BlackBerry Storm 9530
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 20, 2008 by Eric M. Zeman
RIM's first touch-screen BlackBerry finally hits the market. Find out if RIM's Storm lives up to the hype. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
I Love My Storm.
The click screen is a new concept for me and as well for everyone out there. I've had my Storm for 2 months now and I haven't gotton board of it yet. So many new apps out and more to learn. I have owned many phones in the past but non has lasted me more then a month without getting tired and bored.
I like it!
This is my second touch screen phone. I just up garaded from a Samsung i760. I love this blackberry. The auto spell is the best so far! and love not haveing to use a stylest!Jo
Blackberry Storm.....Storms ahead
I just bought the storm today I think the phone is HOT!! I mean you can do so much with this phone i like the touch screen feature it's different I also like the life of the phone i have been on this phone since i got the phone and it does not seem to eat up a lot of battery life. Blackberry has really out did the comp this go around! bottom line the best blackberry out there right now!
Pros
*battery life is good
*pictures with the camera out of this world(can you say HD camera phone)
*Internet is super fast
*the sound is excellent!
*the color is bright and colorful no glare
*your movies look like HD DVDs
Cons
*if you have not bought this phone you are slippin'
Don't listen to all the BS
This is my first smartphone... and I'm impressed. I cannot understand all of the negative comments regarding SurePress. My fear of a virtual keyboard came from trying the iPhone and LG Dare. The Storm has them beat hands-down as to the virtual keyboard. Don't believe the negative comments. TRY IT. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's quite easy to master. The phone is quite incredible in what it does. I purchased mine immediately after the software upgrade, so I had none of the initial horrendous problems I've read about online. However, there are some bugs. My phone has occasions Bluetooth issues with my car. I deleted and re-installed the device (my car) once, and it's been OK ever since. Browsing is quite quick and opening attachments (pdf, Wordperfect, etc.) could not be easier - and I didn't have to download any apps to view the attachments. One negative... it doesn't get the reception my old K1m did in old dead-zone type buildings (old supermarkets, etc.), and upon doing a roaming update (Verizon's *228), something funky happened to my ability to be heard by others on the phone. I opted for a hard reboot (battery removal) and all was fine. The screen locked up on me once which was also cured with a hard reboot. Be advised, the hard reboot takes a couple of minutes to complete.
Pros:
The phone is attractive, feels substantial, and plain old works well (button functions, etc.)
The email handling is fantastic. the visual voicemail is great with 1 caveat - I need to disconnect my Bluetooth device (my car) to hear it while driving.
SurePress is the best way to go if opting for a virtual keyboard.
Great camera.
Very good battery life.
Micro sd expandability.
Cons:
See visual voicemail caveat above.
Occasionally buggy bluetooth.
Micro sd does NOT store apps! Bad move. Please fix this RIM! Get a Class 6 sd -speed of retrieval, etc. is better than Class 2 provided.
Could use more apps similar to the iPhone.
Stop trying to compare it to the iPhone
Ok, first off, let me state that I work for AT&T as a sales representative. I was within my first 30 days with AT&T, and owned an iPhone. I returned the iPhone in place of the BlackBerry Storm 9530. Don't get me wrong, the iPhone was a very good product, just not what I'm lookin for...
These phones do two totally different things, and in my honest opinion, I do feel that this was Verizon's answer to the iPhone. However, you people MUST stop comparing these two. It's like comparing apples to oranges, or blackberrys, so to speak. Now, think about this...
RIM's reputation is built around building the greatest business machines on the planet, as I believe most if not all of you would agree. This phone is no different. It is built for business email and organizational use, it just happens to have the capabilities to play music and video, and is a touch screen phone... Hence the comparisons to the iPhone.
One thing that I also noticed is that you are trying to compare the two OS's. The two cant be compared. If Microsoft was making a phone, then you could compare the OS's, just like people compare the Macs and PCs, but RIM didn't try to match what Apple was doing, they were building a business phone for the business minded professional, not a toy for some kid to play games and listen to music on.
With that said, lets look at some of the features of this phone.
Phone: Crystal Clear, both handset and speaker phone. LOUD.
Texting: Hard to get used to, but easy once it is learned.
OS: Significantly slower than other products. Not for the power user, not like the iPhone, which all the cool guys have. [that was sarcasm ;)] (-.5 points)
3G: Fast, but not as fast as if it were on AT&T's network. ;)
Network: Verizon, works everywhere. Took it out the country, got 4 bars.
