1. 

   S. Brusco
   March 9th, 2010 - 10:26

   An update to the updates below.

   #4 Desktop Manager 5.0.1.28 works well with Outlook 2007 on Windows 7.
   
   In January 2010, I bought a new computer with Windows 7. I got a great deal on Microsoft Office 2007, so I installed the new Office. Well, that combination didn’t work so well with my ol’ reliable BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.2.2.14. I decided to upgrade to the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Manager (something I said I would never do). It all works very well together. I was previously running Windows XP and Office 2000.

   —————————-

   This is a Dec 2009 update to my April 2009 review of the Storm 1 (this is not a review of the Storm 2). The numbers refer to my April 2009 criticisms (below the dotted line).

   #1 The Storm 1 was greatly improved when BlackBerry released the 5.0 operating system. Now I’d have to give the Storm 4 out of 5 stars.

   #1B Those sub-second connections to internet pages that they show in the commercials… are still a big fat lie! To call the connection “broadband” is a complete deception perpetrated by Verizon. This is approximately dialup speed minus the wheezing and hissing of a modem. That said, I absolutely love that I can connect to the internet almost anytime/anyplace.

   #2 To mitigate the fat-fingering problems I was having with the full QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode, I have been using the SureType keyboard in portrait mode. It’s a QWERTY keyboard in 3 rows x 5 columns. What makes it quick and effective is that the Storm starts suggesting words to select after typing in a few letters of the word. I can single-thumb or double-thumb most everything now. To change the keyboard default to SureType, in the options (the wrench icon), choose Screen/Keyboard, then change the Portrait View Keyboard to SureType.

   #3 hasn’t changed. In April, I forgot to mention that in order to get turn by turn spoken directions, you have to pay Verizon a $10 ransom per month or buy software from Garmin for $100. You can use BlackBerry Maps or Google Maps for free, but it doesn’t talk to you.

   #4 Synchronization works well with Desktop Manager 4.2.2.14 (released April 26, 2007). It doesn’t have the niceties that the current release has, but it actually works, unlike more recent releases. On several occasions, I spent an entire DAY upgrading to “the latest and greatest” only to have to uninstall it and then install 4.2 again. This happened more than once on the advice of Verizon technicians who don’t know nearly as much as the RIM techs. I will be using Desktop Manager 4.2 until the day this phone dies. Fool me once, shame on Verizon. Fool me twice (and then a third time), shame on me. There will be no fourth time.

   #5 phrase selection has been vastly improved, but still isn’t great. It would be really helpful if double-clicking would highlight a word. And apparently BlackBerry is completely unfamiliar with the concept of “undo”. If you delete some text, well that’s just too bad. You can “discard” all the changes you’ve made since last saving or you can retype what you just blasted, if you can remember what it was.

   #6 I hope BlackBerry changed the location of the micro-SD card for the Storm 2, because its placement on the Storm 1 was just plain stupid. You remember that board game “Operation” by Milton Bradley? It’s like that. “Take out memory card.” Bzzzzz!

   #7 still a problem but they’ve made a half-hearted attempt of making the number pad easier to get to. If they made the number pad smaller and put the function buttons all in one smaller row, that way everything is available on one screen, it would be truly appreciated.

   #8 there’s only one pre-set choice for a “snooze”. Honestly RIM, this is inexcusable. Do something about this!

   #9 Actually voice recognition for contacts is quite easy to use. The button on the left of the phone is set up to do this as a default. Speak the name and choose from a few possibilities.

   #10 The “can you hear me now?” geek from Verizon still has not been to my house to improve coverage at my place of residence. I am moving soon and if the coverage sucks at that house too, I will be shelling over another $250 to Verizon to fill in the gap in their network. Hey Verizon, can you hear this? [I'm making a gesture.] But in Verizon’s (or “VZ” to be cool because apparently teenagers can’t spell anything these days, nor be bothered to call something by its given name if it is greater than 3 letters long)… [Where was I? Oh, yeah.] In Verizon’s defense, their network beats AT&T’s coverage hands down; people who have the i-Phone constantly complain that they can’t make calls and calls are dropped.

   One more thing, I’ve discovered that the Storm makes a very handy flashlight. No, I’m not joking. If you open the Video Camera application, the LED light (the flash) on the back of the phone comes on and stays on. It is bright!

   In summary, if the devil is in the details, this device is now a little mischievous. Theoretically, this is still the best phone available, except perhaps for the Storm 2 (which I assume is better than Storm 1). I no longer wish I still had that old, big, clunky, reliable and easy-to-use, brick-sized HP IPAQ.

