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BlackBerry Storm on Vodafone Review

Author	Riyad Emeran
Published	3rd Dec 2008
Manufacturer	Research In Motion
Supplier	Vodafone
Price	Free on £40 tariff
Latest Price	Click here

Design
Features
Performance
Value
Overall

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Along the right edge you'll find a 3.5mm headphone socket (Hurrah!), volume controls and a dedicated button for the 3.2-megapixel camera. On the left is the usual BlackBerry voicedial button along with a micro-USB connector. The latter is a major annoyance - I just can't understand why RIM didn't use standard mini-USB for power/PC connection. Pretty much everyone has multiple mini-USB cables and chargers knocking about, which means that you never have to worry about having the correct cable with you to charge/sync your device. It's not like a mini-USB connector wouldn't have fit either. Anything that makes me have to carry more cables when I travel is not good, simple as that.

It's the screen that's the real star of this BlackBerry, and rightfully so. The 3.25in display is slightly smaller than the screen on the iPhone, which measures 3.5in. However, the Storm's screen sports a slightly higher resolution at 480 x 360, as opposed to the iPhone's 480 x 320, which results in a slightly sharper image. Of course the Storm still can't match the ridiculous pixel density of the BlackBerry Bold, which squeezes a 480 x 320 resolution into a 2.5in screen.

The screen really does look superb, although, as with the Bold, the Vodafone red background really helps show it off to best effect. Colours are very vivid, while the overall brightness is impressive, although not quite to the levels of the Bold. The only tangible downside to the screen is the very noticeable light bleed from the top and bottom. This is particularly evident when you're using the Storm in a darkened room, despite the fact that the device automatically dims the display in accordance to ambient lighting.

But it's not the way the screen looks that's so important, it's how you interact with it, because although this is a multi-touch screen, it also clicks. What I mean is that you physically press the screen inwards to select items, in the same way that you would with a traditional button. This brings with it the advantage of being able to highlight or "hover" over links on a page without actually selecting them, thus ensuring that you have the right thing selected before actually clicking. This is particularly useful on busy web pages where several links are close together, and can save you a lot of page reloads or zooming.

The clicking screen is also used for typing on the Storm, and here I think that it works beautifully. Interestingly, Andy found it very hard to get to grips with the clicking screen, citing it as cumbersome compared to his iPhone. As a long term iPhone user myself I will admit that Apple's device still has the best mobile keyboard, but the Storm definitely comes in at a close second. I'll admit that the click screen takes a bit of getting used to, but once you've got your head around physically clicking, you'll be surprised at how quickly you can knock out paragraphs.

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Gordon said on 10th December 2008

@Francis Phillips - nope, but we saw the potential of the device and now a few weeks later and one firmware update and our points remain valid and the NTY looks rather stupid ;)

Andrew Stephens said on 11th December 2008

Come on you gave this a higher performance rating than the original iPhone ! How can this possibly be ? I think I would give my old psion siena a better rating. I love you guys at ... more

Riyad said on 12th December 2008

@Andrew Stephens - Of course the Storm got a higher performance rating than the original iPhone, since you can actually make phone calls on it. The signal strength for calls on the... more

Andi said on 27th December 2008

I have had this phone for 1 week now and sadly my SIM is back in my faithful Bold. I waited and waited for the release of this phone and was so delighted to finally get my hands on one.... The screen is wonderful, I played with the swiping action and then set about changing my PIN online.... Emails came through just as slick as ever. It all started going wrong when I tried to type, the portrait suretype keyboard was ok but a pain when entering non standard words and I quickly found the little editing trick of touching the keyboard for a few second to get a cursor just above your finger very useful. Too useful in fact as I had to correct almost every word. I use suretype on my wifes Pearl and have no issues with it even with the smaller keys. The landscape standard qwerty is surprisingly worse due to the smaller keys. You have to put your finger directly on top and this is hard to do if you used to a normall BB keyboard where you type with the side of your thumbs. I licked the clicking sensation so struggled on determined to get use to it. Web browsing was great the screen was good. But what about the 3meg camera, press the button to focus the light lights the camera focuses, you press harder to take the picture and then wait for 2-3 seconds before the light lights again and the picture is taken. I have loads of pictures of people walking away !! But the screen, the coolness I will struggle on. Day two - I had my "tunes" loaded only to find that the sound was not as loud as my Bold. I was using the excellent "buds" that came with the Bold as the ones supplied with the storm were not even worth taking out of the box!! Worth 50p at the most, when the Bold ones compare well to my Sennheiser's. Even with the volume boost enabled it was quieter. But still it looks so good and the screen, I struggled on determined to love it! At around 3pm that day when I had listened to music for 50 mins and made a quick 2 min call, the battery warning went! To be followed 30 mins later by BB's "Not enough power for radio use" warning. Maybe if it had a mini USB like all the other BB's I have owned I could have kept it on charge on my desk, but no mini USB instead micro USB, what a waste of 7 BB chargers from previous phones... I had to put my SIM back into my Bold and the first call I made? You guessed it Vodafone 14 day returns... Who offered me all manner of Batteries and chargers to keep it (no doubt becasue of similar calls) , but what is the point of a mobile phone that needs to be tethered by wires. I don't expect a phone to last for days and days, I am happy to charge every night. (especially as BB had a cool bedside feature) I am dissapointed, really dissapointed! I have loved all of my 7 Blackberries. I get teased for being a "crackberry fan boy"! I have been with Vodafone for over a decade and would not be persuaded to move to another network. Its such as shame that the Storm did not live up to the idea behind it. I am sure they will get it right with the Storm 2. But if your thinking of getting one, don't. My Bold has forgiven my little affair and we are reunited once again, Blackberries are all about reliability and typing. The Bold is a much better bet.

I have had this phone for 1 week now and sadly my SIM is back in my faithful Bold. I waited and waited for the release of this phone and was so delighted to finally get my hands on... more

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