In a nutshell: Built on BlackBerry's reputation
for the best in mobile email and web browsing, the Storm has a touchscreen
user interface that incorporates a full virtual QWERTY keyboard.
The Storm includes a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash,
video recording, a media player, GPS navigation, Bluetooth wireless
connectivity, 3G with HSDPA and 1GB of built-in memory plus the
ability to expand the memory with a microSD card. However, the Storm
is generating a lot of negative reviews from our users, so we have
downgraded our rating to 2 stars. Best buy:
*Free* from Vodafone.
Review:
October 2008. Updated January 2010.
For the past couple of years, RIM (the makers of
BlackBerry) have been chasing the mass market. They've glued cameras,
music players and even GPS navigation systems onto their business
smartphones. But still the mass market eluded them. The
Storm is the first BlackBerry to have a touchscreen user interface.
In one fell swoop, finally here's a BlackBerry that looks like a
mass market product. Ever since Apple released the iPhone
and iPhone 3G, every phone manufacturer
has been trying to produce an iPhone killer. Here's BlackBerry's
answer.
By adopting a touchscreen UI, the BlackBerry Storm
offers all the benefits of a standard BlackBerry (i.e. full QWERTY
keyboard and unrivalled email/web browsing), with the style and
ease of use of an iPhone. Cleverly, the Storm incorporates two kinds
of virtual keyboard: the full QWERTY keyboard seen in the BlackBerry
Bold and the SureType® keyboard used in the "baby"
BlackBerry Pearl. The keyboard
switches depending on whether you're in portrait or landscape mode.
The touchscreen on the Storm is a capacitive type - the same kind
used in the iPhone. We find this easier to use than the resistive
touchscreens used on most rivals. You get a better response when
moving your finger around the screen, and the near-instantaneous
response makes the user interface very intuitive. Rather than using
haptics (vibrating feedback) to indicate when the screen is pressed,
the Storm uses a new innovation called "ClickThrough".
This means that the screen responds to pressure, so it feels almost
like you're using a real keyboard. The display itself is massive
and has the one of the highest resolutions of any phone that we've
reviewed. With 480 x 360 pixels, you can fit a lot of information
on screen, and view photos and videos in near-perfect detail. As
with previous BlackBerrys, the font sizes are user adjustable -
a feature that we love and wish was present on rival phones too.
BlackBerry phones enjoy an unrivalled reputation
when it comes to mobile email, and the Storm is no different. Apart
from the ease of entering text with the virtual keyboard, the Storm
beats other manufacturers' email systems because of its ease of
use, power, wide compatibility with all email protocols (including
web-based mail and secure mail) and its support for attachments.
There is even an attachment editor, so you can edit Word, Excel
and PowerPoint documents on the phone. The Storm is also an absolutely
brilliant platform for the mobile web. With HSDPA running at 7.2
Mbps, you have the fastest possible download speeds available on
any phone. The huge screen and ClickThrough response is ideal for
viewing web pages. And the Storm supports rich media, including
YouTube videos. Built-in applications make it easy to access social
networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.
The Storm is a smartphone, just like previous BlackBerry
phones, so there will be plenty of applications available for
it. It also supports multitasking, so you can view a document or
browse the web whilst talking on the phone. The Storm supports a
range of advanced features including voice activated dialling, conference
calling and voicemail attachment playback.
Any phone that wants to conquer the mass market
needs to have a good camera and media player and the Storm does.
It certainly isn't the best camera phone around, but the camera
has a resolution of 3.2 megapixels, and with autofocus and an LED
flash, it will take reasonable pictures - good enough for print
quality, provided that you don't zoom too much. The media player
supports every common audio format and synchs with iTunes. The Storm
has 1GB of built-in memory, which is plenty to get you started,
and will accept microSD
memory cards up to a whopping 16GB, which is enough to store
around 4,000 MP3 tracks. There's full support for Bluetooth
stereo headsets, and another great feature that is missing from
many rival phones is the 3.5mm audio jack, which enables you to
connect any standard stereo headphones. This means that you're not
tied into proprietary headphones, but can connect to very high quality
headphones for the best possible audio experience.
We mentioned the presence of GPS earlier. The Storm
has a built-in GPS device and comes with BlackBerry Maps, so you
can find your way around. With the large touchscreen, this combination
works well, and is ideal for pedestrian use. With a proper satnav
application installed it could even replace a dedicated in-car satnav.
The Storm comes with a 6 month licence for Vodafone Find&Go Sat
Nav .
Battery life is quoted to be 5.5 hours talktime
and 360 hours standby. In the real world, using the phone heavily
you'll get about a full day's use between charges. So if you don't
like the hassle of charging each night, the Storm probably isn't
for you. The Storm loses one star from its rating because of this.
Which brings us to the one other feature that
we dislike about the BlackBerry Storm - its size. Even larger and
heavier than the iPhone, the Storm weighs in at 155g, making it
the heaviest smartphone currently on sale in the UK. Bigger is not
always better, and we'd certainly like to shave a couple of millimetres
off the Storm. But then again, you need a big device to have a big
screen, and when you consider the number of features that have been
crammed into this beast, it's a trade-off that we're happy to live
with.
But the worst features of the Storm are its habit
of freezing and dropping calls. These make it pretty well useless
as a business tool. The Storm2
adds WiFi and some other improvements, but suffers from the same
kinds of problems.
Features
of the BlackBerry Storm include:
3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash
Video recording (30fps)
Display: Transmissive TFT LCD, 480 x 360 pixels,
65,000 colours, user selectable font size
Media player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA
ProPlus audio formats supported)
Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant
messaging, push email with attachment viewer
Built-in speakerphone
Voice dialling
Voice memo recorder
MP3 ringtones with LED indicator and vibration
alert
GPS with BlackBerry Maps
Personal organiser functions
Memory: 1GB onboard memory plus microSD memory
card slot (up to 16 GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB, RIM wireless
modem, 3.5mm stereo headset port
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Reviewed by T from London on
11th Dec 2008
I commented before & am commenting again after having the phone
4 weeks. I have installed the firmware update on the Vodafone website
for the Storm - battery life is 10 times better, I don't have to
charge it every night or in the office now & that is with extensive
use! Guys, try installing it, it's fixed a few other bugs too but
the signal is still an issue - the weird thing I have found is that
if you start to put the phone back into it's pouch the signal returns!
Lol Makes texting or making a callhard but it does get it back straight
away for you! I love this phone now. Rating:
Reviewed by Alex from England on
11th Dec 2008
Poor battery life, poor signal. Vodafone rushed this one out big
time. Had major problems with it not having any internet access,
email access or anything, turns out vodafone had not set people
with the new storm to be on a Black Berry contract which the system
then allows it internet access, email etc. If you have problems
with it, get on the phone (land line because your battery wont last
out!) to voda and make them sort out the issues, and make sure you
so it within the 14day cooling off period! This product has not
been planned at all. Rating:
Reviewed by brad from uk on 11th
Dec 2008
What can I say that already hasn't been said. Great concept. Appalling
reality. Battery life is terrible I fully charged the phone last
night made a thirty minute phone call to vodafone to complain was
left with 25% battery. I have made several phone calls to vodafone
to vodafone about this and other issues. I want to know how you
can sell a phone as a 3g phone that has to have the 3g switched
off to improve the battery life surely this means the phone is not
fit for its purpose? Also why don't my emails gey delivered to my
phone I have set this up on the phone and on mobioeemailvodafone
website about thirty times and still vodafone do not accept there
is a problem? Stay clear of this phone if you need a phone that
does what it advertised cos it certainly doesn't do anything it
should. Waste of time and money! Rating:
Reviewed by Lex from England on
9th Dec 2008
Hmmmm! Should be the best phone on the market! Unfortunately it
falls down on two key points. Battery life and signal strength.
Picture the scene, I have entered a vodafone shop with the express
mission of buying a Blackberry Bold, only to find out the Storm
is on the same tariff and is supposed to be the better phone....
2HRS later I come out with a storm, love the keyboard & the UI is
brilliant! But and its a huge but the battery never lasted a whole
day the 4 days I had the phone. Worst of all the signal seemed to
scramble as soon as I turned the phone to landscape. This is the
only reason I brought the phone, if you want to type at any speed.
Portrait is too fiddly. All in all a great idea that needs fine
tuning, by the way have swapped for a Bold and can not find a single
fault!! Easily the best phone I have ever owned!! Rating:
Reviewed by Thought it wuld better than the
Xperia from UK on 8th Dec 2008
Battery, battery, battery. Turn the phone sideways to be type (you
have to unless you have small fingers), wait for a couple of seconds
for i to catch up and then it becomes easy to use. The build quality
is fine, making a call is easy and I have not tried email yet but
after one or two 20 min phone calls and 5 texts, the battery is
on its last bar. Go figure the frustration which is a shame as it
coule be good. Rating:
Reviewed by PJ Higgins from England
on 8th Dec 2008
You should think very hard before getting this phone. I held on
hoping it would be the answer to the i-phone, but it's not in the
same league. First of all, the reception in my area was much worse
than my old Sony Ericcson. Secondly, the battery ran down so fast
with light use on the phone, never mind the internet. It's biggest
and most fundamental problem is the keyboard. I persevered, but
found I was so much slower than with my old phone. It's two steps
forward, one step back: as you have to correct all the wrong characters
even my average size hands produced all the time on the flawed keyboard.
