I TESTED the BlackBerry Storm a while back and had mixed reviews but overall I liked it. So, I was asked to give the BlackBerry Bold 9000 a hands-on like the Storm. What is interesting is, for a long time I was using a the Samsung i-600 which is similar in form as the Bold but a lot different in operation mainly due to operating system. Take a look at the Bold against the Samsung. Quite a contrast don’t you think. The Bold is like the big American muscle car while the Samsung comes across more like the Japanese compact.

Both feature a landscape screen with a full qwerty style keyboard. Some big obvious differences:

• Bold has higher resolution display
• Bold is heavier and bulkier
• Bold runs on RIM’S Operating System
• Bold uses a trackball

Otherwise the unit has pretty much the same connectivity (ports) and functionality. So, it was only natural that I’d gravitate to liking the Bold.

The keyboard is really great and if put to the test against a touchscreen I believe the real keyboard would without a doubt win.

The Bold feels like a real computing device because it also incorporates a trackball device for navigation. The one area I felt may develop into an issue with the trackball is the build up of lint. The old mechanical mice had this problem so I can only see this being an issue with continued use. An interesting feature for the trackball would be to have it light up in different colours for notification messages.

The Bold is on the heavy side and it may not be liked by ladies going out for a night on the town. Although, I have spoken to some woman friends using a Bold and they absolutely love it and one of the main reasons is they can never comfortably use a touchscreen device, like Apple’s iPhone, because of their well manicured fingernails.

A very nice feature for all the BlackBerry devices is the auto-sleep come screen lock functionality of the included slipcase. Just slide your Bold into the case and your Bold or Storm auto-magically closes down to save on battery life. Even though this is a cool feature I did feel the included slip case sub-standard, not in quality, but functionality. As a guy I would prefer to have things out of my trouser pockets. I don’t carry a purse so maybe for women it is fine. It would have been more functional if the case where the kind that could be fixed by clasp or other method to a belt. Granted, there are such cases available from the BlackBerry store and third parties. I felt that if I had paid a premium for the BlackBerry I’d expect other premiums to be included.

As a connected device I felt the Bold really shines. Part of this is the quality of the social networking and instant messaging applications. I covered that in the Storm hands-on as well. There are a few Twitter clients (all free), the sophisticated FaceBook and nicely done MSN Instant Messenger. The Bold features multiple antennas – 3.5G, Wi-Fi and BlueTooth and a the built-in GPS receiver, so there is no shortage of connectivity for personal networkor wide network coverage.

If you are not the Social Media type but like to browse the web you also get a decent web-browser. That said, a couple of my friends using both the Bold and an iPhone thinks the Internet Browser on the Bold is not up to par. He compared it to the iPhone’s. Never-the-less, I personally felt the BlackBerry browser was decent. It rendered most pages I visited, albeit sometimes very slowly and because the screen resolution is limited I did encounter having to zoom in and out on occasion. What made the BlackBerry browser quite useful is the ability to change the emulation mode, that is, being able to tell it to look like Firefox, Microsoft IE or BlackBerry.

What really makes the Bold appealing at this stage of the smartphone game amongst all the competitors is the amazing integration of the applications available. Obvious services and required applications were available through the local telco or you needed to be a bit nerdy to find and install them that is because only recently has RIM’s App World come online for Singapore and Rest of  Asia. It isn’t fully implemented yet because there are no paid apps available. Still it is currently better than nothing.

Summary

I am sad having to return the Bold to RIM’S local agency Lewis PR after my couple of weeks testing. Truthfully, I was about to go out and redo my telco contract and get a Bold but…a new Bold (the 9700) is coming to town (not soon enough for Singapore) and it has been released to some continents just not Asia. So, now I wait. I did have a consolation and that is being the recipient of a lucky draw and the prize, a new BlackBerry Storm (no not the Storm 2 – also not yet in Asia market   ).

