Thread: Blackberry Storm flop or not?

Ok now that we have had our phones for sometime I'm curious to find out everyone opinion on the storm . I'll try get the ball rolling by saying I think honestlly the device itself fron a consumer stand point was a flop. I agree with phone scoop he11fire in saying that if your not a techy as writer put it that your just not gonna enjoy this phone. I have had the privilege to play with an iphone with 3.0, and a palm pre. And out of all 3 the storm lacks the most. When I say lack I mean that Rim for whatever reason rushed this phone I believe. Like I said before I have many storms at my disposal and it amazes me how I load each phone with exact same software and everything the same and they perform so differently. One phone lags more than other, one phone freezes more than other. This has made dealing with customer problems very hard to the point its no point in fixing just replac and hope for best. Now me as a user I do not mind my storm because I have access to people like crackman and lyr. The phone itself has entertained me in seeing new os leaked and tweakin and trying hybrids. But once again this is the techy playing lol. I have actually got the chance to talk to one executive about the storm and he himself as notched the storm as a test run. He believes the storm 2 will deliver where storm did not. I am not bashing the storm I am just trying to speak from a manager view. The storm has been one of the most returned and trouled phones and I am in what we call a level 1 store. Now the palm pre I must admit have done a better job at an initial touch screen launch in regards to os. The os isn't lag free so please don't believe the hype. But it has the least lag I have seen on any of the smartphone. And I have had them all from samsung instinct to htc touch pro to iphone both gen to omnia to storm.that's to name a few. But the palm pre device is lacking in my opinion. But they unlike rim made the os first. It is evident in the phone. The storm os I hate to say is the curve and other blackberry just touch screen added. For a touch screen phone the hard keys are used too much. I believe that reinventing the design of the the bb device for touch screen is needed. People might say how can I suggest getting rid of the classic 4 key design but its because its honestly a consumer oriented phone. As much as people want to say its for business user too its not true. If rim reinvented the design and people had to learn a new system trust me consumers wouldn't mind at all. People that got the storm honestly got it because they wanted it . And people might say wait the pre might do horrible at first too and I agree with u because of some key annoying flaws in it but that's for another thread. And for those who say look at the numbers of sales that the storm has had I will say that is due to clever marketing by rim and verizon. The bogo(buy one get one free) was smart and helped save the phone. Many customers could not pass up a mediocre 500 phone for free. Like I said before no bashing here just stating what I have en countered as manageer.like I said I enjoy my phone for the main fact of leaks. But I also have a curve for corporate use that company gives. Well my choice of the device itself would be flop but clever marketing to save it.oh by the way thanks to all hybrid workers makers and leakers. bottom line is I believe the storm can be saved just needs more work than they are putting into it. Let's hope 5.0 is successful in saving first gen storms. I also to help prove point to myself I am typing this thread on my storm and it is incredibly slow lol just might be my device who knows. If anyone reads and want me to go into detail why I think flop I'll be happy to explain more detail. Please feel free to state your opinion. Have good day.

I do agree with you BMF, and i wish it wasnt like this with these phones. Hopefully Storm2 will be amazing and save our faith in RIM. Awesome post and makes you think

Wow well said post

OK, my 2 cents worth,
With all the hype around the storm when it came out it should have been amazing, it should have been able to do what it can now and more...but it didnt. This is my first Blackberry so I as many had no expectations (other than what a palm did 8 years ago). I knowing nothing about how it should work was still disapointed actualy very disapointed, lagging on app opening, slow on transition and lots of dropped calls. After many many calls to vzw techs one finally told me about CB and in Jan of this year I started lurking around there looking for help. And I found it... many many helpful people and over the course of the next sevral months helped make my storm better. I feel RIM is on the right track with this phone and especially with the 151 and above os'. Disapointment lasted 6 months and a couple days ago at midnight or so I had a new acting Storm that right now lives up to most of my expectations. I am sure there more things that can be done and are being done to make it better but now I am liking it alot, and with the storm 2 coming out i'm kinda hoping they have not given up on improving the storm.............
So to answer your question Flop or Not
Wednesday 6-3-09 FLOP
Thursday 6-4-09 NOT:dance::dance::dance::dance:

Originally Posted by gatewayad

So to answer your question Flop or Not
Wednesday 6-3-09 FLOP
Thursday 6-4-09 NOT:dance::dance::dance::dance:

Sorry that if priceless :lmao: well said gate

I think the biggest problem with the Storm is the lack of consistency from phone to phone, like you said. I must have been luck on the day I got my Storm because I haven't really had any problems, knock on wood.

