The BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 Experience: Two Months Later..
by The PocketBerry Team
Back in October when the BlackBerry Storm2 9550 made its launch with Verizon Wireless, we told you we were going to hold on to the device for sometime, and let you know about the fullest experiences. Many of you were scared to get any where close to the Storm 2 as you were dreaded from your previous experience with the 4.7 OS Storm 9530. Well I manned up and put my foot to the plate on this one as I had to find out what was to be of the recent released BlackBerry Storm 2 9550. So as mentioned before, we did some test runs on the device. Of course do not go through the same testing strategies as we do not want to take any responsibility in potential dangers you may face! Continue reading to check out the random adventures we took with the BlackBerry Storm 2 9550.
Web browsing: Navigating through websites worked a charm. I loved the huge screen with the great color and screen resolution. The 3G network works very well, and equipping WiFi made the experience better and better. YouTube still hasn’t been perfected yet, but works well still.
Editing Documents: Maybe not all of you edit documents on your BlackBerry, but there are times where I do take pride in doing so. On the first Storm 9530, it was quite difficult to select certain text sometime as the screen wouldn’t pick up exactly where you’re pointing. On the Storm2 9550, I saw that accuracy was improved and I was then able to select the exact words or letters that needed editing.
Texting in Bed: Who doesn’t? I can admit my guilt in the crime, as all of you should. For those who don’t know, I’m a huge SureType fan (owned a 7100g once upon a time) and prefer using it about 80% of the time. The Storm does give you the best of both worlds, providing QWERTY and SureType. So where’s the complaint? Like any other human being, I lay down on my side, and would liek to use SureType mode. When doing so, the screen does not stay in Portrait and ends up going in Landscape with QWERTY rather than SureType. Sure there are apps to purchase out there that can prevent the auto-switch from happening, but RIM should of had something included for that. Any way, overall texting is great. Whether you use QWERTY, or SureType, the screen sensitivity is a lot better than the first generation Storm. I found myself typing just as fast on the Storm 2 as I would on my Bold 9700.
Texting while Driving: Do not try this at home, car, or anywhere else. We will not take responsibility for anyone conducting such tests. Another one of my guilts is texting while driving sometimes. On a Pearl 81xx, it was the easiest. The Curve 83xx made it a little bit hard, but possible. Later on with the Bold 9000 it became difficult due to the size as I used to do it all one handed. So basically the bigger the phone, the harder it was to text one handed pretty much. With the Storm2, it became hard as one did not feel buttons so you did have to glance a little bit more at the screen, unless you were pretty confident using QWERTY, or an overall SureType hotshot like myself. I made mistakes typing as well, so texting while driving was not so successful? Suggestions? We don’t have any. Texting should not be done while driving so equip DriveSafe.ly or ZoomSafer on your BlackBerry today.
Phone Calls: We didn’t see anything crazy improve as far as call quality goes. The mute button the screen is still there and can easily be pushed by accident. And of course you know that there are third party applications out there that prevent it from happening by locking the screen when a phone call is in play.
BrickBreaker: Many will laugh, but BrickBreaker is serious. Without any question, it is part of the BlackBerry tradition, so its experience does matter and holds a share in the whole BlackBerry Experience. It is possible to play the game on the Storm 2. However, if you’re typically used to the trackball or trackpad (or even scroll wheel) then it’s going to take some time to get your skills up to date with the Storm 2. Your thumb has to actually move left and right on the bottom, rather than rolling trackball around to move. With that said, your speed and reaction time may decrease resulting in a lower score.
Audio/Video: I loved jamming out with the Storm 2, hooking it up to my auxiliary port in my car and just using it with headphones at the gym. Navigating through tracks was really easy and seeing your whole playlist on a huge screen like that is an experience you have to appreciate. Video quality was great as I ripped a few of my DVD movies onto it. Sound and video quality is well up there as I was very much satisfied with it.
So that’s it for my experience. There were all sorts of other aspects of my BlackBerry Storm 2 experience, but I decided to touch up on some randoms and general specifics rather than bore you through every little bit of it. I love the Storm 2 and my conclusion is that yes, we can all legitimately switch to it if we wanted to. Of course it is difficult through the small differences it has between regular devices but nonetheless, we love it. Our favorite aspects on the device remained being the size of the screen, and the ability to use it in portrait or landscape mode as we pleased. Even though we were’t so crazy about the driving and texting, that aspect is not a good idea at all to begin with so we can do without. Document editing was great with the huge display and the responsive yet sensitive screen.
-by Mac Jadalhack