   ——– original review from April 2009 —————————–

   If this phone worked the way it was supposed to, there would be no reason to even consider any other phone. It has everything: phone, PDA, 3G web browser, multi-media player, sleek look, a 16GB expansion card (comes with an 8GB card), 3.2 mega-pixel camera WITH A FLASH, voice dialing, a big hi-res screen, email that gets pushed to your Storm, so you don’t have to log on to check your mail!!

   Then why am I already wishing I had returned it during the grace period? I had an HP IPAQ H6315 for 4 years which was way better than this, but it didn’t have all the bells and whistles, so I got the Storm.

   #1 it’s painfully slow. Those sub-second connections to internet pages that they show in the commercials… in your dreams!! Even opening and closing applications makes me want to slap it upside the head to get its attention.
   
   #2 the on-screen QWERTY keypad is difficult to use for anyone with adult-size thumbs. I am constantly fat-fingering letters.
   
   #3 Although it does have a GPS antenna built into it, it relies on the data network to show you the map and give you directions. No reception, no map. Again, it’s painfully slow.
   
   #4 Synchronization has been a problem since I got the phone 8 weeks ago. I wrote many, many notes to myself over the weekend while at a conference. This morning when I synchronized with my pc, they all disappeared.
   
   #5 Editing on the Storm is nearly impossible. I still haven’t figured out how to highlight words (double-click doesn’t work, nor does click and drag)
   
   #6 In all their wisdom, Blackberry made the micro-SD nearly inaccessible. Most devices that use cards have them on the side, so you can swap them in and out without a big fuss. Oh no, not Blackberry, they put it deep inside this device. Brilliant.
   
   #7 When you talk on the phone, your cheak will press buttons. RIM also thought it would be a good idea to hide the number pad after the call connects. Who wants to use the number pad during a call anyway??
   
   #8 When you get a reminder, there’s only one pre-set choice for a “snooze”. If you want it to remind you an hour from now, sorry, you’ll have to open the calendar item or task. It will take you about 40 seconds to do so because of #1 and #2.
   
   #9 Forget about scrolling through your contacts or tasks. That would take you forever. You have to know what you’re looking for and type in a few letters. Now see #2. Although in its defense, it does have voice recognition for contacts. Of course I haven’t had time to set this up yet (see #4).
   
   #10 And that “can you hear me now?” geek from Verizon has apparently never been to my house. Although Verizon does have a device that essentially creates a mini cell tower in your house and then connects to Verizon through your hi-speed modem… for $250!!

   In summary, if the devil is in the details, this device must be evil. From a detailed analysis of everything out there, this was the best phone available, because HP still had not put out a similar product. I wish I had that old, big, clunky, reliable and easy-to-use, brick-sized IPAQ back. When HP does put out an IPAQ with these features, I will absolutely buy it.

   (I bought this phone from Verizon, not from Amazon.)
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. 

   D. Pearlman
   March 9th, 2010 - 10:45

   I’ve now come to the conclusion that everybody who wrote reviews on the phone spent about five minutes with the device. Part of me doesn’t blame them. If I reviewed electronics for a living, I wouldn’t want to spend several days really testing the phone. However, with a cell phone as radically different as the Storm, it is unfair to make these judgments on the keyboard, etc. in haste.

   Simply put, the phone is very good. It isn’t as breathtaking as I wanted it to be, however it is not nearly as disappointing as many critics want you to think (**cough** New York Times, excuse me). The keyboard is getting easier and easier to use as time goes by. If RIM put a tracker ball at the bottom of the phone where it is on all the other units, then this would in fact be, an iPhone killer. When I look at the phone, there is definitely room for that magical RIM trackball…(can you say Storm2?)

   Starting from the top. The phone feels solidly built. It has a good weight to it and feels durable. My only fear is that my propensity for dropping phones will be disastrous for the glass click screen. I’m having bad thoughts about not being able to do anything with the phone because the click activator ceases to work or I’ll scratch up that beautiful screen. Three times in the last seven years or so I’ve had the misfortune of waking up from a night of drinking only to find giant cracks on the LCDs of my phones (can you say insurance? iPhone people can’t, and that alone will FOREVER stop me from getting one). Seriously though, I really hope this thing is bomb proof. I have a silicon condom on it, which better keep it safe at night.

   I was perplexed when I powered it on for the first time. The phone takes several minutes to reboot. This is a laptop, not a phone, right? Thankfully I only have to reset the phone every so often… Pretty is a good word to describe the design and graphics overall.