I do agree that the software should have been better on the original release. I think they rushed it to get the phone out. The leaked OSs and hybrids that follow are one of the best things that happened for the phone.

I'm a first time BB owner, I had a few Palm Treos before, both palm and windows software. I definately prefer the BB over Palm, the software on the Treo was terrible as far as I'm concerned.

I disagree on the 4 hard keys, I like having them on the phone. I'm not sure I would like the phone as much if it was entirely touch screen. I like the idea of 4 dedicated hard keys with functions that you use pretty much every time you pick up the phone.

Even before the hybrids I wouldn't call it a flop, maybe a slight let down. Everytime you saw an ad for it on TV they ran amazingly, smooth transitions, very responsive. But when you get home with your new shiny toy it isn't anything like the commercial you saw. If the phone came preloaded with BBC v7 then I would definately say not a flop.

The Voyager was a flop... (opps, did I write that out loud?)

You make a few very good points so I dare not repeat them. And I won't go into to the past. That's already been written. But I will say that from my perspective, the hardware that they introduce was on point. Yes it came with a lot of wolftickets. But consider that it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that the problem were all software related. To me it's like Deja Vu..., I seem to remember looking out the Window at a few other Big Dogs that tend to piece-mill out their best work. I think that the Storm will continue to hold its own. If the hardware gets any better it will probably be what we can all expect (wifi, more touch screen, color change, faster, stronger and so on.) The software can happen at anytime the great minds let go of their visions. More Hybrids or 5.0 OS, it doesn't make a difference to me. Just no that the potential for success is already in your hand when you pick up a Storm.

i've said it before. the storm isn't a consumer device. it is a business device with consumer functions added. consumer functions = eye candy. there is nothing NEW to the storm that isn't on the other berries.

now with that said, i feel the storm is a success. slow start = / = fail. and now with the OS improvements (including official and .15x and even 5.0) i feel like the storm will be a good device from now on. the launch was just really, REALLY rocky. and i blame VZW for pushing it, as well as the other carriers...and RIM for not preventing it. there should have been some sort of fight, even go to court over it. but RIM and the carriers wanted their xmas $$$ so we all know how that turned out.

Originally Posted by patches152

i've said it before. the storm isn't a consumer device. it is a business device with consumer functions added. consumer functions = eye candy. there is nothing NEW to the storm that isn't on the other berries.

now with that said, i feel the storm is a success. slow start = / = fail. and now with the OS improvements (including official and .15x and even 5.0) i feel like the storm will be a good device from now on. the launch was just really, REALLY rocky. and i blame VZW for pushing it, as well as the other carriers...and RIM for not preventing it. there should have been some sort of fight, even go to court over it. but RIM and the carriers wanted their xmas $$$ so we all know how that turned out.

I agree with you Patches...My storm rocks!!!!

Originally Posted by Spidersweb

The Voyager was a flop... (opps, did I write that out loud?)

You make a few very good points so I dare not repeat them. And I won't go into to the past. That's already been written. But I will say that from my perspective, the hardware that they introduce was on point. Yes it came with a lot of wolftickets. But consider that it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that the problem were all software related. To me it's like Deja Vu..., I seem to remember looking out the Window at a few other Big Dogs that tend to piece-mill out their best work. I think that the Storm will continue to hold its own. If the hardware gets any better it will probably be what we can all expect (wifi, more touch screen, color change, faster, stronger and so on.) The software can happen at anytime the great minds let go of their visions. More Hybrids or 5.0 OS, it doesn't make a difference to me. Just no that the potential for success is already in your hand when you pick up a Storm.

I think Samsung Glyde was a total flop!!!