I guess it is clear that my choice for a smartphone device will be a BlackBerry but just so you understand why here’s the good and bad highlights.

Good

• Battery life was excellent (actually much better than the Storm)
• The Qwerty keyboard is to die for
• Display resolution is sharp - (piTooie if you are a manufacturer still making QVGA smartphones)
• Navigation is a breeze with the trackball
• Sleep / Lock mode using the magnetic switch (no more fumbling to figure out how to lock/unlock the phone)

Bad

• Sub-standard consideration for a suitable carrying case (my really opinionated view)
• Digital camera quality – damn can RIM go speak with Zeiss or some other optics manufacturer to get a decent lens and CMOS or CCD device, I’ve had Sony Ericsson phones with 3.2Mpxl cameras that take wonder pics
• Size and weight

Ed’s Note: The Bold and Storm’s in Singapore are not running the latest version 5.0 of the RIM operating system. I don’t know of anyone that has tried the firmware upgrades that are circulating the Internet. Perhaps, if you are one of those in Asia that has done it, successfully or unsuccessfully, just post a comment to let us all know.

By the way, a big warm thanks to Canon Singapore for making the arrangements for the HF21 evaluation sample for recording of the Windows 7 official launch and the XGS2009.

The Vodafone MiFi 2352 Wireless Router is about the size of a lady’s powder and mirror cosmetic compact case and similarly finished in a neutral colour (white) featuring chrome accents.

The MiFi 2352 is used to enabled sharing of a single mobile broadband connection with up-to 5 other WiFi enabled devices. It is the same as having a router at home connected to your cable modem or ADSL modem enabling the sharing of the wired connection. To ensure your device doesn’t pickup any leechers (these are people that scan the WiFi frequency and try to get a free ride on an unprotected gateway) you should setup the device to use WEP, WPA or even MAC Address filtering to reduce the possibility of being leeched. A lot is riding on the fact that a mobile broadband connection may not be unlimited in the amount of bandwidth you can use.

So, be careful when using the device and perhaps above all don’t go broadcasting your SSID. Enable one of the encryption schemes and for goodness sake, change the default administrator password immediately.

Out of the box the test unit was configured to use WEP with a 128-bit key. Setup was straightforward.

1. Open back cover
2. Slide in SIM card
3. Slide in battery pack
4. Close rear cover
5. Press & Hold the power button for 1 to 2 seconds
6. Red light appears on the power button
7. Device initialises
8. Use your WiFi enabled device to search for the Vodafone MiFi 2352
9. Using the default WEP KEY (pasted to the inside of the battery cover) connect with your device
10. Router issues a IP Address using 192.168.1.xxx address range

That is really all there is to it. If you wish to modify the Router settings use a Internet browser and go to 192.168.1.1 . This translates to an easy to read URL.

Once connected you can begin to surf, however, I recommend you modify the original (default) router settings. To accomplish this you browse the the gateway address with your Internet browser at 192.168.1.1 .

Here’s a screen shot of the interface page.

A cool feature of the MiFi 2352 is the ability to share a microSD card storage space. There is a small microSD slot on the side of the device just next to the micro USB port. It’s kinda like having a NAS because each of the available 5 devices that can connect to the router will have access to the storage.

I tried connecting to the MiFi using a number of wireless client hardware and all were able to connect except one. I tried the Samsung i600, Apple iPod Touch, SMC EZ-Connect G Cardbus Adapter, Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG, Intel 2200BG Wireless adapter and the Samsung Jet WiFi. Only the Samsung Jet WiFi had a problem and still does. I highlighted this to M1 and they are investigating and bringing this to the attention of Vodafone. When I get an update on Samsung Jet connectivity I’ll update here.

I mentioned earlier that you are able to access a SDCard slotted into the SD Card slot. You can also upload files to the SD Card slot. This is a great benefit since you don’t need to swap out the memory card. Do take note that if the file is large it may well be better to copy it over instead of transferring using WiFi or even mobile broadband.

