Back in October at the BlackBerry Developer Conference I had a chance to spend some hands-on time with RIM's first touchscreen device, from which I wrote up an in-depth Pre-Release Review of the BlackBerry Storm (if you're a Storm chaser and haven't read this article yet, you should!). Since that first encounter, I have been anxiously waiting to get my hands on a commercial release BlackBerry Storm that I would be able to call my own.
w00t! It has happened!! I flew down to NYC to pick up my Storm in person, and as I post this, just landed at home a few hours ago. I'm already hard at work on a follow-up review, but as you guys know, my reviews go a little more in-depth than most of the others you'll find, and therefore take longer to write (plus I want to wait and update the OS). In the meantime I at least have some CrackBerry-NYC Verizon Storm coverage for you. After the jump we have the Verizon BlackBerry Storm Unboxing, both with video and photos. We even throw a quick side by side comparison of the Storm to the Curve 8900 in there (I think that's a web first!).
I also used the cab ride back to the airport to put the Storm's SurePress keyboard to the ultimate bumpy typing test and used my waiting time at the airport to do up an impromptu Verizon BlackBerry Storm vs. AT&T iPhone 3G Web Browser Speed Test.
Only one more sleep until you can walk into a Verizon store and pick up a BlackBerry Storm of your own (I hope you booked the day off!)... in the meantime, enjoy the coverage!
Verizon BlackBerry Storm 9530 Unboxed on Video!
I know video unboxings are a little pointless to some of you, but for a much-anticipated device like the Verizon BlackBerry Storm it seems completely necessary. Our friend across the pond already did the Ultimate Vodafone Storm unboxing (parts 1 and 2), so we'll keep this one pretty low key (we gotta get that Brit working for CrackBerry.com!).
There's no traditional CrackBerry green table for this unboxing though, since it was filmed in NYC. No tripod either, so I played the role of camera man and had a lovely assistant take the honor of unboxing my Verizon BlackBerry Storm. How da ya like that unboxing music? :-)
Verizon BlackBerry Storm 9530 Unboxing Pictures!
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You lucky guy! Looks great!
Pretty sure that was a female...
yeah, the unboxing video was definitely a female. i was holding the video camera. i did write that up in the post ya know... gotta read it! :-)
DOES THE PHONE SUPPORT BES? I HEARD VODAFONE VERSION DOESNT
This is RIM we are talking about here....they make their $$ on BES, of course it supports it.
Seriously dude...this is RIM...Blackberry. BES invented itself when it heard the Blackberry was coming out.
No fair.
One more day! So what os did it ship with?
This is just killing me!
ahhh I can barely wait until Friday to get mine!! had to go thru a bunch of hoops, but totally will be worth it!
hotel room + cheesy music + undressing by a female..... had me going there for a minute.
to paraphrase jack bauer at the beginning of season 1, my name is abe and this is the LONGEST week of my life!
Nicely done, can't wait for mine!
FIRST. i want to make love to that phone!
Weird, it shipped with the older headphones and not the new ones found in the Bold boxes, not a big deal since I never use em, just weird to me.
Those headphones BLOW!! I was actually looking forward to the earbud style..... Not a deal breaker though....
First time in my life where sloppy seconds will be welcomed by me!!!! Oh i'm going to tear up.... I can't eat, I can't sleep.... oh the agony.... oh the joy of agony... I think I might start to cut myself to relieve some of the pain...lol...ok i'll stop there...
I see there no slip OEM case included...what a waist. Nice pre pre production Curve 8900 haha
i totally agree WTF verizon, now we have to be extra careful with it, those OEM sleeves are great and it saves battery life. Damn!
Phones still sick, iphone's got nothing
Yea thats very upsetting
it does come with a sleeve
I thought you are not supposed to be using a Blackberry AT ALL during the round robin????????? Was the first thing I thought about when I read this...sorry!!!
No little black pouch thingy that's come with every other Blackberry I've owned???????
Treo Pro is still my daily driver... but had to get this and give it a go.
Thursday I'll be working on my Treo Pro final review stuff... will get back to the Storm for the weekend. The Storm's OS that we got was only 4.7.0.65... and there's newer OS's out there. For the full review I want to use the latest and greatest I can get my hands on. So may be a day or two.
I'll do a good round-up of all the other reviews that just went up online to tide ya over!
the new OS build is 4.7.0.92, that will hit the scene shortly it adds a more solidarity to the OS and a better feel, so the OS you might be chasing down is still outdated .85 will be gone shortly
For those of you who are wondering... 4.7.0.65 is what it will be released on.. There is no 4.7.0.92 What is currently being tested is 4.7.0.65 release version 92. Just thought i would clarify since veezee was miss informed.
AAHHHHH...Verizon still has the 160 text limit on their blackberrys. you think they wuldve changed it for the storm. Now im considering to get the iphone?
ANT THOUGHTS????
Why would they change it for the storm? And it's not JUST Verizon.
ATT does not have a 160 limit i believe. for sure on their iphone they dont. just curious on what you guys think is all.
LEAVE FEEDBACK
if you reply with an mms instead you can write a dang book and it will send it
SMS has standards. An SMS message has a maximum limit of 160 characters. Some phones (not Blackberries, in my experience) will allow you to type past that limit, but then when the message is sent, it is broken up into multiple messages (each one being 160 characters or less). MMS messages (which I'm told the iPhone cannot do) are limited by file size (instead of character number like SMS) because they obviously hold more than just characters. I don't remember the limit, but I'm thinkin it is >400 KB (don't quote me on that).
