Blackberry Storm Cell Phone Review - Multimedia

The Storm is no multi-media powerhouse and there are still some glitches in the interface, but it performs passably on the basics and is better equipped than previous Blackberry models to keep you entertained when business is not pressing.

Accessing Music Software (2.85)
To see how easy it is to access a phone's music software, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment a song starts playing. On the Storm, there are no music-specific buttons, nor are there any keys mapped to the music application by default, so the quickest way to get to music is to go through the main menu and open the Music application through the shortcut there. This test took an average of 7.02 seconds on the Storm, just a bit faster than the Blackberry Curve 8320 but slower than every other comparison phone. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Dedicated Music Controls (5.0)
Here, we consider dedicated music controls that serve to control music playback when on the home screen with the phone in the unlocked state. The Storm has more music playback controls that work in these conditions than we expected. The volume up/down buttons and the Mute key serve to control music playback on the home screen. The volume rocker does exactly what you expect when pressed briefly, but holding down each button will skip to the next track or the previous track in the current playlist, and the Mute key will pause and re-start media playback.

Music Software Functionality and Organization (7.20)
The Storm's music player can be accessed within the Media application or through its own shortcut, labeled Music, in the main menu. The application's main view is a simple list view of everything you can access - All Songs, Artists, Albums, Genres, etc. Playlists are supported and can be created and edited right on the device. We load test MP3, AAC, and WMA files onto phones we review, and the Storm was able to read and correctly display the ID tags of these files and use them accordingly for the different views available.

The music application's main screen

Like many of the applications on the Storm, there is a Find bar at the top of the screen where typing text narrows down the search results with the more letters you enter. Album art is supported and is shown in the playback screen. The library is automatically updated when new music is added. There is no way to assign ratings to songs and use this as criteria for playlists or for sorting. Music continues playing in the background when you go to another application. Equalizer settings are available only when headphones are plugged into the Storm and there are 12 presets available, though there are no customizable or manual settings.

A song playing

Overall, the Storm's music application presents most of the options you'd want in any digital music player, albeit with no eye candy or panache.

Playlists

Online Song Downloading (8.0)
The Storm is capable of online music downloading over the cellular network through Verizon's VCAST music store. Downloading via Wi-Fi is not an option since the Storm does not have Wi-Fi. Songs generally cost $1.99 each and downloads go pretty quickly. The VCAST application on the Storm is pretty and looks nice on the expansive screen.

The VCAST music store

Navigation is easy with shortcuts at the bottom of the screen to get you back to the application's home screen, and there's even a shortcut within the Storm's own Music application to go directly to the store. While the per-song price is pretty high compared to the iTunes Music Store and Amazon's MP3 store, the ability to download songs on the go over the cellular network is nice and the VCAST store makes it very easy.

Streaming (0.0)
While the Storm is capable of streaming music through the VCAST store so that you can preview songs before buying it, we also see if it will stream music from a test web site that offers streaming in MP3, WMA, and Real formats. The Storm was unable to stream the MP3 and Real audio formats, showing a file incompatibility error. It appeared to load the WMA format stream but never played it.

Podcast Support (0.0)
The Storm comes with the Blackberry Media Sync software that is part of the Blackberry Desktop Manager application, both of which only work on PCs. This software is not specifically for syncing podcasts, though you can select to sync podcasts to the Storm, and does not have any specific podcast subscription or management functionality. Windows Media Player can also be used to do this since the Storm can be recognized as a USB Mass Storage device when connected to a PC and therefore set up to be synced automatically per your selections. Mac users are left out in the cold again with only the ability to drag and drop podcasts manually onto the Storm as a USB Mass Storage device. Podcasts saved to the music library on the Storm are not shown in their own category and are lumped together with regular music files, and there is no software on the Storm for direct downloads and organization of podcasts.

Music Sync with PC (11.0)
As mentioned in the previous section, the included Blackberry Media Sync software can be used to manage music on the Storm, though it works on PCs only, acting as a direct conduit to your iTunes music library. Again, Windows Media Player can also recognize the Storm as a USB Mass Storage device on a PC and it can be set up for automatic media syncing. As with most things Blackberry, Mac users are left to fend for themselves by manually dragging and dropping content onto the Storm via USB, or finding a 3rd-party option.

