| Brand: | BlackBerry | ||
| Average Rating |
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Designed to satisfy the needs of both consumers and business customers, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone offers a revolutionary touchscreen that dramatically enhances the touch interface and enables easy and precise typing. The world’s first clickable touchscreen responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation. Whether traveling to Europe or Asia, the Storm provides globetrotters the freedom of reliable global connectivity with Verizon Wireless’s reliable, high-speed 3G CDMA network here in the United States and compatibility with GSM networks abroad.
The SurePress touchscreen with tactile click response allows you to accurately navigate and type messages on the BlackBerry Storm. |
The Storm’s built-in accelerometer automatically switches the screen between landscape mode and portrait modes as it rotates. See larger version. |
It’s compatible with the V Cast Music and V CAST Music with Rhapsody services, which enables you to purchase songs through your phone and download them via Verizon Wireless’s fast EV-DO data network. You’ll also benefit from the phone’s A-GPS receiver, which enables you to access Verizon Wireless’s VZ Navigator service for turn-by-turn directions. Other features include a 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder, Bluetooth connectivity for handsfree devices and stereo music streaming, 1 GB internal memory, MicroSD memory expansion to 16 GB, support for up to 10 personal and corporate email accounts, access to popular instant messaging services, and up to 6 hours of talk time.
Verizon Wireless Service
With support for the EV-DO high-speed data standard, you’ll enjoy fast access to the Internet and Verizon Wireless’s multimedia services (additional charges applicable), with average download speeds ranging from 400 to 700 Kbps and peak rates up to 2 Mbps. (Learn more about where EV-DO coverage is offered.) The V Cast Music service enables you to download songs instantly to your phone, or purchase music through your PC and transfer the files to your phone. If purchased from your phone, you’ll receive two copies of the song: a Windows Media Audio Pro Plus format at 64Kbps stereo is sent to your phone, and a Windows Media Audio 9 format at 160Kbps stereo is sent to your account in the V CAST Music online store for downloading to your PC. V Cast Music offers nearly 2 million songs, with more being added all the time.
In addition to the V Cast Music service, this phone is also compatible with Verizon Wireless’s V CAST Music with Rhapsody, which enables you to access this exclusive digital music service for RealNetworks and for MTV Networks. V CAST Music with Rhapsody delivers unlimited monthly access to music on up to three Rhapsody-compatible mobile phones and players and online on multiple PCs and Web browsers. In addition, customers who purchase music over-the-air are able to download the master copy of the songs or albums to their PCs free of digital rights management (DRM) software that restricts how and where music can be played.
The V Cast Video service enables you to stream or download video clips to your phone from a variety of news, entertainment, sports, and weather channels, including CNN, ABC News, E!, CBS Sports, The Weather Channel, and VH1.
With this GPS-enabled phone, you’ll be able to access Verizon Wireless’s VZ Navigator service (additional charges applicable) for voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions, heads-up alerts, local search of nearly 14 million points of interest in the US (such as landmarks, restaurants and ATMs), and detailed color maps. And Verizon Wireless’s Chaperone service lets you easily locate your loved ones from your cell phone phone or PC in real time. After defining a zone, such as an area designating a school or summer camp, you’ll be sent an alert via text message when the Chaperone handset enters or leaves the zone.
With BroadbandAccess Connect (subscription required), you can use your smartphone as a modem for your notebook when you connect the two using a USB cable–or open a Bluetooth connection–enabling you to access the Internet or your company intranet. The tethered modem capability is ideal when you’re traveling and need to use your notebook to check email, access corporate networks, or download large files like presentations and reports. And with BroadbandAccess Connect, you won’t have to buy an extra PC Card or other devices.
With Visual Voice Mail, you can delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions. Visual Voice Mail is the ideal tool for the busy mobile professional who may need to prioritize which messages he or she listens to first.