Conclusion

The Vodafone MiFi 2352 mobile broadband device is going to interest companies or individuals that need to adhoc share a reliable mobile Internet connection. With the fastest plan available even with 5 simultaneous connections things should run smoothly. The exception will be highlygraphics instense games.

A must see for Internet savvy mobile sales or professional persons. Come to think of it, this can also be a viable option for a group of students in a dormitory. One high-speed M1 mobile connection split 5 ways should be pretty decent for simply chatting, tweeting, facebook status messages etc.

By using a separate power source (battery)  will help to reduce power consumption of the main PC.

The downside to the device is the pricing. It is available for S$468 without contract.

Free with M1 Mobile Broadband @a 7.2Mbps plan @S$49.51 per month

S$68 M1 Mobile Broadband 4Mbps plan @ S$35.95

So, here I am with a BlackBerry Storm and funny enough being a Canadian I had never touched a BlackBerry before this. I always alienated myself away from the BlackBerries because they were just so corporate. They also didn’t look like a stylish device to be toting around. If you plan to read on let me make clear this is not a comprehensive review. The reason for this is the device itself has been around a while and like most things probably reviewed by many a review site. My intention is to give a end user perspective of the Storm. So on with the show.

I picked up the evaluation unit from Lewis Public Relations Pte Ltd and got a brief introduction by the PR folks. The Storm was pretty much what I had imagined even from a distance – big, bulky, unfashionable and meaty. It kind of spoke of the bigger sizes of the average North American. One thing for sure if you had this in a shirt pocket and happened to get struck by a stray bullet in that exact spot it would surely stop the bullet and save your life.

Let’s take a look at the package.

Top Edge	Storm Left Edge
Storm Right Edge	Storm Button Face

BlackBerry Storm Specifications 

The layout of the device is straightforward and what you may not first become aware of is the top edge has two buttons – mute and screen lock. They are marked with icons but do not resemble traditional buttons. On the left edge is a single button that activates the voice command and just below that is the micro-usb port for charging and data transfer. Looking at the right edge you will find the camera shutter release button and the volume up/down toggle. The 3.5mm audio jack is located on the right edge and some may not like this because it would make a right angle in your pocket that just screams accident about to happen. Broken 3.5mm jacks from an expensive set of headphones/in-ear plugs would be quite maddening.

Oh yeah, the Storm comes with a nice leather holder (not a holster) that will automatically lock the screen and buttons when inserted. There appears to be an RFID tag of some sort inside the holder that is sensed by the Storm. It isn’t magnetic, because I ran a couple fridge magnets over the unit without any effect. I wonder if the holder is specific to the phone.

Storm Rear

The rear of the Storm has a 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash. The cover is metallic and this contributes to the device being heavy but it probably also makes it more durable and rugged. 

Storm 3.2Mpxl Picture Taking

The camera is what you’d expect from a 3.2-megapixel camera phone device. It did exhibit some strangeness with the detection of ever so subtle patterns. You can see in the picture above the vertical bars in the picture. This was the after effect of the camera reacting to the ‘grain’ in the backdrop cloth. It did not exhibit this problem with normal picture taking. My other camera phone cameras does not exhibit this problem. I did find low-light picture taking to be hit and miss, especially close-up pics. The result was always overly exposed by the super-bright LED flash.

Storm Quick Access

The Storm has a built in accelerometer to determine the orientation. So, when you switch from portrait to landscape it is smart enough to rotate and format on screen the open application. See above for portrait orientation of icons and below for horizontal orientation.

Storm Horizontal Orientation

The same is true for when you are inputting text but the added smart is when it switches from portrait keypad mode to landscape virtual qwerty keyboard mode.

Storm Portrait Keypad Input

By the way, RIM was the company to introduce the condensed keyboard design and functionality called, SureType. It works quite well and in some instances even better than the Tegic T9 dictionary keypad input.

