Product Listing

The BlackBerry Storm 9500

By Sutlej Soin - 8 Apr 2009

Connectivity & Conclusion

Almost All the Right Connections

Business-oriented users will also be pleased with the horde of business functions that the Storm flaunts. Being a BlackBerry, users would expect its email capability to be top-notch, and the Storm didn't disappoint. For starters, the phone lets you integrate up to a whopping 10 different email accounts into one inbox and take push email from all the major web accounts such as Gmail and Hotmail. It also syncs with Outlook, Exchange or Lotus Notes, unlike its rival the HTC Dream. It took less than ten seconds to set up an email account, and receiving emails on the device is snappy and immediate.

Other typical business functions such as an Office suite and PDF readers are also offered in this handheld, and will be useful for users who like to work on office reports on the move. However, you won't be able to email these documents to your boss at a comfy Wi-Fi hotspot as the phone doesn't support Wi-Fi connectivity. This means that you would have to rely on 3G to Internet connectivity. The phone's lack of Wi-Fi connectivity is practically an embarrassment especially now that Wi-Fi is a default feature that most of the latest batch of smartphones supports. On a side note, users who do loads of web-surfing and are heavy-users of the Office suite applications can expect their battery juice to run for a decent day and half of usage with sporadic use of web surfing, calls and messages.

Like most other smartphones in the market today, the BlackBerry Storm too boasts of GPS functionality as part of its suite of connectivity options. Lost sheep will appreciate having a host of map applications at their fingertips - including of course, Google Maps. When we tried using the GPS function out in the open, the phone took about twenty seconds to figure our current position. But do note that the timings may vary depending on your location and weather.

Conclusion

The all new sleek looking but heavier Blackberry Storm seemed so full of promise with its new form, but it didn't turn out to be quite the game changer we thought it might have been. The so-called cutting-edge touchscreen, the Storm's SurePress touch-screen technology, was actually the Achilles heel which contributed to the unintuitive on-screen keyboard feature. While it had its uses in terms of navigation and selection, it was a major letdown for texting or even just some data entry. Seeing that this is a key feature of the BlackBerry Storm, we were kind of disappointed. If there is one thing that BlackBerry users have grown accustomed to, that is having a first-rate keyboard for serious usage. This was sorely lacking in the touch-screen enabled Storm that even the SurePress technology couldn't make up for (and it probably even made it worse).

Our other big gripe is the operating system, as we found it sluggish and jerky when we launched applications or tried zooming through our contact book. That said, one area that the Storm trumps the popular iPhone is its multimedia functions where the phone more than meets the needs of heavy-duty users with its high-quality camera and media playback capabilities. Its 3.2-megapixels camera (better than both the Apple's and Bold's 2-megapixel sensor) mostly churned out vibrant images. Of course, the Storm is still primarily targeted at business-centric users and not media-crazy teenagers, and we were pleased to find that the suite of business functions were comprehensive, although we have to note that the lack of Wi-Fi access is going to put some users off.

We certainly applaud RIM's effort in coming up with their first touchscreen device but all things considered, the Storm simply didn't match up to our expectations and its high profile status. We do suggest that you keep to your Bolds and Curves as they will cater to your huge messaging and text entry needs for better office productivity in contrast to the Storm. So with regards to the slogan, we pressed but, we were not impressed.

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