[na] Crackberry Storm

Teller1900

Teller1900

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I am a dad!
I know it's not out until tomorrow, but I was wondering if anyone had any early reviews or impressions of the Storm. My wife and I have been with Verizon for a while and are thinking about switching to the new Blackberry; just curious if it will be worth it.
 
Teller1900 said:
I know it's not out until tomorrow, but I was wondering if anyone had any early reviews or impressions of the Storm. My wife and I have been with Verizon for a while and are thinking about switching to the new Blackberry; just curious if it will be worth it.
Click to expand...

I'm waiting 'til after the first of the year for the Dingle. :cornut:


Trapper John
 
There will be a Crackberry for sale from a new user named POTUS, with 0 feedback:

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http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1176.html

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Teller1900 said:
I know it's not out until tomorrow, but I was wondering if anyone had any early reviews or impressions of the Storm. My wife and I have been with Verizon for a while and are thinking about switching to the new Blackberry; just curious if it will be worth it.
Click to expand...

It was written up in today's issue of USA Today. They compared it to the upcoming Blackberry Bold, which has a conventional (but supposedly improved) keyboard.

Dave
 
Well, its no G1 :D I have seen the Storm firsthand, and its neat, really neat. The screen-keyboard is spiffy.

But still, its not open-source and its not community supported.
 
I read a review where someone said the 'click screen' was novel, but quickly became unwieldy because it required almost the full thumb strength.
 
:loco:



I finally got a 21st-century phone, with a camera and a little keyboard no less, and I almost regret it. It's handy, but I hate it when I realize I'm standing on a street corner trying to type with my thumbs, like some kind of tool.

At least I've resisted the Bluetooth craze- I'm constantly freaked out by strangers who start yelling at me, then I realize they're on the phone. :frown2:

To me, pagers were already the Beginning of the End of Actually Having a Life... oh, for the days before even answering machines! Sigh...
 
rottydaddy said:
To me, pagers were already the Beginning of the End of Actually Having a Life... oh, for the days before even answering machines! Sigh...
Click to expand...

+1

I remember when about the only people who even had pagers were doctors and tow truck drivers on call. Yet, we still got things done. But it required actual thought and actual decision making, not just e-mailing stupid questions, or forwarding some stupid e-mail to a bunch of people to get a response and/or cover your butt.


Trapper John
 
Well, 7 months into the Storm. Any pireps on this device?

I had heard that they were slow, but also understand that the next generation ones that have been released are finally faster and more reliable.

I need to get a Blackberry to replace my Treo, but was considering just a Curve until a neighbor told me on Saturday that he really liked his new Storm.

Any users of this device please advise!
 
I love it. We got the first run of the devices and they were EXTREMELY buggy when they first came out, but three huge (yet easy to install) firmware updates later and it's like a whole new phone. Cheesy as the commercials were, the clicking actually is great. Using my wife's iTouch with my clumsy fat fingers, I tended to hit everything but what I wanted, or type gibberish while just holding it in my hand. With the clicking, though those problems are no more. The fully functioning web browser is brilliant, though it won't open the web page that my company uses for our schedules...that's my only real complaint. They recently launched a Blackberry Store, so you can download applications for it staight from the device, and the Blackberry Desktop Manager, IMO, kicks the crap out of iTunes any day.

I love the phone, and my wife seems to like her's too. I've turned a lot of folks at work to crackberry fiends, too, and they seem to like it as well. YMMV.
 
I have the B-Berry worldphone and love it. Spendy when overseas, but it works so who cares. I love that anyone can call me on my regular number and I will get it (personal phone only, not work phone).
 
Our enterprise users, to a T, hate the Storm. Many of my co-workers have it and can't wait to toss it.

For my money, it is even between Android-based platforms (a la the G1) or the iPhone based platforms. I am currently a "champion" on a project that has, for lack of a better term, turned our mobile strategy on it's ear. We have a pile of Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone, and Android based devices on hand, in addition to our stack of BlackBerry's.

Short answer... RIM is losing this war. Apple and Google are going to set the tone in the marketplace. The windows platform has been struggling for so long... I am not impressed with the device offerings or the OS.

My $0.02.

Cheers,

-Andrew
converted to an Android two weeks ago, hooked like a crack addict
 
astanley said:
Our enterprise users, to a T, hate the Storm. Many of my co-workers have it and can't wait to toss it.

For my money, it is even between Android-based platforms (a la the G1) or the iPhone based platforms. I am currently a "champion" on a project that has, for lack of a better term, turned our mobile strategy on it's ear. We have a pile of Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone, and Android based devices on hand, in addition to our stack of BlackBerry's.

Short answer... RIM is losing this war. Apple and Google are going to set the tone in the marketplace. The windows platform has been struggling for so long... I am not impressed with the device offerings or the OS.

My $0.02.

Cheers,

-Andrew
converted to an Android two weeks ago, hooked like a crack addict
Click to expand...

So I'm a crackberry addict and you're addicted to 'roids?
 
I had a crackberry storm in December for 11 days. Impossible to text unless you have teeny fingers, and you can't us a stylus unless it's heated.