I also spotted big gaps at the top and the bottom of the keyboard
and wondered how they would deal with condensation or inevitable
splashing from using it in the rain - I'm sure the water would penetrate
easily and wreck the keyboard. A frustrating 5 day experience and
I was so glad to get rid of thing. I don't think this phone should
have come to the market with all these design defects. Rating:
Reviewed by Haseeb Sheikh from England
on 6th Dec 2008
its just like marmite, you either love it or hate it. my rating
totally contradicts it... lol! Rating:
Reviewed by Wan from England on
6th Dec 2008
I've got to say this is a fantastic phone and I really do love it...
The only problem is I am now on my third one. #1) Everything started
off well except the dire battery life, it would last 5 hours at
the most. Then I stopped receiving text messages, all texts sent
to my BB Storm werent coming through (so I had to keep changing
to my old phone to check them. Vodafone then swapped this #2)This
one arrived, the screen was really loose but I thought maybe the
old one was like this and I had blocked it out due to the frustration
of the other stuff that was wrong. Then it kept freezing on me,
text kept going really big and spaced out which only taking the
battery out reset would solve. And the final straw was that emails
stopped coming through, not very good as I use my email a lot. Called
Vodafone replacement #3) Everything again started smoothly, then
the battery held its charge for approx 6 hours, stopped receiving
text messages to the device, then emails stopped coming through,
blackberry messenger says I am busy and undeliverable all the time
and every second page I load on the internet has an error and can't
open. I contacted Vodafone for help on all occasions and they don't
seem to have any faith in the phone at all. I think this phone is
fantastic, just wish it would work!!! I can't give it less than
three stars because if I actually can get one that works I will
be a really happy BB storm owner....!! Rating:
Reviewed by Andy from UK on 5th
Dec 2008
I've had to setup a couple of these on a BES. If you're a business
user, stick with the Bold. the Bold performs so much quicker application-wise,
I'm seeing better 3G reception on the Bolds than I am on the Storms,
and the touch-screen, while good is nowhere near a fast to type
on as the Bold. Rating:
Reviewed by Helen from UK on
5th Dec 2008
I sent my Storm back after one week. I found it too difficult to
navigate the click screen, the SMS was too much trouble and super
slow to use. You need mega slim fingers for the on screen keyboard.
I tried to persevere but found the whole thing much to fiddly, and
slow. I'm not the worlds greatest techie, but I like to be able
to use a phones most basic functions like calling, and SMS and camera.
The Storm fails on basic to the extreme. Rating:
Reviewed by Henry from Scotland on
5th Dec 2008
i have left 2 reviews previously about what i think of the phone
itself and also things that i did to improve the preformance of
my Storm. so this time im just gonna leave 3 stars so it doesn't
effecting the Average rating of this phone. first, the latest firmware
update (.78)for the phone has been released in the German Vodafone
site which also work for the UK. the update has fixed alot of the
existed bugs and users have found their Storm workinng alot faster.
go to the Crackberry.com to see all the comments from other users
about the update. second, empty your cashe from the phone or take
the battery out and hold down the power button for 10 sec then put
battery back in and restart will help the performance of your Storm.i
done that last week and since then my phone have been working flawlessly.
Rating:
Reviewed by Iwan from Wales, UK on
3rd Dec 2008
I admit absolutely hating this phone when I first received it, but
I have to admit after a few days I've grown to love it. It does
take time, but the email capabilities is excellant. The camera is
fiddly though, and sometimes the accelerator is slow when turning
from landscape to portrait. Nevertheless as a first attempt at a
touch screen device, RIM has done well, though I expect version
2 will exceed expectations. Remember the oringinal iphone had many
flaws! Rating:
Reviewed by DG from UK on 3rd
Dec 2008
Where are these occasional 5 star ratings coming from? I suspect
from Vodafone employees desperate to give the phone some unjustified
credibility. I returned my Storm after a week because it would have
brought my business to its knees...slow unresponsive software and
terrible RF sensitivity with an unrealistic battery life were my
biggest gripes. I've now got my PAC code from Vodafone and have
transferred my 15yr old number with Vodafone to a new 3G iphone
with o2.....Its streets ahead of the Storm, great intuitive user
interface, lightning fast email and web browsing. I've since revisited
my local Vodafone store to transfer my partner's account over to
o2 as well and the sales assistant told me he had never handled
so many complaints and returns as he's had with the Storm. Keep
well clear of this totally useless phone if your business depends
on it. Rating:
Reviewed by Andrew from Ireland on
3rd Dec 2008
I am returning this phone as the clickable touch screen makes it
very cumbersome and quite slow to text with. I am a heavy texter
and find that it takes twice as long to compose messages compared
with traditional keypads. The clickable screen is unique but requires
too much force to actually 'click' - so to continually depress the
screen for each letter makes it far from comfortable. The other
poor feature is the slow response in the image gallery - pictures
take too long to appear and scrolling through your gallery is a
task in itself. Rating:
Reviewed by Aj from UK on 2nd
Dec 2008
Awesome, just awesome. RIM have hit the mark. It takes a few days
to get to grips with the phone due to the [really cool not-so-obvious]
quirks of Blackberry phones. But after 3 days i'd got the idea.
Admittedly the media player isn't as nice as the iPhone since you
can't browse through by album art, instead you get a list view of
all your tracks however it makes up for this with a nice view of
the specific album image when you go to the "Now Playing" screen.
The integrated software is excellent, through the Blackberry menu
you can immediately access "Now Playing", you can upload images
straight to Facebook through a link on the Camera menu, you can
also SMS, Email etc... The email is awesome. BlackBerry have done
a hell of a job sorting out email, all emails are near-instantly
recieved, in fact, it beats Outlook by a mile (on send/recieve speed
at least :p) Also, i recommend if you have any issues, look through
the Vodafones BlackBerry Storm forum - they are extremely helpful,
and you may just find some features to your liking while your there.
If you're thinking of getting one - get it! The touch screen operates
in 2 ways - if you move your finger on the surface of the screen
it acts much like a mouse on a computer, and then, when you've found
what you want you just press down. Once again, this takes a good
hour of usage before just about you get the hang of it, perseverance
is key. Rating:
Reviewed by Marc from Northern Ireland
on 2nd Dec 2008
I couldn't wait to get my hands on the Blackberry Storm. So much
so that my partner and I both got one and are paying our other contractual
commitments off. Boy where we dissappointed?! The Storm is, in essence,
everything a phone should be and really deserved the branding of
an iPhone killer. However, it has been a serious let down. It must
be the slowest ever to operate between applications, the touch screen
has great potential but instead is inaccurate, and the phone keeps
crashing for no obvious reason. I think RIM should hang their heads
in shame ... they had the potential to release possibly the world's
smartest and most enjoyable phone but instead have rushed out what
feels like a trial edition. I have since returned my Storm and am
waiting on the arrival of a Sony Ericsson X1. Rating:
Reviewed by Ryan from UK on 2nd
Dec 2008
RIM rushed this phone to market for the Christmas period.That was
a HUGE mistakle becasue it's given them all sorts of negative reviews
,and justifiably so in many instances.Had they waited and sorted
out the problemsmwhich they must have known about,they would have
had winner on their hand. The biggest probelm that I had in my short
time with it was that the battery life was the worst I;ve ever encountered
on any device.I mean I'm not a heavy phone user ,and on a full 17
hour charge my battery continually lasted until about 2 PM from
a 7 Am start. You can excuse little teething problems but to have
a battery that can't cope with the things that the phone throws
at it is inexcusable. You shouldn't have to shut off backlights
etc,and make all sorts of adjustments just to get the phone to last
a full day of normal usage. It's too bad becaseu I actually liked
the phone.I found it intuitive and easy to use.Very well thought
out phone in my opinion,but like I said they brought it to market
too soon and they've lost a lot of customers as a result. Rating:
Reviewed by Mike A from UK on
2nd Dec 2008
Had my Storm a few days and like any change it takes getting used
to. My change from the side wheel to the pearl on my curve took
a couple of days so I expect that with this. I'm generally happy
although if the pearl hadn't failed on my curve I would probably
not have changed. I get a bit concerned by battery life although
it seems to run a long time at 20%. I ony really use it for mail
and calls and it does that fine. I may grow into the other apps.
My biggest frustration is how to transfer my address book over GRRRR!
I may come back with another uo date in a week or so. Love yourself
x Rating:
Reviewed by Elizabeth from Wales on
2nd Dec 2008
All singing all dancing, not without any battery it won't. Charged
overnight EVERY night for 7 days and its dead by 5pm the following
day. Sorry but its going back Rating:
Reviewed by Dan Cooper from UK on
2nd Dec 2008
I really wanted to love this phone, with all the hype of it being
an iPhone killer, but unfortunately it's far from it. The touchscreen
with the click should have been a frontrunner in touchscreen technology
but at times it just didn't respond. Also, even though transitions
between applications were nice, for a power user it just took to
long to go through the menus. This phone should have been fantastic
but it was just a big dissapointment. Rating:
Reviewed by Santa Claus from UK on
2nd Dec 2008
Everyone who has been naughty over the last year should definitely
find a BB Storm in their Xmas stocking. We had 4 of these in our
office and each and everyone of them has been more trouble than
they are worth. glitchy software poor battery life etc etc. Where
as the Samsung Omnia may not be perfect its pretty close and beats
this thing hands down, still on the bright side we now have 4 nice
BB Storm paperweights in the office. Definately more of a wet mist
than a storm, buy one at your own peril, I had expected more from
Blackberry still if you really want a BB the BB Bold is far better.
