Unboxing “the WORST smartphone ever”? BlackBerry Storm

[@K0BRAKID]

I remember thinking like in the movie "who would rather type on a screen than a keybard??" I still miss the physical feeling of a keyboard but tbh screen kbs are super responsive and have haptic feedback so at this point the extra screen is definitely a bigger benefit.. Weird times lol

[@NostraSamus]

It was awful. Having to press the entire screen to register a button input was a terrible feeling.

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

Well, I actually like the tactile feelings (most of the time). This may be very subjective

[@RirtyDascal]

That's how it was for the first version, but the Storm 2 was another story, as it had a capacitive touch layer so you didn't always have to fully press down the suretouch display. I liked it, but once the iPhone 3GS came out, I made the switch even though I worked at Verizon and the IPhone was still an AT&T exclusive in the US at the time.

[@AeyGee]

You have to be tech illiterate to call this awful. Both the Storm and Storm 2 were great at the time when they came out. They were unsuccessful because people who bought BBs wanted hardware keys.

[@NostraSamus]

@@AeyGee I’m very tech literate. I work on tech for a living. Doesn’t change the fact that this phone was atrocious and was the beginning of Blackberry’s downfall. Pressing an entire screen that felt like using the 1st gen apple magic mouse wasn’t practical.

[@MS-ot2cz]

⁠@@RirtyDascalThe Storm 2 was also a little different in that it used multiple click points under the screen, and it somehow disabled the screen if there was no power to the device. It felt like a normal smartphone at that point. Oh, I also worked at Verizon at the launch of those phones. Was there from 2004 - 2017.

[@RirtyDascal]

I actually loved my Storm 2 when I worked for Verizon at the time. They sort of asked me to carry it in hopes it would appeal to young consumers because a lot of people were flocking to the newly released iPhone 3g.

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

I still believe Storm 2 was a decent rival to iPhone 3G

[@nathankiser7058]

I had the first one when it was new and i loved it. Compared to what other touch screen phones were out at the time this was a great phone.

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

Totally agree

[@Sam-K]

While this phone didn't kill Blackberry, it definitely killed Mike Lazaridis career. Besides, Verizon and 'Crackberry Boys' wanted an "iPhone killer" and... let's just say Storm didn't come anywhere near close to hitting that mark! As for this "SurePress" display, it may be working fine for now, but it won't for long. That's just reality. SurePress was an overly complex mechanical technology with a high mechanical failure rate that offered next to no benefits to the end user. If anything, it made the user interface feel clunky and antiquated compared to iOS and Android. Of course, it may seem novel and interesting now because all we've got nowadays are glass slabs with a massive touchscreen at the front. Our iPhones and Android do everything almost perfectly without any drama which makes them somewhat... boring, actually. Lacking in character. But back then when Storm was released, no one really cared about that mechanical feel because touchscreens were all the rage. Overall, an interesting video. Subscribed!

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

Thanks! I do agree that the concept is controversial at best, and you also might be right about mechanism reliability. At the same time, from the UI point of view it's not *that* bad, it has some pros and cons, not a one-way street. Could have become useful and needed, but market decided otherwise 🤷🏻‍♂ What grabs attention here is piezo technology, the concept is very interesting. I'd like to have this in MacBook Touch Bar actually

[@AeyGee]

I liked both the Storm and Storm 2. Touchscreens at that time were primarily resistive. I myself started my journey with touchscreens in 2011 with a Nokia 5233, which had a resistive touch input with stylus. And it still felt magical compared to button presses because of the massive screen. The 5233 still works to this date!

[@iusethisplatform]

What a weird phone! I've heard people say pretty bad things about it, but never knew that the "touchscreen" was like this. It's an interesting concept for sure...

[@TradieTrev]

Seems pretty decent in my books! You should try the HP iPAQ, was one of the first smart phones with a GPS!

[@MS-ot2cz]

LOL I just tried to click my iPhone screen in like my old Storm when I selected this video😂

[@SNOWYRABBIT1]

I love it I've still got mine pristine boxed I also used Samsung s23 ultra

[@LudicrousTorpedo]

Could you do reviews of other Blackberry phones ? Like the Torch, Bold, Priv, Dtek, Motion, KeyONE and KeyTWO.

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

Hi! Thanks for suggesting. I also have Bold and want to review it, comparing which one of these three museum pieces (Storm - Bold - Classic) one can still use. Speaking of Priv, Dtek, Motion - these are on android, so not really BlackBerry 😉

[@bouldersmashing]

I had both gens of these growing up and I loved them so much.

[@vladyslavhunchenko3963]

Привіт! З відео випадково зрозумів, що ви з України (був приємно вражений)! Недавно в мої руки попав BlackBerry 9320, я вставив сімку, але він просить MEP code. Як його зараз можна дізнатись/купити? Прочитав теми на редіті, але нажаль всі способи вже не працюють чи застарілі(

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

Привіт, один росіянин з ніком SWEN (відомий спеціаліст з BlackBerry, автор вікі про BlackBerry на 4pda, має прошивки на всі моделі що коли-небудь виходили) створив сайт, який генерує необхідні коди. В цьому коментарі є посилання: www.reddit.com/r/blackberry/s/p0SAcb8YVC Але проблема в тому, що саме для 9320 та 9720 так просто коди не згенерувати (про що на його сайті також вказано). Але він також говорив, що є альтернативні методи. Якщо є бажання, можете написати йому на reddit (англійською, звичайно)

[@kingvarus]

Wtf is this language

[@AeyGee]

That's called the Ukrainian accent.

[@Bohdan_HI-TECH]

I actually try as hard as I can, I wonder how would he sound like speaking Ukrainian? 🤔 Or speak into recording at all