Storm in a teacup
I spent an unreasonably long time yesterday, setting up a Blackberry Storm for a friend. I say unreasonably long, because it is, frankly, not very good.
The touch-sensitive screen is only useful if your fingers are as thin as needles, those of us with normal fingers struggle, and if you have problems with your hands (my friend is disabled) it is extremely hard to use.
The auto-rotate feature of the screen is way too sensitive, there may be a way of turning that off but by this point the Storm was in danger of getting embedded into the wall.
In trying to set up the POP email settings it (1) took too long to find the place to make the settings and (2) the screens don’t replicate the dialgog boxes that you usually get in email clients.
When using the web browser it asked me if I wanted to install a google maps app, so I clicked yes, and it downloaded it, but I’m &uggered if I can find out where it got downloaded to. It doesn’t have Wi-fi and the memory card can only be changed if you remove the £ucking battery.
After a further day of stuggle on his own, this Storm is on it’s way back to the shop.
Verdict? Looks nice, but not very practical. Haven’t used an iPhone myself, but this experience hasn’t convinced me that I need anything other than a basic Nokia 6070. It does Web and email and only costs peanuts, so it’s good enough for this monkey.
...ravings from the Shell... 
Did Brit bribe you to write this? He just about sputtered when I mentioned I wanted a reasonably intelligent phone and was considering, among others, a Blackberry. It’s no match to he Jaysus Phone … as I am certain he is quite willing to share.
Yeah, that sucks about the difficulty for a disabled person. I wanted to get something for my mo-in-law, but that sounds too complex and might be tough with her arthritis. After my diatribe above, I will have to conclude with thanks for pointing away from that fork in the road.
I’ve only ever seen an iPhone, never fiddled with one myself, so it may have similar shortcomings to the Blackberry. A big concern I have (OK in the grand scheme of things, maybe not that big) is that people who just require a phone are being seduced into purchasing something far more complicated (and expensive) than they actually need. Does that make me a luddite?
There seems to be a growing body of opinion that the Blackberry Storm is somewhat lacking in the “finished” department.