A Software update greatly improves the Speed and Battery life, And i think this is an excellent competitor to the iPhone with much better email and PIM syncing as well as manageability and security for business

no WiFi!!!

FAIL. -10

50% is a generous score! One of these is doing the rounds at work as we speak, no-one will have it for more than a day. None of us like it. The UI seriously needs attention. The screen bends when you press it. I know this is supposed to be a feature (haptic feedback for all you 'form vs. function' design 'experts'), but it feels like you're going to put your finger through he screen. Reception is woeful. Its slow. No wifi. No 3G. No hope. It looks dog rough too!!!

I played with this in a Vodafone store, I found typing on the touchscreen felt better and was easier than on any other touchscreen device I've used before.

I guess its all down to personal preference though.

Are you saying that this Blackberry no longer inserts an '@' when you press the space key in an email address field?

(First press does '@' and subsequent spaces are replaced with '.')

A vital feature I'd really miss!

Completely agree with this review. I tried out an early demo unit in store and quite liked it, plus had loved the Blackberry Pearl I had previously, so put in a pre-order.

However, within a few hours of getting home it just annoyed the hell out of me. Killer problem for me was that I was frequently missing menu items and getting the one above/below. Either there was something wrong with the touch detection or the menus are just too small for touch operation - I've not had this problem with any other touch devices. Combine this with the lag inherent in correcting a missed menu item and it's an incredibly frustrating. And for extended typing it is awful. Anyone used to the usually snappy Blackberry response is going to be very disappointed.

And yes, it has (for example) a Facebook app, but it's exactly the same as the one on the Pearl. Only they haven't even replaced the low res icons, which are incredibly ugly and blocky on the bigger screen. This is symptomatic of the attention to detail shown throughout the phone - everything just feels very, very clunky and rushed.

One of the main reasons I the Storm instead of an iPhone is that some of the pre-launch reviews (and the fair heft to the unit) also suggested it should have much better battery life, and battery life is something I care about. Whereas, in fact, it's worse. So I returned it, got an iPhone 3g instead, and am really happy. Everything's just so much slicker and faster to use and even the battery life is not too bad - as long as you turn off 3g when you're not actively browsing...

I think Blackberry need to go back to the drawing board and design a UI from scratch for touchscreen. If they can do this, and sort the battery life, they've got a winner as the hardware seems pretty good. As it is, avoid unless you are very patient and really can't stand the idea of buying from Steve Jobs.

...though lack of encryption is still a horrible omission.

Okay the background: I have an iPod Touch, have played with both versions of the iPhone (but not owned), have had a Samsung Omnia and a HTC Touch Dual, and have played with a HTC touch Diamond (but not owned). I now have a Storm.

Brief points:

1) The UI is amazing - once you know how to use it:

---eg Someone has already mentioned that pressing space in an e-mail field brings up the @ symbol).

---eg Accessing/hiding the keyboard can seem cumbersome until you realise a swipe gesture carries out that action.

---There's loads more tips on various websites - master them (about 5 minutes reading), and you're amazed at how intuitive everything is. In otherwords, the same as you are with the iPhone when you know how it works.

2) It can be a little slow at times, but no less so than the HTC Touch Dual, is faster than the Omnia, N95 and the HTC Touch Diamond.

3) The battery is lasting me longer than on the Omnia, the HTC Touch Dual and way longer than the N95.

4) The screen is like Marmite. It's not flimsy, it's a thousand times better in giving feedback than the Omnia's haptic vibrations. Not only does it stop you accidently pressing buttons, it also gives you the option of selecting/highlighting things before carrying out an action. Makes a lot of sense and makes things very easy to operate.

5) Sometimes the accelarometer doesn't recognise the turning of the device quite right. No worse than my iPod Touch though, and not anywhere near as bad as the Omnia for this. Doesn't accidently flip like on the Omnia though.

6) The phone feels solid and the components ooze quality, unlike the HTCs.

7) The camera is slow - this is the one area that really needs addressing, but I don't use my phone as a camera.

I had a flip up between this and the iPhone - and I'm happy with my choice. I'm not new to touch screens and touch screen phones. This knocks the Samsung Omnia out in one hit, and offers a slightly different take on touch screens to the iPhone. UI wise, I prefer the Storm. There are a few things to be sorted, but this article really seems harsh compared to certainly my experiences.

Sorry, titiri... The lack of wifi sucks for me because there's bugger all voda 3g coverage indoors where i live and work, which is kinda when i'd need to use the damn thing. Sure, where i live i'm out of the city, but it's a big commuter town of approx 10k people. Where i work is a different matter - i get no 3g coverage on my voda 3g card for my work laptop in my office in the canary wharf area, so what are the odds of getting any on the phone? With wifi i could connect to the work network, my home network, the free networks run by my local coffee shops, etc....

>No current HSDPA link is ever going to get close to proper broadband.

Oh I dunno ... I got 400kb/sec downloading a Blackberry desktop software upgrade today via my T-Mobile HSDPA USB donglet this afternoon.

7.2Mbit isn't exactly sluggish.

Tim

Hi

The lack of WiFi might be OK when using the device on a network with decent 3G network coverage, but Voda UK does not have this! I switched to Voda from T-Mobile - The 3G coverage on Voda is ruddy awful in comparison.

I also thing that Voda's coverage is seriously exaggerated on their maps compared with T-mob. I'll switch back to t-mob soon. I only went with voda (on 30 day rolling contract) because they have superior 2G coverage in remote parts of Scotland.

Nigel

---There's loads more tips on various websites - master them (about 5 minutes reading), and you're amazed at how intuitive everything is.

