At long last, the first-ever BlackBerry smart phone- Research in Motion’s iPhone competitor- has arrived. The second most eagerly-awaited phone product of the year, the Verizon Wireless-exclusive handset is undeniably cool, and gets a lot of things right. But it’s no iPhone.
The Storm, which arrived just before Thanksgiving, marries the BlackBerry’s recognizable operating system with the touchscreen of the iPhone and its many imitators. It’s also the first RIM product to replace physical keyboard with a touchscreen style. To that mix it adds speed, as well as a “click” that goes with the touchscreen—essentially one big button, which presses down when any part of the screen is clicked.
The positive parts first: the Storm looks awesome. It’s an absolutely beautiful device, as gadgets go, and the colors just gleam on the screen. Its designers deserve commendation just for that.
When it comes to function, the device is more mixed.
The Storm handles calls just fine; making a few of them, I never lost a single one; Verizon’s 3G network is not a concern. Contacts are easy to manage and save, and e-mail is both easy to use and to set up (the device allows up to ten accounts.) It’s also much easier to download attachments and image-filled messages on the Storm than on a whole lot of other smartphones. The Storm also offers cut-and-paste functionality, which the iPhone lacks.
The device’s other great strength is Web browsing. Despite a lack of Wi-Fi, the Storm surfs around the Web very fast on the 3G network; there’s very little waiting around for sites to load. And not only that, but virtually every major Web site shows up looking great, regardless of whether or not it’s a mobile-only version. (Looking at the electoral maps on FiveThirtyEight.com- a site unreadable on my Motorola Q- I felt a lot like CNN’s John King, zooming in on the Palm Beach County exit polls.)
However, the Web sites only look great if you can get there. The Storm’s primary Achilles heel is that parts of the touchscreen- especially the keyboard- are exceedingly difficult to use. On the keyboard, the keys are very, very small, and for those of us who prefer to text or type with our thumbs, it’s hard to type a Web address -or an e-mail password- without getting at least a couple of letters wrong. This problem also creeps up while talking on the phone, as it’s difficult not to press keys with the side of your face.
The keyboard responds to an internal accelerometer when the device is tilted horizontally or vertically; in vertical mode, it lapses into the classical BlackBerry mode of two letters per key, while the horizontal version features a more traditional QWERTY keyboard. Either way, typing is way too difficult and takes a great deal of getting used to.
There are three other areas where the Storm falls short of the iPhone. While the touchscreen’s method of scrolling up or down, and zooming, isn’t so difficult once one is used to it, the Apple’s device’s “multitouch” method is both easier and a lot more fun. Then there’s the music: the Storm requires either VCast Music or Rhapsody -neither of which is available yet- when it comes to loading music, two systems that are, in this reviewer’s opinion, vastly inferior to Apple’s iTunes. And RIM’s BlackBerry Application Center, while impressive, can’t hold a candle to Apple’s App Store.
The Storm does do a great many “little things” right, however. Its camera is excellent, one of the best I’ve seen on a smartphone. Its GPS feature, a version of VZ Navigator, is awesome, both in effectiveness and look. And the battery life, at least at the start, is strong.
The BlackBerry and iPhone sort of have rival cults at this point. I can expect the Storm to win a few converts, especially from those still in the smartphone “minor leagues.” However cool the device is, it doesn’t have quite enough to overtake the iPhone anytime soon.
Blackberry Storm
www.blackberry.com
$199.99 (after $50 mail-in rebate)
Although the phone is packed with good components and features, its battery is absolutely rubbish!
It doesn’t even hold for 24 hours.
It’s true that iTunes offers a better selection of music. But, if you already own an iPod (like me) and have access to iTunes, you can easily transfer music and video files to the Storm (even on a Mac, if you use software like "Missing Sync."
Plus, the Storm has impressive stereo bluetooth capabilities (great for wireless headphones), and the video quality is better than the iPhone and iPods–this is like the HDTV of Smarthphones.
Rec’d mine only 3 days ago. I like it. Replaced a Treo, which was easier (so far) to type on, but other than getting the hang of that, the Storm is wonderful.
The browser is great — way, way better than the Treo’s. The big screen is excellent — like having a plasma TV in your hand — and the clarity is simply amazing. Don’t need my "cheater" glasses with the Storm. That’s why I didn’t get a different BBerry — screen too small.
Guys, BlackBerry has released a new firmware (4.7.0.75) for the Storm. This release has Reduced lag and response time of the Storm. Users have reported that this release has made a huge difference in performance. Visit http://smartphone-guru.blogspot.com/2008/12/blackberry-storm-bug-fixes-with.html for a list of bugs fixed by the firmware update.
The only bad thing is that this release is not for Apple Mac users. Yep, BlackBerry does not support Apple Mac that well