BlackBerry Storm: Five hidden flaws

October 8, 2008 11:08 am

Categories: Mobile Phones News Tags: Blackberry, flaws, iPhone, RIM, storm

It’s new. It’s got a stonking new clickable touch screen. You can expand its memory. And RIM’s email service is the best in the biz. But there are some not-so-silver linings to the BlackBerry Storm’s cloud.

Storm? Intermittent showers more like…

BlackBerry Pearl 3G: Everything you need to know. Click here!

1. No Wi-Fi – With the iPhone 3G, you can surf at home, countless free hotspots (McDonalds anyone?), or take advantage of an O2 tariff with all-you-can-eat Wi-Fi. Sadly there’s no such option on the Storm.

2. Networks in control of apps – The good news is that the new BlackBerry Apps Centre is more consumer-focussed than ever. The bad news? While Apple keeps a tight grip on the reins of its store, RIM has handed over control to network operators. Operators can boycott applications that use too much bandwidth.

3. It’s a chunky beast – While the Storm’s 112.5mm height and 62.2mm width are from practically the same cookie cutter as the iPhone 3G, it’s 13.95mm depth is tad more than the Apple’s 12.3mm. Just enough to make it feel like a bit of a chunky monkey. And at 155g, compared with the iPhone’s 133g, it weighs 15% more.

4. Touch screen typing – Yes it’s a very natty, iPhone-trumping touch screen that clicks when you press it down. But it’s still a touch screen. Other BlackBerrys are the best in the business for speedy two-thumb emailing. We’ll grab our Bold and give you and your Storm an email-banging-out race any time.

5. Sluggish 3G – The Storm supports 7.2mbps HSDPA… but Vodafone’s only rolled that out in a handful of cities so far. So if you live outside a major town, it’ll suck.

Out TBC | £TBC | BlackBerry

Be Sociable, Share!

Praneeth

The last two points here are just made up with no thought put into it. You could say the same about any other touch screen phone, or any other 3g phone.
James Holland

Praneeth: Except not all 3G phones are limited to using Vodafone exclusively. If you live outside London, Manchester or Birmingham it’s unlikely you’ll see the benefit of having 7.2mbps under the hood. I know – I’ve tried!
Rizzo

I get HSDPA speeds up in Edinburgh, Scotland on my Tytn2. T-mobile have the best mobile internet services in the UK.
http://digitalcraftsmen.net Denny

#5 is completely ridiculous. If you’re not in a 3.5G area, you’ll get the same speed as a non-HSDPA phone would. If you are, you’ll get a better speed than a non-HSDPA phone. How is that a flaw? You may as well call a Ferrari sluggish because it’s in a 30mph area.

No wifi is definitely a huge weak spot though. Of course, the iPhone has other flaws – crippled Bluetooth implementation for a start.

Is the Storm OSK better/faster than the iPhone OSK? That would be more useful information than comparing it to a physical keyboard.
http://digitalcraftsmen.net Denny

“Please Note: Comment Moderation Maybe Active So There is No Need To Resubmit Your Comments”

Please note that capitalising the first letter of every word is incorrect English. So is using ‘maybe’ when you mean ‘may be’.
http://www.gravatar.com James Holland

Thanks for spotting that Denny – all fixed now! And you’re right about iPhone’s Bluetooth. It’s incredibly frustrating not being able to swap pictures without asking for my friends / handing over my own e-mail address every time…
http://gravatars.com jbc

Isn’t the (unwritten) sluggish point that the G1 will have better 3.5G coverage, as T-Mobile’s mobile Internet is considerably better than Vodafone’s?

PS: Thanks for pointing out our designer’s ‘orrible bastardisation of the English language. He is now on the dole and the comment moderation line is now fixed.
Christoph

No WiFi means it’s a complete waste of time. I’ve played with a friend’s iPhone, and the apps are all complete crap unless you’re in a Wi-Fi zone. It’s too slow, especially when they have to load pictures too. Also, I used to have a Vodafone mobile broadband stick from work. It was awful. No way these apps will work well if it has to rely on their flaky coverage
Christoph

Oh, and it looks massive too!!
http://www.loopygadgets.com Keron Calame

And i was really planning on getting one of these, but no wi-fi makes me sad.
BUGLER

DOES STORM HAVE SKY HOOK?
Ash

Replies to your points:-

1. Who Cares
2. Who Cares
3. Who Cares
4. Who Cares
5. Who Cares

Sorry mate, I don’t think your reasoning is that solid. A lot of your points arnt that important or technically valid, well, possibly the WiFi one.
dannyg888

complete crap
1. a load of bollocks
2. wtf
3. nit picking only a fraction bigger, compared to the iphone it doesn’t feel like it going to snap if you accidentally sit on it, if its in you back pocket
4. actually quite useful, ive use a few touch screens before and i find it good that you have to press down (click) to access or type something. (does take a while getting use to).
5. what a load of rubbish
felix

Ive got this phone. and its great, apart from not having the VibandRing app availible for the storm yet its great.

As for WiFi… i dont care if it aint got Wifi. Thats why i have a laptop!… stop crying that it dont have wifi. 3G is there for a reason and so is WiFI, each are good for here intended purpose. 3g for phones and wifi for laptops and consoles.

At the end of the day its a phone to make calls on. Stop whining like Winehouse and get a grip.

phil
Nightblogger

Personally I find its a brilliant phone – the positive feed back from the click screen is just what I need for reliable and accurate emailing and surfing on the move.

No wi-fi is really no problem! I’d only use that at home and if I’m at home why surf on the Blackberry when I can use a 22″ screen on the desktop or a 15.4 on the laptop. And if I’m on the loo the phone still has a signal!

In short if you like the click screen you’ll like the phone!
http://www.myspace.com/crissgoodlookingguy crissgoodlookingguy

HTC all the way!

Built in WiFi

480×800 pixel screen = 2.5 times as many pixels as the iPhone 3G!

http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchhd/product-tour.html

BlackBerry Storm: Five hidden flaws

Hot chat, right here!