Review: The Blackberry Storm, Take Two
It’s been over a month since I began using my Blackberry Storm and filed my initial review article. I’ve had time to use the device casually and professionally. I’ve also had time to monitor the response to my initial review, particularly in terms of how people found my review through search engines.
I learned that many users couldn’t copy their contact list onto the Blackberry Storm. Like me, they discovered that Verizon’s Backup Assistant program does not work on the Storm. And then, like me, they searched online for an automated solution. What they found: another complaining Blackberry Storm user that couldn’t copy his contacts. Oh, and no real solutions to the problem, either. There’s not even a way to export your contact list from Verizon’s Backup Assistant website. Absolutely nothing easy, period.
One possible solution I did find was to bring my Storm to the nearest Verizon store where, either for free or at a cost, the helpful Verizon staff would be able to copy my contacts off my old phone. I suggest doing that if you don’t want to re-enter your contacts list manually. Otherwise, look upon this as an opportunity. It’s a valuable chance to reassess your contacts list. Do you still need Bernard Madoff in there?
Since receiving my new Blackberry Storm, I’ve pulled together a list of fifteen observations, in no particular order:
Keyboarding ease. I’ve improved my typing skills using the on-screen keyboard (in particular, the landscape qwerty version). I’ve somewhat improved both my speed and accuracy. But I’m glad I’m not typing this article on it.
Dialing out. After an initial bit of confusion (basically, I felt at-a-loss without number keys on the phone), I’ve really taken a liking to the Storm’s on-screen interface for outbound dialing. The number keys are nice and large and work particularly well with the screen’s click feature. And from this screen, I have simple one-touch access to both my recent calls list and my (freshly tidied) contacts list.
Oh-so-small, the wee icons are. I sometimes wish for a stylus, because some of the buttons, icons, game pieces, text boxes, etc. are very small touch targets for my big fat fingers. I’m frequently thankful for the “Go Back” button on the Storm.
The fumble buttons. Have I mentioned that I have big fat fingers? Well, I’m clumsy enough with the phone that I often accidentally press the buttons along the device’s sides. Those buttons activate the camera, the voice dialing interface, and the volume and track advance features. I wish Research In Motion (RIM) would have repositioned these buttons or made them operate like the screen lock and mute buttons.
RIM's Blackberry Storm
Volume and track advance buttons. It took me a while to realize that volume and track advance were integrated into the same buttons and that the difference between the commands was quite subtle. Press lightly and the volume adjusts. “Click” the button to advance audio tracks.
Screen locking and muting. Somewhat hidden along the top edge of the Storm is a pair of buttons embedded within its skin. On the left is the screen lock button and on the right is the mute button. The selection of these two features placed in those locations is brilliant. I always lock the screen before putting the phone in my shirt pocket. I also like to mute/pause the music player when I unplug the headphones. And, the buttons do not easily get pressed accidentally.
Ringtone configuration. I spent some time and created my own custom ringtone scheme. I opted for various low-volume and pleasing single alert tones, as well as vibration-only for certain functions. The Blackberry offers quite a bit of ringtone customization, and I paid particular attention to creating a quiet and unintrusive scheme that wouldn’t disturb other folks nearby when it “rings.” I think everybody should do the same.
Music playlist troubles. In theory, the Storm’s touch screen interface should make it easy to add items to a custom playlist, so I assembled a Christmas assortment. For each and every song or folder I added, the Storm asked me if I was sure I wanted to add the song to the playlist. This confirmation step is tiresome and unnecessary. Also, the Storm did not reliably play the playlist. Both in shuffle mode and standard play order, the Storm would “veer” off the playlist and start choosing tracks from my greater music collectiom after playing only a few songs from my playlist.
Answering incoming calls. When a call comes in, the Storm displays the caller information clearly. On-screen buttons give me one-touch access to answer the call, mute the ringer, or ignore the call. I like the ease-of-use of this interface.
Watch it spin. That firmware update I mentioned in my earlier post really put the spin into the Storm. The interface rotates swiftly from portrait to landscape mode as I turn the phone (no more shaking required). Sometimes, though, it spins the screen at the slightest unintentional rotation of the Storm. This is a minor complaint: I’d rather it spin too easily than resist spinning at all.
Plugging in the charger. Is the MicroUSB port tough enough to withstand nightly plugins for the next couple years? We shall see. It seems like a lot of wear and tear.
The joys of visual voicemail. This is the best thing since the invention of sliced bread, and I think Verizon knows this. Annoyingly, they charge a couple dollars extra for this service each month. However, the service integrates so slickly into the phone that I’m seriously impressed. If I miss a call, the Storm displays a small window that tells me who called. If I click the link in the window for Details, I see a summary of the call information and there’s a Play button. All I need to do is press the Play button to hear my voicemail, no need to call into voicemail first. There’s also a whole visual “inbox” interface to this, as well.
The annoying wrong “1 new message” indicator. My Storm’s gmail inbox insists that I have a new message. I don’t, but it clings to its certainty. I’ve tried everything I could think of (including verbal threats) shy of deleting and reinstalling it to make the indicator go away. My next resort is to delete and reinstall, but how annoying. I’ll add a comment to this review when I get around to resolving this issue.
[ Edit: Yay! I finally solved this one! Lots of folks have been complaining about this issue. I finally discovered where the new message was hidden. It turns out that I did have a "new" message. I went into the standard Messages application and hit the menu (Blackberry logo) button and chose the View Saved Messages option. In this "hidden" group of saved messages I had one message that was, indeed, new. I read it and the new message indicator finally went away. Sigh... ]
Pairing the Jawbone II with the Storm. Here’s another item of great interest to the teeming masses. I love the super-simple look of the Jawbone, but it does make the pairing experience a bit daunting. I will admit to having some trouble the first time I tried to pair the Jawbone to my Storm (was I pushing on the right part of the device?). I followed the directions at least twice before succeeding. Now, to pair the devices, I get them into proximity of each other, pop on the Jawbone, and press its outer surface for a few moments and the devices magically connect. The Storm’s LED blinks blue when the devices are successfully paired.
The alarm clock. Since this is my first Blackberry, I don’t know if all the models do this, but I love it that the Storm displays a clock on its screen when plugged into the charger. If you click this screen, you can easily set an alarm. The type of clock display (analog or digital) and the alarm tone are configurable. I’m ordering a charging stand for the Storm. I’m hopeful that this will both cut down on the wear and tear on the MicroUSB plug, and allow me to see the clock while it’s charging. I might just ditch my old alarm clock and switch to my Blackberry, like everything else.
Craig Samson