BlackBerry Storm for Small Home Business People – A First Hand Review

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I have finally bought the Blackberry Storm. Having pre-ordered it last week, I finally received it today. And so far, I am loving it. I had debated a long time between the Android G1 & Apple iPhone, and my wait has paid off.

It is a nice little piece of device. Heavier than all the previous Blackberries & yet sleek compared to some of the touch screen phones from HTC. It absolutely beats the Android G1 in looks & usability.

Although I am still in the “Oh! God, where was that thing again?” mode, I can say that it is designed with a lot of productivity in mind. When I tested one out at Best Buy last week, the software was quite slow. There was so much of lag between typing a key & seeing it appear on the screen, that I was quite afraid.

Finally, when I got this one, I was told that the OS has been patched even more. Though it is still sluggish, I am hoping that RIM will do something to improve the response time.

In all the reviews I have read so far on the keyboard, I had my own fear. But now that I have used it for about an hour, I can certainly say that the keyboard is nothing but fun.

If you know, this is a clickable keyboard – it only responds if you have pressed the screen hard enough to hear the “click”. I am yet to see how long the screen lasts.

There is a Verizon Warranty at about USD 5 per month, against all breakage or theft or stolen. The tiny voice in my head is screaming for me to get that coverage.

I have noticed a few things though – and hopefully, with the software updates, these minor glitches will vanish.

• When you are entering a Password in any forms, the letters appear on the screen before they are changed into a “*” to prevent others from seeing it. It is purely due to the lag in response.

  However, I dont know if that was intentional. It might help to see what password you are typing in. Some websites will lock your account if you exceed your password trials.

• The camera switch is very soft. When you are working on the “landscape” mode, you might switch the camera on by mistake. Happened to me a few times, till I practiced to keep my fingers at the extreme right corner.
• Messengers, like YIM or GTalk, will not allow you to log in if your BlackBerry Storm does not have the correct time. Since you might have set the time on your handheld manually, you have to re-sync the time again.
• Web browser is more like Opera. I have a test website (which has all broken table layouts, incomplete DIV tags etc). The BB Browser shows the test website exactly as when I see it in Opera. However, the screen is sensitive enough to read the button & link clicks correctly.
• And finally, there is copy & paste function. This is such a relief, especially if you have to work on excel, word or even on web pages. I have already posted on a couple of my blogs from the BlackBerry Storm & it was perfectly smooth operation.
• I have used the built in camera, but not with the flash yet. I shall have to try that out soon.

This is certainly a great mobile device for any small business or home office professional, who needs to carry their home office along with them everywhere.