Blackberry Storm 9530 Unlocked Review by Feamsterr

The BlackBerry Storm, the first BlackBerry with a touchscreen, is now available exclusively in the U.S. from Verizon Wireless.

The Storm outperforms most BlackBerrys with its crisp, innovative touch-button screen. Boasting a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus still and video camera, the Storm impresses by packing numerous features into its sleek and sturdy form-factor.

There is a lot to like about this device, including its sharp display, a camera, and applications like Visual Voicemail, but there are still some glaring problems. Even after updating its operating system with Verizon's new patch, there is still lag present in a lot of applications which hinders the phone's functionality in many areas. And the lack of Wi-Fi and QWERTY keyboard, and unrelenting fingerprints detract from the innovative hardware.

There are issues that Verizon and RIM will be able to address via further firmware updates, but there are others (read: lack of Wi-Fi) that can only be incorporated into future Storm versions.

Touchscreen
The Storm's touch-button screen is the focus of this smartphone.

There are two options for working the screen. Using one of these, you slide your fingers across the screen to select an item or to shift between two items like the iPhone. Switching to the second setting allows you to select items by depressing the screen. Pushing the BlackBerry key (one of four keys on the front of the device) pulls up a list of menu items. You can navigate the menu by dragging your fingers to move across rows or columns and selecting items with a tap.

When I first picked up the Storm, I would just click right onto a button to select something the way I'm used to on an iPhone. I've since learned that I can rest my finger on the button first and then press in the screen to select. This doesn't take much longer than pressing the button right away as you would on an iPhone, and it greatly increases accuracy when selecting or typing. When you rest your fingers over a button to select it, it highlights blue. Although this is helpful in confirming your choice, it is also a little counter-intuitive because the letter or item that lights up is the one that your finger is on. If you have larger fingers, this could be a serious problem.

Though there are some inconsistent screen features that need development, the brightness of the screen is rock solid. The screen is so bright that I reset it to 10% and even at this level the screen is readable indoors and out.

Under ideal conditions, the screen works well, and is pretty fun to use. It's evident that the folks at RIM did their due diligence in researching and designing what the screen should do, how it should do it, and had a clear vision for the Storm's screen experience.

But there are two things to consider about the Storm's screen: One is how it looks and the other is how it functions. Does the screen look good? Yes, absolutely. Does it function the way it should, every time, without any frustrations? Absolutely not.

I haven't experienced any problems with the actual responsiveness of the phone, as the Storm has never missed my click or misinterpreted my finger slide. Rather, most of the problems seem related to executing the instructions. These are so significant that I have devoted an entire section of this review to them, called Bugs and Slow-Downs.

There are a number of other smaller issues with the Storm's display, too.

One of its quirks reveals itself at night.

Best BlackBerry ever

When I received my package I was pretty excited, this was my 2nd blackberry and didn't disappoint me. The box came with everything the seller advertised at the action (3 batteries, USB cable, charger with around the world adapters, unlocked condition) and a leather glove to use as a holster.
At first, it was very weird having to push the screen feeling a little click, but now it feels pretty natural. Texting on this phone is easier than other smartphones with touch screen. Media files are very well supported, and the browser works great. I loved the way how RIM decided to use the standard jacks for headphones, now I won't have to look for an adapter to use my phone as an MP3 player in my car. I disliked and loathed the very short demos of games that were downloadable once I installed the phone to my computer with the software that came in the box. Also, I wish I didn't need to wipe all data from the phone to stop receiving E-mails meant to be for the previous owner. Actually, the only real problem that the phone had was that I had to reconfigure the connection so I could use my SIM card on it (but hey, Verizon didn't block my phone so it really was unlocked). But let's get back to the good stuff. I love the wide variety of themes and apps that are downloadable for this thing. I recently downloaded a few and it was great using the WiFi to directly download OTA and installing without having to connect to the PC once more. I also tried the already installed app for viewing doc, ppt and xls files and I felt pretty cool with this stylish viewer. This phone is still lacking and alarm for the clock to wake up, but it can be arranged with the auto-on followed with a reminder at the desired our. Speaking of reminders, I loved how I can choose the frequency of reminders to be certain days of the week, something that was lacking on my 8100, had to put 5 different reminders on the calendar (one for each day of the week I needed to wake up early) and then set them to be weekly, so my congratulations for thinking to RIM about that. Something that improved was resolution of the camera, but unfortunately, nor did the quality of image. When looking at my photos from the 9550, they don;t seem too much different than the 8100, but it doesn't bother me too much. Video works pretty neat, really liked that camera. But I think the thing that I loved the most was the holster, comes with a sort of magnet that the phone can detect when it is put on and then it locks screen and turns of the lights. The phone can be configured to answer as soon as it's out of holster and that is awesome.
I really loved this phone, it really is a nice investment and is a great improvement. Fast to load (compared to the 8100), wide variety of file support for media, smart touchscreen, texting's better than ever with truetype and lots of virtual keybords to choose from in case you're not into qwerty very much, fast navigation within phone menus and internet, fast on/off response from wifi and bluetooth, wide variety of apps and themes, stylish design, etc make enough to call this what the 9500 should have been at first: the best RIM BlackBerry ever, even better than the Torch

