Did you get your Verizon BlackBerry Storm?
We’ve done a quick check at around 10 Verizon corporate stores in the NY/NJ area with most of them reporting lines longer than they have stock for. That means there’s going to be 1.) A ton of pissed off people, and 2.) More pissed off people who won’t get their unit until tomorrow mid-day or possibly Tuesday. We want to know your experience, and if you did manage to snag a Storm (you lucky dog, you), we want to hear your first impressions! We also have reports that some stores are only selling to brand new Verizon customers and not doing any upgrades, which if true, is pretty disgusting. Hit us up in the comments and help out your fellow BlackBerry addicts, ok? If you just got one but there’s no line at your local store and they have some stock left, share the weath! Plus, if you’ve got a major issue you want to report, you can always hit me on the hip!
Also a result of incredibly smart business.
Went to the Union store in Memphis after work. They just got 25 in late afternoon went in and picked one up and done. After the other stores were no help the one on Union actually knows what they are doing. I like the phone better than I thought I would considering I like the physical keyboard on my 8830. Firmware is some what buggy but nothing to bad for a new release I guess new firmware will be out in a month or so. And some how only had to pay $99 for it. So that was cool.
went to pick up my storm after pre order and they told me that they were stuck at the wharehouse. Still waitting
My local Best Buy had only 4 Storms today and one was mine, hooray! I had pre-ordered on the just one day they allowed pre-ordering. I used a $25 rewards coupon and walked out the door with my new Storm for 136.00. I did pay 50.00 on the day I pre-ordered. They also gave us a free Plantronics Explorer 360 Bluetooth headset, which was an unexpected bonus. This is my first BB, but so far I love it. I am in TN.
I hope to see a lot of apps and stuff for it soon.
I went to a corporate store at about 9:00am, but they were sold out. So I went to a store in the Willow Bend Mall in Dallas Texas. Got there about 9:45 and they opened at 10:00. No one waiting so I figured I was definately going to get one. NOT SO FAST, they were only selling to new customers. No new every 2, no upgrades no nothing unless you didn’t currently have Verizon service. I was increadibly POed and thought about going straight to AT&T to buy a Bold. My wife went to another store later and they said it was because the store at the mall was an authorized reseller ( even though it says its a Verizon store ) and not a corporate store so they could do anything they wanted, but that the coporate stores didn’t have that policy. You would think that Verizon wouldn’t want this kind of black eye and would punish stores who do stupid stuff like this. Now just waiting for one to be delivered after ordering online.
I got one – already have to get an exchange though because the backlight for the CALL and MENU keys does not work. No telling when I’ll get it though.
PS: Corporate store in Columbus, GA got about 60 total today. I got in line around 8:16 and was walking about with mine by 9:15, they ran out 10 minutes later. the line was about 20 deep, but steady flow after the store opened.
I went to the VZW store in Jacksonville, NC today and got a Storm. I have been a customer with them for over 5 years. They called me last week and told me that I would have to order one, but when I went in today to order one, they sold me one and took off the MIR right there in the store. Mine has the .65 version or whatnot on there. Peel the sticker off and it originally was the .82 version. Anyone know when we will be able to get the update? The phone works great, It just seems to hang up on the switch between portrait and landscape modes though.
All I can say is that this is my first BB and I’m very happy. To me it sounds like a lot of the nay sayers that hate this phone just have penis envy. I’m sorry if that doesn’t sound right but man…let it go
Sold out at Verizon in Metro Detroit. I avoid it all together and went to Costco. Upgraded to a new two year contract. $250 with a $50 dollar rebate. All set by 3pm. Great Phone from what i can tell. Let me work with it for a week and then i will update.
I agree with the fake demand. Honest I can understand not shipping them to stores but not having them online or on the phone is a poor management of inventory if its true. My contract is up with Verizon and this is the first time I considered the Iphone. After getting through with the lady on customer service and her hassling me about not getting new every two because of the family plan even though I’m officially off contract not even just running out I told her to forget about it just before she ran my card and she was like audible shocked ( no joke she almost gasped) then asked me if there was anything else they could interest me in like another phone and I was like no, I think I’m going to take a look at the other phones on the market. I know people can get mad but F- Verizon and their games. Verizon can keep their S. I have waited 3 years to get a new phone that was worthwhile. I was waiting to jump ship for a bold but though umm maybe just maybe this was worth while then after advertising for a month instead of having plenty of product at launch they laugh with not enough product and people having to wait until Dec 5(yes only 2 weeks but still) to buy it on the phone after waiting 2 hours + and being hung up on twice. I mean seriously I’m sure they know what they are doing and the lemming will follow but F that. You knew you would have millions to sell, there is no reason to have lines backed up and be sold out even in your warehouses, that’s just dumb
I bought mine earlier in Charlotte, NC I had it pre-ordered at best buy they only had 8 in stock for the day and I was the last to get mines. So far I love it… its different, its new, its sexy, i don’t prefer to simple so i like menus go figure…, it is a little slow time to time hope updates will fix that problem, its a great alternative to the iphone and finally verizon has something worth buying.