Call me cynical..... but do Blackberry employees write some of these
reviews ? So the Police took Daminan Green's Blackberry from him.....If
there's any Police Officers reading this ....I know where there
is 4 more they can take too. Rating:
Reviewed by Sammi from England on
2nd Dec 2008
Looks good but in this case looks certainly are'nt everything.....Its
Bad with a Capital B from build quality to software and everything
in-between, I like blackberrys but not this thing, most definately
one to avoid Rating:
Reviewed by Gary Marsh from UK on
1st Dec 2008
I couldn't wait to get my hands on the Storm. I have had a few Blackberry's
and loved them, but this Storm is awful! Every call I made dropped
its signal, and I mean every call. This was with Vodafone and their
customer service was the worst I have ever experienced. The touch
screen felt great with the click but was just not accurate. I spent
a lot of time just zooming in rather than selecting a button. I
was really disapointed with this phone. I am sending it back! Rating:
Reviewed by dave from uk on 1st
Dec 2008
had a storm now for a few weeks, and yea there are a few little
bits that arent maybe as good as they can be, but the service i
got from my local vodafone store, plus all the video demos on the
voda website for stuff like how to do bluetooth an everythin else
is very very helpfull, as for they battery life, mines been fine
ever since i did the following (which i reccomend for all users)
go into options, then securit settings, then memory cleaning, then
enable it, close the window selecting save, then lock the phone
to start this function. this is basically like emptying the cache
on your web browser, i found it speeded up the fone ten fold. Rating:
Reviewed by tasha from england on
1st Dec 2008
Had my Storm for 4 hours and hated it - but persevered with it and
now I LOVE it. Took a weekend of constant playing to get to grips
with it but was worth it. Battery life and signal strength appear
to be fine. Touch screen takes a bit of getting used to, but doesn't
take long. Can't understand the people who send stuff back after
a few days...patience people! Rating:
Reviewed by Samrat Bose from United
Kingdom on 30th Nov 2008
This is my first BB and I am not having a lot of problems with it.
I have to agree, however, that the battery life could have been
better. It is not too bad, and I don't have to charge the phone
every night (once evry 48-72 hours does well for me), but I am not
a too heavy user. However, I do access the internet quite frequently
and do most other things one can do with this phone. The battery
indicator, from a fully charged state, always shows the first mark
disappearing rather quickly, but the rest take time to go. Don't
know if the battery drains that unevenly!! Another problem I am
having occasionally is that the screen sometimes turns from portrait
to landscape mode without me turning the phone on its side. It takes
a while before it spontaneously corrects itself. I do not know if
this is a problem with my handset or is a generic problem with the
Storm. I am searching for an answer to this through a BB community
at present. I'd like to point out that there are not two (as mentioned
in the review) but THREE types of virtual keyboards...the full QWERTY
(landscape), Suretype (portrait) and Multitap (portrait). The last
one looks very much like a "normal" mobile phone keyboard we know.
But all in all, I'm simply enjoying the Storm and have no big issues
with it in the three weeks that I've had it. First versions (BB
touchscreen, in this instance) can be difficult, but this does not
appear all that bad. Rating:
Reviewed by Ashley from UK on
30th Nov 2008
I have already added my rating here, so for that reason will give
an average 3 stars so as not to skew the overall score any more.
However, please, some sanity guys...Sally writes..."great apart
from the battery life and signal strength...cannot understand all
the negative feedback that this phone is receiving" - uh, Sally,
signal and battery, um, pretty fundamental features girl. WIthout
power and signal your phone, uh, don't work! Many people here giving
5 stars also state the battery life and signal is pants. If you
guys think a firmware update will cure these you are dreaming! I
agree with JT - the BB fan club/ desparate BB employees have hit
this site to try to save the abysmal Storm from its fate. Let me
say, I even now would love to find something good about the phone
as it is lovely to look at and I depserately wanted to have one
before I tried it. Trouble is, the screen has too much play, buttons
can come off if you use the BB case, typing is not easy, and the
whole touch screen experience is pretty sticky (try the Google G1
or the iphone and compare). I have always found cnet.co.uk to be
very good tech reviewers. CHeck out their review of the storm. If
you want a flash bit of kit but do not rely on it for your business
then the Storm may well be a palatable choice, but if you want performance
there are so many phones out at this very moment that kick the Storm's
butt all the way back to Canada! Rating:
Reviewed by Rick from USA on
30th Nov 2008
This has to be the worst Blackberry ever! And thats from one of
BB's most avid fans. The software is a joke, build quality is poor
at best and less than a day's worth of battery life makes this phone
impossible to use for business. I just checked out Blackberry's
own user forum and it seems I'm not alone, the negative comments
outweigh the positive comments by a long long way...and thats on
BB's own users forum! I've already sent mine back after 5 very disappointing
days. No amount of software updates will fix this lemon. Rating:
Reviewed by julie from uk on
29th Nov 2008
ive now had my storm for a week and love it. discovering new things
every day. texting is fine and quick in either touch type mode or
auto text. yea the batteries not brilliant but im in the habit of
charging every night and then its fine. was well worth the wait. Rating:
Reviewed by H from UK on 29th
Nov 2008
This phone is just aweome. Its really special and the touchscreen
is just brilliant. You have to give it a chance, people just write
reviews when theyve been with it for a few minutes or even a few
hours. also, theyre giving a new update, so all the bugs and lags
will go the feel of the phone is solid and its the best quality
recommended to everyone Rating:
Reviewed by JT from UK on 29th
Nov 2008
I can only assume as a heavy business user, some of these reviews
must be written by the blackberry fan club or even employees, this
phone is absolutely the worst I have ever owned, and i will be joining
the long queue of dis-satisfied customers sending this one back....avoid
it. Rating:
Reviewed by Sally from UK on
28th Nov 2008
Had phone now for 5 days. In short, it great apart from the battery
life and signal strength. That said, I am very pleased with it and
cannot understand all the negative feedback that this phone is receiving.
All we need now a a firmware update and all will be well. Rating:
Reviewed by Lewis from Worthing, UK
on 28th Nov 2008
I rate this phone as one of the best I have ever had, and believe
me I have had loads. The battery life is very poor in comparison
to other phones but that aside, it is an excellent device. The email
facility is second to none and I get all my Pop3 emails instantaneously
which is amazing. Once RIM sort out the bugs this will be by far
the best phone out there. Rating:
Reviewed by Dean from London, UK on
28th Nov 2008
I've been using this phone now for seven days and I have to say...
it's brilliant. The battery and signal strength could be better
- which I understand will be fixed by an immanent firmware update
from RIM. Apart from this, the phone has been a dream to use. Rating:
Reviewed by T from UK on 28th
Nov 2008
I love this phone too, it's my 1st Smart Phone & at 1st I found
it hard to navigate but you do need to spend a week or so with it
to get used to it. The battery life isn't the greatest but it has
improved - not sure why as I'm not doing anything different. It
crashes a lot less than it did at 1st & now works really fast. I
got Vodafone to extend my 14 day cooling off period by one week
as I wanted to be sure & they did this no problem. It's an amazing
piece of kit & I really don't think you can come to a conclusion
after an hour of using it. It's a lot, lot better than the Omnia
& I would even go as far to say better than the iphone! Try before
you buy & if you have the patience & are slightly tech savvy then
this is the phone for you. Rating:
Reviewed by Sharon from UK on
28th Nov 2008
This phone is brilliant! I brought mine two weeks ago and love it.
The battery life can be a bit annoying but other then that its the
best phone on the market by far. Rating:
Reviewed by Joaquim from UK on
28th Nov 2008
This is the best phone ever. Those people who wrote bad reviews
on this forum after having the phone for a couple of hours should
really just stick to more simple things in life, like the iPhone.
I have had mine for 48 hours and the battery is working fine. It
does go down fast but not after five calls. Yes, there is a space
between the screen and the frame and it moves slightly, but that
is the design, so get over it. By the time I finish my phone set
up (which includes a short tutorial), I was typing without mistakes,
and now faster and more accurate than previous phones. The clickable
screen is so great. It feels that you are typing and a blue highlight
follows your finger before you actually press it. Once you go clickable
touch scree, you don't go back. I was a bit nervous to receive my
phone after reading this forum but this is the best phone of all
times. Beautifully designed, well-built. It's a blackberry. Rating:
Reviewed by Dom McHugh from UK on
27th Nov 2008
As an owner of a samsung omnia I was intrigued by the Storm as I
have always wanted a Blackberry phone but never taken the plunge.
I have to say that I have been looking for a replacement for the
omnia as I have many issues with it and the Storm was the first
phone that I had seen that I really did like the look of. I went
into the vodafone shop today and spent above an hour playing with
the phone as I didn't want to be stuck with another touchscreen
phone for 18 months that I didn't like much. First off the screen
is Waaaaay better than the omnia as the colours look more natural
and richer. The touching of the screen is also vastly better. Typing
texts was very easy with zero mistakes which is difficult when you
have sausage fingers like me. The screen responded to touches (should
I say presses)very quickly and going from menu to menu was very
fluid with no lag at all (other reviews mention lag A LOT but either
vodafone have shop floor only models or the build quality was p
or in only the initial batch of released Storms). Using the camera
was ok (I say okay because for me all cameraphones have poor cameras
in them). I have yet to use a phone camera and be impressed with
it and I have owned n95, omnia and sony erricsson k810. I am unable
to comment on the battery life but I intend to purchase a Storm
in the next few days and if it is as poor as other reviews say then
I will be taking it back under the 14 day cooling of period. Rating:
Reviewed by C.Black from UK on
27th Nov 2008
ok, ok. I wanted an iphone, was talked into getting the storm. Have
had it for 24 hours. First impressions...........it is my first
smartphone, but I like my toys (and I am a girl), so I thought,
why not. And in the business sector, I have had to deal with blackberrys
for 4 years, so I thought I would try one myself. What are my thoughts?
