IdoNotes (and sleep)

by Chris Miller at 07:25:54 AM on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

I blogged back in January about my first days with the Blackberry Storm. I was frustrated and still learning. It had issues. It boggled me sometimes. But here is what is different.

We upgraded the OS on the Storm from the crappy Verizon version of .74 to a wonderful .109 (do not get .113 yet as it screwed us up)
I updated all the applications that came with it or that I installed. A tremendous difference
Crashes virtually went away outside of one where I run the camera off and on too much and I get a reboot. But they are rare and I live with it
The small screen protector film was not noticeable at first until it peeled on a corner. I thought the screen was broke. Easy fix, they sell them in packs and protect the screen well. Just clean it very well before applying a new one
I tend to work in landscape mode most of the time. I like the QWERTY keyboard and got used to it now. Some apps only work in portrait so I am prepared to swivel as required
I do not like the phone dialer. I was used to just typing a name or number and it would guess. I now have to go into the phone app, then the contact tab to find someone
Screen scrolling is great since the new OS, so no more complaints there
I installed a little free app that locks the touch screen when on calls automatically. You just slide your finger to unlock and access the menus. It saves you from accidentally hitting some button on the screen with your face
There is slight hesitations sometimes when typing, mainly after long use and no restarts. No big deal. They are not often enough to be of concern.
I like the type ahead guessing (T9 basically) or words and I find it very accurate most of the time
I had to get used to where they put some symbols between the numbers icon and sym icon
I am finding using the camera to send to Flickr and twitpics quite easy. It really makes sharing easier
More applications are being made for the Storm, increasing the productivity

Just overall I am liking it much more and finding it useful and easy to work with. This was all after the OS upgrades and application patches. So do not run away, be prepared to do some work to get it right for now.

Location: St. Louis, MO

Category: Blackberry
Tags :Blackberry View blog reactions

1) Blackberry Storm - 3 months in
Created by Mitch Cohen at 4/21/2009 8:14:04 AM email | website

Chris... agree with pretty much all your points (except I can't stand the screen protector so I just pulled it off)

A link to that app to lock the screen on a call would be much appreciated, I am always getting flipped to speaker when I don't want to be.

2) re: Blackberry Storm - 3 months in
Created by Chris Miller at 4/21/2009 8:37:54 AM email | website

Mitch, it is called TalkLock. It kicks on automatically when placing or receiving a call

3) Blackberry Storm - 3 months in
Created by Nick Olson at 4/21/2009 9:03:03 AM email | website

I too had problems with the .113 OS

I upgraded my storm to the hybrid .122 and it has been far and away the best OS thus far - no locks or reboots after several weeks. Screen is very responsive.

Like Mr.Cohen, I also removed the screen protector as I felt it was interfering with normal use of the phone.

4) Blackberry Storm - 3 months in
Created by goran at 4/22/2009 12:14:29 AM email |

It is still far from required speed for business. In 113 you can use qwerty kbd in portrait mode as well. (the buttons are small but it works)

Changing modes from portrait to landscape is still very slow and annoying because it is not detecting the right position every time. (iphone is much better on this)

After using it fo 3 weeks I switched beack to Bold. The Storm will wait for improved OS.

5) Blackberry Storm - 3 months in
Created by Nick Olson at 4/22/2009 9:51:34 AM email | website

To goran:

With the .122 OS, the accelerometer has been vastly improved (less than a second to switch from landscape to portrait and vice versa)

I'd highly recommend trying that - I think crackberry has some links for it

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IdoNotes Episode 80 - Lotusphere Abstract Creation with Paul and Gab	00:25:23	23.25 Mb
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