Blackberry Storm Cell Phone Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Marianne Schultz Published on December 08, 2008 Comment on this |
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| For a smartphone, the Storm starts up incredibly quickly and making a call right away is a cinch. Call management features are robust and there's a good amount of flexibility to customize ringtones. The vibrate feature is incredibly weak, and combined with a relatively low ring volume, the Storm won't be good in loud environments. | |
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Dialing Speed (5.84)
To see how easy it is to dial a phone number, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment the Send key is pressed after a number is dialed, using standard test phone numbers. The Storm took an average of 3.43 seconds in this test, earning it a score on par with some of the other touchscreen devices among our comparison phones, though not as quick as the T-Mobile G1 at 2.49 seconds.
Dialing a number
The Storm's on-screen dial pad has large number buttons and the interface is pretty responsive. The quickest way to get to the dial pad from the home screen is to press the Send key, and this was the slowest part of the process since there's a bit of a lag before it opens after pressing the Send key. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Send and End Buttons (7.0)
The Storm's Send and End buttons are immediately below the left and right bottom edges of the screen, respectively. There are no raised markings on them to differentiate them by feel, though they can found easily enough by using the bottom edge of the screen and the edges of the device itself as references. They are large enough to press easily without pressing the Menu or Escape buttons next to them, and they have very good tactile feedback and travel.
When a call comes in, there are on-screen equivalents to answer or ignore the call almost directly above the physical Send and End buttons, and this duplication is a little strange. While dialing, the only way to initiate a call is to press the physical Send button as there's no on-screen equivalent in this situation. The same applies to ending a call. When the Storm is unlocked and on the home screen, pressing the Send button brings you straight to the dial pad in the phone application by default, but this can be changed in the General Options menu in the phone application.
Call Management (7.5)
The Storm's User Guide states that call log information is kept for the past 30 days. The call log is accessed via the 2nd tab in the phone application - the first tab is the dial pad and the 3rd tab is Contacts - and all call history is shown in a single list view with different icons to show calls sent, received, and missed. Tapping on a record brings up a screen that shows the call type and the duration of the call. If the selected phone number has numerous entries in the call log, the dates and times of previous instances will be shown below and tapping on an individual instance will show the type and duration of that specific call. This is a nice feature that avoids the need to scroll through the call log and select each entry individually if you simply want to see the history for one frequently-used number. Tapping again on an individual instance in this screen will bring up a menu where you can select to dial the call, send it an SMS or MMS message, or add it to Contacts.
The Storm's call log
You can also view your call log in the Messages application, and the Options selection accessed via the Menu button in the phone application allows you to show missed calls, all calls, or no calls here.
Detail of an individual call log item
During a call, the top of the screen shows status information about the duration of the current call and the number to which you're connected. A slider on the right represents the call volume. Four large on-screen buttons are shown at the bottom: Speaker, Mute, Flash, and Add Participant. Below these buttons is a row of icons that will bring up the dial pad, a note pad to record information about the call, the home screen, Calendar, and Contacts. The ability to take notes for a specific call is a nifty feature that could be very useful for those who need to record information during a call for later follow-up. However, these notes are tied to a call and will disappear when they are purged from the log after 30 days have passed. It is possible to forward a call note via email, so there is a way to save them if needed.
Pressing the Menu button brings up every menu option already accessible with on-screen buttons, in addition to the Help menu and an option to Enhance Call Audio. This option offers 3 selections: Normal, Boost Bass, and Boost Treble. There is no ability to record a phone call, and attempting to start recording in the Voice Notes application during a call brings up an error message stating that recordings aren't possible during a live call. To see timers for the last call and all calls, you must bring up the Menu where a Status option shows this information.
As with most smartphones, the Storm can multi-task during phone calls, allowing you to access other applications while a call is live. Unlike the iPhone 3G, the Storm does not have a proximity sensor that turns off the screen when the device is held up to your face, but the screen will turn dim and turn off during a call based on the global Screen/Keyboard settings.
Startup to Call (11.39)
In this test, we time how long it takes to make a call starting with the phone completely off. Smartphones usually take longer to start up than non-smartphones since they have more complex operating systems to load, but the Storm stunned us with its ultra-short average time of 8.78 seconds in this test. The only one of our comparison phones that best this time is the Blackberry Curve 8320 at 7.12 seconds. The Blackberrys are at the top of the hill in this test. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Ring Volume (8.55)
The Storm's maximum ring volume, measured with a sound pressure meter, is 85.50 dB, putting it roughly on par with the T-Mobile G1, but far behind the Blackberry Curve 8320 at 100.50 dB. If you work in a quiet office environment, this won't be an issue, but louder environments could very well drown out the Storm's ring even at its highest volume setting.
Ringtones (8.0)
We save test unprotected AAC, WMA, and MP3 files to each device to see if they are available to use as ringtones, and this worked without a hitch on the Storm. Additionally, recorded voice notes can also be used as ringtones. The only thing you can't do directly on the Storm is edit ringtones to select a specific portion of a song to use. Of course, ringtones can be purchased and downloaded directly to the device from Verizon, and these run around $2.99 a pop.
Non-Audio Alerts (5.0)
Disappointingly, the Storm's vibrate function is quite weak and can barely be felt in a pants pocket. Even when on a hard surface, it hardly makes the distinct phone-in-silent-mode-vibrating-loudly sound so common in office settings. The entire screen lights up with an incoming call and the LED flashes red as well, so there are at least good visual indicators to catch your eye as long as the Storm is somewhere within your field of view.
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