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Home»BlackBerry News»Editorial

An iPhone Fanboy's First Hands-On with the BlackBerry Storm

by Kevin Michaluk on 30 Dec 2008 09:02 AM
22
 

iPhone Smash!!! My Christmas Present - iPhone Smash!!!

What did you want for Christmas? A new BlackBerry? Maybe a Wii or some new Xbox games? World peace? Your two front teeth?? All I wanted for Christmas was a picture of me as the Incredible Hulk ripping an iPhone 3G in half!! I figured it would make the perfect desktop wallpaper for myself... a little CrackBerry Kevin goes iPhone Smash! to keep me on my toes for 2009 (maybe RIM employees should adopt the same approach!).

As you can tell from the image above, I got what I wanted. But it didn't come from Santa or even CrackBerry Santa for that matter... it was delivered to me by none other than our sister site TheiPhoneBlog's editor, Rene Ritchie. As you guy's know, the Ahh Frak Phone is my favorite Frenemy as is the BlackBerry to Rene. I make fun of iPhones and he makes fun of BlackBerrys. We have some entertaining conversations to say the least.

And as you might guess, with the launch of the BlackBerry Storm and the slew of not-so-nice reviews that surfaced with its release, I have had to take an earful from Rene over the past month. Up until last week Rene's pokes were all second hand - he had never actually even held a BlackBerry Storm before. But with its introduction into Canada via Bell and Telus, he finally got his hands on the Storm and on Christmas Eve posted up his TiPb vs. Storm Initial Impressions. For the sake of editorial integrity, it's only fair that I point it out to those of you are interested. Enjoy the read and be sure to let Rene know in the comments what you think of his take on the Storm.

ALSO...one last thing... I noticed in a CrackBerry blog post comment yesterday to my Fuze review that someone was wondering where my updated BlackBerry Storm review was. In case you missed it when I first posted, you can find it here. I followed up my monster of a pre-release review with a 90 minute Special Edition BlackBerry Storm CrackBerry Podcast. If you want to hear my thoughts on the Storm (the good, the bad and the ugly) this is probably the most comprehensive review you'll find anywhere. Once my fingers recover from all the Round Robin writing I'll get it summarized into text form, but in the meantime it's already all out there in verbal form for those who want to know my thoughts on it!

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22 Comments

Posted by MattyFresh Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

all people have to do is go to a verizon store and play witht the storm as a previous owner i returned mine but i would say that if the phone had been more solid out of the box i would still have it but after so much frustration i really wanted to throw it aginst the wall and iam so serious on that but really people if you want a rel review go play with it for yourself and see i mean theres 25 diffrent reviews of the same phone on even these feew diffrent web sights i mean come on how many diffrent times can you review a phone and kevin hates the iphone because hes a FANBOY period

 
 
Posted by Anonymous Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

Ah, So Thats Why I Missed it. I don't Normally Listen to the Podcasts, I'll Give it a Go.

Way To Be Sneaky Kevin! Posting your Review in a Podcast!

Regardless, You Have Been Redeemed! :-)

 
 
Posted by TXBlade Monday, Dec 29, 2008 1139 days ago

I think if the Storm had released with the most current "Leaked" version of the OS .85 then the reviews of the Storm would have been much more favorable from everybody, I think Kevin did a good job in the Podcast on reviewing with good objectivity (even when I didn't really agree with him) but I think that perception is reality and .65 didn’t do anything to enforce a solid belief that the Storm was a good contender to the Touch Screen market.
Hardware issues aside (I don’t have the same concerns as Kevin with the design) .85 really brings the Strom into the race with the G1 and iPhone.

 
 
Posted by jdoc77 Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

Two things... I have to say, "Bwaa haa haa... pwnt" (I just mean on the fact the review was already done.)

Second, it might take the hulk to tear apart an iPhone, but I could rip a Storm to pieces and I haven't even signed up for the exercise partner yet! ;)

 
 
Posted by BlckBrryMD Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

Nice picture, so can we get that in BlackBerry wallpaper format for the Bold and other device screen sizes.

 
 
Posted by mine is a crakberry Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

Ok, I can see reading the iPhone pHanboy's review for entertainment value, but as a serious, unbiased review? C'mon. Comparing the Storm to the iPhone is like comparing Red Delicious Apples to Granny Smiths. Yeah they they are both the same kinda fruit but they taste and bake very differently.
Everyone that owns a storm knows of its shortcomings by now. To me the hardware is solid, the OS will take time to catch up. When the third party apps start rolling in, and the OS gets a wee bit more stable then we will see the Storm come in to its own.
http://mycrackberrystorm.com

 
 
Posted by Snowman81 Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

The Storm's hardware comes off as very under engineered...and quite rushed, even more so when compared to the Bold or the iPhone. I remember people used to say Mercedes-Benz's were over engineered, but I doubt there is even one person, no matter how big a Blackberry fanboy could ever say that about the Storm.