Not exactly a the correct definition of intuitive, is it?

I had my hands on one of these, and while it seems like a nice toy, I would have to be worried about getting dust and grime in between the screen layers.

You can just imagine the boardroom, can't you?

"Oh send it out there before half our customers disappear".

REG - You can't say 'iphone killer' and 'no wi-fi' in the same review. You muppets.

as for the guy who said this:

"---There's loads more tips on various websites - master them (about 5 minutes reading), and you're amazed at how intuitive everything is. In otherwords, the same as you are with the iPhone when you know how it works."

Duh! Er, hello? INTUITIVE?

For the record, iphone could do with cut-n-paste, before the mac-boys start smirking. Muppets.

Bah humbug.

I have had the 1G and 3G iPhone and now have a BB Storm from VF. Obviously, as a Mac user, the integration of the iPhones is way better and the software just works. As an entertainment device, the iPhones (and Touch) can't be beat. But as phones? Crappy reception compared to almost anything (in direct comparison). I still hate the iPhone keyboard. No MMS, no message forward, no copy/paste... like I said - a play machine.

Although the Storm is aimed more at independent users, it's still a corporate device - it's all "work" where the iPhones are all play.

I've also had an HTC S710. I liked the size and the keyboard, but it broke when I was working in South Africa and HTC SA wouldn't fix it - so much for a worldwide warranty. I shipped it back to the UK for repair, and got it back with a new fault so it immediately had to go for repair again. That was it for me and HTC phones. I also am no fan of Windoze Mobile.

I actually like the Storm as an e-mail machine. I never went for a previous BB because the screens were useless. But the Storm displays photos well (with zoom) and that's important to me. Commercial video looks great on it. The camera ain't great but beats the iPhones easily.

The lack of wifi surprised me, but I get good VF 3G reception in most places so it's not such a big deal. What do I use my iPhone wifi for? Controlling iTunes remotely - I don't think the Storm was ever going to do that.

I can get three days out of the Storm if I take it easy. The N95 I tried last year got about five hours. And unlike the iPhone, the Storm has a removable (possibly upgradeable) battery. If nothing else, a removable battery makes a good hard reset - unlike the iPhones' obscure reset process. Memory can be upgraded (or swapped).

Lots to like. Now to see if VF UK has locked it down or if I can use a Vodacom SA (owned by VF) local sim in it when I am there.

The boss got one of these to replace his iPhone. I didn't think there was a worse mobile than an iPhone. I was wrong. RIM has taken everything that's crap in an iPhone and made it crappier! Congratulations.

I've had a Storm as a evaluation for the last couple of weeks and must admit to being disappointed. I'll qualify this by saying I use a Blackberry Curve for work and have been impressed with that phone, and have borrowed an iPod for a couple of weeks while the owner was on holiday. First up the battery life was absolutely rubbish - with a brand new battery I wasn't expecting to leave the office at 5.30 with it fully charged and for it to be dead by 11pm following fairly light use. Even switching off the 3G resulted in it lasting less than 24 hours.

Possibly as a result of it's energy thirst, the metal battery cover does get worryingly hot when you're using the apps. Not quite flaming laptop proportions but then considering where people usually keep their phones it probably makes for a good contraceptive...

I've got it until tomorrow so will see about upgrading the firmware that people have mentioned, maybe that will improve things.

The camera is pretty poor in anything other than good conditions and 5 seconds is far too long to be waiting for a photo after you press the shoot button. In dark conditions the photos are grainy and the light flashes a second or so prior taking the photo, causing everybody to think the deed is done and start to break up the pose when it does take it. Asking everybody to pose again gets very frustrating.

Compared to the iPhone the clickable screen is better when you're navigating around the system menus, as it noticeably eliminates mistaken clicks, but when the icons reach the size they do for the qwerty keyboard or some of the menu screens the force taken to press the screen increases the thumb/fingerprint size the phone detects, therefore causing the selector to wander a bit right before you press - frustrating and a definite step back from the Curve's dedicated keyboard.

The Pearl SureType entry is OK, but you aren't going to be interested in typing lengthy emails in it. I definitely preferred the iPhone's touch screen keyboard set up, the fact that a mere brush of the screen meant the large-fingered can accurately select letters was a happy experience in comparison to the Storm, despite the small size of the screen keys.

Finally, the browser - maybe I'm just too used to Opera Mini on the Curve, but there is something counter-intuitive about using it. It's not bad for reading sites, but trying to enter text/submitting searches into websites is an absolute pain and the phone tends to become unresponsive while you're using the internet. pressing the screen to zoom is haphazard and you can easily click a hyperlink by mistake. Can't recommend it at all.

Good things: The system is generally responsive (though becomes less so with the more apps you run) and the screen is top-notch, the built in software installed (messaging, camera, app installation etc) works very intuitively and the look and feel of the entire UI is much more polished than the decidedly threadbare Curve. Plus Brickbreaker with a touchscreen is sooo much better than with the erratic Pearl scroller :o)

I do like it, but the iPhone does what it can do that little more slickly than the Storm, so for me this is very much a case of waiting for v2.0 before I'd commit to a 18-24 month contract. Particularly given the battery life.

Okay, fair crack to the two people that pulled me up on the intuitive side of things - I didn't explain what I meant very well.

When you use the phone you do scratch your head wondering where things are - but that's because you're trying to do things in the same way as on the iPhone or Windows Mobile, and this is naturally RIM's take on things.

When you then read all of the little gems you see how simple things really are and that you've been trying to over-complicate things. It certainly is way more intuitive than the iPhone, iPod Touch and than the HTC phones/Samsung Omnia I've owned and used.