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
Here we go again
As I write this, I ask myself why? Anyways, I'll start with this. The Storm has fantastic call quality, very good RF and good battery life from what I can see. The camera is very good as is the video. The browser is the best one that Verizon has and gets the job done. Voice dial, yes, it has it unlike another phone. It does email and MMS messages. If I missed something that makes this not a phone first, please let me know. Oh yes, the mulitmedia stuff that comes with the phone is quite good....plays youtubes(thats all I care about to be honest with you regarding music). Almost forgot, it has a removable battery...hummm.
The touch screen, is it perfect? Nope, not yet or maybe never. Will it get better? Probably.
In summary, too many people coming from dumb phones expecting this to be the Iphone with all of the flash. Yeah, the Iphone has really cool icons that are worthless to me. Back on topic....Verizon really screwed up with a really crappy phone because the touchscreen doesn't do what the Iphone does? Yeah right. My tears are overflowing..lol.
Get real people, it's a phone first! While I am able to make calls almost anywhere, the Iphone people have to move all over the place in order to make a call or get a signal. Come on, you know I am right.
Pros: As a phone first, it's tough to beat. As a toy( I mean multimedia device), it's very good. Has good call quality, RF, good battery, camera, removable battery and memory( I think I covered the phone first stuff).
Con's: Like others including the fruit phone, it has tons of little bugs. Some will go away with software upgrades, we just don't know to what extent yet.
You can be as pissed as you want with the launch( I sure was). I still bought one though. My suggestion to many that are upset is to not look at the forums anymore, it will drive you crazy! There will never be a perfect phone....never. There will always be negative naysayers..trust me on this.
9350 Owns every other phone ever made!!! Pew Pew (the phone unfortunately does not have build in lasers, my only complaint!)
This is just the baller phone of all baller phones. Other people have said it's not pretty enough, it finger prints, its not as good as other blackberry devices, etc. Anything that says these things needs to rethink their review. 1 any high end phone these days fingerprints, the bigger the screen the more smudges u see. If you dont like it buy a samsung 340 the screen is tiny and fingerprints aren't noticable, lol. 2 It is just as good as any other blackberry, you just have to know how to use it!!! It has quadband so it works anywhere any other blackberry can work, it does the same with enterprise email etc. that any other blackberry does. There is no magic blackberry that is better than this one. I have had every blackberry since the 8700 series and the storm owns them all. I can understand that the touch screen can be different and u have to get used to it, but I have VERY large hands and am having no problem hitting keys. The device even has a soft touch that lets you see what you are pressing b4 you press it. The email is faster than any phone I have ever had on recieve/ send times. The pic text media messaging is also the fastest I have ever seen. The recemption on the phone is amazing. The battery life is also very good( there is no reason to ever turn the screen above 50% brightness, it looks amazing at 10% even.) Apps like myspace, facebook, etc. work very well and are a huge improvement over the pearl, curve, world edition or bold, since the screen is so much larger. If I didn't have so much to say about how awesome this phone is I would have written my review on the phone. Yes the full html web browser actually let me register for this website right on the phone. My one and only big complaint about this phone is that it DOES NOT have any type of laser out put, for example no laser pointer to shine off for presentations and no pulse laser with high output to disable a would be assailant. THIS IS THE BEST PHONE EVERRRRRR!!!
awsum
With more updates which you know are on the way this device will be primo has a few bugs but what new phone doesn't. I'm keeping it
Blackberry Virgin
I check this site often and this is my first Blackberry/smart phone. So far I love this phone. As many others reviewers have stated, it's not perfect no phone is. If you think iphones are so great, buy one. The same goes for Blackberry users. For me personally there is no phone out that is going to make me switch carriers. I love Verizon! And no I don't work for them, I've just had great service for the last 8 years. Still learning the to use the phone but I love the screen, volume, and web. No it's not as fast as your computer. Again, if you want fast surfing use a computer. I've taken the POSSITIVE comments from other users and tweaked the settings and I'm very pleased with the results. If you want the perfect phone get the Blackberry, an iphone, a land line, and two cans and some string. Or just give the Storm a try.
bb storm great potential
when i got it... took awhile to configure it w/ my emails and set up. lagging alot but once you get your software update the storm has great potential. i've had the pearl, curve, and even the world edition... and i like them the best cause i can feel the phones but the storm... it's like having a porsche... i just couldn't have it as a primary car and drive it everyday. i won't give it up cause it is a great phone... you just have to give some time. it's a new product and it's gonna have problems... those who HAD to have it on day 1... you should have known better and now they're mad for spending that much money... overall, the storm is a phone that just needs time to overcome the obstacles.
Not bad..More to come I hope
Well first let me say that it is very easy to get your expectations crushed by this phone if you try to pit it against the iPhone. Here is a news flash...THE BLACKBERRY STORM IS NOT AN IPHONE!!! There is no need to compare it and you will continue down the road of disappoint if you continue to do so.
That being said, let's analyze this phone. This is a great, almost amazing product that RIM has released. I do admit that if the pressures of the release date weren't so strenuous that this would be a lot better than it turned out.
Hardware-wise, I do notice that there is a little too much room for comfort between the edges of the screen and the border of the device. Also, the Talk and End button seem a little weak and seem to sit lower than the combo-BB/ESC button. Everything else is fine with me.