At best all I can say is it gives us something to look forward to when Blackberry comes out with the Blackberry Storm 2.0

 
 
Posted by R69L Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

@Snowman81, Dude come on when the storm 2.0 comes out there will some bugs,Iphone 3g had it bugs,bold had it bugs,pearl had it's bugs,curve had its bugs,pockets PC 6800 had it's bugs I can go on and on,Dude some PDA phones have bugs this is why they have updates and they have consumers like us, from time to time they might listen to us, Dude the phone is good for what it need to do and in time it can only get better,when you called people fanboys all you is doing is making yourself look more like one.

 
 
Posted by Snowman81 Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

I didn't even mention software....not even once. All my points were about HARDWARE. If you have one and you like it that's great, to me it feels like it needed more time in the design studio before RIM put it out. The floating screen needed some sort of track system to keep it rock solid in every direction other than down and up. Seeing the screen's backlight shin through from the buttons is also sloppy.

RIM wanted it out before the holidays and the end result is a phone that doesn't match RIMs latest devices in quality. Software issues I can overlook as they can be fixed with firmware updates....as you said.

 
 
Posted by Snowman81 Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

What the hell are u talking about fanboys....I called no one a fanboy. It was a general comment, as in every mobile OS has its fanboys(and girls), Palm, Windows Mobile, iPhone, etc. And every fanboy always wants to overlook issues with their hardware when compared to others, that was my point.

When you say I sound like a fanboy, I want to ask, a fanboy of what? The Bold or the iPhone? Cause I said they both were built better than the Storm.

 
 
Posted by R69L Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1138 days ago

My bad snowman didn't mean to call you a fanboy and I thought you was talking about the software, I have to agree with you on the hardware it was a rush,still love my storm.

 
 
Posted by Snowman81 Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 1138 days ago

No worries man, these are just gadgets we're talking about here, not like we're talking smack about someone's mom. :P

 
 
Posted by jdoc77 Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 1138 days ago

My mom is a phone fanboy...

 
 
Posted by dagda1 Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

The iPhone is something that is sometimes a phone. I need to be upgrading soon.

 
 
Posted by hennesseystealth Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

I have a complex CRM database with about 100 fields per record and over 5000 records sitting in my Storm. That is in addition to over 4000 calendar entries. The iPhone crapped out long before getting to those numbers. So, if you want to hold a few thousand songs buy the iPhone. If you want to do some field work, get a BlackBerry.

 
 
Posted by fcortese Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

"mine is a crackberry"'s comments about granny smith and red delicious apples is correct on one plane. However, although it is not really possible- what we really need for a true comparison is putting the Storm early OS (pick one-.65. .75) against the first go at iPhone and their OS problems. To get a true picture we may need to re-compare these phones 6 months down the road with probable OS updates for both by then. The bottom line is a person selcts a phone based on multiple reasons: carrier, type of use, looks, feel, past experiences (good or bad), etc. Those who love the Storm do so because it meets there daily phone/connectivity needs. Those who dislike, both in the BB world and the Apple world, mainly do so for the same reasons, ie, is does NOT meet their daily needs. It's fun to do these comparisons, but when it gets down to the nitty-griity, you will pick the phone you "love" because of what it can do for you in your daily life. IMHO.:)

 
 
Posted by alan8385 Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

Is it just me or do they seem a little more nice to each other than we are over here? lol i couldn't help but noticed that no one really got their head bitten off for anything they said. it's gotten much better around here but with no bickering every now and then it's got to get boring over there

 
 
Posted by robotaholic Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1139 days ago

first of all the build is not crappy

second of all rene never washes his hands so of COURSE there will be dust under the screen, and probably some fingernails too

third, as far as BlackBerry Claw-itis in his forearms, mabye he should MAN UP!

fourth: regarding the screen "wiggling"- rene apple fanboy wouldn't be happy with anything that is not solid state, so he is a little biased- of course where solid state fails is in the advantaged utility of removable storage and battery etc...

fith, the blackberry os is not DATED, it's utilitarian and has many advantages over the apple so-called 'zen' philosophy, such as BACK!!!

there is no point in naming off points 6 - 1254353 so I'll stop here, but needless to say Rene's lack of objectivity and utter wrongness in so many areas of his 'review' render his whole wretched attempt completely retarded

 
 
Posted by Stormnnn Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 1138 days ago

first: even kevin complained about the crappy build in the Storm review podcast and he's no Apple fanboy.

I like my Storm, but I have to admit there are things that I felt RIM did not think through completely. SW issues I don't mind as RIM can always update. Maybe Storm 2.0 will be the perfect iPhone killer.

 
 
Posted by M4532v Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008 1138 days ago

This user types as fast as I do on the Storm. This video proves it! The BS that its hard to type on the storm is just Fanboy nonsense! Totally biased review and this video proves it!

youtube watch?v=8jLGdahBI6w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLGdahBI6w

 
 
Posted by mike240se Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008 1138 days ago

Man that is funny. Kevin, i thought i saw you today at a store in NJ.... This guy looked just like you. Until he opened his mouth, and german poured out lol.

You def. look like a dutch or german dude though. or maybe sweedish.

maybe its just the emo glasses who knows.

 
 
Posted by itu2000 Sunday, Jan 04, 2009 1134 days ago

good articles， thanks！！！！