You can't search your schedule book in the stripped down version of Outlook, for say, "taylor". You can only do that on your PC.

I took it back. A completely inept market entry.
 
astanley said:
Our enterprise users, to a T, hate the Storm. Many of my co-workers have it and can't wait to toss it.

For my money, it is even between Android-based platforms (a la the G1) or the iPhone based platforms. I am currently a "champion" on a project that has, for lack of a better term, turned our mobile strategy on it's ear. We have a pile of Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone, and Android based devices on hand, in addition to our stack of BlackBerry's.

Short answer... RIM is losing this war. Apple and Google are going to set the tone in the marketplace. The windows platform has been struggling for so long... I am not impressed with the device offerings or the OS.

My $0.02.

Cheers,

-Andrew
converted to an Android two weeks ago, hooked like a crack addict
Click to expand...

Can you put this in English? :) What should I get after I get sick of the 'berry if ever? I want something that works in Europe and gets my emails.
 
woodstock said:
Can you put this in English? :) What should I get after I get sick of the 'berry if ever? I want something that works in Europe and gets my emails.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you want.

I personally like the Blackberry push mail and the fact that TMo is still offering flat-rate/unlimited use plans (even internationally) for the BB. For me, going international, that is a huge benefit. I almost bought a BB Bold before I went to Japan, but settled for an older 3G model.

The Bold is about as good as it gets with BB.

On the other hand, if push mail is not important and you use it mostly in the US where you can get a 5 GB/mo data bite for $60, then the other options that Andrew mentioned are good. The iPhone probably has the best interface, but the tie to ATT is an issue. ATT really doesn't have much in the way of 3G, at all. BUT if you take it overseas, you will get EATEN ALIVE with data charges. It will make a phone call from your hotel look cheap.

IMHO.
 
So far I've no reason to get rid of the berry. It works well overseas and I like getting my emails instantaneously (and I have a free intl data plan...). I can check POA any time I want, also a few other sites I like to surf when I'm away from home.
 
AT&T is starting to go with "device agnostic" plans; the $60 "international blackberry" plan is available on any device (according to our AT&T rep).

In general, the BB is great for email, but "low fi" email. As a mobility junkie, I prefer a higher fidelity experience. Emails are delivered to be with a 1 to 2 minute delay to my Android versus BlackBerry push; I'll live with that for the increase in functionality.

-ars
 
astanley said:
In general, the BB is great for email, but "low fi" email. As a mobility junkie, I prefer a higher fidelity experience. Emails are delivered to be with a 1 to 2 minute delay to my Android versus BlackBerry push; I'll live with that for the increase in functionality.

-ars
Click to expand...
My smart phone is Windoze based and uses active synch, like the iPhone. I get my emails sometimes faster on the phone than they show up on my Outlook. A mystery of M$ I guess. But I agree with the earlier comment about Windoze mobile, it jsut is not very good, does not matter whose device it is on.

All of these phones are more about eMail than they are about the organizor. I would like to have more ability to set up meetings and do colaborative things. What is on them is pretty stripped down.
 
Ever since the latest OS update came out, I've been rather happy with my Storm. My biggest complaint is that I can type faster than it can keep up, so often I'm typing a word or two ahead of what's showing on the screen. It's then annoying to find you've made a mistake and have to edit it later.

In terms of responsiveness and functionality, the last OS update helped a lot.
 
I like the Android phone idea, but didn't want to switch carriers to get it. Looks like I won't have to switch after all:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-android25-2009jun25 said:
Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, may sell phones based on Google Inc.'s Android operating system in time for the year-end holiday shopping season, a person familiar with the plan said.
Click to expand...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-android25-2009jun25,0,2991594.story
 
smigaldi said:
Android is the symbian of the next couple of years. It will be on a lot of different devices that are coming out. But watch out for a possible mobile OS platform surprise from elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Well, we have Windows, Mac and Linux now....

Symbian is a PITA to develop on (and use), and Motorola's crippled linux platform is a joke.....

What could possibly be coming? A new "PalmOS" to replace the joke that is Windows?
 
SkyHog said:
Well, we have Windows, Mac and Linux now....

Symbian is a PITA to develop on (and use), and Motorola's crippled linux platform is a joke.....

What could possibly be coming? A new "PalmOS" to replace the joke that is Windows?
Click to expand...
None of the above. Watch for Win7 running on mobile devices, it is rumored to not be as anemic as WindozeMobile6. Couple that with devices becoming more PC like than phone like and it may be a nice change. BTW the Moto LJ platform was announced dead over 13 months ago.
 
smigaldi said:
None of the above. Watch for Win7 running on mobile devices, it is rumored to not be as anemic as WindozeMobile6. Couple that with devices becoming more PC like than phone like and it may be a nice change. BTW the Moto LJ platform was announced dead over 13 months ago.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I'd heard about WM7.0. I will believe the hype when I see it, and when I see something other than Windows Mobile Device Center to control it. Seriously, Activesync and WMDC might be the most convoluted, horribly designed software I've ever seen. Even the crappy Blackberry Desktop Manager does a better job.

Can anyone write a decent piece of integration software?

