I’ve always been the tech guy… the computer guy… the one everyone calls for tech support. I’ve always, ALWAYS, thought I was going to go to school for computers and business. I’ve always thought my life would be spent inside of a little cube circled around the water cooler talking about last nights episode of and bitching about how nobody ever brings in donuts anymore.

Then recently with some issues I’ve had with school(mainly the fact that I completely fucked it up again… and once again disappointed my parents) I started rethinking my life and I’ve come to decisions that will probably surprise those closest to me. I’m sure everyone who knows me though I’d be sitting in the office too… Well, after all the thinking I’ve done I realized that the office… thats not what I want. EVERY SINGLE JOB I’ve had in an office… has made me want to claw my, or someone else’s, eyes out. Spending my life in a suit and/or business casual would just suck the soul out of every pore of my body. For some people the office is how they spend their lives. I just know that I’m not cut out for that.

I’ll let the choice I’ve made stay private and known only to those who really need to know it, but I think that for once I’m finally making a decision about my future for me and only me. I’m not basing my choices off of anyones expectations or thoughts on what my future should be. Yeah, I may not make millions doing what I’ve chosen to do… but at least it is finally something that I and I alone have chosen.

Now, in my opinion this is something which should have occurred ages ago. GSM providers have had WiFi available widely throughout their product lines for quite a while now, and the lack of WiFi on CDMA carriers has been(at least among some people I know) a complete no-go on their services.

I’ve heard many reasons for the lack of WiFi in CDMA phones, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard what I would call a real explanation. With AT&T’s recent acquisition of Waypoint they have increased their national WiFi network to over 20,000 hotspots. I guess Verizon & Sprint figure they have to try and catch them somehow. I’m betting that once more Verizon phones have WiFi in them we will probably start seeing Verizon hotspots popping up all over the place. I don’t know that we’ll be seeing that sort of large scale hotspot opening from Sprint(as they do not have a huge consumer and business land-line and internet service network like Verizon and AT&T) but it wouldn’t really surprise me to see something coming from them.

All in all this news makes me very happy. It’s great to see something I’ve wanted for so long finally showing and I can’t wait to see how this effects things in the future.

Oh… And all of this was posted directly from the app which I am reviewing.

The Hardware

First impressions of the hardware were quite good. The phone is solidly built and has a good weight in your hand. The buttons were all well fit in the case and had a good quality click to them. The touch screen was very responsive and also had a very solid click to it.

A few months in, the review of the hardware is pretty much the same as my original impression on the phone. The screen and front buttons all still have a very high quality click even after months of fairly extensive use. The “Lock” and “Mute” button on the top of the phone still click solidly and do not feel mushy at all. The volume buttons on the side of the phone also still click solidly but the convenience buttons on the sides of the phone have become slightly wonky and it takes more to click them.

The Software

The stock operating system on the Storm is a decent first operating system for a device like this but it isn’t quite up to par for a phone that has been out now for several months. After having updated the phone to some of the beta operating systems(or even some of the other carrier’s official operating systems choices) I have to say they are much better.

The built-in applications all function as promised. The Maps application provides decent free mapping software, although I would recommend an upgrade to Google Maps or one of the paid GPS programs. The e-mail application has almost replaced the desktop/webmail solutions I used before, but I would really like some sort of spam filter built in in some way. Whether it is client side or server side on the BIS system, it would be a high quality addition that I’m sure many people would really like. The instant messaging clients which come on the phone are all well built and provide the functionality one would expect from them. There are also third party applications which provide single clients for multiple messaging services.

The original MySpace and Facebook applications which shipped with the phone were usable, but the recently released updates have increased the functionality quite a bit. The new Facebook application includes integration with the BlackBerry’s contact list and lets you add contacts from Facebook while requesting their phone numbers at the same time. This addition was a great upgrade along with all the other upgrades to the application.

The internet browser included on the Storm is a fairly full featured browser. It doesn’t do Flash… but realy, flash over 3G just doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time. Also, the screen is a little tiny for that. Almost every full web site I’ve visited has worked without any real problems, except for the few websites that have absolutely NO non-flash site, which I think is really an issue with those sites and not the Storm. I’ve had no problems using the Storm as my main internet device when I couldn’t reach a computer.

The Storm comes with most of the normal apps that a cell phone provides. Notepad, calculator, etc. which all do exactly what they are supposed to. And nothing more needs to be said about that.

EDIT: So, I completely forgot to talk any about the software keyboard. It works great. Both the landscape keyboard as well as the portrait mode keyboards work great. Although the full keyboard in portrait mode is a tad painful to use, but I just don’t use it so it solves that. The other keyboards are better to use in portrait mode anyways.

Overall Review

Overall, I’m thoroughly impressed with the Storm. I’ve upgraded the operating system to some of the latest versions and it greatly improves performance on many levels and adds some quality new features. If Verizon Wireless would just be nice enough to approve one of the new operating system for official use that would be peachy. The newer operating systems greatly improve scrolling speed(I’d still love flick scrolling through RIM, please get to work on that), add better cut & paste functionality, and a great little cursor move ability that I just love. I spent approximately 45-60 minutes with the Storm before even considering buying it and was then quite sure I wanted to get it. After spending several months using it I’ve become extremely happy with my choice and have highly recommended it to everyone I know who’s looking in to getting a smart phone or BlackBerry. All in all I’d give the phone a 9/10.

Also, I’d just like to state that this entire post was made while watching my signal jump between full and “Searching for Signal”. It was fun. I swear.

Also, everyone should go visit my friend and fellow Chicago area transplant the lovely Miss Alle Malice.

Also, that is not a picture of me… but I wish it was. Thats a wicked cool pic. It will probably be replaced with a picture of me at some point, but I’m not nearly that good looking.