Storm Isses:
I am technical power user and I find the Storm disappointing. The normal use of the Smart Phone is OK, but anyone actualy installing applications and trying to push the phone to do more will often end up with problems. Operating memory issues and lag should not be a part of the phone experience but it feels like smart phone manufacturers are willing to sacriface this experience to throw in features.

I read somewhere that RIM acknowledged the issues and responded with something along the lines of, "it's our first release" and "we've learned a lot". Hopefully the Storm 2 will actually be something as good or better than the Palm Pre.

I haven't had a lot of experience with the Palm Pre, but so far, it looks to be a solid Smart Phone. Some things that really sold me within the first few minutes: Slide-out qwerty keyboard, accurate/fast touch screen, better speakerphone, better browser (webkit), smoother and faster interface, better zooming, and FAST multitasking. So no, it's not instant, but the phone seems so much more responsive.

I wish my Blackberry was waiting on me instead of me waiting on it (even if it's just for a few seconds).

I have been very happy with the Storm, must have been lucky with the hardware (touch wood). I had no issues with the occasional restart, and only found out about memory issues when I joined the forums...

I came from 2 years on a 8707 BB.
I am half Tech enabled, and have played with upgrading the OS, with success - and this is with thanks to all the great posts on the forums, from all the very helpful experts on BBos... you guys are great.

I am really happy and very impressed with Storm...

Prior to the 8707, I had an o2 phone for a couple of years (Stylus operated Windows Mobile).... and that was a problematic and very unreliable phone..

The Storm is 100 years ahead of that.. so all in all my experience with the storm I score it 98%.

BTW I am a business user, and use the phone a fair bit..

Originally Posted by brightspark

I have been very happy with the Storm, must have been lucky with the hardware (touch wood). I had no issues with the occasional restart, and only found out about memory issues when I joined the forums...

I came from 2 years on a 8707 BB.
I am half Tech enabled, and have played with upgrading the OS, with success - and this is with thanks to all the great posts on the forums, from all the very helpful experts on BBos... you guys are great.

I am really happy and very impressed with Storm...

Prior to the 8707, I had an o2 phone for a couple of years (Stylus operated Windows Mobile).... and that was a problematic and very unreliable phone..

The Storm is 100 years ahead of that.. so all in all my experience with the storm I score it 98%.

BTW I am a business user, and use the phone a fair bit..

Thanks for giving positive feedback on storm...nowdays we hear it more and more with people using leaked OS/beta OS and hybrids, but before, people were more negative about it....I believe it has a lot of potential and we have seen significant progress, so we know RIM is moving in the right direction :arms:

I knew from jump that I would want this phone. I actually purchased one in February and got my wife a curve with the verizon bogo. Due to an unfortunate disagreement with the wifey (she didn't want her phone), I took both phones back after about a week. Now mind you, prior to that initial purchase, I had already engrossed myself with the forums and everything that I could possibly find out about this phone. This was my first bb but I had learned all about leaks and upgrading and the whole nine so when I repurchased the phone (for real this time lol) a month later back in March, I already knew what I was getting into. I'll be honest: Verizon screwed up. The sales that they probably lost because they wanted to push the phone asap would've been gained with a later release and an initially better OS. Also, my thing is, they should train their salespeople to use crackberry and blackberryos and other sites that show you how to upgrade as a selling tool. I believe that so many more people would've loved this phone from jump if they would've gotten home and when they opened up the box, a little card that simply said BlackberryOS or crackberry.com would've fallen out the box! I've been fairly lucky too... Then again, I am tech savvy as well. I love my STORM but out the box from the store, it's one of the worst phones ever. Not until updates are done, is the phone in my mind the best that I've ever owned.

We have had a Storm here since day one. It was buggy but not more than other things for a first attempt (Directv DVR+ for and example). It's not a flop to me. It's simply getting better. I saw 4 more people at work carrying them. We now have 2 here. Mine and my girl friends Since .148 came out it has been useable and very stable. Now the Crackman Hybrid V7 is AWESOME. Now the phone is rocking. It will only get better from here.