Firmware-wise, this area could use some improvement. The accelerometer is a blessing and a curse all at once. When taking the phone out of the holster, it's anybody's guess if the screen will show up landscape or portrait. While in limbo, the screen unlock slows down too. The response is a tap slow at time while other times it just wants to be pressed.
Keyboards. I'm sure 90% of people have more fun using SureType because the "buttons" are bigger. The QWERTY option is fine too but in my experience I have learned not to go typing A, S, D, Z, X, C or even B with my right thumb. That's a 90% miss rate.
Applications, love them. The interface is sweet and make me just want to do something with the phone even though I have nothing to do. Like the improved BB Messenger!!! Way to go RIM. Suddenly my iPod is jealous because all my music goes to this thing.
I enjoy it even though it's not perfect and I expect a lot of improvements from RIM in the very near future.
Pros
-Display
-Applications
-SureType
-Density
-BB Communication powerhouse
Cons
-Slow firmware
-Accelerometer
-Battery Life
-No screen lock on phone calls
I could say more but..
Wait a sec... this isn't an iPhone?
When I got home an started playing with my new phone, I noticed something sinister, even evil if you like. What I was holding in my hand wasn't an iPhone. I started sweating a little, and my stomach started to grumble. Then I noticed the labels. "Verizon Wireless." "BlackBerry." I didn't know what to do. All the signs seemed like this should be an iPhone.
Touch screen? Check.
Media playback? Check.
Frequently freezing and crashing? Check.
Looking at internet porn on a small screen? Check.
Then it came to me. This BlackBerry Storm is NOT an iPhone, but it's just as irritating. In fact, when it really comes down to it, the BlackBerry Storm (just launched yesterday) isn't really an awesome phone. It's suffering some firmware demons that would make Satan laugh with glee. When in direct comparison with an iPhone, it does exactly what I think it should. Suck. Just like the phone it's trying to copy.
In fact, I'm not even an "iPhone hater", I'm an "allPhone" hater. I've used an Instict, Voyager, Dare, iPhone, Storm and even a Vu. All these touchscreen phones suffer from the same demons. Laggy interface. It kills it for me.
So... BlackBerry Storm PRO's and CON's.
PROs
-Ooooh. Pretty colors! Love the screen!
-Click interface is new. Doesn't suck.
-Great camera.
-Email is a breeze
-Browser is amazing
-VZNav is still the best on the market
-Highlighting is cool
-Feels solid and nice
CONs<
-Fre....eze.
-Cl....ick.
-I wanted a "D" not an "S". Frickin' touch screen keyboard.
-Jesus. Th.....is thing is real....ly bugg -CRASH!
-This is a beta model, right? I mean, no way BlackBerry would really release a pre-production phone to the public, right?
Okay, so this phone has amazing potential. Of all the touch screen phones, this one has the most potential to be the best. But until they fix the bugs, I'm going to hate every moment of this phone.
Great phone
this has to be the best phone i have used i am entirely happy with this device it takes care of all my needs and i have yet to have any major issues with it.
pros
screen is beautiful
call quality is excellent
web browsing is fast
push email is fantastic
visual voicemail
vz navagitor
8 gig media card is fantastic for adding movies music and photos
over all look of the phone is very nice
solid feel when sitting in my hand
the touch screen is great being able to highlight things and not have to worry about opening the wrong thing and when u want to open it push down its great it did however take me a day of heave use to get used to it.
cons
screen lags just a bit when switching from portrait to landscape
camera could be a bit faster but both of these can and will be fixed with updates.
typing takes some getting used to if you are used to hard keys and doesn't take much getting used to if u are used to typing on a touch screen. i recommend getting this phone tweak it to how you like it and you will be all set. if ur upgrading ur blackberry or a first time used this phone is great.
Very, very, good
This phone has met with a LOT of criticism in here, and I've just signed up for an account on PhoneScoop to try to counter some of the criticisms.
The most common complaint I see is touch-screen bugs. Well, in using the phone non-stop since we received it, I haven't had a single touch screen glitch except when it comes to setting the time.
The lag time is not NEARLY as bad as people say, and there is a firmware update ALREADY available on the 'net that fixes most of these issues. Bearing that in mind, here's a list:
Pros:
-Clicky screen is amazing (prevents mistaken button pushing)
-Very solidly built
-Removable battery
-Great GUI
-Can copy and paste txt
-Screen rotation via accelerometers available in almost every app
-Great reception, and fast internet speeds even in low reception areas
-Best web-browser ever to see a Blackberry
-Typical Blackberry pros (great E-mail integration, application support, etc.)
-3.2 MP camera takes fantastic pictures
Cons:
-Slight lag (supposedly fixed in new firmware)
-Camera is slow
-have to buy Verizon's data plan
-I can't get an SNES or NES emulator on it yet :-)
This phone is amazing, and is receiving boat-loads of support from Blackberry. I worked in the Cellular industry for a while, and the Storm is the most versatile and powerful phone I've seen in the US. It beats the tar out of the iPhone.
Storm is GREAT!! Updated and MUCH better!!
Yes, when this phone came out, it was buggy, had lag, camera was awful, etc etc.
BUT, the firmware update was released and with the .75 version (phone came with .65 from RIM), its GREAT!! MUCH less lag, Camera is much quicker, apps work very smoothly, flips from portrait to landscape VERY quickly.
And that is only with the first firmware upgrade (device software). ANother one will be out by the end of the year.
GREAT phone! I can type just as fast as my 8830. RF is a little bit less impressive, but I'm sure that will be fixed/bettered soon.
Overall, very happy.
