Great news: The Blackberry Storm is finally usable. Most of our issues with the phone were resolved with the first official Verizon update for the Storm. It’s now a quality phone that’s worthy of the BlackBerry name.
As of Sunday, May 31, the update is available via either directly from the support section of VZW.com or from an OTA download. We downloaded the update over the air yesterday and it took about 2 hours for the 19MB update – the servers were probably running at full capacity. Once it finished downloading and installing, we were instantly pleased.
The phone is finally quick and responsive. The entire system feels noticeably faster. It no longer takes 5-7 seconds for the phone dialing app to load. Even the web browser seems to load pages faster. However, the auto-rotation of the screen still isn’t as quick as we would like it but it’s better than before. We still wish there was a way to disable this entirely though.
Even the camera is quicker. Now, the picture is displayed almost instantly when the shutter button is pressed verses the 5 second lag on the old firmware. Picture quality doesn’t seem upgraded though.
One of the biggest and most welcomed changes however is the new text selection mode. A little box appears around the selected text that can be easily slid one way or the other to modify the selection. Previously, it was a frustrating task to select text for deletion or copy and paste. It took a steady fingernail to select the desired text.
Overall, the update transformed the phone. It took the Storm from one of the worst phones ever made, to a quality BlackBerry. We just wish it hadn’t taken Verizon seven months to update the phone. RIM has issued leaked numerous firmware updates ever since the phone launched that greatly improved the stability, but this is the first one Verizon has picked up. Never mind that, the BlackBerry Storm is finally worth your time and money.
I installed the leaked copy the day it was leaked. It is definitely an improvement over the original software.
Now I don’t know if I should go for a Storm now or wait for the Storm2. I am sure the second gen will be months late, like usual for RIM.
hey dont even go for the storm.. touchscreen phones really suck they look nice and everything but its a huge regret and a pain in the butt later.. its only nice if u plan to download movies on it and watch em all the time.(but none of us do) so naww… dont get it..wait for the blackberry niagara coming up on july but other than that…all touchscreen phones suck,ive gone through 3 different touchscreeen models and they just cant handle me. they freeze too much
I agree and in fact I had my old enV phone turned back on today. I dont want NOTHING to do with those blackberry storms. No wonder its buy one get one free. They must be trying to get rid of them…
21 mb?
Thats another thing. It does suck up more of your space also…
21mbs and 2 hrs long to download!!! but it worth it I think.
I’m happy for you but It scerwad up my email for two days. My photos were re sized and would not fit on my wallpaper anymore. Lost all my text messages. Most all my apps were screwed up. Had to RE do them to work. I’m VERY un happy with there “new and improved” updates. It has caused me BIG TIME GRIEF… My point is I went through so much of a head ache I dont believe I will ever “up date” my phone again. Up dating may have improved something but it was not worth it to me for all the settings of mine that it changed. What gave then the right to screw up all my settings with THERE up dates.. BEWARE.
I just updated my BBerry Storm. Wow. Awesome. And it was so easy. I heard a few stories on the web of difficulties. But the people I spoke with over the last few days, incuding an older bartender, assured me it wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was easy. When I got the notice for downloading on my screen, I panicked. Then I ignored it. Later, I plugged the unit into its docking charger, took a deep breath, pressed okay a few times, then took a nap. When I awoke an hour later, the update was complete and working very fine. Sure, I had to re-acknowledge permissions and settings on a few apps. Big deal. People are starving and being blown up in other parts of the world. I’ll take a few app-resets, thank you. And my storm really does respond MUCH faster, cleaner, and it does a much better job of understanding what I am trying to type with my big thumbs.
So, for a non-techie like me, I am quite happy. Thanks BBerry Storm Team! You made my day.