After spending a lot of time in a Verizon store playing with their Storm demo and pissing off a couple of customers/employees, I give you a hands-on review of the Storm (in-store demo). I’ll give you the good, the bad, & the TG 2 cents. Oh yeah, pics courtesy of my other half’s G1.
*The Good*
Verizon’s 3G speeds worked phenomenal on the sites that I’ve visited. Only went to a few spots like BGR, Android Community, Media Takeout not as many as I’d like to. Checking out the preloaded media, I saw in the videos they had a trailer for the Vin Diesel movie Babylon AD and the resolution on the screen was immaculate. The 480 x 360 display makes the image look good without any distortion or any loss of the image quality. The Storm is not a heavy brick as it may appear to be. It has a very nice weight as well as feel to it.
*The Bad*
Verizon kills me with the fact that at their own request had all Wifi capabilities removed. I guess Big Red sees it as we have “America’s Best Network” what in the hell would we need Wifi for? Idiots. Another thing is that there’s no extended scrolling with the touchscreen ( i.e. after swiping to scroll up or down it stops as soon as your finger leaves the screen, it stops scrolling). The Application Center is a waste of space on the Storm, it basically shows the apps installed & when updates are ready. I didn’t get that at all.
*TG 2 Cents*
The Storm is definitely a Blackberry built for consumers. It’s way more pro-consumer design than the normal power user maybe used to. OS-wise , it has all the same features as the Bold but obviously catered more for a touchscreen device. The Storm has a 3.2MP camera which unfortunately I wasn’t able to check due to the demo device i was on kept freezing up along with the demo next to me. Not sure whether to blame them as faulty devices or what but not a good look if the demo device, that is the deciding factor whether or not a customer may purchase is heavily acting up. Personally, I’m not a big fan of onscreen keyboards and had to adapt with the keyboard, I got big fingers (as u can see in the pics) so I had to type a lil slower than usual. The SureType technology in the phone can a lil bit helpful when typing. Not a big fan of the SureType but I actually prefer it better than typing in the full QWERTY landscape. After reading about and watching the commercial, i was expected to be wowed by the SurePress touchscreen but it is really one giant button on the screen the has sensors to pinpoint where on your finger pressed on the screen. You have to actually press down on the button in order for your touch to be recognized by the sensor. You can change the sensitivity on the screen for the SurePress to fit your needs. Definitely something to get used to. As far as the BrickBreaker, Wordmole, the browser & media player, they are the same as the Bold catered for a touchscreen. For anyone interested in getting this device, I would definitely recommend for you to play with it@your nearest Verizon retailer b4 hand.
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