   The click screen is a trip. It is definitely takes adjustment, but I really dig it. It definitely limits the speed of your typing because you must remain in line with the speed of “The Cadence of the Clicker” (this is the name of my next album). I say that because when you are really going at it, it can create a steady beat like a metronome. This just feels like one of the drawbacks to writing novels on any mobile device. All keyboards have a handicap, but I sincerely miss being able to press to multiple buttons at the almost exact time (as we are accustomed to on a computer keyboard). This system causes you to be a little more accurate because you can’t barrel through your letters, so it may be a bonus after all. I also like the SureType keyboard in portrait mode. It uses the predictive text heavily, and it is a great fast type option with one thumb. This mode suffers most from the click limiter because the surface area is far too tight for dual finger typing as tempting as it is.

   One of my friends voiced his displeasure with the auto correct function on the text. I find it useful. Just remember if it auto corrects something and you don’t like it, immediately hit the DELETE button, and it will revert to your perverted word or innocent typo. His changed the word “f*&^ing” into “ducking.” The best way around this is to add these words that you use when frustrated or talking dirty to your lover into the Dictionary. To do so, go to the HOME screen, then choose: OPTIONS-CUSTOM DICTIONARY. Now hit the BlackBerry button and select NEW.

   I’ve also heard that the VZNavigator and Visual Voicemail programs should be removed to speed up the performance of the phone. After all, who is going to pay $10 and $3/month for such frivolous features? What I was jazzed to see is that Google Maps’ triangulation feature was not disabled here as it was on my i760 and Treo. This means that it will show your approximate location on the map for free. It is a nice feature to get you partially orientated at no cost (just keep in mind it is using cell towers to locate you, so you must have service for it to work, which is not the case with true GPS/VZNav).

   The media player is good. It is not an iPod, but it has a great search feature, and is intuitively laid out. The resolution on the screen is better than the iPhone and video looks GREAT. The included headphones sound great and the speakerphone gets extremely loud, however it is very tinny sounding and has an over modulated feel when at high volumes.

   The icing on the cake is that I am not utilizing the BlackBerry Corporate server, therefore, I do not have to pay for BlackBerry data access. I am now paying only $29.99 for data where I was paying $44.99 on my Samsung for the exact same unlimited data/email service. With this savings, my Storm will pay for itself in 14 months of service!

   The device lock is good. You can either hit the button on the top left of the phone, or you can use the “Lock” button in your home menu. I’m peeved at how the Mute/un-Mute button still functions while the device is locked. I’ve had the phone suddenly start playing “Rise Against” over the speakerphone (which can get pretty damn loud) at times that I wished it hadn’t. I understand that it is to let you control your music without unlocking the device, however I always saw locking as the way to prevent your phone from doing strange things in the privacy of your pocket/holster without your permission. FIX: just lower your media playback volume all the way to silent.

   The ringer alerts are one of the best features on the phone. I can’t be happier in this department. This puts every phone I’ve ever seen to shame (I don’t know if all BBs do this, this is my first). You can select from a plethora of options including: Normal, Loud, Medium, Vibrate Only, Silent, All Alerts Off, and my personal favorite Phone Calls Only (all with the touch of a button). I’m used to an all or nothing world, or having to go into individual menus and make these decisions (time consuming/annoying? Yes). Furthermore, the alarm will sound in any mode other than All Alerts Off.

   Where the Storm crushes the iPhone is in the folder organization possibilities on the home page. Where the iPhone only allows you to move your applications around, the Storm lets you create folders to keep everything organized as if it were a computer desktop. I absolutely love this ability because I’m very big at keeping things `tidy.’

   I’m also a fan of how the screen fades down instead of cutting out when it is time to turn off. This is great because it reminds you that you have to do something to the device if you don’t want the image to go away completely.

   Some tips:

   To get IMAP to work with GMAIL, follow the instructions here: http://forums.crackberry.com/f86/storm-gmail-imap-99071/
   
   Don’t waste your time like I did, just go directly to this website as per the forums instructions: https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=vzw
   
   I was concerned that there was a charge to using this service (because I’m not utilizing Verizon’s BlackBerry email service), but there isn’t.

   To copy and paste, you simply hold down one finger where you want to start, and then drag along with another to where you want it to end.

   When entering text, if you spell something so terribly wrong that its suggestions aren’t helpful, then the best thing to do is just delete the entire word. This is frustrating. It doesn’t allow you to fix your mistake because when you click on a part of the word it makes you chose from the suggested list. I wish there were a way around this. Nevertheless, if you just give up, then you can move on without losing any more hair.

