NEW UPDATES: Geekery alert! My review of the touchscreen BlackBerry

I was late to the Smartphone game; I had a series of cheap cell phones over the past few years because I was waiting for one “do everything” device, but I finally caved and bought the BlackBerry last summer. As a busy person – kids, job, husband, etc, etc – the BB made my life so much easier. I was able to stay better organized, plus keep in touch with everyone I needed to be in touch with, at all times. I was quickly addicted.

So I was very dismayed when my beloved BlackBerry Curve stopped accepting a charge last week. I tried a friend’s cord, and it didn’t work either, so it was obvious that it was an issue with the phone, not with the cord. No problem, I thought. My phone was still under warranty. So I went over to the AT&T store, and explained the problem. They looked at my phone, and showed me that a tiny prong inside the place where the cord plug is inserted had come off. But the AT&T employee warned me not to tell the warranty people (whom I would have to call myself) about this missing prong, because he explained that they would declare this to be “misuse of the product,” and would void my warranty. I questioned this, as I have not misused the phone, and I couldn’t imagine how a prong coming off inside of the product would not fall within its warranty provisions. But the guy warned me again: don’t tell the warranty people about the missing prong.

So I did as I was instructed, and called the AT&T warranty line, where I spoke with a very pleasant man who seemed to be located somewhere in India or Pakistan. I told him that my phone wouldn’t charge, and he asked me to remove the battery, and to describe the color of a small sticker inside the phone. So I did. I told him the sticker was red.

“Oh, well,” he said. “That means your phone isn’t working because it’s got moisture damage. And that means that your warranty is voided.”

What???

I tried to explain that, A – my phone did not have any moisture damage, and B – the reason the phone would no longer charge is that a small metal prong had come off in the plug slot, but he was having none of it. He just kept explaining that my phone was clearly waterlogged, and that the warranty was void.

So I went back to the AT&T store, where they told me there was absolutely nothing they could do to help me. They also explained that, since I wasn’t yet eligible for a phone upgrade or new plan (I had only been an AT&T customer for a few months, which is why my phone was still warrantied), I would have to pay full price for any sort of new phone, rather than the discounted price you get when you first sign up for a cell plan or upgrade. Replacing my phone would be about $300-$400.

I was livid. So livid, in fact, that I told them I would no longer be an AT&T customer, and that I would be contesting the $175 plan termination fee that they would be trying to charge me. And I will. They were obviously looking for any reason possible to void my warranty. My phone had never been wet, and the problem I was having had no relation to potential moisture damage anyway.

Goodbye to AT&T from someone who likely would have been a good customer for many years to come. However, I knew I couldn’t be without a cell phone for even 24 hours (we no longer have home phone service – a cost-cutting measure), so off I went to the Verizon store, where I was helped by a very nice and knowledgeable guy named Robert Vaughn. He signed me up for a new phone plan, and helped me pick out my new BlackBerry – a new touchscreen BlackBerry Storm. I didn’t realize when I bought the thing that it has gotten rather negative reviews. And for the first 24 hours, I would have given it a similarly negative review; it was pretty hard to figure out. But now that I’ve had it a few days, there is a lot that I really like about it.

The best feature is the built-in video camera, which neither the iPhone or any other BlackBerry model has. It’s really nifty to be able to shoot videos wherever and whenever, and I am sure I’ll be doing that a lot. I’ve actually been pretty lax about taking video of my kids over the years, so now maybe I’ll be better about it. It’s not the highest quality video camera, but it’s pretty darn good for a phone. It also has a 3.2 megapixel still camera.

I also love the “clickable” touchscreen, which is different than the touchscreen I’d used on my husband’s iTouch and on iPhones I’ve played with. This screen actually clicks and indents a little bit when you touch each letter, which feels more like real typing to me. I like typing in the sideways, “landscape” mode, which gives me a really big keyboard to work on. Much easier to use than the iPhone’s smaller touchscreen keyboard.

The browser isn’t as snazzy as the iPhone’s Safari browser, but I downloaded Opera mobile browser, and it works quite well. The screen on the Storm is beautiful, and everything looks nice and crisp. You can even watch movies on it, and they look great. Oh, and the Storm has an external speaker – unlike the iPhone, which requires you to use headphones if you want to watch a video (Correction: the iPhone apparently has an external speaker; the iTouch does not.) I downloaded the YouTube mobile app, so I can watch all my own videos on the Storm.

All the things I liked about my old Blackberry are still here: the push email and IMs (meaning I see when I get mail, texts or instant messages rather than having to go in and check whether I have messages), and it has the uber-handy back button, that makes getting around easy. It came with a full suite of mobile office stuff, like Word and Excel. And it’s got GPS, so when I downloaded Google maps, it works great.

This is definitely no iPhone, though. The functionality just feels clunkier and less intuitive (although if you had never used an iPhone, you would think the Storm was brilliant.) The touch screen is slower to respond, and when I turn it from portrait to landscape mode, it sometimes takes many seconds for the screen orientation to flip. I can’t resize text by using my fingers on the screen; instead I have to use a zoom button, which is far less precise. And of course, it doesn’t have a built in iPod. It does have an MP3 player, but the software for getting music onto and off of the device is clunky and terrible (it’s called Roxio) The Storm also doesn’t have WiFi, so if I am ever somewhere where I can’t access Verizon’s (very fast) 3G network, I would be out of luck. It does have Blutooth capability, though.

Overall, I like it. I think a lot of the reviewers were just expecting an iPhone clone, but if you use it with different expectations, you won’t be disappointed.

UPDATE: Now that I have used it a few more days, I can tell you this: the things I love about it, I really love. That would include the video camera, the touchscreen clickability, the web browsing capabilities (which are far better than I first thought). I also found a very easy way to move MP3s directly from my computer to the Storm, so it actually works very well as a music player. I’ve also streamed NPR directly from the WUOT website from the Storm and it sounded absolutely excellent. I want to get bluetooth speakers and headphones.

Would I recommend it? I guess I’d give it a qualified yes. I definitely prefer the clickable screen to the tap screen on the iPhone. The Web browsing is really good. The network speed is off the charts good. I like that the memory is expandable, and I love that video camera. But if small, buggy, wonky software delays and quirks would drive you crazy then this is NOT the smartphone for you.