Battery life is not rubbish. After charging over night the battery
died halfway through the day, but I guess this depends on how much
you use it too. Signal strength? Not good either, but then I dont
live in a great mobile area, so I am hopeful (cross fingers). Some
applications I find fast, others I find frustratingly slow, like
surfing the web. I am a fast typer and the keyboard I find a little
annoying, but I can live with it, better than what was on previous
blackberrys. The camera is ok, but then I have a 13.2 mexapixel
digital camera so I am not fussed about that, at least it has the
focus and flash. As an owner of 8 ipods in 3 years, I wont be giving
up my ipod just yet, although the music player does sound surprisngly
well. Personally I like to keep my music player and camera seperate
to my phone. The emails work great, so does the DataViz applications
and the maps etc (although I dont know if I want to walk down the
street holding it to find out where I am going-it is a little bit
too inconspicious..........lol) Overall I think this is an o.k phone,
I would not miss it if I did not have it, but it still is a nice
piece of kit, and means I may/not? have to take my lap top everywhere.
For the business man on the go, unlike previous blackberrys, I dont
think this will cut it, the battery life is too short and the signal
is not great, but hey, it looks good if that is what you are after.
Personally, I will let you know how I feel in another week. :-)
On another note, a friend of mine has one of these and he endlessly
complains about the signal strength. Unlike me he also uses the
case for it (c'mon something a bit less embarresing would be good)
and he warns be careful using the case as it has made his buttons
fly off when he is getting in and out! (some would say-lucky him)#
Keep you updated :-) Rating:
Reviewed by Steve Barnes from Wales
on 26th Nov 2008
After receiving my Blackberry storm 6 days ago, I have organised
a return with Vodaphone today. Battery: Charged overnight, I can't
even get an average day's use out of it. 5 or 6 5-10 minte calls
in a day and I leave the office with the battery indicator flashing
red. Software: Regularly crashes. In fact I couldn't even get through
to the relevant dept of Vodafone as the number keys on the phone
get confused, and for instance 3 fires an 8?? Speed Dials: Using
the storm in the car, even though the speed dials were meticulously
assigned, I call home, it calls work. It even dials random numbers
of it's own accord. The QWERTY keyboard. Whenever I turned the unit
on it's side, half the keys are missing. Big Software issues. Speed:
In the advertising, words like " surf at warp speed" are used. In
reality, this is the slowest, least reactive unit I've ever had
the misfortune to use. All in all, we all make mistakes in life,
and going for the Storm is the biggest mistake I've made in a long
while. Lots of hype - In reality it doesn't live up to what's promised.
Also took me 3 days with the last day 58 mins on hold to organise
a return. Not Impressed Vodafone! Rating:
Reviewed by Ralph from USA on
26th Nov 2008
Why does Blackberry get a pass from everyone on the poor e-mail
client it has. It only does plain text, it only shows the messages
from the Inbox. If you don't use the Blackberry Enterprise Server,
you get random retrieval of e-mail. And yet, the reviewer quotes
the Blackberry line: "reputation for the best in mobile email".
It still sucks. Do the reviewers not ever try the e-mail because
of the "reputation"? Or are the kickbacks from RIM just that good?
I can't figure it out. [Editor's reply: Kickbacks from Rim? LOL!] Rating:
Reviewed by matthew from wales on
25th Nov 2008
WHAT A PHONE!!!! I cant understand why people hate this phone or
disagree with it. I bought mine off ebay and lucky to pick it up
for £310, i recieved it 2days ago so far so good. It does what i
tell it to, only had to charge it once in the days i have used it
for so far, great applications as always good email. This is the
first blackberry phone iv ever owned and i have had IPHONE, IPHONE
3G, SAMSUNG PIXON, LG RENOIR, NOKIA N96, AND SE C905, And i have
to say this beats them all. If you want one by one you will seriosly
not regret it. Rating:
Reviewed by Neleta from UK on
25th Nov 2008
I received this phone last week and loved it for all of 12 hours
and then the damn thing broke! The touchscreen was no longer touch
so I was unable to do anything on it. I have since contacted Vodafone
to get a replacement but they are out of stock and has said that
it could be a while so they have given me a courtesy phone which
to be honest is the most basic phone you could ever purchase and
has no internet or email facilities (it doesnt even have predictive
text) After all these problems I am dubious about getting another
one so I am considering the Samsung Omnia, Any thoughts? I am worried
that I am cutting off my nose despite my face and that I should
wait for a replacemnent, I am soooo confused but all I know is I
need a phone asap!!!! ahhhhh!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Smart from UK on
25th Nov 2008
I've been watching the incoming reviews here since returning my
Storm last week. If I still had it, I'd make sure the software was
bang up to date... I've discovered there's a web page on the BB
site where you can do this. (Go to BB's Storm Support page and look
under Downloads.) So... if you're having problems, before you take
your Storm back, check to see if the s/w is up-to-date. You may
be in for a pleasant surprise. (Now I'm wishing someone had told
me about this a week ago!) Of course, the issues may not be s/w
related after all, but it's worth a try. Rating:
Reviewed by Dan Gleebitz from England
on 24th Nov 2008
I've been using the Storm now for a week and I have to say, apart
from the odd little glitch, it has performed faultlessly. I don't
understand all the negative feedback this phone is getting. Quite
honestly, it's a great phone that is streets ahead of most mobile
phones out there. The email facility is the best as is the screen
quality. Admittedly, there are a couple of issues surrounding battery
life and signal strength but these will be sorted in a forthcoming
firmware update. I suspect some of the negative reviews here are
from jealous iPhone users. Rating:
Reviewed by Neleta from UK on
24th Nov 2008
I had my phone for a whole 12 hours and the damn thing broke. It
was fine then all of a sudden the touchscreen was no longer touchscreen.
Then it just completely froze up and I really liked it for the first
12 hours. I reported it to Vodafone and they have no stock so they
gave my some bloody awful courtesy phone that is as basic as you
can get and as I went for the blackberry storm, I did say to them
that this would suggest that I needed a phone with some internet
and email capability. What a knightmare. I am now waiting on the
replaceent and have been informed that it could be a while so I
am now looking at alternative phones such as the Samsung Omnia as
I need one with the same functions and one that wont break either.
Rating:
Reviewed by chris from scotland on
24th Nov 2008
i previously left a review on the 20/11 saying that my storm was
going back due to reception problems and poor battery life only
to find out that phones4u wont give me a different handset because
the storm has its own special tarrif so all they will do is exchange
my storm for another storm! they said they would let me know when
more handsets wer in stock so i thought i may aswell give the phone
another go untill i got a new and hopefully better working 1 since
i was going to hav it for 18months wether i want it or not, iv been
using it for a few days now and the battery doesnt last long but
doesnt take long to charge either so il live with it, my main problem
is signal strength when im indoors, it doesnt work in any house
i go 2 although it works fine when im outside so hopefully a new
handset will work better for me, anyway if ur thinking of getting
a storm give it some real thought and maybe dont go to phones4u
just incase. Rating:
Reviewed by Tim from London on
24th Nov 2008
Very impressed with how fast Vodafone got a BlackBerry Storm biked
round to me. Unfortunately it doesn't work. Its small buttons fell
off. The screen flicks happily between white and dark like a Christmas
Tree light. Its obviously got software and construction issues.
What a huge mistake to rush out a phone that's not ready for market.
Perhaps later models will be ace. Shame loyal vodafone users are
dumped on with this turkey. Worse, fast as Vodafone are at advertising
this loser, its impossible to get through to the jammed operators
to arrange the wretched thing to be collected. The sales guys answer
fast, but can't arrange pick up of the phones they are happily pushing.
Phones that don't work. Just sat on hold on and off today, forty
mins on average, still holding as I send this. Beware this phone,
its simply a menace, and I do hope vodafone suffer for treating
customers so poorly..I tried to stick with vodafone but I guess
its get rid of this junk, get a PAK number and call O2 fast. Rating:
Reviewed by Henry from UK on
24th Nov 2008
i have left a review last week and after a weekend of "playing around"
with the phone, i have find out a few things which have improved
the performance of the my Storm. 1)do take your time to read the
"Help" within your phone. its one of the functionalities that in
the menu and it has all the tips which will help the performance
of the Storm. 2)the bettery life last alot longer now compare to
last week when i still use the default setting! the more emails
you setup with the Storm, the shorter the bettery will last because
of the Push Email functionality. so change the setting for your
Email. (the Help screen will have tips to guide you to set it right)
3)a tip that my workmate told me from his experence, do not place
your phone on top of the case when you using the phone. There are
magnet inside the case which put the phone in sleep mode when the
phone has put into the case to save bettery. so if you place your
phone on the case when using the phone, then it might get put in
sleep mode or turn off the device. Rating:
Reviewed by Don from UK on 24th
Nov 2008
Grrrrrrrrrr...after 8 days trying to get this awful excuse for a
phone to work I'm sending it back to Vodafone today. No amount of
software updates will rectify the terrible touch screen the poor
battery life and the worst build quality I have ever seen in a phone.
