Black Berry Storm

[Shack]

I was wondering if anyone has any further reviews on the Black Berry Storm?

The one issue a firm source told me about was is that everything on FM is normal, but when it comes to creating a post, you can compose the post, but he is not able to submit the post. The submit button does not work.

As a WiFi junky, I would miss this feature (nice thing about the Iphone), but if you are in a good signal, the 3G is pretty fast (so the rep at Verizon told me).

I am pretty much stuck with Verizon as my only option. If you travel the country (mainly southern states), you know what I mean .

I love the fact Verizon just bought up a huge amount of Alltel towers in the Midwest and southeast USA.

[LMITOUT]

I still don't understand the fascination with wi-fi. You have very few hot spots available unless you are sitting at home and then you might as well just jump on the computer ten feet away. Maybe if you travel a lot and spend much of your time in airports or hotels where wi-fi is often available I could see how it would be nice, but for your typical day it really doesn't serve much purpose except that you can say your phone has wi-fi.

I had wi-fi on a previous PDA/phone and never used it once because there was no place to use it! I don't see that scenario being much different in the rest of MN either unless you're in the metro and can find a hot spot here and there if you're lucky.

I'd like to hear some points why wi-fi is so great because I just don't see the pressing need to have a phone equipped with it at this time.

[SledNeck]

wifi is outstanding for working on stuff out in the garage and having pdf files of repair manuals and such come up instantly. and for completing those necessary posts on FM while away from the computer.

[benelli_dude2002]

my brother in law has an iphone. he told me that it had a "glitch" already which he lost all his pictures, all his music and all his contacts. i have had verizon for a few years now and it was nice to see that they are finally in our area now. no more 'extended network'. i will hang onto my Gz'One for now. i think it would be nice to keep up on sites like this but I can wait til i get home. i do check the weather forecast for my travels once in a while from my phone. only gone from home 3-4 days at a time. we do have a scanner/cell phone with a touch screen but it also has a qwerty keyboard. we are s'posed to make all our company related calls on this but it is kind of a heavier bulky unit to hold up up to your ear but then a bluetooth takes care of that. i just got a flyer from Verizon where you can buy a Blackberry smartphone and get one free. maybe this fall i will look into it. maybe...

[Jakesbuds]

I've had one for going on 3 weeks and I love it. I've never had a BB ever before this or even sent a text message before this phone. I cant really compare it to an iPhone, because I have never used one. These things can do anything though. Internet is fast, the only thing I dont like is how long it takes to take a picture. Also, I had to do a battery pull a few times due to the screen freezing.

[Central Bassman]

From what i have read it seems like the Storm is having some problems with freezing. I like the operating system on it but I’m not a touch screen guy.

[hanson]

I've had a Storm for a month, month and a half now and absolutely love the thing. Never had a Blackberry before and never had a touch screen phone before either so new experiences all around.

It took a couple days to get used to the touch screen keyboard but I really like it now as well.

I'm still getting used to all the features that are available, apps and such. Currently just have Facebook, Wells Fargo, and CNBC loaded for apps.

Web browser is pretty good although like Shack mentioned, I cannot click the 'Submit' button on FM to submit posts. Works fine on all other forums I've been to but its problematic with FM, not sure why. Really not a big deal unless I'm on the lake and fishing is slow, like on Gogebic in the UP the other weekend.

Just discovered the Crackberry site a bit ago as well and have been trying to learn as much as I can about this thing. There have been quite a few suggestions there on how to clean the phone up to optimize it (removing apps and such) and the few I've tried seamed to have shown improvement.

I'm not sure if the "freezing" problem is a result of low application memory or not but doing a battery pull is a good way to clean the phone up and boost the application memory from time to time. Apparently there are apps to do this without physically pulling the battery but haven't done this yet.

[Central Bassman]

Verizon has some killers deals right now on Blackberrys that is hard to pass up. Buy one get one free!!!!

[Shack]

Quote:

Just discovered the Crackberry site a bit ago as well and have been trying to learn as much as I can about this thing.

I was going to submit that question on Crackberry for you Hanson

Thanks for the info guys!

[hanson]

Shack-

I'm trying to download Opera Mini web browser to see if that changes things. For some reason, its not sending the SMS to my BB so I'm going to try a straight download to the computer and then load to the BB.

