I’ve just acquired a Blackberry Storm. Yes, I know some of the problems, but I like it, and I always wanted a Blackberry, okay?
My troubles started when I realized I couldn’t get on the Internet. You see, in the UK, the Storm is exclusive to Vodaphone, and I use ASDA, which uses Vodaphone as its provider. Hunky dory, right? Well the phone and the texting works great. But not the Internet. Which means that I can’t read any html files, either.
I tried downloading alternative browsers, but I have to use the desktop app to load them. Got Opera on, but it won’t install because it needs to connect to the Internet, and I can’t connect to the Internet without an independent browser – Catch 22 here. Can’t install Bolt because you have to install it from your phone. Can’t get on the Internet to download it.
Gave up. So I tried my ebooks. I installed Mobipocket, but on the Storm, you only get half a screen. For some reason the keyboard fills the bottom half. I don’t want that, and I have the feeling that if I could get rid of it, that would be my reader of choice. It is on my pda. So for the moment, I’m reading ebooks via Documents To Go, inputting them in Word format. Irritating.
I haven’t found a pda reader that installs via the desktop app. Bah! Adobe Digital Editions for the encoded stuff? Forgettaboutit.
Now I recall why I used a simple phone for, well, phone calls, and a wireless-ready pda for reading and on the go connections. The Storm is still pretty, I still like it, but I’m still having to use my pda. Because it does what I tell it to. Anybody else got any ideas?
On the other hand, I did get a lovely new cover for my book currently in edits. So that cheered me up a bit. Quite a lot. I managed to get the picture on my homepage on the Blackberry. Well, it’s a new STORM book, so it seemed appropriate.
Oh my, I got the Blackberry Storm from work and it just fixed my perception that Blackberrys are basically for work stuff not fun stuff. It is great as long as you are answering your emails and checking out Windows Office docs.
It honestly is just not as much fun as my personal iPhone or even the HTC EVO I got to play with last week. In fact that huge Android HTC EVO was nice.
I did find out though you can use B&N, Borders, Kobo, or Kindle, apps on your blackberry.
Thank you! You is my hero! I will go and play some more.
Hi Lynne! I have a BlackBerry Storm as well and it is not one of my first choice for great PDAs which work as ebook readers. To get rid of the keyboard, press the button with the dots on it at the bottom, scroll down and there is a ‘Hide Keyboard’ option. Now, your provider should have told you there were issues with getting the Internet to work when you purchased it. Go back to them and tell them you need to make that happen. They should be directly able to download something to the BlackBerry to make it compatible. If not, go to the BlackBerry site and tell them the problem. I have had them send me a patch directly before so something would work. My DH loves this phone but the moment I can change it I will. I had purchased mine because of the Word on the go…but…it really didn’t work as expected and I got no extra bennies by having it. I hear some of the problems have gone away or been fixed as I have version one. However, there aren’t enough good apps for it in my opinion so I want to go to one which is more dynamic. Good luck.
Thanks Lynn! Unfortunately there’s no “hide keyboard” option in the Mobipocket program. It seems to be a problem with Mobi, not with the phone.
I’ll contact my provider and see what they say, but I’m a pay-as-you-go girl, because I just don’t use my phone enough to make a contract worthwhile, so I’m not sure what they’ll say. My son is getting a Vodaphone SIM for me, so we can set the thing up, then I should be okay, he says.
And wow, that HTC phone looks badass!
I just found that it takes up to 32 of micro SD storage. So it’s going to be a music player!
Does anyone know which kind of video information are supported? I bear in mind the Instinct solely could dl 3gp using opera mini. I downloaded the twist ap, perhaps that is the problem? How can I watch videos from websites aside from youtube? Which file sorts? Normally I’m given the choice of 3gp or mpeg4. Can’t get both to work. Thank you for your time! Rattling I wish I was eligible for the upgrade to EVO!