I called Vodafone Customer Support today to ask why it won't sync
with my Mac,they said they were aware of this issue and had been
informed by RIM that full Mac compatability will be available early
next year! Sorry Vodafone..you've been had! Rating:
Reviewed by J from England on
24th Nov 2008
i am returning this phone. DO NOT GET THIS PHONE - it is RUBBISH Rating:
Reviewed by mark2jag from UK on
23rd Nov 2008
Blackberry storm is s***!!! I appreciate the no swearing rule but
without it you have absolutely no idea of the frustration levels
caused by this DAMN phone.....I'm on my 2nd one now and its still
slow, laggy, gets very hot,doesnt allow me to view websites that
require a download,screen keeps calling me a lair by selecting options
on screen that I really havent chosen. The edit text option requires
that you have millimetre wide fingers, which is no good to me. I
also have a nokia n95 which picks up a full scale signal in my living
room, where the Storm will not pick up any!!!!. I have missed countless
calls thanks to it deciding it cant get a signal in places where
other phones work perfectly. I really dont know what to replace
it with, and am on the point of phoning voda and telling them I
really dont want it, revert my upgrade date back to before I had
this godawful phone, and will wait and see whats released in the
new year... Rating:
Reviewed by Karl T from London U.K on
22nd Nov 2008
If you must have a Blackberry go for the Bold, the Storm is far
from good, it just doesn't do what it says "on the tin" needless
to say this is one that is definitely getting boxed back up and
going back. Rating:
Reviewed by Wayne from England on
22nd Nov 2008
Well its been a week since I upgraded to my storm from a SE K800i.
Overall I'm very happy. Occasionally it does some random things
and I'm still stumbling across options I didn't know exist!! Screen
works well, however no touchscreen will be able to replace a standard
keyboard for speed and feedback. Texting takes me a bit longer now,
but adapting to a new phone always takes some time. Have the odd
button faff but like the size of the display too much to go back
to a standard keyboard/screen combination. Browsing is fine and
I don't have any issues with battery capacity. I currently charge
the phone for a few hours in the evening and its fine for the next
24 hours or so. I had a E66 for a week or so before the Storm and
it was a lot, lot worse. Plus with this you can get a replacement
battery, unlike the iPhone. Camera is very laggy, but hopefully
it'll be sorted when the firmare is updated. Not sure what all the
WiFi fuss is over, with the package from vodafone it will be unusual
to be away from a decent signal. Overall its a 8 out of 10, but
the touch side of it won't please everyone. I strongly suggest you
spend time with the phone before deciding to buy it. Rating:
Reviewed by swiftysue from england on
22nd Nov 2008
i have had an iphone before they were released over here,and i had
but got bored with it , i had the storm and thought if it is bad
it can go back, i am a phone freak . after the first 48 hours i
wanted to throw it out of the window, could not type in landscape,
screen slow, etc, but i have stuck with it . battery power has improved,
aplications have got quicker i am finding loads of things the phone
does that i am really impressed with, and for me it does beat the
iphone , but you do have to work hard with it the first couple of
weeks and give it alot of time , but you are rewarded in the end Rating:
Reviewed by Ashley from UK on
21st Nov 2008
Played with this phone a few days and its gone back. What a huge
disappointment. The keyboard is not very easy to use as you have
to wait for it to pop back up before typing another letter. Sometimes
the buttons clicked just don't respond. The build quality is disappointing.
Too much play with the screen and a big gap at the bottom that will
no doubt be a dirt magnet. I really wanted a 3G Blackberry, but
the Storm has far too many problems, and the Bold, although a much
better device, has the styling of an old Jaguar with its faux leather
back and plastic chrome bumpers! I want a 21st century phone. I
now have a Nokia E71 which is fantastic. Solid build (10mm thin,
steel), better features than all the BBs put together, and Nokia
have a new email service that is currently free while they test
it that is comparable to the legendary BB offering. Best of all,
the battery lasts for days even when bashing it by using all the
apps. If you need a serious bit of kit for business I hig hly recommend
it over the dodgy Storm! I so wanted to love the Storm, but pretty
looks can't make up for such a lack of performance. Oh, and the
E71 has WI-FI and a browser that kicks BBs butt! Lastly, I have
to say (like a few others here) where has the integrity of this
site gone? I used to rely on this site for an honest opinion. Now
it aimlessly gives out stars despite some phones being very obviously
undeserving of such. Seems like the site has been bought off by
manufacturers/ ISPs. What a shame. The best thing about it now is
the user reviews. Response Ed?!! [Editor's reply: Hi Ashley,
I hope that you can still rely on Mobile Phones UK for an honest
editorial review. Our review is 100% honest, even though you may
not agree with it. As for being bought off by manufacturers, I wish!
Come on manufacturers, please send us buckets of cash LOL! As for
the Storm, the number one complaint from users is battery life.
As mentioned in our review, you should expect to charge it each
day if you're a heavy user. As for the user interface, we like it.
Some people have complained about it being slow, others here say
it's fast. A few have complained about build quality. The Storm
is attracting mostly 5 star or 1 star reviews, which leads us to
suspect that there are good ones and bad ones around. Jamez and
Smart below (20th Nov) have also commented on this. Our advice:
if you think there's something wrong with your Storm, ask for a
replacement. Obviously Vodafone/RIM have made a huge cock-up if
they are allowing sub-standard versions of the Storm to be released,
but that wouldn't be the first cock-up ever! Both Vodafone and RIM
have made a massive investment in the Storm and I can't believe
that they will allow this situation to continue. If in doubt, wait
a bit longer before buying.] Rating:
Reviewed by D Simmons from UK on
21st Nov 2008
I went to my local Voda store on Saturday to try the Storm, on initial
Demo (I've been a Vodafone Customer for over 12 years) I decided
to commit to an 18 month contract. After just 3 days the Storm was
returned for a Full Refund, due to poor 3G signal and absolutely
dire Battery life which failed to last a full day without needing
a charge. On a plus I felt the touch screen was great. So what did
I go for after returning my Storm, an iPhone, the best move I made. Rating:
Reviewed by Henry from UK on
21st Nov 2008
i really don't understand how people return the phone just after
3 days because they don't like or haven't got used to the control
quick enough. if that the case for me then i would have return every
single phone that i have owned in the past. this is my first Blackberry
and i do agree with some of the issue which other reviewers pointed
out such as delay between screens and so on but these are all software
related issues, so a update will fix all these problems. overall
i find this phone is excellent. the battery life does not match
the expectation but when im at work, i connect it to my PC via USB
anyway so it fine with me. i will give it 5 stars after their first
OS update when they fix the existed bugs. :) Rating:
Reviewed by Mark from Belfast, UK on
21st Nov 2008
Hello! I've had my Blackberry since Wed and I can truely say it
is a great phone. Being a Mac user I was worried but I now have
everything sync'd and love it to bits. I've had plenty of time on
the iPhone and find the touch screen technology to be ingenious
but it's too easy to make mistakes when typing and browsing. Blackberry's
solution blows it out of the water. Rating:
Reviewed by Coggs from UK on
21st Nov 2008
I have had the phone for about 4 days now and cannot get the battery
to last longer than 8 hours. I use the phone for work i.e. access
to my emails etc ..... I thought this was going to be the dogs B*******
and am regretfully let down. Trying to type an email with the phone
on it's side is very difficult, trying to delete a letter is difficult
and when you find out it's easier to type with the phone upright,
then the screen takes about 15 seconds to stand upright. The system
is very slow and you don't even get a memory card (Something else
you have to purchase). Signal is not very good (Especially for a
vodafone network) as I've never had this problem. I am really thinking
about handing back to Vodafone on the 14 day cool off, however not
sure on what to get. May just keep using my laptop when out of the
office and get the N96. Rating:
Reviewed by Dana from UK and USA on
21st Nov 2008
I spend 6 months a year in the UK and 6 months in the US. I was
fortunate to be in the UK when the Storm was launched on Vodafone
before my folks back home could get one on Verizon. I purchased
my new Storm last Friday and was so excited to see that when I opened
the box it looked just as beautiful as I expected. I've always been
a Blackberry fan despite all my family continuously bragging about
how good their iPhones are. Can you imagine how embarassed I feel
now that I've tried the Storm and have to concede that in almost
every single respect its failed to live up to all the media hype.
I really really wanted to fall in love with my new Blackberry Storm
but its let me down badly. The touch screen is the biggest culprit
it just makes sending SMS and email messages so darn difficult!
I'm a proficient touch typist and am proud of how fast and accurately
I can type but the quality of messages I compiled on my Storm was
nothing short of embarassing. The screen keeps freezing between
landscape and portrait views, the browser crashes at will, its NOT
the business phone which Blackberrys are famous for. My average
battery life after fully charging, just on standby and fiddling
around with the setup menu was around 6-7 hours and the phone got
very hot. I've persevered with this awful phone for almost a week
now and just cannot feel comfortable with it. With great reluctance
its now back in its box and going back to Vodafone. Do not buy this
phone if you rely on it for your business as I did. Rating:
Reviewed by Mark from UK on 21st
Nov 2008
I really like this phone but.... I had it on charge all day but
the battery only lasted 5 hours and that was making a couple of
calls a quick browse of the net and sending 2 emails not that impressed.