Ok well its great to see users appreciate their phone. And I do agree with everyone saying I like my storm also. That being said my friend is a manager of a sprint store and I actually got hand time with the pre for about a day and here is how I feel. Out the box its sad to say the pre outperforms my storm out the box. Way less lagg is the comparison I am making . Also the browser difference is highly noticeable . But it does have its flaws which I won't go into unless ppl ask me to. But my point in my previous post is that what has made the storm a good device are leaks. And that isn't always guaranteed because with the storm u have to pray u get a good device that will react well with leaks and hybrids. For example om using crackman hybrid and have it on 3 different phones at work in the same location. Have them all with the same settings. All running pandora. And 1 phone died completely after 3 hours of use and another had 35% left and another 50%. I allowed the other two to die which they did roughly an hour later. Now this is where I laughed I recharged phones and did 3 battery pulls and what I found amazed me and maybe someone can try it on their phones. At the beginning I was at 100% battery life after batterypulls I was at 95% and the battery pulls are in span of 5 mins. So I kept going after 10 battery pull I was 90%. So I kept going until I had to leave would u want to take a guess how far down it went? I made it to 75% on one phone 80 and 75 on another. Lol I had myself a great laugh. And the memory leak I could not gauge because I was doing battery pulls obviously so memory restart. But like I'll say it again I like my storm but like I said just flaws many flaws

When you compare the storm to what the iphone was when it was first released, I think you have to say it's been a minor success. Yes, it's got some flaws, but it still offers some features that the iphone doesn't. And the iphone wasn't without its flaws either. So I wouldn't call it a flop.

This is my first BB and I was instantly dissappointed. The hardware itself is solid but the software, out of the box, sucked! I have always modded my phones in the past so the following day after i got my storm I upgraded the operating system. Made it a much better device. As the hybrids got better the phone got better. With the latest .151 V7 OS the phone is amazing. The way it should have been since day one. I can't thank enough, BBCrackman and the people on the forums that try and troubleshoot the os's to make them what the people need. So i would say the phone is not a flop but its all thanks to the leakers and tweakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:usa2:

Originally Posted by secured2k

Storm Isses:
I am technical power user and I find the Storm disappointing. The normal use of the Smart Phone is OK, but anyone actualy installing applications and trying to push the phone to do more will often end up with problems. Operating memory issues and lag should not be a part of the phone experience but it feels like smart phone manufacturers are willing to sacriface this experience to throw in features.

I read somewhere that RIM acknowledged the issues and responded with something along the lines of, "it's our first release" and "we've learned a lot". Hopefully the Storm 2 will actually be something as good or better than the Palm Pre.

I haven't had a lot of experience with the Palm Pre, but so far, it looks to be a solid Smart Phone. Some things that really sold me within the first few minutes: Slide-out qwerty keyboard, accurate/fast touch screen, better speakerphone, better browser (webkit), smoother and faster interface, better zooming, and FAST multitasking. So no, it's not instant, but the phone seems so much more responsive.

I wish my Blackberry was waiting on me instead of me waiting on it (even if it's just for a few seconds).

now i agree with you, but i don't blame RIM. i blame the app devs who didn't write very good code as far as managing available resources. if you get some well written apps on the phone, you'd be suprised how well it can run and even multi-task. i find that now my battery is more of an issue than app memory is. i've ditched a lot of apps and i've seen a huge improvement over the actual function of the device. some apps aren't just ready for the storm.

Overall I like my Storm....granted there are a couple of minor quirks, however keep in mind they're 99% due to the fact I'm on AT&T. The Storm's O/S, the radio in particular, is geared more towards CDMA with the GSM as a way to make calls when out of CDMA (Verizon's) service area. The phone itself functions great of GSM, it is only the data that is a bit iffy at times. (Use radio .90 or else, if you're on AT&T, seems to be the answer).

Other than that, I prefer the Storm to the iPhone.....the GPS works and I really like the sure-press action of the screen. (No where near as many wrong letters when typing, since you know what letter is going to come out before clicking). Curious what they've done with the sequel, the haptic feedback is what sold me. (I might even hop to Verizon when the At&t contract is up next month to gain the 3G speed).