Blackberry Storm Drenched In Bugs; NYT’s Pogue Calls It A “Dud”
Hundreds of people waited in line last week to get their hands on the Blackberry Storm, the first touchscreen device from Research In Motion. Too bad the warning not to buy it didn’t come until today. The highly anticipated phone was expected to be RIM’s and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless’ response to the iPhone, but obviously in the rush to get it out for the holidays, it’s a flop. In doing so, it not only falls short of beating the iPhone, but may cause serious long-term damage to the company’s reputation for building reliable enterprise devices.
The warning came in the form of a scathing review printed in The New York Times, which calls the device “a dud.” The well-respected David Pogue must have pulled out his thesaurus for this one to come up with all ways to say “it sucks.” He wrote: “Now, I wouldn’t come down this hard on some product — especially one that was so eagerly anticipated, customers lined up at dawn on the day of its release — without getting a second, third and fourth opinion. And I’m telling you, there wasn’t a soul who tried this machine who wasn’t appalled, baffled or both.” But it gets worse…he says people come to that conclusion before they discover that it doesn’t have Wi-Fi, and worse has “more bugs than a summer picnic.” It freezes, suddenly reboots, and has non-responsive controls and “other cosmetic glitches.”
Lots more after the jump...
Now I know the review unit I got last week was not a lemon, but I guess the real deal. I too planned to write a review and record a video for all of you guys to watch, but unfortunately, the device was such a mess, I wasn’t sure what to do. As with Pogue, I found that the phone had a delayed response to being in landscape mode vs. portrait. Worse yet, at one point, the screen shifted about an inch to the right, causing the word “Verizon,” to wrap around, appearing as “izon Ver” on the screen. Once rebooted and recharged the flaw went away, but there were other glitches, too. When the keyboard appeared, sometimes keys were missing, or bleeding from one into one another. Also, I seriously questioned the “clickable” screen, which is supposed to replicate the feel of typing. Pogue compared it to an old school typewriter, but I just thought it made the device feel flimsy, like the screen was loose. And, after hundreds of emails and being stuffed into a purse thousands of times, what are the chances that it won’t break?
The thing that baffles me is why aren’t the thousands of consumers who have purchased the device revolting? In Europe, the device went on sale even early from Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), which owns almost half of Verizon Wireless. If a mass wave of dissatisfaction is coming, it will only spell bad news for RIM (NSDQ: RIMM), and surely hurt its reputation for being known as the maker of reliable enterprise devices. NOTE TO ALL VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS: You have 30 days to return a device…
Perhaps, if the company moves fast enough, it can do damage control. Pogue says a software update is coming that RIM claims will fix some of the glitches. Maybe the company is banking on customers hanging in there, after all, almost everything is shipped in beta today and improved over the product’s life. On paper, the Storm does remain a viable competitor on an apples-to-apples basis with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). It comes with 8 GB of memory for storing music and other digital content, it costs just as much as the iPhone at $200, and it even beats the iPhone in some categories, such as being able to copy and paste, and having a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and zoom. Pogue wonders the same thing as I do and writes like he is almost thinking out loud: “How did this thing ever reach the market? Didn’t anyone at RIM actually try it?” If my beta theory holds any water, it may have even been Verizon Wireless that was pushing RIM to get a device out fast and worry about the details later. For some, Christmas definitely came too early.
Posted In: Companies, Apple, RIM, Verizon, Vodafone, Countries, Europe, blackberry, storm
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Comments (15)
Nov 27, 2008 12:01 AM
Well you almost had me convinced that you were not as biased as Pogue. Then you had to open your mouth. Funny how I have never had half of the problems you report about. You spend most of your time tearing the Storm down and give it maybe three lines of praise in your whole biased article. As I have said before save us the time we spend reading the garbage that you people spew. Open your articles by stating, “THIS IS NOT AN IPHONE”. You have the mindset that the damn iphone is perfect and nothing can compare. Due to this you can never look at a new product objectively. Sad really since that is what your job is.
Nov 27, 2008 12:25 AM
I’m a little confused by your attack. We’re very open when we think a product works—and when one doesn’t deliver. I’m very glad to hear your experience has been positive. Tricia’s wasn’t—and believe, we would all prefer the opposite to be the case. As for comparing it to iPhone, as she points out, there are a lot of places where the Storm has a chance to outshine the Apple device.
Nov 27, 2008 12:51 AM
Well written for us phone-agnostics who can read this and don’t have any mental or financial capital invested in any of the major phone players or telcos. High quality reviews can be boring, and boring reviews can be high quality.
Some of us are able to take it all in from multiple sources, and then make an informed decision. And Verizon is better off if people who are picky about quality don’t grab these based on nothing more than a couple of flashy tv commercials.