In addition to its messaging capabilities, the Storm features a 3.2-megapixel camera and multi-format media player. See larger version. |
Global Connectivity
The BlackBerry Storm allows for global roaming–from Europe to South America to Asia–and also provides 3G data speeds on select international networks, giving you high-speed connectivity when you’re abroad. The Storm offers Verizon Wireless’s fast 3G EV-DO Rev. A/CDMA connectivity in the United States, and UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz) and quad-band GSM/EDGE/GPRS connectivity for use outside the U.S. The Storm comes pre-installed with a SIM card, so customers who plan to travel abroad can activate global service at the time of purchase or by calling Verizon Wireless prior to leaving the U.S. For those who travel abroad frequently, the company’s Global Value Plan offers discounted roaming charges on calls made to and from 130 countries.
Phone Features
The first BlackBerry to feature a touchscreen interface, the Storm’s large 3.25-inch LCD (360 x 480-pixel resolution) actually depresses ever so slightly when the screen is pressed, giving you the distinct feeling that the screen is being pressed and released with a gentle click–similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. The clickable touchscreen gives you positive confirmation that you’ve made a selection, resulting in a highly-intuitive typing experience. In addition to the familiar navigation keys (phone, menu and escape) that are common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so you can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation.
The BlackBerry Storm smartphone also features a built-in accelerometer, allowing its touchscreen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the you rotate the handset–RIM’s SureType keyboard layout is available in portrait mode and a full QWERTY keyboard layout is available in landscape mode. Other relevant features, such as cut and paste, are only a touch away for the ultimate smartphone experience.
Blackberry’s efficient SureType hybrid alpha-numeric/QWERTY keyboard appears in portrait mode. |
The on-screen SureType hybrid alpha-numeric/QWERTY keyboard, first introduced with BlackBerry Pearl phones, places two letters on each button of the keyboard layout and the Storm automatically determines which letter is the intended one based on what it predicts you are trying to spell. SureType also learns the words you use most often, further enhancing your typing speed.
View your favorite web sites the way they were meant to be seen with the high-performance web browser that works in either portrait or landscape orientation. Navigating Web sites is fast and easy with the touch-screen interface that lets users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan. Icons along the bottom of the display allow for quickly accessing Web sites, switching between Page View and Column View as well as the ability to toggle between Pan mode and Cursor mode. The enhanced browser supports file downloading, streaming audio and video (RTSP), and built-in RSS support–enabling content from supported Web sites to be automatically pushed to directly to you.
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Whether you’re on the clock or out-and-about, the Storm has the tools to keep you productive. Access up to ten supported personal and corporate email accounts, including the most popular ISP email servers, using BlackBerry Internet Service. View and revise Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files using Word To-Go or Slideshow To-Go. And keep your schedule on track with the advance calendar function, which allows you to check appointments or make new ones in just a few clicks.
In addition to the industry’s leading mobile email and messaging solution, the Storm supports text (SMS), picture (MMS) and instant messaging (IM) on today’s most popular platforms as well as social networking sites. Take your social life on-the-go with Facebook for BlackBerry and Flickr Photo Uploader for BlackBerry applications (pre-installed on the Storm). A Mobile IM feature provides access to Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo!, Windows Live, and AIM instant messaging services.
Handsfree communication is easy thanks to the integrated speakerphone. This phone also provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity (version 2.0), and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, and file transfer. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. You can connect your laptop (either via Bluetooth or wired USB) and enjoy dial-up networking–surf the Internet, send email, and access files from a server.
The media player can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection (compatible with MP3, WMA, and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ formats). Playlists can be created directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters–including Lounge, Jazz and Hip Hop–for customized audio ranges when using wired headphones or external speakers. The Storm has 1 GB of internal memory–enough to store 250 tunes–which can be expanded via optional MicroSD/SDHD memory cards (up to 16 GB in size).