-SR-
I know I'm a little late to the party, but here's what I've experienced with Verizon when sending a SMS message using a non-smartphone/blackberry:
It will let you type past 160 characters.
If you send it to another Verizon customer, they will get the entire message in ONE message, not broken up.
If you send it to a NON-Verizon customer, they will ONLY get the first 160 characters. It will not be split up, and the rest of your message will disappear. (This really doesn't bother me personally, since I don't text frequently with non-Verizon customers, but it's still kind of lame.)
Apparently it's different with a Blackberry on Verizon's network, and again different with Blackberries on GSM networks. I have Verizon and it's nice to be able to send a long text to another Verizon customer without being spanked by my phone when I reach 160 characters. It's making me nervous about my intended switch to a Blackberry... It appears that sending it as an e-mail won't help either, as it will get cut off. I understand why they feel the need to limit the characters, but it shouldn't be limited with in-network SMS. Since I text VERY frequently with Verizon customers, the fact that a Verizon Blackberry is limited to 160 characters no matter what will more than likely make my decision to NOT get one. It might not seem like a big deal, but it would be a huge annoyance to me. Thanks Verizon!
Sweet.. We only have 31 hours left till the official release! Looks good, she kinda rushed the unboxing tho she should of taking it NICE and SLOW! =)
here in Canada we are still gonna wait til Dec 9th! :(
OMG this dude did a 29 minute video review of the Bold!!! This is definitely a record. Good content just wanted to share with fellow Crackberry Heads!
http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/review_blackberry_storm.html
Where did you get that info and is it for Bell or Telus?
wait...according to my gf, "unboxing" is not a word and when I was telling her about this article, she was flipping out lol! Damn that was too funny, she said it was "unbearable" to hear the word haha wow..well anyway am getting this phone! Cant wait for Friday. The VZW store has reserved one for me so am going early in the morning!
well.. tell her I'm a BlackBerry Addict.. not a journalist. and to this BlackBerry Addict, UNBOXING is a word.
why not? you can box stuff? you can't unbox it? :)
I could never love a human child, as much as i will love this bb :)
well said haha, I want to UNBOX IT already!. Ive never had a blackberry but I can surely say I have become an addict to this site already :)
Thats Awsome how you already got it... I wish i had mine but its only a few Hours.... Check out the countdown visit storm.ces911hq.com
Hubba Hubba! I think I got a lil' chub goin do to the seductive music, the sexy hand model and the hot steamy McStorm!!! Great job Kevin, props dude!
I work night shifts as a nurse and Thursday night I will be so happy to be working...I'm driving right to the Verizon store from work Friday morning at 730am! While you all can't sleep out of excitement, at least I'll be getting paid to stay awake in anticipation! :) So excited!
Kevin sir. Please tell your lady hand model that her hands are gorgeous!
That is all.
So, I finally got my hands on a Storm last night. I felt like a kid at Christmas! My first impression was WOW! However, once I settled down a little bit, I actually started to notice a few things. I was surprised that the entire screen actually moved around (left, right, up, down) other than just being able to be pushed in. The device seemed slow at times as well, which isn't going to go over well with users. I have to admit, though, I am still getting one. Either way when I talked to a VZW salesperson about scheduling an appt., they told me that they just found out they won't be getting ANY Storms in their shipment Thursday night. All they could do is order one for me and direct ship it to my house for free. Oh, and she said it may take a week or TWO!!!! Well, at least I got to get my hands on one before then.
what network are you running that bad boy on Kevin.. also, how the heck did you get it if it doesn't come out till tomorrow???
Unless I'm blind, but are we missing a docking cradle as previously shown earlier last month? If the cradle is purchase seperately, cost???
8 GB memory card?!?!? Nice touch VZW! :D
Is sold separately for $49.99
I really hate how they didn't include that Damn sleeve in the packaging.
: /
Cradle is only 29.99 at verizon, I know it's near 50 on blackberry.com. also, it is coming with a sleeve
D*** right I took the day off! Called my local store and they're opening an hour early, even. I'll be there before that.
Hello all my first comment on this site which i have bookmarked on both ie and firefox. When i first got a blackberry device curve 8320 t-mobile gold i loved it had a winmo device, my curve was the best never left it forgot it home one day going to work got off the train at work and i felt empty so called late and went back home to get my curve it felt good to hold the device in my hand. Now i listen to alot of mixed cd,s with split tracks that require gapless playback a feature that blackberry devices dont support very annoying i get alot of ministry of sound and hed kandi music mixed by djs and i love my music here comes the BOLD and STORM bought the bold on the 4TH of NOV. voted first thinking it would fix this gapless issuse by the way i had an att iphone as well handled gapless playback like a charm so i was very upset that i had to give up my bold again because of the lack of gapless playback i see alot of review of the bold and storm which is okay how come no one talks about the lack of this feature in blackberry devices which would for alot of us out there be the one thing that would make me give up my IPHONE for good i returned my BOLD i payed full price for it im upset why cant rim fix this its not fair.
I'm sorry, but huh?