   I can’t properly sync my phone with my Mac given the software they include and the USB cable. However, thanks to Google’s amazing Sync application, I do all of my syncing wirelessly as often as I wish. YOU MUST DOWNLOAD THIS PROGRAM!
   
   Rating: 4 / 5
3. 

   Donald Brent
   March 9th, 2010 - 12:04

   All in all I am VERY satisfied with this phone! I have not found it to be slow at all. In fact in a side by side test, it loads web pages and apps much faster than my daughters iPhone. Also, I have not had any of the syncing issues described in other reviews (although I’m using a PC, not an Apple).

   Some have said they don’t care for the clickable screen. I REALLY like it! Although my fingers aren’t huge they arn’t tiny either and the QWERTY keyboard works for me just fine (although I’d definitly recommend landscape mode when typing). I have noticed that the more you use the typing feature the more you get a “feel” for typing on the virtual keyboard.

   My only issue with this phone was getting a well built unit. The first phone I bought had some kind of contaminant under the glass of the screen. Phone#2 had a bad mic, Phone#3 had a problem “clicking” on one edge of the screen. I’m on phone#4 currently and I think this one is a winner (knock wood). I will say that Verizon switched out the phone each time, no questions asked and sincerely wanted me to be happy with my purchase.

   Minor complaints (not strong enough to deduct a Star):
   
   1. Music data (album name, artist, etc…) should be editable on the device, instead of just on windows before you transfer the song over.
   
   2. The data displayed while a song is playing does not appear to be configurable.
   
   3. Hoping for a 32gb SD card option although 16mb is probably fine.
   
   4. Agree with the previous review re:placement of the sd card. It would have made more sense to put it on the outside somewhere to make it easier to swap out.

   Overall, I would highly recommend this phone and would advise that one just be picky to make sure your phone doesn’t have any functional issues.

   Don
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. 

   reviewer
   March 9th, 2010 - 12:56

   As of 5/22/09 this phone still has lot of glitches that are suppose to be fixed in a software update that was to come out months ago–which keeps getting pushed back. The only reason I kept this phone rather than returning it for another is that I use verizon and can not get the I Phone.

   This phone has a screen that you first touch and then press to activate what you are touching. I personally like that better than the I phone because I can be sure I am touching what I mean to be and then making the execution. I also like the feel of pressing the keyboard down–especially when typing. Some people prefer the I phone because it is faster. One of the problems is that when you place a call and put the phone up to your cheek, you can easily press the screen changing it to speaker or mute or some unknown thing that takes awhile to reset before you can hear the call. You can fix this by purchasing an application that locks the screen. The storms lock feature will not lock the screen during a call so you have to purchase this after market application. Another thing is that the keyboard is hidden when you place a call so if you need to put in your password/numbers you need to look at the phone, select the keyboard and it shows up. It just isn’t convenient or intuitive.

   Another extremely odd thing is that the phone turns off the signal all by itself, randomly. If you don’t look at the phone, you may not realize the signal is turned off (therefore you can’t receive calls, emails, etc). A software update is promised to fix this at some unknown time. We purchased two Storms and both do this–a common problem according to verizon. One of the phones does this about 1 time per day. They other did it several times per day. Verizon changed that storm out for a replacement storm. So now, both phones turn themselves off only about 1 time per day.

   Software is glitchy when it comes to notifications. You can turn all sound off or turn it off for each individual thing. If you turn it off for each individual thing, sometimes it decides to make sound anyway. According to verizon, there is no fix for this–other than a hard reboot that erases everything but doesn’t guarantee a fix–and in fact, has never fixed ours. So, if we don’t want the phone to randomly decide to make noise, we have to turn all sound off. Of course that includes the phone ring along with all the data rings.

   This phone is painfully slow, although I can not compare it to other blackberry’s as I have not had one before. I could not do real work on it. Luckily, I am not a business user so there isn’t anything that I can’t put off until I can get to a computer. I have tried looking at and editing word documents but have never had the patience to deal with it after waiting and waiting and waiting for them to load. Likewise, using internet is painful.

   A plus to blackberry is that you can use blackberry messenger to IM any other blackberry user that you are connected to (free connection–you just both have to agree to it). This saves money on texting because you don’t have to add that feature or you can get a smaller texting package. We use blackberry IM all the time and love it.

   I sync up my blackberry to my mac computer–when it agrees to do it. Again, this seems like a random thing, although it works about 90% of the time. There could be lots of improvements in this sync, however, I can sync my phonebook (without categories), calendar, and itunes. I tunes is not as user friendly on this as the I Phone, however, if it isn’t the main reason you have the phone, it is tolerable. If you want to search songs and change playlists or get creative though, you won’t want to do it on this phone. The speakers on the phone have a very “tinny” sound if you try to play music through them. It is annoying to me but I didn’t buy the phone for good speakers so it isn’t a big deal.

