David Pogue of the New York Times released his review of the BlackBerry Storm today and he is less than impressed.
It’s no help that the Storm shows you two different keyboards, depending on how you’re holding it (it has a tilt sensor like the iPhone’s).
When you hold it horizontally, you get the full, familiar Qwerty keyboard layout. But when you turn it upright, you get the less accurate SureType keyboard, where two letters appear on each “key,” and the software tries to figure out which word you’re typing.
For example, to type “get,” you press the GH, ER and TY keys. Unfortunately, that’s also “hey.” You can see the problem. And trying to enter Web addresses or unusual last names is utterly hopeless.
Furthermore, despite having had more than a year to study the iPhone, R.I.M. has failed to exploit the virtues of an on-screen keyboard. A virtual keyboard’s keys can change, permitting you to switch languages or even alphabet systems within a single sentence. A virtual keyboard can offer canned blobs of text like “.com” and “.org” when it senses that you’re entering a Web address, or offer an @ key when addressing e-mail.
But not on the Storm.
Check out the full review over here.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Try they may but they aren’t going to match the i-phone.
December 5th, 2008 at 11:35 am
It’s a shame that they keypad does that. Touch-screen phones (and not just the iPhone) do indeed offer a better keyboard.
December 13th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
The new upgrades have really solved many problem, Just try it now.
December 14th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I have had my storm for over a week now and I have to admit that I have grown attatched to it. Blackberry fixed some of the “glitches” with a couple software updates and it has responded much better since then.
I definitely think that the iphone fans will be a little spirited in their defense of their phones, but blackberry definitely gives apple a run for its money. I happen to absolutely love all things apple, but I could never convince myself to switch to the abysmal AT&T service; which I had a few years ago and from what I have heard; it is NOT much better. Verizon is the best cell phone carrier in the country, hands down. If you don’t believe me, see the latest issue of Consumer’s Reports; 99% of the markets had Verizon listed #1 as a carrier.
If Apple ever switches carriers, then I will probably get one, because I am a freak like that, but in the meantime, I have the next best thing (and dare I say, better?) with the Storm.
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I’ve had the Storm for four days, it’s awesome. If I type something off one letter, it offers me up options. The keyboard has not been an issue.