Really want to keep it but don't think I can live with such a poor
battery for 24 months. Rating:
Reviewed by Lyn from UK on 21st
Nov 2008
Really wanted to love this phone.. have had BB's for 4 years and
have been looking forward to getting this for weeks. .... This is
very pretty,but it takes more than looks for a phone to impress
me - it needs to work for a living. After 2 days of really really
trying to get on with this phone I admit defeat - it has absolutely
exasperated me.. it's slow (there's a terrible lag in moving between
applications)- typing on the touch screen is not accurate (I have
small hands and type for a living), but I'm not dexterous enough
to get a tune out of this - or at least certainly not at any speed.
Form over function is my verdict on this - not a case of iphone
sour grapes from me as I will always use BB's -their e-mail capability
is unbeatable if you need them to do a job - but not the Storm -
which is boxed up ready to go back.. what a dissapointment. Perhaps
the Bold will be of more real use. Rating:
Reviewed by Jamez from Uk on
20th Nov 2008
The poor battery life and signal issues are being addressed by RIM
and should be fixed with an update soon. Many Storms were dispatched
running Pre-release software versions - they simply weren't updated
prior to being released. This is the reason for the slow UI and
lag - a big mistake by RIM and Vodafone. This is also being addressed
with an update. However, my Storm is running the correct software
version and is superfast, super responsive and a joy to use. The
reasons stated above would explain why some people are giving the
Storm 1 star and other 5 stars on this site. Best bet is to give
it a couple of weeks until RIM have released the updates which will
resolve these issues - then buy one! In case people have their suspicions,
I don't work for or have any association with RIM or Vodafone, I'm
just a happy Storm owner whose handset is running the correct software
version. Rating:
Reviewed by Smart from UK on
20th Nov 2008
There's definitely something very odd going on with the Storm. I
don't think it's a simply case of some people loving it and others
hating it. I did love mine, but it had to go back cos the dang thing
didn't do what it was supposed to do. The positive reviewers here
can't understand why there's so much negative feedback, but the
same applies in reverse. It's like we're talking about two entirely
different phones... I'm left wondering if there is some techno reason
for these two incarnations of the Storm... I read something somewhere
about calibration issues (not that it means anything to me) ...maybe
in trying to meet VF's pre-Xmas deadline, BB's QC was compromised.
Something sure isn't right. There be good 'uns and there be dud
'uns, yet you just don't know which one you're gonna get till you
hand over your money. Rating:
Reviewed by chris from scotland on
20th Nov 2008
my storm will be going back after only a week! cant text with it,
only able to phone people if im outside and cant use the internet
either! the vodafone sim card works perfect in my old phone though
so getting a reception with the storm is clearly a big problem.
the battery life is shocking aswell, if you plan to buy one you'll
be carrying your charger everywhere with you. it is a nice looking
phone but in my experience it just didnt work so i would go with
another handset. Rating:
Reviewed by Lee from UK on 20th
Nov 2008
I cant believe the negative feedback this phone is getting!!!! I
absolutely love it typing email, sms is so easy. The media player
is top notch. The Touchscreen is unbelievable very responsive not
sure why so many other people are having problems. Internet is super
quick for me I am constantly keeping up with the latest news, sport
from skynews and NY Times fanstastic. Cant recommend it enough get
one ASAP and dont listen to the negative reviews they are probably
ppl who own a iphone and dont want ppl to know there IS a better
phone on the market. I wouldn't swap this phone for any other 5/5
outstanding. Rating:
Reviewed by J Thomas from Wales on
20th Nov 2008
Build quality was terrible, gaps around screen etc, and it gets
worse from there on, absolutely terrible phone........shot yourself
in the foot with this one blackberry.....Give it a wide berth Rating:
Reviewed by Smart from UK on
19th Nov 2008
I loved my Storm... but it's gone back to Vodafone after 3 days
because it clearly didn't love me. I loved the look of the handset,
the large, bright screen, the icons, the feel of the phone... all
the aesthetics. But what I did not love was how hard it was to get
the phone to do what I wanted it to do... Every single text I wrote
was full of mistakes. It was simply not possible for me to use the
keyboard in either portrait or landscape without inadvertently hitting
the wrong keys. And I'm no Goliath... Using the touch-screen menus
was a challenge too. You have to highlight the command you want
and click the screen. Yet when I put my thumb on the screen to SEND
the phone seemed to think I had asked it to do the next command
down - SAVE AS DRAFT. It wasn't that I was cack-handed either. Even
doing this in slow-motion, it was clear that my phone had 'issues'
in working out where my thumb was and what I wanted. A good few
times, I clicked a command and nothing happened. If you s pell a
word wrong and want to go back and change it, you just touch the
screen and a cursor appears, which you can move to where you want,
for insertion or deletion. But this was so fiddly - often the cursor
refused to appear at all... On top of this, I actually ended up
with sore thumbtips from clicking the screen. Clicking real keys
- or touching digital keys is a lot less taxing. Unfortunately,
there is still more to this tale of woe... Like others have said,
battery life is way below what is claimed. The device that's supposed
to know which way up you're holding the phone sometimes kicked in
for no reason and other times didn't work despite my giving it every
help. The handset got rather too warm for my liking during a longish
call... So... overall, a disappointing venture into Blackberry country
for me. Rating:
Reviewed by Gordon from Oxford on
19th Nov 2008
I consider myself to have had a lucky escape here. I'm due an upgrade
on my Vodafone contract in December and having been locked into
an 18 month hell with a Motorola handset, was really interested
in the Storm as an alternative to the iPhone. I want a media rich
handset, and the iPhone would actually be ideal for me, but the
02 coverage in my experience is poor, and non existent where I like,
so the Storm looked an ideal candidate. Fortunately I went to have
a look at one in the Voda store in Paddington on Monday. What a
shocker. The handset is very heavy and much thicker than I had expected.
But the worst aspect is the UI and operating system. The first thing
I noticed was the terrible accelerometer. The lag virtually renders
it useless and most of the time the screen simply does what it wants
to, irrespective of which way up you hold it. The sales assistant
had rapidly perfected a weird flick of his wrist to make it respond
at all, and in the end had to take it away from me - just 5 mins
of use had frustrated me into shaking it to do anything at all.
It was also really noticeable how slooowly apps loaded and the system
responded to key, sorry, screen gestures. I can't really comment
on the touch screen - it was ok and would need alot of getting used
to - but to be honest that aspect of the phone was completely overshadowed
by the poor performance of the operating system. I am not really
sure what market this is aimed at - its too big to be of real interest
to corporate users - I've got a Curve and its really just fine for
business e-mail etc - and for users who want a media phone for personal
use, its really not up to it. Voda must be gutted - how could they
get it so wrong? Rating:
Reviewed by Fiona Jones from UK on
19th Nov 2008
The phone is absolutely rubbish. Quite simply it does not work and
after only 3 days, mine has started falling apart. It is going straight
back to the shop. I have never done this before - but it really
is that bad, I just dont feel comfortable signing up to owning it
for the next 18 months. Rating:
Reviewed by Nick Simes from UK on
19th Nov 2008
Had my BB Storm for 48 hours and have boxed it up and am sending
it back. If you have got fingers like the ones I have a Storm definately
isn't for you.The touch screen is very difficult to use quickly.
You often end up with the wrong letter in your script and consequently
waste loads of time correcting it. Repositioing the cursor is utterly
ridiculous to say the least. I have found the signal that it pulls
in is nowhere near my BB Curve and consequently have had 4 people
today that I have had to ring via a landline. Even worse is when
you are on the phone and press the phone to your ear too hard it
will either put the caller on hold or mute the call. The final straw
for me is battery life, I can't stand by a charger all day, I've
got work to do! Rating:
Reviewed by danny from scotland on
19th Nov 2008
This Phone was useless - Just brought it back to Vodafone today
- I've been with Vodafone years but with the Storm i couldn’t
get good signal strength in my house - making calls was a nightmare.
The phone was very slow to respond and not user friendly at all.
Sending texts was not much fun either, nor was deleting multiple
texts at once. There was only a handful of applications available
for it and i really struggled to get access to the internet and
it didn’t matter what site you wanted to go on to - it took
you to a list of different sites. The phone also had trouble shifting
from landscape to portrait. I don’t like the i-phone but I
have to say it’s the best phone/handheld computer out there
at the min. I think the blackberry is probably a good business phone
but as a consumer product it’s just not there yet. Give it
a miss folks – it might look nice but there is no substance.
Ps I cant believe that this site gave it a 5 star rating either!
– Go Figure Rating:
Reviewed by ed Riseman from UK on
19th Nov 2008
Took delivery yesterday to replace my existing blackberry for emails
and motorola phone. Can't see what the hype is about and will probably
send back next week. I really do not like this - just finding the
call log for missed calls has proved impossible - packed with so
many gizmos that it overides the main purpose - it's a phone!! Touchscreen
ok but constantly opening up the email above or below - messy contacts
system - generally overall a real disapointment - oh and my partner
got one the same day and within 2 hours the call button fell off.
