Remember last year when everyone was stoked about the new touchscreen BlackBerry called the Storm? Oh man, the hype was huge. There was iPhone-ish lines, media coverage, the works. But then the first reviews came out and we all realized the truth: the phone sucked. It’s now a lot better thank to firmware updates, but the upcoming BlackBerry Storm 2 will hopefully recapture some of the original anticipation.

The BlackBerry Zone is reporting that Verizon will launch the BlackBerry Storm 2 around Black Friday in November. Also, Vodafone in the UK will release it in October which hopefully means if there are any issues, RIM will quickly work them out before launching the phone in here. WiFi and OS 5.0 is expected to be featured in the second Storm, and yes, the SurePress screen will be there too. (I like the clicky screen btw) Now, the only question left is what price point the phone will launch at: $99 or $199.

[via CrackBerry]

A new name would make since as the Storm namesake doesn’t exactly have a good reputation and RIM has been known to switch up names before the launch. The 9630 Tour was once called the Niagara. We’ll just have to wait and see when either RIM or Verizon finally announces the phone.

You should still avoid purchasing this thing. Is the Storm 2 coming soon?

Verizon Wireless

▪ CDMA 1xRTT/EVDO Rev. A
▪ Quad-band GSM/EDGE
▪ Single-band UMTS/HSDPA (2100MHz only)
▪ Wi-Fi b,g
▪ 3.2 megapixel camera
▪ 360×480 resolution capacitive screen
▪ OS 5.0

There is also talk of a 3G Storm for AT&T and Rogers.

via Gizza

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.

So what are we looking at here? It’s a suspended, completely self-contained watch with nine hands that turn in wild abandon. The thing is inside a massive steel case and looks as cool as all get out.

I’m not a huge Storm fan but this one seems to speak to me as a man who likes big watches. It costs about $170 on a steel bracelet and $199 on a “slate” bracelet. You can pick it up at Watchismo, my favorite watch site.

Laptop Mag:

Co-CEO Jim Balsillie was criticized when he said that there was a “new reality” to making smart phones when it came to scrambling to get the Storm to market. Many interpreted his comments as an excuse for RIM for releasing a buggy or unfinished product. Do you disagree with that interpretation?

CEO Mike Lazaridis:

I think there’s some truth to the fact that these devices are becoming much more complicated, and of course we do a lot of testing every time before releasing these devices. And I think that it’s unfair. That’s our first touch product, and you know nobody gets it perfect out the door. You know other companies were having problems with their first releases.

Read the entire interview here.

Outside of the iPhone and the G1, very few phones fuel the forum flamewars like the BlackBerry Storm. As the first touchscreen BlackBerry, it was bound to have some haters. Whether you’ve been enamored since day one or a zealous skeptic since the beginning, the phone has one fault that is undeniably unfortunate: no WiFi.

There’s nothing that can be done on the WiFi front for the original Storm – but what about take two?

Read the rest of this entry >>

I have been using a BlackBerry Storm for about a month now and have came to like the phone. While I don’t have an iPhone love affair going on, it’s a solid phone I wouldn’t not recommended. (understand?) It has its quarks like any phone, but the single most annoying feature could – and should – be resolved by Research in Motion.

You see the Storm auto rotates everything unlike the iPhone where only certain apps switch to landscape view. That’s fine with me for apps and such. Auto rotating the main menu/app menu doesn’t add any usability and in fact, is frustratingly annoying. Half the time the phone takes a few seconds to change orientation causing random bad thoughts to race through my head while the phone decides what to do. But mainly, there is no reason to have the home screen rotate and RIM needs to address this aggravating trademark of the Storm.

The BlackBerry Storm has square-like icons just like the iPhone and the beauty of these squarish icons is that you can tell what they are no matter how you are looking at them. The Twitter app still looks like the Twitter app when viewed on its side. The same thing goes for the Calendar, Contacts, Messages, all of them really cause they are square.

Listen, I would not have an issue with the auto-rotating thing if the Storm were fast enough to rotate. But when you pull the phone out of your pocket to make a quick call, you shouldn’t have to wait for the phone to decide which way it’s going to orientate itself and then allowing you into the phone dialing app.

