RIM’s SurePress wins “Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough” award
It’s no big secret that industry awards are often nothing more than a sham with awards earmarked here and there so that each company can walk away with another excuse for a bad press release. Some of the awards given out this past Tuesday at the Global Mobile Awards in Barcelona however, are making us scratch our heads more than usual. We don’t mean to single out any companies in particular, but when we saw that RIM’s SurePress got the nod for the Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough we were absolutely flabbergasted. Breakthrough in what way? And don’t give us that whole “precision typing and navigation enables a whole [sic] range of applications and features that have not been possible on a touchscreen mobile device” spin that some random PR intern cooked up.
We honestly struggled for a long time to think of a single application for the Storm that is better than any of the alternatives for other touchscreen handsets and we simply couldn’t do it. Now before some of you go off and start whining about how “BGR hates BlackBerry” you should know how untrue that is — there’s room enough in our hearts and on our belts for all phones. If you knew how many BlackBerry devices we’ve owned (and still own) collectively, you’d know how much we love the ‘Berry. The simple fact of the matter is the more time we spend with SurePress the more frustrated we get with it.
We would love for a company to come up with a touchscreen that issued the same sensation one feels when typing on a physical keypad, but until it happens with a capacitive keypad we plain and simply aren’t interested in it. Why? Because technology such as SurePress slows down even the most basic tasks. Typing a quick email on the Storm can be rather frustrating as half of the time typing any text requires that you momentarily pause while the screen “clicks” and resets to its natural position, thus allowing you to type the next character. It’s definitely something that some people can live with, but we bet you would be shocked at the number of times we hear from people who have a Storm along with other touchscreen devices like the Touch Diamond, Omnia or iPhone and say they can no longer stand the Storm because of its keypad.
If only RIM would have set its sights less on trying to outdo Apple (denying the fact that RIM wanted the Storm to be an “iPhone” killer is preposterous) with gimmicky technology. It could easily have selected a pre-existing capacitive touchscreen and created a heavily modified OS to better suit it. Had it chosen to do so, we think RIM would have hit one so hard it might have hit the lighting at Tigers Stadium. But instead RIM wasted time, money and credibility because it tried to do something that it just isn’t ready for or fully-capable of doing. It’s a damn shame too, because we were really rooting for RIM to have a unanimous hit on its hands.
LOL! Yeah, it sure won over consumers too! HAHA. This one makes my week! What utter nonsense!
wow what a surprise. another chance for you idiks to bash rim. its amazing anybody is willing to read your articles anymore because if bias had a mascot you’d be top pick.
Lifelong Verizon user and huge Blackberry fan here. I had high hopes for the Storm when I got it, but the click-screen makes the experience piss poor. I used it for 3 weeks, yet I couldn’t get used to it. I returned it and went to AT&T for a Bold.
I think people are missing the point here. The award is not for the Storm but for the clickable screen technology which is unique. The implementation on the Storm is not the best but the technology is a good idea. If the screen did not have to be pressed in as much especially on the edges it would be a better implementation.
I just dont get this storm bashing. I have had it since December and I love it. I came from ATT and had used the bold and the iphone. Realizing these types of things are totally subjective, I just dont see how someone can have that much trouble with this device.
@nategiggity Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough is a new category for 2009. Coincidence?
wait, for all you people saying its slower because the letters are on the same spring and you have to lift your finger to type the next… how does that work on the iPhone or Touch? Do you just move your finger over on the screen, keeping it touching the screen the whole time? OF COURSE NOT! you know why? because it would type other letters! if you think lifting your finger makes it any slower, you’re insane… it doesn’t.
Uggh…I bought the Storm on launch day…went through 2 of them…because BB can’t work with Activesync…I had to use AstraSync…not so good. Finally after using the newest leak and having to pull the batter 4 times a day I said screw it…The Storm is a piece of shit…it really is. Last week, after never owning a thing that was Apple, I bought the iPhone…WOW this thing is leaps and bounds better than the Storm…it’s very nice not to have any lock-ups and have it integrate with a couple e-mail accounts (including corporate.) The only thing I am truly missing is the use of my Bluetooth headphones in the Gym…anyone know of a fix?
Let me first say…I’m a Storm user and I love it! I’m honestly tired of this ‘iphone-is-better-than-storm’ B.S…when you have ppl complaining about how much more work you have to do to click the screen!!! how lazy are you?!?!…it all comes down to personal opinion and what you want.
You know why ppl dont like or why they were disappointed by the storm? …because they were basically expecting an ‘iphone in a blackberry’. i dunno why?
Blackberrys are for ppl who need to get stuff done and rely more on it’s amazing, real-push emailing capabilites.
Iphones are cool, but on the other hand are for ppl who dont really care that much about getting stuff done (timewasters), but who wants a ’smartphone’ for the hype. Is there an app that wipes my a**? …maybe!
I do agree with RIM getting this award…i’m sure the iphone got it when they first released the first iphone, but since 2008, how has it changed since then?!? …”o…well it got thinner..” whoop-tie do!