Trying to do too much here Rating:
Reviewed by S Little from Wales on
19th Nov 2008
My husband had one of the 1st batch of these phones and the signal
receptopn is terrible. Other users on vodafone's forum have reported
the same but if you swith the sim to another vodafone handset the
signal is near full strengh. Vodafone have not as yet said if this
is a hardware or software problem and many on the forum are sending
theirs back for full refund. The handset is great but useless for
making calls the main reason for having a phone. There is also issues
regarding battery life. I would wait for a few months until vf and
RIM sort these issues out. Rating:
Reviewed by Brian Foster from UK on
18th Nov 2008
I got this phone on the say so from vodafone that it was better
than the iphone i would just like to say IT IS NOT so my advise
to you would be don,t buy this buy the iphone Rating:
Reviewed by David Robinson from England
on 18th Nov 2008
I got an 18 month contract on saturday with this phone, at the start
it seemed amazing, abit slow, but i thought it cant be perfect,
its fine. The i came home, tried uploading the software, didnt work
(i have all the system requirements). Then tried bluetooth, and
no matter what i did i could not recieve any files over bluetooth,
i thought wtf, the bluetooth doesnt even work, a stupid old nokia
can use bluetooth and this cant! Went to the store, asked them about
it, they said cuz of security reasons the bluetooth is very tight
on what devices it allows. Then i had to ask for a new CD after
telling them my software isnt working. The software worked, but
takes soo long to convert videos! About the phone though, around
the edge of the screen you can see the backlight coming through
(not through the screen.. through holes!) The camera is pretty shocking,
its hard to make the phone "Yours" the customisation is awful, i
cant even zoom in the camera far, or once your recording a video
you cant zoom, thats rubbish! Loud speaker sound quality isnt great,
alot worse than my sony ericsson k810i. Accesories are expensive.
Sat nav is good, msn is good, connection is good, e-mail is perfect,
internet is good, understanding how to change things on the phone
is very hard e.g. ringtones, vibrate and just alot of other bits
and bobs. It sometimes does things you havent asked for it to do.
Cant rate the touch screen, cuz i havent tried other touch screens,
but tbh i think the typing is easy and so is the selecting of things.
What else... just not great really, i was dissapointed. Ohhhh Wait!
The battery, seriously people the battery is not 360 hours standby!
what did they do to test that? attach it to an LED!? I charged all
of last night, woke up, throguhout the day sent some e-mails, texts
and went on msn. Went on the internet for about 5 minutes, took
a picture and a small video, used sat nav to go about 2 miles just
to see what it was like. And now its 5.17 pm and i have 1 out of
the 5 bars... when i go to charge my sony eircsson at night, its
still nearly full! An this cant even make it to night time, a phone
that doesnt last 24 hours is shocking in this day and age! i dont
want to be charging it twice a day for the next 18 months, so im
tkaing it back, also because of the bluetooth and lack of things
to do with the camera such as (macro, good zoom etc) Im really feeling
sorry for blackberry cuz they must have lost out on sooo much money
doing this! Simple things to save the phone, more battery life,
bluetooth that works, no big gap between the screen and the edge,
where loads of dust will gather in the next few months and better
ways of changing everything, like pictures, applications etc. Hope
its helped give you an idea of what its actually like lol Rating:
Reviewed by JI from UK on 18th
Nov 2008
After all this hype, this phone is uselss. Slow, freezing, dire
battery life, inaccuarte touch screen and genarally no good. I have
loved Bberrys and tried the Bold before sending it back so I could
have Strom. I will be sending it back so that I can get a Bold again.
It is no good. I have tried to convince myself that I will grow
to like it. But it is a bad bit of kit. Go for the Bold instead.
DO NOT GET THIS PHONE Rating:
Reviewed by Martin Power from England
on 18th Nov 2008
I purchased this phone on Saturday on an 18 month contract - a first
for me as I have always been a 12 month man due to boredom with
handsets etc. I have used blackberry's before having had the pearl
and the more robust 8820. The Storm is a more complete handset from
Rim and shows where they are trying to focus on appealing accross
markets. The handset does take some getting used to and as with
any touch screen phone they something do the exact opposite of what
you want! However this phone is trying not to be the all encompassing
iphone killer that it seems everyone is desperate for but to set
out a different but worthy option. The storms touch screen takes
some getting used to but once you get used to it, it does become
second nature and I would seriously advise that you have a good
dem and play with the thing in the shop prior to purchase as only
then will you get a true feel for it Tchnically the omission of
wifi is a mistake but not irretrievable and the 3g vodas network
seems to be handling the data element well. The phones ability to
sync with itunes is very useful and my new ipod will remain at home
for the time being. I got a free 8gb card thrown in by haggling
and comparing to the standard iphone model. As a comparison there
are things that each do best and the iphone for pure web surfing
is a treat but as a business smartphone it is sorely lacking in
practical functionality - but and this is the rub all phones do
not have everything and we need to get used to it. The storm meets
my needs and I will use it and probably abuse it over the next 18
months then move on. On an additional note a friend got a new HTC
Touch HD on Saturday and we have been trying each others handsets
out over the wekend and although the video on the HTC is a delight
the ever present Win Mo interface remains dreadful. Maybe if Win
Mo 7 ever appears that may be the time to move back into HTC but
at present no. General advice try before you buy as 18 months is
a long time to repent at leisure Rating:
Reviewed by chris gray from uk on
17th Nov 2008
THIS PHONE IS RUBBISH,THE USER INTERFACE IS SLOW,TRYING TO GET BLUETOOTH
TO WORK WILL HAVE YOU PULLING YOUR HAIR OUT,BATTERY LIFE IS A JOKE,IF
YOU HAVE BIG FINGERS FORGET IT,YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WORK THE
PHONE,THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE ON A CD SO NO CHANCE OF TRYING TO FATHOM
IT OUT ON A BULDING SITE.TRYING TO SET RING TONES AND MESSAGE ALERTS
YOU WILL NEED A DEGREE,UNLESS MINE WAS JUST NOT WORKING PROPERLY,SENT
BACK TO VODA,N96 ON WAY THANK GOD.PS, IF YOU USE IT MORE THAN 10
MINS THE PHONE GETS VERY HOT. Rating:
Reviewed by DG from UK on 17th
Nov 2008
My Storm arrived on Friday and I've spent the whole weekend playing
with it...trying very hard to like it but its going back to Vodafone
tomorrow. IPhone killer its not...especially if you're a Mac user
like me. The Tools CD supplied with the phone doesn't work on a
Mac..no problem say Vodafone support..just download Pocket Mac its
free. Maybe somebody should tell them that PocketMac don't yet have
a Storm version..the latest version on their site doesn't recognise
the memory card in the Storm and it just won't synchronise either.
Then there's the major major problem with lack of wi-fi...I have
a blindingly fast Virgin Media connection at home but can't use
it with the Storm and instead have to rely on the weak 3G signal
in my area....and that means I'm also restricted to receiving email
attachments of 2.9meg or less. The accelerometer is useless..it
keeps reverting to landscape from portrait and vice versa in the
middle of composing emails and no amount of shaking will change
it back again.But worst of all is the useless touch screen because
it just won't accomodate my big fingers nor will it work if my wife
tries because of her long nails. Terrible workmanship as well because
in low light levels its possible to see light coming through the
unsealed circumference of the screen where it 'floats' above the
surface. The best thing about the Blackberry Storm is the carry
pouch it comes with! Come on Vodafone, I've been a customer of yours
for over 16 years..when are you going to bring out a phone thats
as good as the IPhone? Rating:
Reviewed by Neil from UK on 16th
Nov 2008
I received my new Blackberry Storm and 14th and i have to admit
i absolutly love it, all the features are fantastic and the new
touchscreen is a dream you dontmake any mistakes when typing a message,
far far better than the Omnia or the iPhone. Its responsive to every
touch. Music sounds great even when the phone is flat as it slightly
raised by the speaker to prevent loss of sound. Iv never had a touchscreen
this is my first, i found typing a message really easy and quick
from which ever way you hold the phone. However.... out of 10 id
rate the Storm 9, because (unless mine is the only one and if so
can someone please let me know) the battery life is undeniably appalling,
I purposely used the phone as little as i could all day to see how
long the battery would last because to me a phone with a bat that
wont last 24 hours is pointless given an emergency situation for
example. so this is how it went.. I charged the phone ALL night
(the phone was swiched off) and i turned it on at 10.20am, I made
'1' 20 minute phone call, played '1' 3.47 minute song, sent '3'
text messages, thats it nothing else. at 18.45 the phone bleeped
to be charged and at 20.05 the phone turned off, it was dead. Just
under 10 hours it lasted from start to finish. And through that
id even turned the brightness down from 100% to its minimum 10%.
I am realy disappointed about this as I really do love the phone
but to hardly use it in a day and the bat only last 10 hours is
a joke, i dont think i could cope for the next 2 years with having
to charge my phone twice a day. So for that reason it is going back,
unless Voda offer to send me a new bat to try first. As for those
at the bottom of these reviews who have only 'played with it a bit'
dont rate something you know nothing about giving fauls usless reviews,
may be you should go play with something small and a little less
grown up you might just find out how it works. Rating:
Reviewed by R S from UK on 16th
Nov 2008
Got my phone yesterday. Has been an amazing piece of technology!
I am a new Blackberry user but they beat Apple and many others for
my business. I have had zero problems with mine. Display is amazing,
sound and video quality fantastic. Keys and onscreen keyboard is
tricky to get used to, but hey what new phone isn't? The click function
makes this alot easier and the process soon speeds up after a few
texts or emails. I agree that you need to actually own this phone
and not have a little play around. It takes time to get the feel
for a new handset and especially one with no keys. I have had the
iPhone and got rid of it as it was awful, this beats it hands down.
