November 26th, 2008
David Pogue forecasts a depression for the Storm and I completely agree
It is not that often that I agree whole heartedly with David Pogue’s reviews since he is a little too pro-Apple for me, but this time I can honestly say his review of the BlackBerry Storm is right on. The power of a BlackBerry is their QWERTY keyboard and RIM needs to forget about future Storm devices and stick with their niche of the market.
The screen technology on the Storm is unique and cool for a few minutes, but I couldn’t have said it better myself when Pogue stated,”It’s too much work, like using a manual typewriter.” That is exactly how I felt using the device this past week. I get tired very quickly entering text on the Storm and find it requires more work and effort than on other devices. It is also a frustrating experience and that should not be the case on a BlackBerry device where people are trying to be productive. If you think you are going to be productive and efficient on the Storm, think again.
The navigation also has major flaws and I constantly select the wrong item in the menus because the items are too close for finger navigation. RIM worked on the cool screen and text input, but the menus are still designed for the trackball navigation and are not conducive to finger presses. I don’t even have that large of fingers and I can’t imagine the frustration people with larger fingers must feel on the Storm.
Check out and you can read just about everything that I too have experienced with the device when it comes to text entry and navigation. I did not experience any of the hardware failures David has with his two review units so he is obviously getting devices with problems. My Storm has been flawless as far as the hardware goes, but the device just isn’t optimized for finger navigation, feels like too much work to use, and is not a good BlackBerry experience. It is a pretty good media player, but I don’t think too many people who want a BlackBerry care that much about media and if they do then they should look at something else like the iPhone.
Actually, as far as the enterprise goes, I prefer the iPhone much more over the Storm. It really depends on your server needs and if you have Exchange it is a no brainer that the iPhone beats the Storm out for Exchange support. I went back to using my original iPhone after using the Storm and it is like a breath of fresh air in the touch screen device category. The iPhone is slick and so much easier to navigate and faster to enter text on.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 11/26/08