Music Formats and DRM (3.5)
The Storm had no problems recognizing and playing our unprotected MP3, WMA, and AAC files. Of course, it also has no trouble with the Verizon VCAST store's music DRM. You should know that there are other sources of digital music where music is sold without DRM protection and at a lower cost - eMusic and Amazons MP3 are 2 such sources. Even Apple's iTunes Store sells some DRM-free music too - just look for the plus (+) sign next to the price of a song when you browse the store.

Music Interruption (10.0)
If a call comes in while music is playing, the music will stop automatically and the normal incoming call screen will appear. Once the call has ended, music will begin playing again immediately. Unlike on the iPhone 3G, music stops and starts abruptly and does not fade out and then back in, so it can be a bit of a rough transition if you listen to your music at high volumes.

Video Software Access (1.63)
To see how easy it is to get a video playing, we time how long it takes to get from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment a loaded video begins playing. Getting to the video player requires going to the main menu and selecting the Media application, and then going to the Video tab from there. On the Storm, this test took more than twice as long as on the Blackberry Curve 8320, taking an average of 12.30 seconds. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Video Controls (6.0)
Video playback on the Storm was a bit glitchy from time to time. There are on-screen controls that appear when a video starts, though not consistently in our tests, but then they disappear and clicking or tapping on the screen, or anything else for that matter, often did absolutely nothing to bring them back. Pressing the Menu button freezes video playback and shows the menu, pressing the Escape button brings you back to the list of videos, pressing the End key brings you to the main menu, and pressing the Send key brings you to the dial pad in the phone application. The volume up/down rocker works to adjust volume though there's no on-screen indication of volume level unless the on-screen controls are visible. As with music playback, the Mute key will pause and re-start playback.

Video controls during playback

When the controls do appear, there are 4 buttons: skip to beginning/previous video, play/pause, stop, skip to end/next video. You finally do see a volume level indicator above these buttons though it's disappointing that it doesn't appear when you use the volume rocker buttons to adjust the volume. There's a progress bar to show you where you are in the video and this can be used to skip through the video manually, and there are indicators below to show if playback is in shuffle or repeat mode.

Video Software & Organization (1.5)
The Storm's video player is within the Media application. Its main view shows a list of all video files by name, and there's no other way to sort or view the files. There is a Find search box at the top where entering text will narrow down the list of videos the more you type. The video library is updated automatically when video files are added. Rating videos is not possible.

The main view in the video section

Videos can only be viewed in landscape orientation, even when you start playing them in portrait orientation. Videos cannot be played in the background, which is not unusual for any cell phone. Videos cannot be organized into playlists or sorted into folders directly in the Media application. The software here is generally straightforward to you, but presents nothing particularly special.

Video Sync with PC (7.0)
As with music, videos can be synced with Windows Media Player when the Storm is connected as a USB Mass Storage device on a PC. Mac users can only drag and drop videos on to the Storm via USB. The included Blackberry Media Sync software for PCs only syncs music files, not videos, and earns no points for the Storm here.

Video Formats (6.0)
To test video format compatibility, we load test video files on to each cell phone we review and see what it can play back. The Storm played all our 3GPP, WMV, MP4, and H.264 files. It would not play back our Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime, or RealVideo files.

Video DRM (0.0)
The Storm cannot play any DRM-protected video file formats.

Video Playback Smoothness (10.0)
To test video playback smoothness, we load test files at various bitrates onto the device and view them to see if there is any skipping, lagging, or other issues during playback. The Storm had no problem whatsoever playing back our 3GPP test files at every bitrate we test, up to 768Kbps.

Online Video Downloading (0.0)
Videos cannot not be downloaded directly to the Storm from the internet. The Verizon VCAST application can only download music files to the Storm.

Video Streaming unscored
With no consistent standards for video streaming, we don't score this area but at least see what a cell phone can stream over the internet by visiting some test sites. The Storm was able to stream video from the mobile Zoo Vision and YouTube sites, as well as the  Windows Media Mobile site.

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