BlackBerry Storm Reviews & Round Up

November 20, 2008 in BlackBerry, Handsets, Reviews, Verizon, Video, Vodafone, Wrap-Ups

The BlackBerry Storm will officially be launched on Verizon Wireless tomorrow and tons of the top tech blogs are reporting their detailed reviews of the phone. We wanted to round up the top BlackBerry Storm reviews (seen below) and bring you a couple more details pertinent to the release.

Two extra tidbits that are worth noting:

  • While initial stock levels were rumored to be aplenty, new information is suggesting that the BlackBerry Storm stock levels won’t be as generous as previously suggested and VZW corporate stores will get the numbers while BestBuy and others will come up on the short end of the stick. Read more at BGR.
  • Google has launched Contacts Sync for BlackBerry so you can synch - both ways - all the data and contacts you have stored in your GMail account with your BlackBerry Storm… something that the G1 forces you to do. Read more at Google Mobile Blog.

And now onto the BlackBerry Storm reviews. Here are a bunch of great ones in no special order:

CNET Reviews the BlackBerryStorm
They give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars and say, “The RIM BlackBerry Storm may blow in a frenzy for Verizon Wireless subscribers wanting a touch screen similar to the Apple iPhone. However, die-hard texters, e-mailers, and corporate users may be better served with the BlackBerry Bold or other QWERTY device.”

Gizmodo Reviews the BlackBerry Storm
The title - Not Quite A Perfect Storm - concluding the innovative touchscreen isn’t enough to overcome some of its flaws and become the elite phone on the market. But it WILL have plenty of fans: “The Storm is a strong effort from RIM, but it’s not quite the killer phone that they or Verizon need it to be. It’s good—RIM clearly put a lot of thought into the design. But I think it fall short of what they were aiming for, and ultimately what all the hype is driving people to expect. Some of this is fixable: The damn thing needs to crash less often. But SurePress is not the end-all, be-all of touchscreen technologies—it’s not really an evolutionary step forward, even. The experience may be fairly refined, but more polish is still needed. Had this Storm been left to brew a bit longer, it would’ve been much more powerful.”

CrunchGear Reviews the BlackBerry Storm
Not an iPhone killer, but nevertheless a decent phone that should get plenty of normal phone enthusiasts excited about BlackBerry: “I won’t be ditching my Bold or iPhone 3G for the Storm, but if you’ve been waiting for it then I strongly encourage you to go to your local Verizon Wireless store and spend some time with it. I don’t think hardcore BlackBerry users will like it if you’re used to shortcuts and hot keys and hammering out text, but if you’re a casual user looking for a touch-screen device (which is the market RIM seems to be going after here) then go for it.”

Boy Genius Report Reviews the BlackBerry Storm
In perhaps the most glowing review, BGR says VZW customers would be crazy not to get the storm but questions whether people will/should switch carriers for the device: “Here’s our honest to god non-biased conclusion… this is the best phone to ever touch Verizon Wireless so far. If you’re a Verizon Wireless subscriber and a dumb phone won’t cut it, you’d be pretty air-headed to not pick this bad boy up above any other smartphone in Verizon’s lineup. It’s the “realest” touch screen Verizon has ever got. Not a piece of crap Voyager or Dare, but a real usable smartphone, depending on your needs.”

Walt Mossberg Reviews The BlackBerry Storm
WM from AllThingsD gave the Storm a spin and takes a very even, level headed approach to the review and conclusion: “Overall, the Storm is a very capable handheld computer that will appeal to BlackBerry users who have been pining for a touch-controlled device with a larger screen. And it offers yet another good option for anyone who is looking to buy one of the new, more powerful, pocket computers.”

Mobility Today 30-Minute Video Review
Wow… talk about covering it all… here it the most detailed and thorough video review you will find of the BlackBerry Storm on the web:

Vodafone Storm UK How To Videos
The CrackBerry Blog posted a series of videos about the Vodafone version of the BlackBerry Storm. They were first posted in the Vodafone Help Center but we’ve got to give CrackBerry the credit for digging them up.

Now take all this great knew knowledge instilled upon you and head over to the BlackBerry Storm Forum on MobileRoar to get all the conversation out of your system!

Enjoy this post? Subscribe to the RSS Feed!

Related Articles:

Comments:

  1. your right, great video review, covers a lot of ground.
    looks like very cool phone
    any idea what the flashing light was on phone ?      by waynester
  2. Hmmmm. The reviews are so so... I hope I like the phone. Looks like some of the problems could be fixed with an upgrade... But we will see.
    Oh yeah.. i hope the camera takes better pics than the one shown on Cnet... ugh      by Carpediem11203
  3. Is the camera comperable to the one on the Dare?      by willidare
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by willidare View Post
    Is the camera comperable to the one on the Dare?
    Well they both have a 3.2mp camera w/ auto focus... but that one pic i saw on cnet looked horrible! All dull, bad color and everything... but I have taken some pics like that with my Dare so maybe it was just one of those things that happens      by Carpediem11203
  5. Photo quality partially depends on the camera's software IMO. My wife and I both have 2.0mp on our phones and my voyager takes much better photos than her smartphone... she'll even use my phone over her own when we're out 'n about just because she knows she'll get a better shot.

    My advice to folks thinking of getting the storm... wait a bit and check out user reviews, and try before you buy. Really. Go to the store and ask to try out a working demo model, and if the sales rep stands there babbling at you (they like to do that sometimes- very distracting), ask nicely to leave you be for a bit. Know ahead of time what functions you want to examine. These things are too expensive to just buy without knowing exactly what you're getting.      by thegreen
  6. Agreed. I played around with it this morning and even though it is a 3.2 mp camera, I don't think the pictures are as up to par as what they should be. It is still a phone after all.      by chiefsmackaho
  7. Got to mess around with it at store. Not as responsive as I'd like. I have DARE and am use to touch screen for typing and all, but this was just 'off' some how... I feel the only reason to get this over the DARE is if you need what's in the data package. The rep I spoke with agreed. You may or may not agree- maybe I just need more time to play around with it. Interested to read the posts from everyone over the next couple weeks.      by MADJPEY
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by chiefsmackaho View Post
    Agreed. I played around with it this morning and even though it is a 3.2 mp camera, I don't think the pictures are as up to par as what they should be. It is still a phone after all.
    You are right, it is a phone and I do remember that.. But I would like to wish that it had a nice camera.. for those candid shots...

    Like the other night when I was in Wendy's and the lady working at the cash register looked just like the Wendy's "mascot"... hair and all!

    I took a few pics and text'd them to people while I stood on the line. Pure comedy!      by Carpediem11203
  9. I'm just hoping it starts up faster than the Dare. Then, I can at least say that I took the shots with my phone when I'm able to catch those shots. Doesn't happen much now because of the amount of time it takes for this damn thing to start up.      by chiefsmackaho
  10. Just in case you were wondering about the wendys look alike
         by Carpediem11203
(10) comments | Add your comments