From what I've read, that should really boost the speed of the browser as well. We'll see. Hopefully solve my clicking problem.

No doubt this thing is more fun than a regular phone.

You should see my TWSS app. TWSS (Thats What She Said) from Michael Scott of The Office. Just click the screen and one of many Thats What She Said quotes will play.

Next on the list is probably Guitar Hero Mobile and I found a cool Duck Hunting game as well.

[Shack]

Quote:

You should see my TWSS app. TWSS (Thats What She Said) from Michael Scott of The Office. Just click the screen and one of many Thats What She Said quotes will play.

You picked up on that one I saw that also the other day.

My work is buying and paying for the phone. I am pushing for the Storm. We vote on the plan and phone at our morning meeting. So I have been doing as much research on the positives of this phone and been putting in little snips about the Storm here and there with the other staff at work. It's up in the air, but we all voted to dust Nextal/Sprint, hands down

[SledNeck]

I've had one for going on 3 weeks and I love it. I've never had a BB ever before this or even sent a text message before this phone. I cant really compare it to an iPhone, because I have never used one. These things can do anything though. Internet is fast, the only thing I dont like is how long it takes to take a picture. Also, I had to do a battery pull a few times due to the screen freezing.

My iphone has yet to freeze up.

Best web browser of any mobile device, its not even close.

Is there an option on the storm to type on the screen without clicking? There was a lady at the airport that was like 6 seats down from me and all i kept hearing was click click click click. I wanted to slap the thing out of her hands, God that was annoying.

[Mr. Nailz]

Where are you guys downloading your apps from? I'm also a new Storm user and haven't stumbled across a place yet.

[LMITOUT]

[LMITOUT]

I'm jealous of the TWSS app that it isn't available on the Curve. I saw that the other day and said I NEED THAT! Maybe if we're lucky the developer will modify the app for other BB's too.

There are a handful of good message boards about Blackberrys which either have apps available right on their HSOforum or have more information on where to find them. Just Google and you'll find them. Crackberry has been a favorite of mine since I got my Curve last year. A while back they had a list of reasons why the Storm is better than the iPhone and they were pretty good reasons.

After having the Mogul I don't think I'll have another touchscreen for a while as it was very frustrating. I'll take a keyboard w/scroll wheel and be twice as productive any day. I had my doubts that I would be able to type out messages quickly and accurately on those little keys that the Curve has with my thumbs, but it didn't take long and I was rattling out messages in no time.

The Storm is definitely cool, but I'm going to stay away from that for a while. There is a rumor that BB may be coming out with a hybrid model that has both a touch screen AND keyboard. Then you'd have the best of both worlds where you could make selections from the screen or type on the keyboard.

As far as the browser goes, the BB browser is very good but there are a few third-party browsers available now. A lot of people like Opera. I tried it for a while but didn't care for it. It didn't seem as easy to use as the native BB browser. The delete button got that one eventually. Bolt is a new browser that is still in beta and I've had it installed since the day it was released. Very good at rendering pages to appear just as if you were looking at them on your home PC, or you have the option for "mobile view" to speed up the loading although it does load pages very quickly anyway. The navigation is still a bit sluggish though, and again, not as fluid as the native BB browser. I hope they keep working on that because it could really be a winner. They've already released one update to it and it is better but still not quite there yet.

[Central Bassman]

I will agree that the Iphone does have a good browser Slednecks. But i just don't think i could ever go to AT&T. So that make me wonder if i can get the Iphone to work on T-Mobile?

[PierBridge]

That Storm sounds like some sort of Lowrance Sonar/GPS Product. Update this, pull that, delete this, hard reset, online forum help ... J/K

I Think I'll wait a bit on this one... but thanks for being the Pioneers of the Black Berry Storm guys!...Keep us posted!

[Flaco651]

Quote:

So that make me wonder if i can get the Iphone to work on T-Mobile?

Or just go with the G1, which is T-Mobiles Iphone. I'm happy with mine.

[hanson]

That Storm sounds like some sort of Lowrance Sonar/GPS Product. Update this, pull that, delete this, hard reset, online forum help ... J/K

Always a hater in the bunch...