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Other features include:
- 3.2 megapixel camera with va RIAB zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video
- Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos
- An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by simply rotating the handset
- Visual voicemail allows you to browse your in-box and choose the messages to listen to with just a few clicks.
- Record and send verbal reminders to yourself and others with the easy-to-use Voice Notes feature, which allows you to recored, pause, and resume your voice notes in the push of a button.
- Enhanced noise cancellation to offset background noise
- Low-distortion speakerphone
- 3.5 mm stereo headset jack
- Polyphonic and MP3 real-music ringtones
- MicroUSB connector for charging and data transfer
- Removable battery
- Bluetooth version 2.0 with the following profiles: A2DP (stereo music streaming), AVRC (remote control), HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), DUN (dial-up networking), FTP (file transfer), PBA (transfer contacts)
Vital Statistics
The BlackBerry Storm weighs 5.5 ounces and measures 4.43 x 2.45 x 0.55 inches. Its 1400 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 6 hours of talk time, and up to 15 days of standby time. It runs on Verizon Wireless’s 800/1900 CDMA/EV-DO frequencies while in the United States, and it can connect to 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks as well as 2100 MHz UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 3G frequencies when outside the U.S. more info
Popularity: 3% [?]
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
All haters and cry babies just need to upgrade the OS
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought the phone online through the Verizon’s website the night it first went on sale so I’ve had it for a while now. Yes, I’ve experienced all the issues other reviewers described. It would freeze, camera was crappy, couldn’t save videos. But all the issues went away after I upgraded to the new OS (4.7… something). You can upgrade wirelessly from withing your settings menu. Bottom line, I love this phone now. First of all you have all your email accounts right under your fingertips. Typing emails is actually better than iPhone’s – I like it when touching the letter will highlight it and then you press it to actually type. This device is also the best mp4 player among all smartphones – iPhone not even close. Many of my friends and pretty much all of my co-workers have iPhones so believe me, I got to play with iPhones a lot. Storm has a bigger brighter screen and much louder speakers (surprisingly loud for a phone)and most importantly a micro SD card slot. So I DON’T HAVE TO BUY A NEW PHONE when I need more memory. I have 8gig card the phone came with filled with mp4 movies, shows and music clips. Internet is kind of slow (slower than in verizon commercials of course) but definitely not slower than AT&T’s. I’m constantly checking news, sport scores, facebook without any problems. Not to mention that the phone looks and feels amazing (girls might say it’s a little heavy). Most one-star reviews I read here are ridiculous. You have a problem with your phone – try taking it to Verizon store!
Anyway, just update your OS and spend a little time getting used to it – you’ll have the best mobile device you’ve ever owned.
Worst I Ever Had
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Please listen to the reviews this phone is horrible. I am a programmer and figured I could get around the issues, thought that maybe people were exaggerating but everything is true. It constantly freezes, shuts itself off, takes forever to come back on after pulling the battery, the screen does not flip properly(flips when it should not flip). Do not waste your money this phone is horrible nor is it reliable.
Not For Me
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
Just a quick comment. I lasted about a week with this phone before I traded in for a tour. I text alot and it wasn’t at all user friendly. The tour has this one beat hands down..
Piece of you know what
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
If you are even remotely intelligent, do not buy this phone. I’m an idiot and fell for the cool look, graphics, and apps and I have been kicking myself since. THIS IS NO I-PHONE!! I lose an average of 2 calls per day (do you hear me now, Verizon? You suck!). The phone freezes up about 3 times per day. It takes 10 times longer to text or e-mail, etc.
Almost there RIM
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Concept and presentation = A++
Implementation = C
As a Blackberry fan I was really looking forward to this model. I’m still a Blackberry fan, but will wait for the next iteration of this model because the keyboard implementation isn’t up to RIM’s usual standards. The concept and presentation of this Blackberry are really, really nice, but the implementation of the keyboard functions needs further development and debugging. If you’re reading this RIM, don’t give up on the work you’ve done with this, just get it matured. The long and helpful review by Dan has all the details.
