Blackberry Storm Cell Phone Review - Messaging
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Marianne Schultz Published on December 08, 2008 Comment on this |
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| The Storm does not disappoint with its email capabilities in true Blackberry style. SMS and MMS functions are good but you have to pick up front which one you want to create and there's no opportunity to change your mind once you've started. Like other Blackberrys, the Storm still doesn't do emoticons outside of the IM application, and we don't know why RIM continues to deny users this small bit of silliness. | |
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Supported Email Services (8.0)
Just as you'd expect from a Blackberry, the Storm supports both POP and IMAP protocols. Unlike the Blackberry Curve 8320, it's prepared out of the box with settings to easily get your Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, and various Windows Live mail accounts up and running with a minimum of fuss.
Email set-up menu
Push Email (4.0)
In typical Blackberry fashion, the Storm is capable of push email through Blackberry Enterprise Server for corporate users. If your company does not support this or you just want to use the Storm for your personal email and want it pushed to the device, you can sign up for push service through the Blackberry Internet Service with Verizon at an additional cost.
Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The Storm can handle up to 10 personal email accounts plus one enterprise account managed through the Blackberry Enterprise Server option. This should be more than enough for most users to stay on top of all their email communication.
HTML and Attachments (12.0)
The Storm is capable of displaying HTML emails, though our test emails did not show up formatted 100% correct but they were still legible. By default, the Storm will not show images in emails, and you must elect to download them through the option revealed by the Menu button.
An HTML email rendered by the Storm
The Storm is also capable of viewing other attachment times, handling our PDF, Zip, JPG, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel with aplomb. When selecting the Microsoft documents, the Storm offers the option to View it or edit it with the included DataViz Documents to Go software. True to its purpose as a business user's communication tool, the Storm doesn't disappoint in this area, matching the performance of the HTC Touch Diamond.
Items attached to an email on the Storm
Email Customizations (2.0)
While it's possible to change some of what's shown in an email inbox, such as the time of the message and the name of the sender, there are no other settings to adjust the display and composing and font size font colors for just the email application. Signatures can be added to outgoing messages automatically, but they are managed differently depending on whether you use the Blackberry Enterprise Server or the Blackberry Internet Service. With the former, you can edit your signature right on the device, and with the latter, you must log in to the Blackberry Internet Service web site.
Time to a New Email Message (7.28)
To see how easy it is to get a new email message ready, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment a new email dialogue is ready.
Composing a new message
This is pretty easy on the Storm since email accounts that are set up on it automatically have icons placed on the home screen as shortcuts. From there, all it takes is pressing the Menu button and selecting the Compose Email option, which is the one highlighted by default when the menu is opened and the Storm's average time in this test was 2.75 seconds. This level of performance puts it just slightly behind the iPhone 3G but far behind the Blackberry Curve 8320 at 1.70 seconds. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Email Usability (10.0)
Email messages can be viewed in the unified inbox in the Messages application, or by individual account using the shortcut icon available for each email account set up on the Storm. Scrolling through messages is easy using the touchscreen or the page up and down links at the bottom of the screen, where there are quick links to create a new message, open a message, and delete a selected message as well. Messages are automatically sorted by date but there's no way to change this. There is a strong search function accessible via the Menu button, where you can look for messages by sender or subject. The Storm offers the strong email usability typical of Blackberrys.
An email inbox
Instant Messaging (0.0)
The Storm has a native IM client and can use your Windows Live, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, and Blackberry Messenger accounts. However, Verizon charges each incoming and outgoing IM as it if were a text message, even if you have an unlimited data plan, and we award no points for IM capability when this is the case.
Instant messaging on the Storm
MMS Support (6.0)
The Storm has an integrated SMS and MMS inbox, allowing you to see both message types you've received at once. It does not, however, have integrated composition - when you create a new message, you must choose first between creating an email, PIN message, SMS Text, MMS, or instant message. If you start creating an SMS message but want to add media to it to make it an MMS, you're out of luck and will need to scrap that message and go back and create a new MMS from scratch.
Composing a new message
When creating an MMS, the Menu button reveals the options to attach a Contact, Appointment, Picture, Audio, Video, or Voice Note. If you haven't yet taken the picture or video you want to send, you can choose to take a new picture or video on the spot to attach to the message. You can also choose to send an MMS directly from the photo and video album applications through the Send As MMS option revealed by the Menu button. Creating a new MMS overall on the Storm is fairly easy to do, if not the most intuitive we've seen.
SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
Like the Blackberry Curve 8320 and the iPhone 3G, the Storm cannot interpret sent or received smiley faces, also known as emoticons, in SMS messages. RIM must still think that Blackberry users don't need smileys in their busy lives.
SMS/MMS Ease of Use (6.0)
SMS messages are shown in a threaded view when you have an ongoing conversation, though if you change between MMS and SMS messages, they won't be shown in the same threads. When viewing an individual SMS or MMS message, you can easily save, forward, re-send, or delete it through the options revealed by the Menu button. Creating a new message is straightforward, though we don't like the fact that you have to choose between an SMS or MMS up front and can't change your mind mid-stream. As with other parts of the Storm's interface, the on-screen menu options aren't as complete or the same as the options offered by the Menu button, continuing the theme of unintuitiveness seen in other areas of the Storm's interface.
Composing a new SMS
Time to a New SMS Message (3.88)
To see how easy it is to create a new SMS message, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment a new SMS dialogue is available. As with the timing test to create a new email message, it goes quickly on the Storm with the shortcut on the home screen to get to the SMS/MMS application, and the Menu button reveals the menu where the Compose SMS Text is the option automatically highlighted. This test took an average time of 2.58 seconds on the Storm, putting it ahead of the HTC Touch Diamond and the Blackberry Curve 8320. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
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