Rim Blackberry Storm 9530

The Storm's touch-button screen is the focus of this smartphone.

There are two options for working the screen. Using one of these, you slide your fingers across the screen to select an item or to shift between two items like the iPhone. Switching to the second setting allows you to select items by depressing the screen. Pushing the BlackBerry key (one of four keys on the front of the device) pulls up a list of menu items. You can navigate the menu by dragging your fingers to move across rows or columns and selecting items with a tap.

With the touchscreen and letter/item highlighting, typing on the Storm is easier than the iPhone, but not nearly as easy as typing on a hardware keyboard.

There are inaccurate strikes inherent with any small keyboard, but the button-screen is, in some ways, a major downfall for this phone. If you're typing quickly on the phone, it's possible for your fingers to move too quickly for the screen to come back up before you need to press it in again. This results in a cap on how fast you are able to type on the Storm regardless of how accurate you become.

RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530

RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530
Like many others, I use my phone for more than just calls. Lately, I've been searching for a good combination form, function, and value. Since I don't want to continue the two year contract merry-go-round with my cell carrier, I choose to look to Ebay to find my diamond in the rough. The Blackberry 8530 truly is a diamond, unfortunately its two weaknesses lead me to realize my search is not over.

Don't get me wrong, I love pretty much every aspect of this phone. The qwerty keyboard, love it. I have large hands and for many years thought the small qwerty keyboard would be too much of an obstacle, I was wrong. The App Store,love it. The number of available apps doesn't matter, the number of non-sucking apps do! The video capabilities, love it. Never thought I would be able to watch good looking video on such a small screen, again I was wrong. WiFi, love it. I'm on Sprint so all I can say is it's about time. Assignable buttons, love it, I mean it's my phone right, let me mold it the way I want! Battery life, awesome! So nice to have a smart phone that isn't stupid when it comes to power usage. Standby time does not mean drain the juice as fast as you can, this phone can hold a charge.

With all that said, there are two glaring weaknesses. For some reason, I haven't figured it out yet, Rim felt removing the camera flash was a good idea, NOT! Like all other BB's in this form factor, although you may have 3G or 4G, navigating the web on this device still sucks!!! The screen is just too small for a rich web experience. Maybe one day there will be a light, thin, slider BB that offers a qwerty keyboard, larger screen, and all the goodness of a real BB, no the Storm is not the answer.

If these two features or rather disabilities don't bother you, then run don't walk and pick up this phone!

Great phone but not for iphone users

This is a great phone for those who looks for an good phone without having to expend hundres of dollars. This phone have all the great features that you look in an blackberry device but it's not for previews iphone owners. This like most of the blackberry phones are a little limited on funtions and on applications.

Some of the great features that this phone have is a great touch flow, it's smooth and really good. Great Screen , Great image quality, easy to navigate, and more. But like everything have some features that are not so good, staring with the weight of the device, i think is a little heavy and the battery door it's like metal, something that maybe it's not so bad its that to select something on the screen you have to make click on it, this i think helps on not make mistake dialing or looking something.

Some of the bigg mistake of this unit, is that there is not Wifi even if this device will work with a data plan, everybody always looks for wifi on a mobil , even when it's not need it.

Other mistake it's that there is not infrared unit. Also the localization of the "Mute" and "Lock" buttoms at the top of the device.

And the thing that i think really blackberry do it wrong ,is that you can't save application, themes, or the email on your Micro SD card! , so if you put one to your device its just for save music, pictures and ringtones there, so that thing limited too much all the device including this one, you always have to be erasing the apps to add new ones.

Also this device shows a lost of memory space , you always have to be cleaning the cache and all that kind of file, cause if you don't you will see everyday how you miss space on your internal memory and this is a thing that you can't leave happend when you have a mobile that just give you 64 mb to install application!

In conclution this phone it's an alternative to iphone lovers but not a really competition, it's a good quality phone but not the best.