If you want to review a phone you have never used more than once,
go ahead, but if you're serious about owning a great phone, go with
this. You wont be disappointed. p.s. One thing, I am a Mac owner
and there is no official RIM Mac interface yet...BUT they are releasing
one soon I am to understand. Rating:
Reviewed by Marc Moncrieff from UK on
16th Nov 2008
This phone is truly awful! Slow, clunky, user unfriendly and generally
very poorly thought out. The pocketmac software does not work with
my macbook. I wish I could get O2 reception at work so I could hav
ean Iphone. Give this handset a wide berth - it's a stinker! Rating:
Reviewed by debs from n ireland on
16th Nov 2008
I had a play with a storm instore yesterday and what i saw was a
very nice phone it will not beat the iphone on looks but it is nice
in its own way. the touch screen is good where you have to touch
and then click maybe you could send emails if it was in your bag
like others said but that would take a lot of clicks to do.the phone
is a bit thicker and heavier than iphone but this makes it feel
solid and not flimsy.I didnt have any trouble with the speed of
the phone and the screen turned each time i turned the phone.the
sales guy said he didnt know if vodafone would let you upgrade to
a new version like o2 does with the iphone.the wifi problem wouldnt
stop me getting the phone but would have been nice for those 2 times
a year i would use it :) Rating:
Reviewed by frank from UK on
15th Nov 2008
it locks up between apps, kept on locking up when using video, one
minute it had sound next it didnt, camera is rubbish compaired with
the 3.2 of a sony Rating:
Reviewed by Slash from UK on
15th Nov 2008
Love this phone...interface is superb, and easier to type on than
an iphone (which I do like too). Screen is gorgeous, displays photos
and videos brilliantly. Lack of WiFi is a shame, but I'd rather
have 3G than WiFi, as I live in a city. Of course, if I had poor
3G reception where I live I'd not get this for mobile browsing,
so one can choose well knowing what the device offers whether it
is the right one for them or not. OS speed is great, at least as
fast as iphone, and much simpler than WinMo. Syncs great with Outlook.
No great negatives really....sure an 8MP camera would be great,
but hey you can't have everything in one device (Omnia is nearly
there but the user interface pales in comparison). Very happy indeed
with this purchase and it in fact made me leave my old network to
move to Vodafone. O2 will be getting a battle on their hands with
this device, which I must say, is just superb Rating:
Reviewed by Darren from UK on
15th Nov 2008
I picked up my Storm at the local Vodafone store yesterday, it's
the first time I have had a BB and what a phone...it's amazing,
fast internet, looks well sexy, screen clear and the sound quality
is great. Typing emails, sms, mms, and notes is so easy and its
a real joy to own, a very very classy phone. Decided today to sell
my Iphone and just have the Storm. I have had nothing but problems
with the Iphone and glad to see the back of it. Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from UK on 15th
Nov 2008
I got mine last night and its going back today , sorry its a very
good piece of kit just not for me . If your thinking about getting
one please please try it first for as long as you can in the shop
. One other thing to look at is the gap around the screen , its
looks a certain dust/water trap to me and can't imagine what it
will look like in 12 month never mind 18 !!! Dave Rating:
Reviewed by Graeme from UK on
14th Nov 2008
Been waiting for this phone for ages. Got home from work early to
get it. Packaged in a lovely black box and I said to all my present
friends 'ahhhh precious'. Then I opened the box and fell silent.
What a piece of cheap rubbish!!!!! The touchscreen moves in the
handset, i mean it wobbles around when you touch it. You can even
see the circuitry through a gap between the screen and the side
of the handset. I read about that a few weeks ago in a review but
the reviewer said that it was a prototype and such a glaring error
would be fixed in final release. oh yeah, forgot to mention it is
slow and bugged up big style. DO NOT GET THIS PHONE!!! subnote i
have lost respect for this site. How can you give this phone five
stars Rating:
Reviewed by Les R from UK on
14th Nov 2008
I am the proud owner of a BLackberry already, a Curve, which I love.
I've been waiting for the Storm for what seems like ages and finally
had the chance to try one out today in my local phone shop. After
having read a million reviews and then the reviews posted on this
site by members of the public, I'd like to ask one question, do
any of them have a Blackberry already? The Storm, nor any Blackberry,
is relatable to any regular mobile phone. I would not go back to
a 'regular phone', not now. My Curve has wifi and no GPS, the Storm
has GPS and no wifi for good reason, it doesn't need it. It has
3G and HSDPA, in most cases faster than wifi. The video and audio
quality is outstanding, the full screen becomes a miniature cinema,
it is easy to fast forward or rewind and all integrated options
are easy to use. typing on the Storm is a cinch, one twist of the
phone into horizontal mode makes it a full QWERTY keyboard and the
reassuring 'click' when you do press a key makes it a pleasure to
use. With push email, the ability to integrate MS Office documents,
the option of using Yahoo, MSN and Google Messengers and so much
software available out there, the Storm is not so much a phone in
the classic sense, it's genuinely a mobile office. Of course it
is going to slow a little as you build up your league of software
but by the same token, you don't buy a new computer when yours starts
to slow a little because of all the apps you put on it and expect
to process. I could say so much more about the Storm but for now
I'll hold back. Suffice to say, if all you want or can cope with
is a dinky regular phone with a basic user interface, stay away
from the Blackberrys, but if you want a technological marvel with
unrivalled connectivity (including a wealth of free point to point
messengers), an incredible screen and near unlimited downloads,
join the Blackberry family today, no other phone currently comes
close. Rating:
Reviewed by princessmimsy from Uk on
14th Nov 2008
Ok - for all the people whinging about the lack of WIFI - the reason
it doesn't have WIFI is when it was originally dreamt up, well over
12 months ago, Voda and RIM had a choice of putting a 3G chipset
in it or a WIFI. Couldn't have both as it would of compromised the
size of the handset. So they went with 3G as Voda are v proud of
their 3G network coverage and speeds and thought that this would
compensate for the lack of WIFI. Whether this was the best decision
to make is not for me to ponticiate on but they made the choice
in front of them at the time for better or worse. I would suspect
that future members of the Storm family will make up for this lack
of WIFI. Give it a chance, it's a cracking handset and remember
the iPhone didn't have some of the most basic phone functions on
it's first incarnation - at least you can send MMS from the Storm! Rating:
Reviewed by Lee from UK on 14th
Nov 2008
Perhaps people should not place reviews on here when all they've
had is a couple of minutes 'playing' with a pre-production/demo
phone in a store. Mine arrived today and it's lightening quick,
really responsive, superfast internet browsing, portrait to landscape
view takes no more than 1-2 secs, really can't fault it at all.
Yes, it would be better with WiFi but that doesn't concern me. I've
not experienced any of the issues mentioned in the other reviews
- wait until the phone is released, then review it! Rating:
Reviewed by Fella 40 from UK on
13th Nov 2008
Tried a mates, this thing is awful its beaten hands down by the
Samsung Omnia and the iphone (which personally i dont care for)...needless
to say mate is giving it back to voda, and going for the omnia or
dreaded iphone. give this thing a wide berth. Rating:
Reviewed by Nick from UK on 13th
Nov 2008
Went into our local Vodafone shop today to have a play with a retail
version of the phone which will be available tomorrow. The screen
is very interesting as it actually clicks and moves when you press
it. However, the phone is virtually unusable as it does not respond
to the key press instantly. I found myself pressing the same key
4 or 5 times before I got a response and then the phone processed
all 5 key presses which meant I ended up somewhere completely different.
Also when turning the phone from portrait to landscape the screen
took over a minute to respond, if at all. The man in the shop actually
took it off me and started banging it against his hand to get it
to respond, which didn't help. And the final nail in the coffin
for me was, despite having a full 3G signal, loading the Google
screen with minimal text took over a minute. A sad example of style
over function. I'm off to get an iPhone. Rating:
Reviewed by Mike Rickard from England
on 13th Nov 2008
After weeks of waiting, i finally got to play with one today at
my local Vodafone shop - honestly - rubbish. It was slow, hard to
use and full of bugs. Seriously disapointing considering all the
hype. An iPhone this is not! Rating:
Reviewed by louise from england on
11th Nov 2008
its not that good Rating:
Reviewed by AJ from UK on 9th
Nov 2008
Tried a pre production model recently.... An excellent phone but
completely let down by lack of WiFi. As a user who is not on O2
in the UK and has been a Vodafone customer for 12 years, I simply
want a handset for mobile browsing which is on a par with the i-phone.
About 50% of that mobile browsing will be done from home where I
have no 3G network coverage. What a complete waste of technology
for me, all the features and I have superfast WLAN at home but I
have to access the internet via GPRS! What an incredible failure
of a decision by Blackberry/Vodafone not to include WiFi. For me
this means that Vodafone still have no viable web browsing alternative
to the i-phone. Unless Blackberry/Vodafone bring out a WiFi enabled
one soon I'll be ending my 12 year relationship with Vodafone. A
5 star phone reduced to 1 star by one simple and essential omission. Rating:
Reviewed by Scarlet Smith from America
on 7th Nov 2008
I hate my phone. It is rubbish. Please dont buy it. You willmake
a bi mistake. Rating:
Reviewed by princessmimsy from UK on
21st Oct 2008
Had a play with one at a recent Voda conferance,is a fantasic handset
but one word of caution to all the ladies out there with long nails
(real or extensions) the touch interface doesn't react well to them.
It seems to be geared up to react to the fingertip touch (maybe
something to do with body temp?) But when touched with your nails
it gets confused and is unsure which button you have pressed. This
was proto model so maybe this will have changed on the retail version
but I would recommend having a play with one to be sure before handing
over your hard earned cash. It may sound like a simple thing but
if the phone can't tell what button you want then it can have all
the bells and whistles in the world, it won't matter as you still
won't be able to use it! Rating:
