Potental New Blackberry Storm User!

Welcome to WA mixtape. I will try to answer your questions as much as I can since I am a new Storm user. My answers are below in bold.


1) What is the current official version of the Storm's operating system? I try to stay away from leaked or beta versions that RIM hasn't 100% approved of yet. Also, has the hardware changed? Are there different hardware versions as well as firmware?

The current official Storm software from Verizon is 4.7.0.75. I am not aware of the hardware being changed. I have heard that this has fixed issues. Your friends might have an older version on their Storms. Crackberry is another forum that is dedicated to BlackBerry users that know pretty much anything that has to do with BB's including beta software. I suggest registering with them since it's free and the forum is dedicated to BB users.


2) I know the Storm was very buggy and slow when it first came out, but I figure that now all the quarks should be gone. However recently I've heard friends complain about their Storms unreliable still. My friend constantly has to reset/restart his phone due to it freezing or taking 10+ second delays even when minimal apps are running. How long ago was the current firmware released? What problems did it solve and which ones are still present in the device?

Again, your friends might have an older version of the software on their Storms. I have not noticed too many delays on my Storm, although there are some minor ones. My friends that have iPhones told me that they have some minor delays on their phones too. Verizon will be supposedly releasing a new update within the next month or so that will fix most of the remaining minor issues with the Storm. Check out the Crackberry forums for more information. I believe the current firmware was released last December.

The following issues have been addressed in 4.7.0.75 (according to Crackberry):

• Device may reset intermittently while sitting idle or when using multimedia applications
• User may experience one-way audio (incoming audio is muted) when using voice activated dialing
• When listening to music on low volume while wearing wired headphones, the volume of the music will increase to the highest level when the user receives an incoming call
• Improvements in display performance in terms of switching between landscape and portrait modes and keys displaying correctly
• Improvements in performance for multimedia capabilities such as video, music and MMS
• Improvements in bluetooth audio performance in certain scenarios

3) My enV required me to bring the phone to a Verizon store to be "flashed" to a new firmware version, yet my Sidekick LX updated over the air from right at home (only had to click "update" when a dialog box popped up). What method is used to update the Storm? Does it update on its own OTA? Is there a confirmation or notice to the user that it's happening like the Sidekick?

The Storm has OTA firmware updates. They are delivered through the wireless network directly to the phone. The customers receive a message on their wireless phone saying that a new handset update is available and are given an option to accept the update. The update is then "pushed" to the phone and you are asked to "reset" or reboot your phone to process the update.

Check out this link for pictures of the process:

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=9500&thread.id=3984


4) I heard Verizon locked aGPS to VZ Nav, but not GPS. Is that true? Does this impact the performance of Google Maps, Nav4all, or Garmin Mobile?

I am not sure about this. I use the BB Maps on my Storm and have not noticed any issues. It usually takes about 2 to 3 minutes to acquire a satellite fix on my location but that is when I am indoors. I have yet to test it outside since I just got my Storm around two weeks ago.


I hope I have helped you with some of your questions. Feel free to post any more questions that you may have.

 

Your welcome. Glad I could help.

 

I went from a regular phone, to a kyocera smartphone, to a treo 650, then a moto q9m, q9c and finally the curve on verizon.
Wouldn't go back because the 9c gave me so much trouble.
BB is stable and I didn't want to wait for the tour to debut in July.
Father has the storm, his first BB and battery is horrible.

love my curve 8330!

 

The most important thing I can tell you about the Storm is make sure a keyboard doesn't make more sense for you. Many people end up returning the Blackberry Storm because they simply can't handle the touch screen or the device responds at a speed that makes people unhappy. For my money the Blackberry Curve 8330 is still the best device until the Blackberry Tour unveils around July 18th.