Video: Crisp, Hi-Def looking, absolutely beautiful. (way better than the iPhone)
Music: Crisp, sounds great. (once again, better than the iPhone)
Best Blackberry
I've never owned a smart-phone of any kind, and after having to troubleshoot them for years for ATT, I've always been a little nervous about having one. But after having the Storm for 2 weeks, I'm definitely glad I did. The screen is so clear, and videos and pictures look amazing on the screen. The browser was a little slow at first, but after updating the OS, it works a lot faster now. I haven't experienced any signal related issues and calls are always clear on both sides. The only real down side to the phone is that theres no support for Flash (as of yet, anyway) and speaking of Flash, the camera's flash is incredibly bright, so be prepared to blind anyone you're taking a picture though, Blackberry has done a great job with this phone and I recommend it to any Blackberry user!
To All the Haters in the house...
This is my first BlackBerry. I LOVE it! Everyone complaining about how it's not an iphone and this and that does not know what they are talking about. A BlackBerry is a BlackBerry and an iPhone is an iPhone. Nothing will EVER be the iphone, just like an apple will never be an orange. Sure the phone has some lag and is slightly buggy, BUT it is ALL fixable via OS updates.
Some reviews are legit that i've read on here, but others are just non-sense. Give the phone a chance and it'll all work out. Don't return it after one day b/c it's slightly slow or buddy. Both iphones were the same way!
Pro's:
Beautiful screen display
Super Fast 3G (at least where I am at)
Fairly easy to navigate (for my first time using one)
SurePress
Cons:
Slighty buggy, but again the OS updates will fix that
slighty on the heavier side, but nothing you won't get used to
The best RIM phone
It is a great phone!
Pro
1) Great sound quality and speaker phone
2) Very user friendly and touch screen is better than iphone and easier to use
3) Predictive text is a great asset
4) Deleting multiple texts, highlighting texts is easy
5) Stereo blue tooth
6) Copy and paste can be done.
Cons
1) Software is buggy. New version 4.7.0.75 reportedly coming out shortly to take care of the delays in tilting screen. (I have had a work around for the delay on 4.7.0.65 right now in the delays. Just click on the phone button and it takes care of it)
2) Copy and paste is not easy
3) Not enough softwares. Hardly any
4) Not enough base memory like the iphone. But I have not had a problem so far. A lot beter than the 8830
Look, i can type with my toes now!
i just have to laugh. these reviews are so funny. people are so funny. i keep seeing "iphone iphone" everywhere. if you where hoping it would be as good as the iphone, why in gods great nation wouldn't you just buy the iphone? at&t isn't THAT bad, is it?
but i would also wonder why you would buy the very first of something thinking that its going to be perfect? especially in this field of technology?
R E L A X and let the dust settle a bit.
i agree with a lot of the reviews i have read. the storm is slow. its buggy. but it does have a promising future with a little fine tuning. until they have worked out a few of the kinks, i will click away on the keyboard of a curve.
with or without the new device in hand i will still have something to talk about at the dinner table. I mean, i'm still capable of getting the news via a trackball for pete's sake.
Absolutely love this thing.
First of all, people must remember to close all unnecessary applications that are running in the background to speed up the device. When I played with the store model, I noticed all these unnecessary applications running in the background. Once I killed these apps, the phone sped up significantly.
Now, trust, this device software is definitely buggy, but it isn't THAT bad. I would put it on par with the iphone's initial software. Interesting that the iphone didn't receive a lot of slack for having buggy software, yet this blackberry is getting slaughtered left and right. I trust that RIM will produce better software ASAP as they have promised.
That said, I believe this is the greatest blackberry I have ever owned. I am highly impressed with the clickable screen and my typing accuracy. I find myself typing waaaay faster on the Storm than on any other touchscreen device. Plus, all of the keyboard shortcuts are still there. For example, double-click the spacebar for a period, or hold down a letter for a capital. Fantastic!
Furthermore, the media on this device is out of this world. I've been watching youtube videos for about a half hour, and they play at full screen. Music sounds incredible, and there is a built-in equalizer. The camera is three megapixels, and pictures come out nice and clear. It also takes video! Blackberry has definitely stepped it up in the media department.
I find the web browser does a great job at rendering websites quickly and efficiently. Best of all, even though it is full HTML, it still recognizes email addresses and phone numbers, so you can click them to call/email right from browser.
The visual voicemail exceedingly well executed. I can respond to a voice mail right from the application without having to call the person, and I can archive received messages onto the memory card. Wow!
Call quality is crystal clear and excellent overall.
In all, I give it an A, with the possibility of an A+ after new software.