   The camera on the phone is fairly decent and has a flash. Sometimes the flash washes out things too much–but again, I didn’t buy this phone for the camera so it is fine for me. Most of the pictures sync with i photo without a problem, although sometimes it says that they aren’t recognizable.

   I love that it has a removable memory card. It comes with 8 g but can be upgraded to 16. Nice to only have to change a memory card rather than buying a whole new phone just to get more memory.

   There are not nearly as many apps for this as there are for I Phone and very few of them are free. This may be fine for business users but it is frustrating for me.

   I love the look of the phone and the pre-loaded ring tones. I also like the flexibility to move icons and put them in folders and customize the phone.

   This phone gets emails automatically and that is great. No having to log in and check emails.

   The voice activated dialing works about 50% of the time without training. I find myself not using this feature although there may be ways to customize it and make it work better.

   When the I phone comes to verizon I will replace this in a heartbeat. Until then, I feel like this is better than nothing. Although based on some reviews, I may be wrong–other blackberries may be better. I am especially disappointed with how buggy this phone is and the promises of software fixes that never seem to come. And this phone has been on the market for awhile.

   This is a buyer beware phone for sure. It also falls into the category of “settling” until there is something better.

   UPDATE 7/26/09: a new software update has fixed most, but not all of the problems. The biggest problem that remains is that you can accidently click the phone while on a call which results in muting or other problems. POCKMAC for syncing with mac remains an issue but RiM is suppose to come out with their own software in sept. and that may fix the problems. If running facebook on your blackberry, you are more likely to encounter problems with the sync. If you do, on your blackberry, go into options, advanced options, service book, and then delete facebook with the cical next to it and that should fix it. However, sometimes you do have to go back and repeat the process. I also noticed that on my new unibody macbook pro there are less issues with syncing than on my old macbook pro. not sure why as it runs the same ox software. but i am happy that it is finally syncing. i do sync my itunes with my blackberry as well using pocketmac.

   on advantage to the blackberry over the iphone is that on the blackberry you can run multiple things at once. so you could have your maps running directions, make a phone call, and return to maps without having to start over. on the iphone you can’t do that-at least that is what the apple store people told me.

   because of the improvements to the blackberry with the software upgrade, the fact that i can use it with verizon, and now pocketmac is working, i would choose the blackberry over the iphone if i had to do it over again. if iphone comes to verizon, then i will have to make a decision. if it still has the water vapor issue voiding the warranty, however, i will probably stay away from iphone until that is fixed. (in case you aren’t aware, the iphone can stop working just from being exposed to humidity and sweat and it is not covered under apple warranty–it is causing a lot of problems for people as of this date).

   UPDATE 7/27/09: for some blackberrys, the software upgrade eventually crashes the system. We own two blackberries, it did this to one of them. tech support at verizon said that it needed to be replaced or it would keep crashing. the person at tech support said that happened to hers and when she got the replacement she hasn’t had a problem. we are choosing to wait one more time to see if it crashes again (has done so twice in 1 week and you have to reboot the entire system, erasing everything on it). verizon does replace the phone with a refurbushed one for free within the first year. before you purchase one of these, check the replacement policy that your carrier has.
   Rating: 3 / 5
5. 

   N. Murdoch
   March 9th, 2010 - 13:10

   I see a lot of negative responses, and I just think they didn’t give the phone a fair shake. The storm is not very intuitive, meaning it doesn’t function like most phones. I had a hard time getting used to it, but once I did nothing could stop me!! It is the best phone I have ever had.

   I have had it move slow from time to time, but I have found this is user error. When it is taking a while to load a page I can look at what apps I have open and ALWAYS it is my fault for not closing other apps I was using. Side by side with my friends iPhone my storm loads pages quicker.

   It syncs great with google! I love how it got all my contacts from gmail and syncs automatically in both directions with google calendar.

   Music is amazing, I can transfer from my iTunes, don’t even use my iPod anymore, I don’t need it. You can also use your own music as ring tones if you like. No more purchasing ring tones.

   I also don’t understand the complaints with the keyboard, although the keys are small, it will automatically correct misspelled words. Maybe they have this feature turned off.

   It is an amazing phone, but since it is so different it takes some getting used to. Once you learn where everything is and how to maneuver around its great!
   Rating: 5 / 5

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