Once RIM gets on the ball and officially fixes the minor problems with the OS…it’s game-over!
I’m patiently waiting!
I’m ending this now. i’ve been typing/adding-on to this post for the past 20 mins. lol
Just like others do in the music industry, RIM probably bought that award so that they can get publicity.
It’s just good PR from RIM, congrats!!
@Michael Bettiol
New award categories pop up all the time, even with Oscars or Grammies.
The fact is, the hardware ‘click’ is an entirely new take on the touch screen which allows more options for the user. That isn’t opinion, its a fact. I dare you to find another *hardware* innovation this year that can change an end-users experience entirely.
You guys can try to defend yourselves all you want, but there simply wasn’t any other technology last year that could compete. The more you argue against it, the more obvious your unreasonable bias is.
Go ahead and hate the Storm for software problems or even some of the hardware defects, but in the end the rewards for the idea of sure press is well deserved.
@ Michael Bettiol
Yeah, probably is a coincidence d-bag. They are talking about the technology of the SurePress. Not talking about the other aspects of the phone, not talking about the software, not talking about it’s other capabilities….we are talking about the SurePress. If you don’t like the phone fine, but you don’t need to bash on it all the time. I don’t care for the iPhone (which I did own for a while) but that doesn’t mean I am going to sit around and bash on it. Apple fanboys are so immature and feel the need to bash everything that is a threat to them. I used to act like that….when I was 5!
Wow…another Storm bashing article from the BGR. I LOVE my SurePress and my multitasking and my push email…all things the jesusPhone surely can do!
Yet another reason to stop wasting our time on this blog. Speaking of innovative, your blog has a pretty sexist name. And that’s coming from a guy…
@nategiggity: Holding accountable those who act as either network or platform “cheerleaders” or “bashers” for their childish behavior here will only result in continued attacks from their MultiLogin buddies. They can always be easily identified, whereas, they lack a spine and therefore, cannot walk upright. They, conveniently and simply -refuse- to get it. One has to wonder why that is …
You’ve had 5 Storms and you’ve had trouble with all of them…?? You’re doing something wrong, there’s no way you recieved 5 bad products. RIM can’t fix other people’s phones because they’re too busy trying to earn back the money they’ve lost replacing phones for you!
Just because you guys suck at using the clickscreen, doesnt mean its not good. You guys can complain and mock it but the people that are good at typing and using it love it, and people like you who try it and cant handle it give up and mock it. LOL YOU SUCK
at first i agreed with bgr but surepress does imrove selecting ALOT.. all they have to do is deselect surepress typing… and there really isnt a hardware innovation that came out that made any buzz.. maybe the iphone should have won by default
Boy Genius…Why doesn’t RIM enable the option to only use the touch functionality instead of having to click the screen? Having the option to choose to have a “normal” touch screen would win over a lot of customers. I know this is possible because on certain screens on the Storm you don’t have to click. Please, someone at RIM drop this idea in the suggestion box!
I think the correct award for the Storm is “The most returned device of 2008-09″.
What a joke.. the storm is the worst device RIM has ever made.
You know your device is CRAP when Amazon is giving them away for free two months after its release!
“GO RIM! *just just a bold yesterday* So how many awards did the iPhone win?”
Highest CUSTOMER satisfaction rate in the industry; iPhone at 79%. And who has the second highest at 54%? RIM. So how many people actually like their Blackberries?
They can garner all the awards in the world that isn’t going to make the experience of using them any more satisfying. Also, just because this feature works for you, it may not work for everyone. Saying so doesn’t make them anti-RIM just as loving the feature doesn’t make you a fanboy zealot.
@ MesiahObama…spoken like a true follower. Obviously your name says a lot about you. I am going to brainwash people into giving me money…you would probably just follow along like the rest! NoBama
I feel a little jealousy here!!!!
I love the iPhone, but AT&Ts network is SHIT.
I like the storm, but will get the Verizon Bold as soon as it comes out.
AT&Ts 3G network is shit.
Verizon picks up everywhere ive been, and I travle all over the US.
there world travle roaming rates are very low also.
AT&Ts are over priced.
If you left VZW for AT&T, your the biggest idioet.
I had AT&T for 12 years.
They say the best world coverage, but my Storm picks up better then my AT&T iPhone did over seas.
@nategiggity,
….you mad?
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Romulus MI, 48174
Had the storm since launch, and today was the first day I got a random reboot.
This blog is littered with a bunch of idiot bashers who “tried” the storm for 5 mintes at the VZW kiosk, or tried there friends, or knew a freind who had a friend who read BGR, who reads gizmodo, who read engadget that said it was a POS.
A lot of folks on here and elsewhere are just sheep who follow the crowd.
Storm is great, lets get another official OS update out, lets get the app store running, and lets get BIS working with ISA and I would be 100% happy.
And yes the guy who bought a BB to integrate with Exchange via activesync is a retard. Why would rim (who makes money selling BIS and BES) want to license Activesync from Microsoft? I swear, this blog is littered with idiots