Nov 27, 2008 12:59 AM
Why would I want a phone from Verizon that can only be used in the US?
Nov 27, 2008 1:00 AM
The bias is pretty clear - if it doesn’t work like an iphone then categorically its trash. Still you’d expect a level of professionalism. I’ve had the storm for two days and no problems at all. And from my experience with both that and an iphone, storm is not after iphone users. Its for millions of consumers that haven’t bought a smartphone.
Nov 27, 2008 1:22 AM
This story is one of the reasons we decided to develop enterprise applications for the iPhone and not the Blackberry. http://blog.cosential.com/?p=156
Nov 27, 2008 6:13 AM
After spending several weeks as part of a development team working on a port for a very well known product for the Storm, we couldn’t believe the issues we were having with it. Seems that we were vindicated in our thoughts about it, and it wasn’t just a dodgy development version we had - just an utter balls up by RIM, and an opportunity missed. To be clear, I am not a ‘fan’ of the iPhone, so I am not biased in the slightest.
Nov 27, 2008 10:24 AM
Well Bronty, if you are an international traveler you wouldn’t want a phone by Verizon that can only be used in the US but guess what, the Blackberry Storm is a world phone, it can be used on any band.
Nov 30, 2008 7:38 PM
I got the Strom last Saturday and havent seen any of the problems you are claiming .What I have seen at times it lags..Verizon and RIM knew this prior to its release and is working on updates that will fix the issues.When has anything worked perfectly right from the go .Calm down people things will be alright .If you love the iphone so much go get it and join a terrible AT&T network.
Dec 1, 2008 10:11 AM
Note to Verizon and RIMM: If you are going to tout a device as an “iPhone killer” then guess what? You are going to be compared against the iPhone. If you don’t want that comparison made, then don’t hang that moniker on your device.
Dec 1, 2008 1:10 PM
tried it in the store and it seemed like a mess. Its painful to have to click the big screen to do every action. I think the whole concept of clicking on the device is broken.
Dec 6, 2008 9:25 PM
iphone is the coolest phone probably out….however At&t voice service is terrible. Drop calls galore. Id rather have substance (The Storm) over style (Iphone) any day. Lets be real people…..damn the phone…who has the BEST network? I think we all know who that is. Can you hear me now?
Dec 25, 2008 8:16 PM
I agree with you and the NY Times guy. The phone has lots of potential but in its present version SUCKS! The bugs are too numerous to count. I brought mine back about a week after I got it and exchanged it thinking that surely there had to be a hardware problem to have as many problems as mind did, but the new one was exactly the same. 1 in 2 or 1 in 3 incoming calls results in a blank screen where I cant press the speakerphone button or anything. Additionally, 1 in 2 or 1 in 3 calls forces me to press the answer button 2 to 4 times to actually answer the phone. The phone / software just sucks! I will disagree on the click screen, though. I like it. Since all of the problems are software, I decided to just stick it out and hope that they get the software into a marketable state soon - a decision I hope I dont regret. They have to do something or this could turn in to a multi hundred million dollar problem for both Verizon and RIM.
Here is what I have to say to Verizon, the RIM executives, and the RIM senior, decision-making technical people: Did anyone there even try one? Of course you did, but do you care? You are all idiots to put such a pre-beta piece of snot on the market as a finished product. It sucks. Your idiotic decisions just reinforce the fact that it is a bad idea to buy any new product until it has been on the market for a year.
Jan 21, 2009 5:02 PM
Well, I’ve had the Storm since before Christmas from Vodafone Spain, and I haven’t got any of the problems in the report.
And I switched from the iPhone over to the Storm: the iPhone is a US product for the US market, not for anywhere else. It doesn’t even support international character, and roaming, it’s a nightmare.
I got the Storm for a trial period, and I love it: emails are fast, roaming is seemless, at least across EU countries (and I do at least 2 countries a week).
iPhone is marketing, Storm is technology: if you’re a road warrior, forget it, the Storm beats the crap out of iPhone.
My iPhone is being used by my 8 year old, it’s a toy.
Feb 3, 2009 11:36 AM
I agree with Robert. I am a rep and work with others who have the Iphone. ALL of them complain of dropped calls….all of them. I love the storm and yes, there are some quirky bugs and things you have to get use to, but it is worth it. As a matter of fact my friend who I talk to everyday when we are in the field called me yesterday from her new Iphone, dropped her call 3 times. She loves the apps, but for business professionals, the storm is by far the best option. I love the new commercial for Iphone trying to show all of the useless applications it has. I am shedding a tear that my storm doesn’t have a ‘balance device’ to have a picture on the wall. LOL!