BlackBerry Storm Reviews & Round Up

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:

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!

T-Mobile G1 Update Galore

If you’re wondering why MobileRoar coverage has been a little relaxed this week its because we’ve been SOOO busy covering T-Mobile G1 news with sister site, phandroid.com. We’ve got a ton of great information over there but we’ve summarized it for all our MobileRoar brethren (and uh, brethra?) below:

First off, take a look at this T-Mobile G1 overview video that highlights some of the coolest features and capabilities of Android on the new device:

Here are some first impressions of the G1 and the T-Mobile G1 User Guide was just leaked as well, which can’t really give you a better text/picture based overview of the device.

Its tough to explain to non tech enthusiasts what the heck Android is and actually means for the mobile industry and consumers. To illustrate that, I usually explain what the application Shop Savvy for Android does and below is a video of Rylan Barnes - a member of their team - demonstrating the application in action:

That’s one of the COOLEST applications for Android not to mention the most useful, but Android will have just as many applications that are fun and pointless, just to help you kill time. One of them is called Krystle 2 and all it does is make your screen look like a furry pet and it shakes/vibrates when you pet it. Dumb? Yes… but things like these could also become very popular.

There have been a ton of complaints about the G1, mostly from iFanboys, but some of them hold water. Here is a list of some of the more common concerns that have surfaced:

Those concerns are already being alleviated.

My only concern was whether or not the Black G1 and Brown G1 were actually different colors. Although I sounded like a complete, sarcastic jerk when questioning the color I was… simply… puzzled. I explain more about the T-Mobile G1 Colors on Phandroid but here is the video:

I’m guessing there will be a TON of Android news rolling in over the next couple days, it will die down by Monday and then we’ll go through the craziness all over again when October 22nd comes. We’ll update you here but if Android in specific is your thing, check out phandroid.com and AndroidForums.com!

iPhone News, Rumors, Updates & Cracks

We’ve noticed numerous other mobile/tech sites around the web stick to iPhone news like white on rice, providing article after article, day after day for Apple Fanboys around the world. That’s not really “our thing” - so we’ve grouped together a “roundup” of the latest iPhone news for those who choose not to be innundated. Afterall, there are plenty of sites dedicated JUST to the iPhone if you’re that obsessed.

iPhone Crack-Up
While there are tons of millions of iPhone lovers out there, plenty of haters are out there too. And those haters are likely cracking up over the latest iPhone 3G news: the casing on the new iPhone, much lighter and less sturdy than the original model, is being reported as “easily cracked” from iPhone owners around the world. Apparently its even happening to iPhowners who treat their phone like a newborn baby. FYI - its seems to be more of a problem with the white iPhones.

iPhone Apps Get UnApped
Earlier this week, an iPhone application called NetShare allowed iPhone owners to use their iPhone as a modem. Essentially, it would create its own WiFi “hotspot” allowing you to connect any computer to the device wirelessly and using the 3G network to surf the web.

It was called “the best iPhone app ever” but was quickly pulled by Apple… for somewhat obvious reasons. Or not… it re-instated the application 24 hours later but not explanation has been given. Weird things have been happening to other applications as well:

BoxOffice, an iPhone App that innocently (we think) displays local movie times and such, was added to and then removed from the App Store. Why? Nobody knows… not even the developer.

Rumor: iPhone Nano By Christmas
Bucket of salt warning - some analysts and purported experts are claiming that Apple will launch an “iPhone Nano” buy Christmas That will also be available via a pay as you go contract. It would make sense as the iPod was tremendously successful with this model and Apple wants to market the iPhone in the same manner and with the same success as its musical counterpart. Nonetheless, its just a rumor for now.

iPhone Stuck on AT&T Until 2010
It appears as if AT&T has worked out a deal with Apple to continue its exclusive deal as the only Carrier to…uhhh… carry the iPhone in the United States through 2009. This news is great for Apple and terrible for consumers… most notably non-AT&T customers who want the iPhone.

iPhone 3G Updates Roundup

With the iPhone 3G launch only a couple short long days away, the rumors, speculation, reviews and all other kinds of last minute tidbits are pouring in. We’ve got a few concise updates that should help you from sifting through the entire world wide sandbox.

The Lines, The Myths, The Legend
Friday at 8AM is the magical time that the *Apple of our Sky* opens up and shines iPhone goodness on fanboys across the world. You can expect to get a suntan while you’re waiting. There is no telling how many people will line up to buy buy Apple and AT&T are saying that, because activation must take place in-store, the process time for each customer will be about 15 minutes.

We’re not mathematical geniuses but we’re guessing those “100 customers an hour” estimations are being a bit generous. Who knows… time certainly will tell. [From Crave]

Canadian Wait Time at Apple Stores = Infinity
You’ll be waiting forever to get an iPhone 3G if you line up at an Apple Store in Canada. The reason? They aren’t being sold! Some have said Apple is protesting the ridiculous data usage fees for customers charged by Rogers, the Canadian carrier. Others are claiming its no different than the rest of the world and that the USA is the only country where Apple Stores are pushing significant volume.

Rogers then reportedly responded to this criticism by offering 6GB of data for $30/month and because we’re not sure of Apple’s position in the first place, we’re not really sure what can be said. It looks better for Canadian’s than before though - that’s for sure.

Either way, we don’t understand why any Canadian would weather the storm before playing a little game of wait-and-see. Oh… oh… unless you’re a fanboy. [From MocoNews, EngadgetMobile]

Early iPhone 3G Reviews
Only the elite have been offered early review devices of the iPhone 3G. While the MobileRoar invitation must have, er, got lost in the mail there were 3 other VIPs who received theirs on time and provided reviews for the rest of use to devour: Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, Ed Baig of USA Today and David Pogue of the New York Times.

Mossberg found the phone to be faster and louder (speakerphone) but claimed that the battery time was shorter and syncing your contacts was less than perfect. He didn’t review the GPS but overall, the device got strong scores - read it at All Things D.

Baig had a positive review of the phone but noted it was far from perfect, citing the following detractions: no video capture, no bluetooth stereo, no voice dialing and no turn-by-turn live directions for the GPS (will probably come as a paid 3rd party application). The 3G speeds weren’t working in his home which is an utter bummer since this is a main selling point. He also noted many of the accessories don’t work and an “adapter” will suppposedly be for sale to bridge the gap. Thanks, Apple… more money. You can read his review at USA Today.

Pogue had hope for 3rd party apps and felt audio quality was improved but was disappointed in some of the iPhone’s core functions, noting it was missing MMS, video recording, turn-by-turn GPS directions and cut and paste feature. Many of the features he DID like would be remedied by simply updating your old iPhone with the 2.0 software. Read the full review at the New York Times.

We summarized the excellent roundup found on Gizmodo… thanks Giz.

iPhone Apps is Where It’s At
The ability to download 3rd party applications is the true beauty of the iPhone 3G and in reality is just the iPhone 2.0 software that could run on your old iPhone as well. It’s the same reason we’re immensely excited for Android.

So we figured we’d help you find some info on upcoming applications you’ll probably want to check out once you’ve got your shiny new, iPhone 3G in hand - iPhone App Roundup.

Memorial Day Weekend Wrap-Up

Perfect weather meant less computer for a lot of folks celebrating Memorial Day… including us. We thought we catch up, and fill you in on, some of the weekend’s mobile stories. Just a heads up - we didn’t miss much!

The Month of May has treated us fairly well, but lets hope there are a few golden nuggets remaining between now and Saturday, the 31st!