With issues on the iPhone and Instinct increasing by the day, the Storm fixes and improves on all of its competitor's shortcomings, making it the new touch phone to beat
When Blackberry first announced that they were developing a touch-screen phone, they left a lot to the imagination of the mind. There was no specific launch date, no price, just the mention of an all-new "screen that clicks". In fact, that may have been the marketing approach behind it, create an allure and let it spread like a virus. At first when the iPhone came out, and when I was contemplating upgrading to the Storm, I was a little reluctant due to the unproven track record of the touch-screens: How reliable are they, how calibrated are the screens to touch, and what kind of features would compensate for minor keystroke errors or touches?
Fortunately, all of these problems that may have been associated with the iPhone or Instinct, have not only been rectified with the Storm, but improved upon with features oozing out of it.
Ease of Use - With this being one of my main concerns in buying a touch-screen, I was pleasantly surprised how intuitive and quick the learning curve was on the Storm. It is extremely evident that Blackberry did extensive research from a consumer's preferences perspective. The menu button and main menu screen take about 1-2 days to get the hang of, and after that it is nothing but clear skies. With each passing day, I still manage to discover 1-2 new features on the phone to either make it quicker and more time efficient, or just add to the "coolness" factor.
Price - $200 w/ upgrade or 2 year agreement. Not bad at all considering the iPhone was around $500 when it first came out.
Quality - Perfect! The screen is large, vibrant and the colors come to life with smooth transitions between screens.
Battery Life - Near perfect, again. I have never even come close to depleting or even running low on battery.
Durability - This is the only facet of the phone that I did not test, well because I do not want to throw it on the ground or drop it just to see if it will work or not. However, for $10 you can buy a shock resistant silicone pad that fits perfectly on the phone and will prevent any possible damage.
Cons - The only possible cons I can think of, and I have to dig here, is the fact that only Verizon carries the Storm and the very few times were it fails to switch to landscape mode, from vertical mode. Again, this happens around 5-10% of the time, and by no means happens often. Other than that, the only facet of the phone where iPhone outperforms the Storm is the application center and Blackberry even announced that they will be heavily updating this section.
Overall, I could not be happier with the Storm. Every facet of the phone that made me the least bit reluctant in buying it was quickly put to rest and even looking at my old phone is just depressing because of how superior the Storm is. If you are on the Verizon network and do not have the Storm yet, do yourself a favor and pick one up, you will be thanking me later!