It’s a Blackberry… includes a lot of features, but is sometimes slow
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I recently upgraded to the Blackberry Storm, primarily to be able to integrate my calendar, tasks, and emails with an easy-to-use mobile platform. Obviously, this is the purpose of a Blackberry, and so I must say that the Storm does what I wanted it to do. My only frustration with the Blackberry is that it is sometimes slow – especially at startup. The video player is extremely impressive; the camera is good (exceptional for a phone…); and its application features are more than sufficient. There are, of course, faster and more advanced smartphones available now, but for the reduced price of the Storm it has incredible value.
Love this thing. I can’t put it down for weeks!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I am so glad that I ignored negative feedbacks but went with my instinct. If you know how to use this device, you will Absolutly love it.
Blackberry Storm, bad start, now AMAZING
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I always check the reviews of a product before buying it. When I first saw the reviews of the BB storm I was very disappointed. But even with such low rating I was convinced with some of the higher rated reviews and decided to go ahead and buy this phone. When I finally got it let me tell you, I was disappointed with its performance and how difficult it was to text (so in my head I was feeling as I should have followed my habit of always buying a product taking account of it’s reviews). So I decided to investigate a little more about this problem and found out that you could fix almost every problem with the phone by just upgrading the OS. Let me tell you the difference is amazing. Its now really easy to text, apps work smoothly, and let me tell you…. it has become an iphone killer. The quality of audio and video (resolution) is so much better. The 3g Internet is much faster than the iphone.. So in conclusion if there are any bad reviews about this phone it was because the engineers over at rim, had not yet deciphered the right software for this phone, now that you can download the latest OS I think it’ll start to get much higher opinions. It really is a great phone.
Not Ready For The Real World
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I’ve had mine for a week and it is going back.
It looks great, has tons of sexy features, it’s a real attention getter; but it’s useless in real world application. I do a load of e-mail and texting when I’m on the road. That requires a decent keyboard. The touch screen keyboard on this device is simply unusable for ordinary typing, it does not work. I thought it might just be me, but many of co-workers and other users I’ve check with have the same complaint. Someone in an earlier review said this is “an incredible productivity tool”. I’m not sure how that is true if you can’t type on it. Save yourself the frustration, get one with keys and wait for the next generation of touch screen – hopefully one that works.
As an aside, the sound quality from the MP3 player is mediocre. It is okay for speeches and spoken material “books on tape”, but lousy for listening to music. My Sansa Clip sounds about 100 times better. That was not the primary reason I got the phone, however, I was hoping a good built in media player would let me get rid of a standalone MP3 device – one less thing to carry through airport security. No luck, the sound quality on this is weak and the EQ settings are a joke.
Overall a great looking device, very ambitious product, crappy execution; this is not ready for prime time.
Worst Ever!!!!!!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Worst ever!!!!!! I stood in line until 10pm waiting to get this phone when it first came out. I’ve had it now for a couple months and it’s frustrating I’m seriously considering leaving Verizon for putting out something this. Their commercials are totally deceiving. It freezez constantly,shuts itself off garbage please trust me on this do not waste your money.
Disappointment in an Attractive Package
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
The Storm is my 5th BlackBerry in the past 3 years. I like BlackBerries, but I won’t waste your time with an exhaustive list of the Storm’s faults (such lists are posted in many places and, surprisingly, I think most are “spot-on”). IMHO, the Storm’s faults greatly outweigh its positive points and the Storm should not be sold because it is a work-in-process not yet ready for market. I wanted to like the Storm, was excited in anticipation of its arrival, but intend to replace it with a Bold asap. In summary, RIM has totally missed the target with its execution so don’t waste your money and time on the Storm.
Good but not perfect.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have been using the Storm since Apr of 2009. It seem to work very good for me. I have not experienced all the issues that some of the other reviewers have written about. I have had maybe 2 or 3 issues with it freezing up in the almost 6 months I have had the phone. Now I will list the positives of the Storm.
