Blackberry 9500 Storm
The final chapter of the Blackberry Storm review is here, on the previous chapters of this review we explored different aspects of the Blackberry Storm. In this last chapter we will give our final focus, the summary and what exactly we think about this device.
The Storm has a bad reputation, most people think it is ''not that good'', it's a ''rumor'' that keeps running from mouth to mouth. But we believe the exact opposite, the Blackberry Storm we had, performed excellently.
The device is just solid, not only literally because of its excellent build quality but also its OS performance, it's one of the most balanced OS we ever used. It has everything it needs: easy to use, perfect balance between eye-candy transitions and real usability, and most important of all, a powerful intuitive OS. Some complicated tasks such as configuring an e-mail account are really easy to complete on the Storm.
We also loved the ability of the Storm to be multimedia-ready out-of-the-box, the 8GB memory card and the headset bundled let the user utilise the Storm as a main multimedia device right after buying it. The 3.5mm audio jack lets a user plug any pair of headset one normally uses and the music player has multiple equalizer options. All in all, music experience is great.
The Storm also lets the user easily configure any Bluetooth headset. The video playback on the Storm is also very nice because of the size of the screen, the 3.25 inches are more than enough to watch a full movie.
The Browser in the Storm is generally good, the Storm renders web pages just like a computer does. For really small links the Storm has a cursor mode, which makes it very easy to click on really small elements on web sites. The browser does not support Flash unfortunately, and it also freezes for some time while the page is loading. Generally it is a good web browser but there are better ones, such as the S60 Browser on Nokia phones for example.
The Storm has a pretty fast 3G connectivity, YouTube videos don't freeze and the pages render pretty fast, the only feature that the Storm needs is Wi-Fi, but for some unknown reason it is not there.
The clickable screen system has definitively been a huge success, some people have problems with the clickable screen but generally on most of the devices it works pretty well. RIM achieved what is the hardest part on the process, the user approval. People like this new clickable screen, as soon as they try it. The keyboard is standard, a good keyboard but nothing special, physical QWERTY keyboards are still a better option for heavy texters.
To prove and achieve a conclusion on the Storm I wish to add the opinion of a person who is not a phone-savvy person, just someone who uses an average phone but is a potential future user of smartphones. I did a small test with our Blackberry Storm, I lent it to a friend for an entire day, the only condition was that he had to tell me exactly what he thought about the device at the end of the day. At the end of the day he told me exactly what he thought about the device:
''First of all, I love the design. The Storm is a really good-looking device. The clickable screen is also awesome because it lets me press that little thing on the screen and be sure of pressing it before attempting to. I also like the way the menu is organized, the black boxes look awesome and is very easy to find what I am looking for. I love watching YouTube videos on the Storm, the screen is very good for that purpose. Bad thing is that the battery has been going down very quickly but is probably because I haven't stop using it. I think is a great device, there is no way to go wrong with the Storm''
Generally he gave positive feedback, he was concerned because of the battery. All I have to say for the battery is that it will last one day, but is imperative to charge the Storm every night to use it the next day.
In conclusion the Storm is a good device, I was impressed by its performance, as my friend who is not a tech-savvy person said ''There is no way to go wrong with the Storm''.