Got mine today from Best Buy (I pre-ordered it). Very disspaointed, surprised I haven’t seen other’s comments saying the same. It is way, way too heavy, the touchscreen is way too much work and the processor is too slow. Oh well, when is the Niagra coming?
At the Verizon store in Santa Monica, CA, they only had 50 Storms and the line had 200+ people.
Portland OR: Went to a number of stores (talked to a few more). In Cedar Mills (tech area suburb); the Best Buy received 12; sold out by 10am. The Verizon store, literally next door? Received 3.
The Best Buy down by the bigger Washington Square mall has apparently been getting “random UPS drops” which they don’t know when or how many they’ll get them per the rep there.
Verizon stores are telling people “Come back Dec 5; we’ll have them then”; the Best Buy at the mall said the same; whereas the one in Cedar Mills said check on Tuesdays and Fridays; as that’s the days they’re likely to receive shipments.
The website for Verizon when you put in Portland area codes has the statement that if you order it now, we’ll ship it to you – Dec 5.
Went by the store and tried it out. Typing on the keyboard is very cumbersome, slow, and started to get annoying. It also didn’t figure out the words as good as the iphone feature. I was pretty disappointed with the typing feature. Won’t switch providers for this one.
Was 7th in line at my VZ store in Kahului Maui at 6AM. First person there at 4AM. Line of about 30 when the store opened at 7AM. Over the phone last night a rep stated that they had 20. Got mine and got out. Don’t know what happened to numbers 20 and up.
Overall a good experience. Rep came out before opening, took names and let the first 10 people in. Had coffee and pastries. Overall a good experience. Love the phone BTW..
Got mine at Circuit city this morning. Showed up at 6:40 (they openned @ 7am) and there was one person sitting outside. About a block down the road at the Verizon store, there were about 30-40 people waiting. I assume everyone went there because they’re either stupid or because they wanted Starbucks which was right next to it.
This store had 10 Storms, but 2 were demo’s. By 7am, there were 11 people in line. Two of the people ended up leaving and not getting one because they didnt understand the blackberry service and the extra cost.
I played with the storm for a few minutes last night and was a bit uncomfortable with the keyboard at first, but I figured since I learn pretty quick I’d get it figured out. I’ve been playing with it all day and although I still have some mistakes typing, I type nearly as fast as I did with my Curve already.
There are some cool new shortcuts with the new OS, but there are some definite drawbacks as well. Selecting stuff to edit is *NOT* easy, for instance. I know there’s a way to click and scroll the cursor back to the spot you want, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet (and i’ve been too lazy to look it up)
I installed IM+ and MySpace, which only work in portrait and don’t have touch support yet (ie. they suck). I installed the Facebook app which is updated and works perfectly in portrait and landscape. The AOL messenger let me send messages, but didnt receive them.
For about 30 minutes after the Verizon guy activated the phone, the accelerometer didnt work… I was thinking about returning it, but the other people were waiting and I didnt wanna do that to them. Finally, it started working, so it’s all good now.
The service didn’t actually kick in for 2-3 hours, so I couldn’t use Maps, a browser, or many other things until about 10am or so. Not sure what’s up with that.
The more I use it, the more I’m finding it’s a very comfortable and fun phone to use. It has it’s positive and negative points, but I believe the positive outweighs the negatives at this point… and knowing that there will be updates to ‘fix’ the minor negatives makes it even sweeter.
Browsing is a joy… much better than the Curve. Yes, my iPod Touch has a better browser, but the browsing is quite honestly good enough for me since it’s a phone.
Speaker is quite crisp and clear, and gets quite loud. I was surprised at the quality, even though I’d read *every single* preview about it.
Brickbreaker is awesome with the touch support…
My 8GB card is already half filled with my music and photos.
Google maps does what it does on the iPhone.
VZNavigator.. meh, not worth the price.