This should be an easy fix by RIM. Just give users an option in the Homescreen Preferences to disable this action. Maybe some people like the feature, but a quick look at BlackBerry forum sites will turn up dozens of threads ranting about the same thing.

Other than that annoying feature and typing on a touchscreen, I have been pleasantly surprised by the Storm. The early reviews blasted the touchscreen BlackBerry, but if you’re bound to stay with VZW for some odd reason, the Storm isn’t that bad. Or you could wait for the 9630.

Man, BlackBerry Storm users are gettin’ the unofficial goods left and right as of late. While the rest of us get to wait for updates to pass through weeks of carrier certification, it seems like someone is leaking these Storm firmware updates every time the code looks stable. This latest leak bumps the (unofficial) version numbers up to OS 4.7.0.106 for the BlackBerry Storm 9500 (GSM) and OS 4.7.0.103 for the BlackBerry Storm 9530 (Verizon’s CDMA model).

We’re not seeing anything that looks like a notable new feature, and the early findings indicate that while the accelerometer, transitions, and camera have all become a bit snappier, things are still a bit shaky – which is understandable, as neither of these are official releases. The 9530 update also seems to fix an a recently introduced issue which kept pages javascript code from loading properly.

If you’re looking to guinea pig your Storm for the sake of science (Note: These are unofficial updates. Things can break. Install at your own risk), you can find the downloads here:

- OS 4.7.0.106 for the BlackBerry Storm 9500
- OS 4.7.0.103 for the BlackBerry Storm 9530

Not sure what to do with’em? CrackBerry’s got a nice upgrade walkthrough ready to go.

[Via CrackBerry]

The BlackBerry Storm might have its faults, but I’ll give RIM one thing: they’re certainly cranking out these firmware updates at breakneck speed. Of course, no matter how fast they get the updates out, people will get impatient – which is why it’s always good news when a leak like this one occurs.

Sometime last night, OS 4.7.0.90 for the BlackBerry 9500 and 9530 (the GSM and CDMA versions of the Storm) found its way out of the code-crankin’ labs and onto the internets. A number of folks have already put their Storms into the petri dish for the sake of science, returning with positive results; initial reports claim an overall snappier UI (faster transitions and accelerometer detection), and an option to enable a full QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode. Remember, however, that this is a leaked (and presumably beta) version of the OS, so it doesn’t come without a fault or two – a few bugs are purportedly still lingering, including one that makes the camera a bit finicky about saving photos properly.

(Mandatory Heads-up: Doing things you don’t understand with unofficial upgrades will break your stuff. Unless you read directions and do things properly, the BlackBerry Storm may insult your family, drink the last soda in the fridge, and more likely, turn into a paperweight. Know what you’re supposed to do before you do it.)

Download Link for BlackBerry Storm 9530 (CDMA)
Download Link for BlackBerry Storm 9500 (GSM)
CrackBerry’s Guide on Installation

[Via CrackBerry]

The latest unreleased firmware for the Blackberry Storm (aka le lump of poo) has leaked is now available over at CrackBerry forums.

The results, so far, seem promising. I’ll install it tonight, if I can, and report back. The improvements seem manifold. To wit:

Some bugs have been fixed, the accelerometer action is definitely quicker and typing feels a bit more responsive. You’ll want to jump into our Storm OS forum for all of the details and findings surrounding this release. My opinion? This is what the Storm should have launched with.Definitely worth an install if you’re a 9530 Storm owner.

If you heard PHa complaining a few days ago about the Storm, you’d want to stab the thing too. But, as we see here, all of your thrusting would be for naught because the device is impervious to earth weaponry.

Should you do this to your own Storm? If Peter and the rest of the world, you’ll be stabbing this thing in no time.

via Giz via AOL

CrackBerry addicts that didn’t get their sweaty thumbs on RIM’s first touchscreen device on launch day, should get their mobile phones a bit sooner than expected. Previously, Verizon had a ship-by date of December 15th but now the product page is showing December 8th. The large “Limited Availabilty” warning is still present but hopefully the phones will get into eager hands sooner.

VZW via BGR