Blackberry Storm 9530 Review

I won’t say I’m any sort of smartphone expert, but I’ve had my fair share of experience (pleasant and otherwise) with various models over the years.  I was an early Windows CE user dating back to the HP Jornada.  I then migrated to a succession of iPaq models, and finally ended up with the venerable HTC 6700 Apache for a few years (I skipped the 6600).  I then toyed with a few other HTC models, one being the 5800 (which was less functional than the 6700, so I disliked it) and the 6800 Titan which served me well for about 10 months or so.

Allow me to explain why I’m now reviewing a Blackberry instead of another Windows Mobile device: I have grown to hate Windows Mobile.  My 6800 lasted me only 10 months because I simply couldn’t stand it anymore.  The browser didn’t work with most sites using AJAX and was slower than frozen tree sap,  A2DP sounded like a tin can, the whole thing froze if you didn’t pray to the application gods, sometimes it would spontaneously reboot, or it would just randomly decide to have some other petulant tantrum, usually involving making and receiving calls.  I grew tired of dealing with it and, since I am a CDMA customer and had no intention of switching carriers, I went in search of something besides an iPhone.  I found the Blackberry Storm, and though I was hesitant at first, I took the plunge and haven’t regretted it…much.

In the first five minutes of ownership I went from joy to terror – I installed the battery, and the device powered on for the first time; so as I waited, expecting the clouds to part and the heavens to sing, the little twirling busy icon danced.  I couldn’t wait to see what the colors looked like on the magnificent screen, but before I could see them, I had to wait.