Least the Storm made we switch carriers to Verizon from AT&T. That might be the best decision I made in a long time alone. I finally have coverage where I didn't before.

[Shack]

Well, I lost this morning Out voted.

We are going with AT&T and the Iphone. They just left to go pick them up in Rogers.

I would have loved Verizon (Verizon to Verizon), because my wife, kids and family have this service. But like my boss said, my work pays the bill and we have crazy minutes, unlimited texting (new to me, never had a text plan of any kind before), and full data!

We will see how this business plan works. I guess if it does not work out, we have 30 days to back out if enough (or the boss) decides AT&T is not right for us. I know it is going to be way better than Nextal/Sprint as far as coverage.

The wife is eligible for a phone upgrade soon and maybe the Storm or the new Niagara might still be on the horizon .

Thanks

[Shack]

Quote:

I finally have coverage where I didn't before.

That is what I am worried about , but I was told to look at the coverage map from AT&T and then compare to Verizon's coverage map.

I wonder if those coverage maps are accurate?

[SledNeck]

At & t has the best coverage by far up north

[LMITOUT]

If your boss is worried about paying the bill with a voice+data plan, then Sprint is the cheapest out there hands down. I've never had a dropped call and get data in places where I didn't think I'd even get a tower to make a phone call! They have a bad reputation but their service has been fantastic for me wherever I've used it. Like having an iPhone is the "in" thing, so is bashing Sprint. Both are unwarranted. The only complaint I have about Sprint is they are typically the last of the providers to get the latest and greatest phones (Blackberrys at least).

Hey Shack, good luck with your YUPPIE PHONE!!!!

[Jakesbuds]

Shack-

I'm trying to download Opera Mini web browser to see if that changes things. For some reason, its not sending the SMS to my BB so I'm going to try a straight download to the computer and then load to the BB.

From what I've read, that should really boost the speed of the browser as well. We'll see. Hopefully solve my clicking problem.

No doubt this thing is more fun than a regular phone.

You should see my TWSS app. TWSS (Thats What She Said) from Michael Scott of The Office. Just click the screen and one of many Thats What She Said quotes will play.

Next on the list is probably Guitar Hero Mobile and I found a cool Duck Hunting game as well.

Hanson, when you open your BB Browser, Click the BB Menu button then go to > Options > Browser Configuration > Then make sure the Browser Identification is set to Blackberry and not IT or Firefox. This should fix your issues when trying to Download OTA.

Mr. Nailz - forums . crackberry . com and search the Apps there. They list ones for free and pay that are updated fairly regularly.

[Shack]

If your boss is worried about paying the bill with a voice+data plan, then Sprint is the cheapest out there hands down.

He is not , I was saying my family has Verizon and if we had Verizon at work, it does not take up any minutes to talk to another person who has Verizon. When I brought this up, he said do not worry about that, work is paying your phone bill.

Originally Posted By: LMITOUT

Like having an iPhone is the "in" thing, so is bashing Sprint. Both are unwarranted.

To be straight forward with you, I had no issues with Nextel/Sprint, unless I left the state or was not on an Interstate You get south of Iowa, your phone or 2-way will not work. I go down to MO, TN and MS for work. Unless you are in a major city like Nashville, once you out of town a little, the bars drop like flies.

Get just east of Duluth, same thing. Up in MI/UP the other week, everyone had cell phone coverage but me I hate to barrow other peoples phones

Well, we got the Iphone. Still waiting for a text telling my I can receive calls, but at least I was able to keep my same number

Our last plan at work was a reimbursement each month, now the phone bill is billed right to my employer. It was cheaper for the company over all to just pay the bill on a business plan, verses everyone on their own plan.

A very cool and easy tip right now for anyone looking to get out of a Nextel/Sprint contract early, with out paying early termination fee's. Do a search on lawsuit, ETF's, sprint. It will tell ya more about it. Your last bill should have something about this also on the back side. Then after reviewing this, call Sprint and tell them you know about this and you want to cancel your contract with out the $200 ETF. It might take talking with a couple diffrent people, but it will happen.

My contract was up a month or so ago, but 4 guys today got their $200 early termination fee waived and one just signed up about 3 months ago

I guess I need to learn a new phone now.

Thanks!