Blackberry Storm is coming very soon!

[Chronus]

The clickable touchscreen sounds very promising. Apparently they spent a lot of time on it so it feels like using a keyboard... supposed to be faster than other touchscreens with the right kind of feedback.... but as with all touchscreens, you probably can't do it "blind" as with a physical keyboard, but that's personal preference...

http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/...berry-stor.html

http://www.gsmarena.com/blackberry_storm_g...al-news-616.php

With US' AT&T having an awful 3G service (very poor reception in such a major city as New York) and Verizon having the best 3G network on CDMA, they have a great chance of this phone doing well.

The cut and paste functionality looks very simple and easy to use too.

3.2MP camera with flash and video recording is not too bad (though there are so many phones with 5MP and 8MP nowadays too, as well as xenon flash).

The usual "proper" push email, messenger, yahoo/msn messengers too.

Removeable battery, hot-swappable memory card (16gb size is already available - going upto 32gb in future), convenience keys, ms office document editors, MMS, being able to send and receive via bluetooth ... same processor speed/ram as iphone so should be pretty good.

And not forgetting stereo bluetooth headphones will work (I really don't understand why a music-orientated phone like Apple's doesn't allow this).

Not sure about wifi, but with an unlimited data plan and 3G it's not a big deal I would think. The Verizon (US) version definitely has no wifi but the rest of the world GSM version might do.

If they take over the Bold's DivX/Xvid compatibility, they could really do well here! If they did what Nokia did and give full FlashLite support (see N82, N95, N96 etc) that would really be something.

Here are specs:

http://www.gsmarena.com/blackberry_storm_9500-2534.php

Here's the vodafone advert:

http://crackberry.com/vodafone-blackberry-storm-commercial

Gotta say this phone has really piqued my interest and I'd be tempted if I wanted a touchscreen phone...

Edited October 8, 2008 by Chronus

[Chronus]

Forgot to mention it can be used as a modem too.

And can truly be used worldwide with 3G... it has CDMA and GSM networks catered for: US, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, South Korea, Japan etc. Great for a traveller to go along with the GMT watch

Edited October 8, 2008 by Chronus

[chronoluvvv]

well i know i'll be getting one as soon as they unlock it 'safely'

[Chronus]

well i know i'll be getting one as soon as they unlock it 'safely'

Let me know how it is, I'm really interested.

I've talked to Vodafone and can get it as a free upgrade when it comes out at the end of the month, but I was thinking of switching phone companies!

[chronoluvvv]

well i'm in the States so i'll be using an unlocked device w/Tmobile

chances are you'll get one running w/Vodafone before i do

in any case, this will be my 3rd BB

the others have never given me any problems

so i don't think this one will stray too far from the norm

have you used SureType before ? it takes a slight element of trust to get used to it

but once the dictionary customizes itself to your vocabulary, you'll be flying like never before

[Chicken Manny]

I had a chance to hold one for about 10 seconds and the "click" feedback is really cool. Way better than anything else I have seen, or felt. The glass actually clicks down with each press. I can't wait to get one.

[Chronus]

well i'm in the States so i'll be using an unlocked device w/Tmobile

chances are you'll get one running w/Vodafone before i do

in any case, this will be my 3rd BB

the others have never given me any problems

so i don't think this one will stray too far from the norm

have you used SureType before ? it takes a slight element of trust to get used to it

but once the dictionary customizes itself to your vocabulary, you'll be flying like never before

I havent tried suretype. My brother has a Pearl for work and he says he loves it and he never emails from his computer anymore, it's always from that phone, so it must be pretty good. I think I'd probably still prefer a QWERTY but I'll see when this comes out

Are the unlocked phones on eBay worth a look ? or too many fakes? A friend of mine dropped $1k on 2 fake N96s before buying direct from Nokia... he's got back $600 from ebay so far and trying to get the rest...

[Chronus]

I had a chance to hold one for about 10 seconds and the "click" feedback is really cool. Way better than anything else I have seen, or felt. The glass actually clicks down with each press. I can't wait to get one.

I read that you can type as fast as a normal phone qwerty keyboard so that looks very promising. I think I'll have to try it out in the shop and see how good it is

[Dizzy]

i cant believe it doesnt have WIFI!?!?!?

wow

i just made the decision not to but it. I use the wifi on my BOLD all the time. It automaticly connects to a wireless router if there is one available and uses it for interent. I cant believe they didnt add wifi.. what are they thinking?

[Chicken Manny]

Very few corporate IT groups like to give access to wifi. It's just too much of a security risk. Plus you have a real 3G network available to you.

[Dizzy]

all the other new berrys have wifi and the corp IT guys can just password their wifi if they want.. just seems weird that this new radical style of blackberry would be without something that is almost the new standard these days for smart phones, and thats a wifi connection.

[Pugwash]

all the other new berrys have wifi and the corp IT guys can just password their wifi if they want.. just seems weird that this new radical style of blackberry would be without something that is almost the new standard these days for smart phones, and thats a wifi connection.