Google's sync apps work ok, but they're still kinda weird. By far the best to date though.
 
SkyHog said:
Ahh, I'd heard about WM7.0. I will believe the hype when I see it, and when I see something other than Windows Mobile Device Center to control it. Seriously, Activesync and WMDC might be the most convoluted, horribly designed software I've ever seen. Even the crappy Blackberry Desktop Manager does a better job.
Click to expand...
Me too, but I have been hearing good things and that is promising.

SkyHog said:
Can anyone write a decent piece of integration software?
Click to expand...
Sure they can. But the M$ extremely onerous intellectual property agreements are such a PITA that good development does not occur as everything is made in very small walled gardens with electrical fences, barbed wire, and guards with orders to shoot to kill. M$ IPR rules are basically what ever they develop is theirs, what ever you develop that may be used with Windoze is theirs, and anything you develop at the same time that may be distantly related to what you are developing for Windoze because two of the engineers looked at each other in the cafeteria is theirs, makes for working with M$ very hard.
 
I've had a Storm since December. It's fine for reading emails and the browser is okay; enough that I went out of town for a week without a PC. I just don't find typing an email of any significance all that easy on that or the World Edition company phone I also carry. I still haven't figured out how anyone can type thousands of text messages on either keyboard.
 
smigaldi said:
Android is the symbian of the next couple of years. It will be on a lot of different devices that are coming out. But watch out for a possible mobile OS platform surprise from elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I think the X factor is enterprise adoption of Google Apps and similar "highly interoperable" cloud based email solutions.

I'm long on Android, short on Windows Mobile, neutral on RIM.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
I think the X factor is enterprise adoption of Google Apps and similar "highly interoperable" cloud based email solutions.

I'm long on Android, short on Windows Mobile, neutral on RIM.

Cheers,

-Andrew
Click to expand...
I think so too about the enterprise issue. It does look like there are more people on the Android bandwagon than there everwhere on Symbian.
 
smigaldi said:
I think so too about the enterprise issue. It does look like there are more people on the Android bandwagon than there everwhere on Symbian.
Click to expand...

There are. Google's development platform is far more componentized than Symbian et al ever were. If you wanted to push software down to mobile, you had to write uber-custom Windows Mobile code or embrace "mobile middleware" (typing it makes me cringe). With Android, with the right class design, Android code becomes another output target in Eclipse or a similar IDE. It's not exactly that simple, but that is how Google is pushing the Android platform.

However, Symbian started this path... and Google is blazing new trail in front of Symbian. I'm excited to see what you guys (Scott) are going to deliver in 4Q for Androids. Very excited.

The Android powered netbooks could really drive this as well.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
Hmmm, my age is showing..
I hate phones, all kinds, when they ring it means someone wants to agitate me about something... I have spent my whole life fixing things that other people cannot fix... A ringing phone just means more misery being dumped in my lap...
I can sit right next to a ringing phone and read, happily - drives my wife crazy...
I cannot type with just my thumbs... I have 8 other digits for a reason...
I have no reason or need to be connected to the web 24/7 - I suspect the modern version of hell will include this as a feature...
I don't tweet or twitter - have been known to toot, however...
I don't have a facebook page - if you have seen my face you will understand...
Nor do I Badoo, Babu, or Bebo... (look it up)
And I certainly don't Cloob though Xanga could be interesting... (Ibid)

A cell phone meets my needs nicely and a half hour in front of the PC is more than enough...

denny-o
 
I'm using a Crackberry 8900 through T-Mo. Main reason is the UMA service. Basically I have a satellite telephone here on the boat and when people dial my number, I get my calls, mostly anyway. It works world wide, even though the rates are a bit high. If I can get it on Wifi though, the UMA takes over and it's free. Also most of my clients are Crackheads as well and we have multi sided text conversations.
 
OK, I'm still looking at the Storm or the Tour (Verizon). However, when I try to use my most common website - ADDS - on the in-store models, I have trouble clicking the TAF/METAR tabs, and inputting airport codes. Is this a real problem, or just something that I'll be able to figure out once I can spend quality time with one of these BB phones? I sometimes wonder if the in-store phones' memories are so full of data from other idiots playing with it, that this idiot can't get a good read on a useful website.
 
I can get to the ADDS site fine on my Tour. The 'zoom, then click' thing takes a bit to get used to, but it's not bad once you get it under control. For some reason, the TAF page doesn't load completely, but I don't know if that's a BB problem or a site problem. I can still get the box to put in an identifier, and it works fine from there.
 
nddons said:
OK, I'm still looking at the Storm or the Tour (Verizon). However, when I try to use my most common website - ADDS - on the in-store models, I have trouble clicking the TAF/METAR tabs, and inputting airport codes. Is this a real problem, or just something that I'll be able to figure out once I can spend quality time with one of these BB phones? I sometimes wonder if the in-store phones' memories are so full of data from other idiots playing with it, that this idiot can't get a good read on a useful website.
Click to expand...

I can get the ADDS TAFs on the Storm, but sometimes it takes a page reload to get the box to load. One, maybe two reloads at most, and it works fine. I use accuweather for radar, though.
 
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