 

Storm Capitalisation

I really appreciated the small tweaks incorporated with the text input. I liked the auto-capitalisation if you hovered on the letter a little longer.

Storm Accented Characters

There was also the appearance of accented foreign characters. Very useful and appreciated for foreign language users. Similarly this appeared when you pressed and held a key that could be accented, mostly vowels if you are into European languages and arguably something RIM had to do for international acceptance and for the fact that Canada’s second official language is French – Parlez vous francais?

There was one thing I didn’t appreciate and that was the way RIM decided to arrange the numbers like a numeric keypad when in landscape virtual keyboard mode. Instead of situating the numbers across the top like a normal keyboard RIM decided to place the numbers on the left-hand side in the number-pad layout. It presented a confusing interpretation for a qwerty touch typist. Perhaps if it were a number pad on the righthand side of the screen like a regular keyboard, I would have felt more at home. Still, since it is in full qwerty mode I would have expected it to mimic the real keyboard and have it across the top row.

An interesting and cool enhancement if it were like a real keyboard with running numbers on top would be to enable it to also output standard punctuations like the real keyboard layout. In similar operation to capitalisation, press and hold the key and instead of an upper case character appearing, the punctuation. Example: Numeric 1 = ! , Numeric 2 = @, Numeric 3 = #, and so, you get the idea. This would reduce the need to scroll for the symbols.

Storm Landscape Orientation

Storm Application Centre

 A SmartPhone is really only as smart as the applications available and those applications need to address either the needs of the business or that of the consumer. Since the Storm is targeted at consumer needs I wasn’t disappointed with the selection of apps. The great thing is the applications are built by RIM so the integration to all the bits is tight.

These days if you don’t have FaceBook, Flickr, MySpace of Google Maps you are not hip and with it. Well, the Storm is with it and then some. Included with the social network applications you get the ability to view Microsoft Word documents and a slew of instant messenging apps. MSN Messenger, AOL, ICQ, Google Talk, Yahoo and although not included by default easily found, a Twitter client.

I really liked the FaceBook implementation because I didn’t actually have to load the built-in browser and then launch into FaceBook. The Twitter client was also uber cool because it took into consideration the built-in GPS for location lock-on. It would enable other twitters to know exactly where you twitted from.

Storm FaceBook Application

Storm UberTwitter

UberTwitter is a very nice application and I would love to see more smartphone applications mimic what can be found on the Storm.

Summary

My time with the BlackBerry Storm was great so much so that I think I need to testdrive a BlackBerry with a real keyboard. I’ve been hunting around for my ultimate pocketable Internet type of device but have not yet found what I need. In the running, would be a BlackBerry device (only thing is the screen size and camera quality), HTC TouchPro2, Nokia N97 and Samsung Omnia Pro B7610.

Good

• comes loaded with the majority of social networking connectivity (applications)
• battery life is pretty decent and it should be for a smartphone
• clickable touchscreen (this really worked well most of the time because the visual feedback before actually depressing the screen for a click (selection)) Personally, I believe users that have never experienced or used a touchscreen before would gravitate to the Storm’s clickable touchscreen interface. (it can however become tiring after a while of clicking because the pressure required is enough to give your wrist a workout)

Ed’s note [29/07/2009]: I had completely forgotten to mention the push mail support that works really well with the other web and corporate email services. I really liked the notification feature whereby I didn’t have to continually or even periodically check my mail. Instead, I was simply notified of mail and even tweets. Did I mention I really liked UberTwitter!

Bad

• weight and undesirable bulky size
• low resolution digital/video camera (the general argument here is that it is a business device, but this is the consumer oriented Storm
• no Wireless Networking, which is very very odd to leave out considering this is a consumer targeted device

The Storm would be a good device for users who are not supplied a corporate handset but would still like to keep connected via the corporate email yet have a device that can work well for personal day-to-day especially when the person is a connected Internet social butterfly.