Pros:
Calendar and notes work great
1) E-mail works great
2) Texting is nice
3) Typing on the touch screen is much better than on my iPod touch. Have not used the iPhone
4) Still camera works excellent for a phone camera
5) Video camera works great
6) Syncs with iTunes ok, also works well with my Mac
7) I have over 1200 songs on my SD card. Media player works great
9) External speaker is nice to and the sound quality is ok for a small device.
10) Alarm clock functions are great
Cons:
1) It is heavy
2) During restarts it does not always find my music, requires a second restart
3) Mobile office apps have to be purchased at a steep price compared to the same apps for iPhone
4) Screen needs a lock feature so the mute button does not get pressed by cheek during calls
5) Software updates are few and far between
6) Very few decent apps for the phone
7) Time does not auto change when traveling to another time zone, my old cell phones even did that.
All in all I like having the Storm. I would have gone with the iPhone but I have heard bad things about the AT&T quality and customer service. Verizon has been great and very reliable.
BLACKBERRY “Sturm und Drag” 9530.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Purchased the BB STORM 9530 cell phone a few months ago with great anticipation. It has been anything but! First off, I am very disappointed in in the “touch” screen itself! Yes, you have to slightly depress it to get that clickish feeling, but it is a MAJOR hassle to type a text / email. If you don’t place your fingertips directly over the letter / number, you will be constantly correcting your mistakes. There is NO WAY one can type at a fast pace on this phone! It seems like you are relegated to almost “one finger” typing in order to complete a text. Plus, the auto dictionary feature keeps changing routine words to other words, so you have to backspace, then hit the space bar to proceed. Very annoying, to say the least! The other thing about the screen is that is is NOT sealed around the edges, so dirt and moisture can seep in underneath it. I accidentally found this out when I spilled a little water on it. I quickly dried it up and figured I had saved my phone from catastrophe. The next morning, my imaging on the phone was “cloudy” plus the BB kept turning itself off! I took the battery out and let the phone “dry” itself out. This worked, but a sealed screen would have prevented this! (Also, make sure you have a screen protector on it to avoid smudges on your screen.) My last complaint is that the browsing experience is very slooooooooooow and tedious. Again, the touch screen is not user friendly in this case, either! To be honest, surfing the Internet on ANY cell phone is not even worth the trouble…..I’d rather do it on my PC at home. If I had to make a sound choice on a BB, it wouldn’t be this one. (It does have some nice features plus is sleek and stylish, but not enough to overcome these issues!) I actually like the newer BB TOUR 9630…..it’s more my type of phone. Oh well, the STORM is my phone until my official upgrade date arrives…..in 2011. (Sigh!)
Don’t waste your money!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I bought this phone when it first came out, man, I was counting the days until my contract was up! The touchscreen is the worst! There are many features this phone doesn’t have. Lucky for me it broke and I was able to replace it with the Tour. The software is the same but has a regular keyboard and is easier to use. The storm also crashes a lot!
Junk. Period.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
If you read the “5 star” ratings you would think that this is the best phone ever made. Having owned this phone for 9 months I can tell you that:
A: The rave ratings were, in my opinion, either written by RIM/BB employees (or other shills) or are very old reviews that were written when it was newly released and exciting – I myself might have written such a review when I received my first BB Storm (currently on my 3rd).
B: If you are a business user and have this phone, I feel your pain.
C: If you read this review along with the multitude of other negative reviews and STILL want a Storm…then let this serve as a proactive “I told you so”.
PS: I have nothing against other BB’s…and I plan to replace this piece of %$#@ with another Blackberry model, because as a business user I can’t effectively do my job without the BB email capability.
Hope this review serves to prevent for others, the extremely unpleasant experiences I have had with this “Smart Phone”. What were those experiences? Read the other “1 star” reviews…my thoughts exactly.