That'll be to preserve the battery.

[Chronus]

That'll be to preserve the battery.

I have a feel you're right though the option would be nice. I'm surprised at how many people don't switch off auto wi-fi search and then complain their battery doesn't last... you DON'T need wi-fi and bluetooth turned on 24/7 !

I tend to use wifi at home to load stuff on, never got to try it out and about though.

Edited October 13, 2008 by Chronus

[Chronus]

i cant believe it doesnt have WIFI!?!?!?

wow

i just made the decision not to but it. I use the wifi on my BOLD all the time. It automaticly connects to a wireless router if there is one available and uses it for interent. I cant believe they didnt add wifi.. what are they thinking?

There are also rumours that Verizon (USA) didn't want WiFi as they have no WiFi network of their own. Doesn't make sense to me, but perhaps they charge people once their 5gb limit is used up ?

It's a phone that can be used virtually everywhere in the world and apparently has a dual processor... but I would still have added the option of wifi.

[chronoluvvv]

I read that you can type as fast as a normal phone qwerty keyboard so that looks very promising. I think I'll have to try it out in the shop and see how good it is

well SureType is basically a s/w add-on which predicts text as you type as you type it

the BB Storm/Thunder has QWERTY on the touch-screen while one of the first BB to have it was the 7100/7105 a few yrs ago

personally i don't care for the lack of wi-fi on the new BB. I've used wi-fi enabled devices by HTC (MDA/Tilt, etc) and it drains the battery within 90-120 minutes depending on hard you run the processor. Most of the websites have mobile versions these days and the ones i frequent for work & pleasure have worked just fine with T-Mobile's GPRS service (since the days of the first Sidekick, LoL) so the lack of 802.11 connectivity is not a deal-breaker for moi

[Chronus]

well SureType is basically a s/w add-on which predicts text as you type as you type it

the BB Storm/Thunder has QWERTY on the touch-screen while one of the first BB to have it was the 7100/7105 a few yrs ago

personally i don't care for the lack of wi-fi on the new BB. I've used wi-fi enabled devices by HTC (MDA/Tilt, etc) and it drains the battery within 90-120 minutes depending on hard you run the processor. Most of the websites have mobile versions these days and the ones i frequent for work & pleasure have worked just fine with T-Mobile's GPRS service (since the days of the first Sidekick, LoL) so the lack of 802.11 connectivity is not a deal-breaker for moi

Verizon's 3G coverage is supposed to be the best in the US, so you shouldn't have problems getting onto websites there. I've heard the iPhone (and unreleased Blackberry Bold) on AT&T have had numerous problems because of the awful coverage. Apparently there is poor coverage in such a major city as New York! Wi-fi is definitely a must on that network, by the sounds of things!

I haven't seen anywhere list that the Storm can natively play DivX and XviD like the Bold does... anyone hear anything on that?

[Chronus]

Of course if you are going to stick around on T-Mobile, I have no idea how good it is there, but if you are happy with it, no problem

[chronoluvvv]

Verizon's 3G coverage is supposed to be the best in the US, so you shouldn't have problems getting onto websites there. I've heard the iPhone (and unreleased Blackberry Bold) on AT&T have had numerous problems because of the awful coverage. Apparently there is poor coverage in such a major city as New York! Wi-fi is definitely a must on that network, by the sounds of things!

I haven't seen anywhere list that the Storm can natively play DivX and XviD like the Bold does... anyone hear anything on that?

+ 100 on Verizon's network

i had one of their silly flip-phones with 25 TV channels not too long ago

the only problem i ever had was that the battery would die after 40-45 minutes of channel-surfing & it was d@mn near impossible to connect the phone to a computer for updates, sync, etc.

i haven't visited NYC since 04 so i haven't much of an idea on how things are but my tMo devices were working fine whenever i needed them to.

with cellphone networks, there is just no given. What might work here will fail elsewhere and what works everywhere else doesn't work here

[vric]

if only they would put a real flash in there.. I know i'm cheezy, but I wish I could replace my Nokia N82 (5MP Xenon flash) with something easier for texting without loosing the great camera capability.

[Chronus]

if only they would put a real flash in there.. I know i'm cheezy, but I wish I could replace my Nokia N82 (5MP Xenon flash) with something easier for texting without loosing the great camera capability.

If they could merge the features of the N82 with the Bold or the Storm, that would pretty much be the perfect phone for me right now... N82 has the great camera and xenon flash as well as other things like SIP, RealPlayer, FlashLite web support, etc (and if you don't have these free programs, get Mobitubia to play YouTube videos, and Fring to make VOIP calls!). Texting is fine with the N82 but a QWERTY keyboard is always easier

If I got this Storm, the N82 would still be with me, I'll need it for the camera and other functions (pdf viewing etc, ok i know there is the free BeamReader on Blackberry, but that is in beta and limited til Oct 31 at the moment).