen doesn't mean anything it's still a BB... However I have heard issues with the Enterprise Messenger.. and I know the Bold has issues with "Network 3G" showing up as unknown requiring you install the latest MR, however I do not know if the same applies to the Storm.

The best I can do.. I've for 8830's/8330's/8350i's.

[stuwhite]

My Storm runs fine on my BESs but I would never let users get their hands on one. They struggle with 8800s so something that requires a bit more thought to use just wouldn't work. As the others said the keyboard is down to personal preference but that's where it wouldn't work for a corporate deployment in my mind (and in my enterprise!).

Something which isn't standard and requires a different level of support just isn't viable for us. It's a great phone but it's there for people who want the large screen or to pretend they have got an iPhone . When a BB is different enough from the standard models to require extra supprt knowledge, it will never get rolled out. Man we had enough problems moving from track wheel to track ball :->.

[Frank Castle]

For every 5 Storm's that get ordered we get back 3 from users. They run back to the standard BB design. That's not saying Storm is a bad device, it's just totally different to use then a standard 8830,Bold,Curve. If you can give yourself the time to learn how it functions (2 weeks) and un-learn the way a normal Blackberry works you'll love it.

Now most of my power users are high level executives and I figure they spend whopping 10 minutes before they ask for their old device back.

Considering BES has policies across every device it's not an issue to introduce these devices other then how will / can you support them. I've met a lof of admins who only deal with at&t or Verizon. We allow any Blackberry from Verizon, at&t, Sprint and the major UK vendors from our subs overseas. Last I checked we have 28 model Blackberry on the BES and over 67 OS versions.

Keeps me busy

[sniffs]

I tried pushing out the Storm to about 2 dozen Executive Leaders in my company who have the iPhone.. all of them but 1 returned the Storm.. it's a disaster of a device with a identity crisis.

I want to like the Storm..I really do.. If RIM can program into the OS to make the device function like a regular touchscreen with the ability to turn it on/off, that would really REALLY help..

The higher up you go on the corporate ladder, the less brain functions you use towards IT related activities.. none of these exec's want to retrain their brain to click on the screen vs just touching it. That's just my 2 cents.

[stuwhite]

Yeah I hate the bloody click. It has to be some Apple patent thing though as some Storm apps use touch-click and they are top. But we are probably getting off-topic for this thread and I will get my daily beating . Agreed though, it just isn't "normal" enough for the corporate people we have to support (generally speaking).

[BB1877]

Originally Posted by jletendre

For every 5 Storm's that get ordered we get back 3 from users. They run back to the standard BB design.

Same ratio here, except we have a "loaner Storm" that we make people live with for 24 hours before they can order one.

Some of the comments back:

"This device, never."
"Seems unfinished like when Vista first came out."
"This phone sucks."
"I really wanted to like it but I'm so glad to have my normal BlackBerry back."
"Too heavy."
"Too many bells and whistles."
"Would get confused with my personal iPhone."

Then again we now have 20 on the BES out of 600 or so.

We ship the Storms with a disclaimer...Help Desk will gladly assist with mail, calendar, to-do syncing, phone/roaming and hardware issues, but for all the other features, you're on your own.

[stuwhite]

Originally Posted by BB1877

Same ratio here, except we have a "loaner Storm" that we make people live with for 24 hours before they can order one.

We ship the Storms with a disclaimer...Help Desk will gladly assist with mail, calendar, to-do syncing, phone/roaming and hardware issues, but for all the other features, you're on your own.

I like that disclaimer, as that really says it all about corporate "issues" with the Storm. Unfortunately we could never get away here with supplying a device and not supporting it. Hence no Storm for the masses.

[Oderus]

We have 3 users with Storms and they aren't generally liked. One returned her device 4 times, only to get another Storm with issues, one returned it just cause he didn't like it and his device was given to someone else who loves it.

I used it for 5-10 minutes and I didn't like it. The screen has feedback (when you press on it, the screen depresses like a button... eww) it's heavy, the camera sucked (couldn't get a decent shot despite the flash and 3MP) but the video playback / audio quality was excellent. I would never want one and I prefer keeping my 8703e.

The Bold is similar to the Storm, heavy, poor battery, great screen / audio but I can't justify buying one.

[KOR]

We've rolled out 10 or so with no complaints other than getting used to the touch screen. Anyone who's gone with one has not gone back. I don't recall setting up anyone with a Storm as their first device; most of our users went from Curves or 8800s to the Storms and are pretty happy. Support, for me, has been minimal. The only problem I've run into so far has been the wireless OS upgrade. Seems the devices, right out of the box, are unhappy with the amount of memory required and balk at it. I end up deleting some unneeded apps, then it works fine.

[imwjl]

Storm model is all we have, but also the first Blackberrys where we've had Treos, a few Microsoft phones and iPhone prior.

Mine is love and hate. The large screen is nice but the tap to edit a message is so slow that it makes me consider living on used Palm OS Treos as long as possible.

I wish I did not need a new phone prior to Apple's next release and same for an OS update for Storm. Mine is not as bad as so many say, but the time it takes to tap and edit text is too long and it's hard to do it fast.

The lack of Storm apps really has me wondering if somebody was sleeping whether it's RIM or developers. The level of obvious app development for iPhone makes me wonder.