The number key was a bit of a bummer, I did like the lock feature though. If you only needed to press in one number it was great, but if more were needed holding down the lock was pretty painless.

JM,

User of a touchscreen device myself, I was a bit of a skeptic when it came to the push design on the Storm. I did come around though, and would trade for the qwerty typing on the Storm. I can see how it could be awkward, but for those that like it, the switch is warranted.

As to the iPhone, I wish I could get my hands on a test unit to run it through its 3g paces, but Apple hasn’t responded yet.

-Matt

The button aspect approach they took with the Storm is unique, but ackward for those coming off of anything else.

I was impressed with the OS on the phone, it is a lot more functional and polished than that of the 8000 series phones (Pearl, Curve, etc.)

For me, I’ll be sticking with my Curve for work, and of course I’m using my iPhone for personal.

Herb,
1. I didn’t specifically try to put only an initial or two of a person into the contacts, but I didn’t have a problem when I was putting them in. I don’t have the unit in my hands anymore, or I’d try to do that for you. Best bet, would be to head to a store and try to do it on the demo unit.

2. I LOVE removable batteries. The Storm has one, it’s definitely a plus, because there are HEAVY mobile users out there and having a backup battery is fantastic. I’ve switched out my battery twice in the last two days on my personal phone, it’s just nice to be able to do.

3. The Storm did have voice commands, but not being a huge fan of voice commands, I didn’t give them a full working.

4. I knew when I got my hands on the phone I was either going to be a big fan, or not like it at all. I’ve seen the other reviews, a lot of tech sites are panning the phone and telling people to stay away. Is the phone perfect? By no means, but I liked a lot of what it did. And I absolutely loved the keyboard in QWERTY mode. For a system that you’re supposed to be punching in text often, I thought it was good.

But again, this is the most important thing, you’re going to want to get your hands on the device. Don’t just buy one online, go to the store first and give it a try.

Thanks for the comment Herb,

Anything else, just let me know.

-Matt

Thanks Herb

Yeah, the pic messaging and video messaging is great (I forgot to add it to the Plus section, so i just did.) I also will probably expand the camera section a little bit to include that.

As for apps that utilized the touchscreen that’s one thing the iPhone pretty much has the Storm beat on. There isn’t a robust app store to utilize the power of the device. That may come with time though. Quick note, the SurePress system that I wasn’t a fan of is a qwerty setup.
It looks like this:
|qw|er|ty|ui|op|
|as|df|gh|jk|l|
|zx|cv|bn|m|

With each | | being one button. (That’s from memory though, I don’t have the unit in my hand still.)

The Storm’s interface from the computer standpoint was pretty basic. It comes with a disc to install software for Rhapsody and drivers so that the computer recognizes it. As robust as the iPhone software? No probably not, but still capable.

To Michael, you’re right. For a heavy app user, having only 128MB memory could be limiting. I’d like to see Verizon open up the device, so that you could use the microSD card for App storage. Thanks for pointing that out.

Thanks for the comments guys.
-Matt.

If you’re a Verizon subscriber, or interested in heading to their network, it’s definitely worth checking out.

-Matt