I want my Viigo support back! I was shattered when I saw that Viigo Storm support was “coming soon”. Wtf? I saw the video of the guy using Viigo on a storm well over a week ago. Release the damn Beta already! haha
All in all, it was a good experience. The verizon guy was cool, and he didn’t turn me away even though I was just upgrading. I got the phone because I was smart enough to plan ahead. I knew what I was getting (not optimal software) so I wasn’t disappointed by the few glitches and bugs. And in the end, I like the typing and the ‘potential’ enough that I’ll definitely be keeping it and looking forward to future updates.
I went to the verizon store in Hollywood around 12pm…wasn’t expecting there to be any left but as soon as I walked I was bombarded by the greeter after me she would follow people around practicially screaming to ask them what they were there for. Not like the iPhone launch at all. Maybe she was stressed? Though I’m not sure why, she was the only person making a big deal out of it, minus a girl that was freaked that her name disappeared from the waiting list(it was refreshing). I didn’t even attempt to ‘touch’ the display unit for fear that the CSR would hassle me into signing in.
u guys are lucky. i showed up at 730 since they said theyd be open at 8. i got number 19. waited. then i hear people getting pissed and turns out they didnt have even one. their shipment never arrived. so they promised saturday delivery. we will see if they keep their word. o did i mention their system went down and i was out of there at 1130 pm. not to mention since it was down i was billed 2 times.
No dice guys.
I was #13 in line and they had 24 in hand in one of Lansing, MI store. I waited in 15 degree weather (no hat, that’s my fault) for 1/2 hour and when I walked in the door everybody in front of me got one except me. Even people behind me got one (backdoor deals) and I was absolutely livid. The manager of the store was a punk kid (who couldn’t grow a beard and his suit looked like shit) said “I can apologize over and over again all day and you’re still not going to get a storm today.” What a prick, I should have thumped him right there. My company does business with Verizon with 80 cell phones and these guys couldn’t help me out.
Our business rep tried to help me but they can’t even get a tracking number for Saturday delivery. This is an absolute joke by VZW to create demand for a product. I still want it but they’re customer service is horrible.
I showed up at 8:45 at the Kingston, NY store and there was already a line. They sold out of the only 10 units they received instantly. We were told they would get another shipment later in the day. Then the computer system went down…nationwide, just as they were trying to complete the sale for the last unit. The sale was completed 3 hours later when the computer system came back on-line. That was about the same time that they received their second shipment…of 10 units. I got number 9.
The store in Kingston was offering a “bundle” of accessories for $70+, car charger, hard case, silicon skin, bluetooth headset, screen protector. (I’m sure they will all be available Ebay for 1/3 the price before the end of the year.)I ordered the “powerpod” (a cradle) which they promised to have to me by Monday.
Although the screen quality is awesome, I don’t care for the touchscreen. It feels like it is loose and requires a LOT of pressure for data entry. I don’t have large fingers but I am having a REALLY hard time hitting the intended “keys”. Perhaps it is a matter of practice. On the other hand, I always hated the keyboard on the TREO. It would be great if someone would produce and external keyboard for this bad boy.
Siginal strength is better than my Treo 700 (I have almost NO signal at home with either unit) and call quality is good. Voice dialing works well. Speakers have good volume.
I also discovered a bug in the VZ Navigator program. Every time I hit the “O” key, the camera comes on and I have to back out of all of the programs to get it turned off. I’ll call Verizon tech support after another cup of coffee.
UNBELIEVABLE! No coffee and doughnuts here!!
It was only 40 degrees and VERIZON made everyone wait outside. At the Verizon store in Santa Rosa CA, on Santa Rosa Ave. (the new store), manager’s name is Garrett. There was a quiet line of *only 15 people*. HE POSTED A VERIZON THUG AT THE DOOR NAMED SHANE AND MADE EVERYONE WAIT OUTSIDE IN THE COLD until they could enter and buy the phone. WE COULD ONLY COME IN ONE AT A TIME.
We begged them to let us come in from the cold, but Shane kept saying he was only doing what he was told to do.
When I got inside nearly an hour later and spoke to Garrett and asked him to just let the rest of them step inside (there were 4 people left out in the cold), VERIZON’S FINE CHOICE OF A MANAGER simply shrugged his shoulders and walked off. I pointed out to him that all they wanted to do was step inside the door to warm up, and that obviously with it being a new store and so early, THERE WAS ROOM!!
Worse, there were only 20 phones available, so no possibility of a stampede, if that was his worry. The store did NOT sell the phones out but everyone was made to wait, one at a time, while 4 employees inside sold the phone. There was ice on windshields and it was very cold. HEY Garrett– you are a TOTAL DOOFUS!!
Got mines
Storm>>>iPhone
Complaining about 40 degrees? LOL that was hilarious…