While the SurePress technology is cool, it definitely takes some acclimation. It’s not a natural feeling to physically push down on the screen, and we often found ourselves forgetting to actually press down; instead just tapping or double tapping on the letter button or link. You do get used to it after a while though, but as far as e-mail creation or text messages, we missed having a tactile keyboard. We couldn’t comfortably type long messages as fast as we wanted and when we tried, the message was riddled with errors.
Unfortunately, we hate entering text on the iPhone. We really prefer having some sort of physical feedback to be sure that we’ve pressed a key. And the Storm gives us that feedback—with a real, solid click. If you’re like us, this might be the first touch screen you actually love.
But an entirely new way of clicking creates a whole new interface, and the learning curve on this thing is a cliff. It’s like trying to move from a one-button mouse to a two-button one. We’ve been conditioned by innumerable touch-screen devices to single-tap, double-tap, and swipe at things. With the Storm, you single-tap, double-tap, swipe and click, and until you get used to it, the experience can be frustrating.
The new .148 software upgrade makes the Storm’s QWERTY keyboard much more accurate; now, when you click on letters, you get what you think you clicked on. We were able to type much more quickly on the updated Storm than on a model with the older .75 software.
RIM redesigned the whole BlackBerry UI around the touch screen. As a result, there are bigger icons, of course, and a quartet of virtual keyboards (QWERTY portrait, QWERTY landscape, SureType, and phone keypad) to replace the beloved physical BlackBerry keyboard. You navigate the Storm’s interface by moving your finger lightly over the screen. When you want to select something, you click the screen down. Pressing the physical BlackBerry logo key below the screen summons the familiar BlackBerry contextual menu, and you select the options with your finger.
Below the display, you do get a set of tactile navigation controls that consists of Talk and End/Power buttons, a Menu key, and a clear button. Unlike other BlackBerry models, there is no trackball navigator and we have to admit that we missed it. It may be that we’re just used to having the trackball, and often we found our thumb automatically looking for the control while trying to scroll through pages and menus. However, even beyond that, we think it wouldn’t hurt to have a trackball navigator since it allows for easier one-handed operation. Also, you wouldn’t always have to rely on the touch screen and it would be useful for certain operations like for selecting links on a Web page.
On the left side, there’s a user-programmable shortcut key and a micro USB port, while the right spine has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a volume rocker, and another customizable button, which is set as the camera activation/capture key by default. The camera lens and flash are located on the backside, and behind the battery cover, you’ll find the microSD/SDHC card holder and SIM card slot. Finally, though not readily apparent, there is a device lock and mute button on the top edge of the Storm.
Verizon Wireless packages the RIM BlackBerry Storm with healthy set of accessories, including a travel charger with various adapters, a USB cable, an 8GB microSD card, a SIM card, a wired headset, a software CD, and reference material.
Features
While the RIM BlackBerry Storm might be the first touch screen for Research in Motion, the company wanted to make sure the smartphone offered the same feel and functionality of previous and current BlackBerrys. The Storm runs the latest BlackBerry OS 4.7, bringing an updated user interface much like the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Pearl Flip. You now get DataViz Documents To Go Standard Edition, so you can now edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files as well. If you want the capability to create new documents, you will have to upgrade to the Premium Edition. We had no problems opening and working on Word and Excel documents, but we can’t imagine doing more than minor edits on the Bold or any other smartphone for that matter. Other PIM applications include a Calendar, a task list, a memo pad, a voice recorder, a calculator, a password keeper, and more.
You can also get more applications for your Storm through the recently launched BlackBerry App World. The store was not available when the Storm was first released, but you can download it through the phone’s mobile browser. We installed it on our review unit with no problem and were able to download apps such as Pandora quickly and easily over Verizon’s 3G network. Next