She said...Carly's long awaited BlackBerry Storm

After months of frantically surfing the web in anticipation of the official release date from Verizon, the day has finally arrived!

I've made the first baby steps into joining the ranks of crackberries worldwide and got myself a Blackberry STORM -- the first touchscreen smart phone from the geniuses at Research in Motion (RIM).

Photo courtesy of CNET.com

Never in my life have I felt more connected to the rest of the world.
Gmail/GChat, Facebook, AIM -- all in the palm of my hand!
But this joyous union didn't come without its trials and tribulations.

I scoffed at the notion earlier in the week that I would need to be at the Verizon store at the ass crack of dawn on the release date in order to get my hands on the phone.
I mean, afterall, there wouldn't be a lot of Blackberry fanatics out there on the Verizon network vying for this phone (I'm sure that they would've jumped on the Curve already. We just got the Curve a few months ago and their contracts wouldn't be up yet), I'll be getting the phone near my home in Queens (less populated than Manhattan), and it's Friday -- people have work, for Pete's sake (only I'm crazy enough to take a personal day to get a phone)!

But I underestimate you crackberry users out there.

The Verizon store on Austin Street opened promptly at 8AM.
I arrived at approximately 8:15AM to the horrendous sight of ....

.. a LINE.
A line of about 36 people ahead of me with approximately 5 people inside the store that were being helped.
Needless to say, the line got longer as the day progressed.
And due to the massive requests on the Verizon network to activate the phone, we experienced massive delays.
I waited outside the store (in 30something degree weather might I add) for 2 hours and waited another 3 hours inside the store before I walked out with this beauty.

So as you're shaking your disapproving head at me and my foolish ways, the first question that comes to your mind must be: Was it worth it?

Well, that has yet to be determined.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
To be quite honest, I was a little bit overwhelmed with all the functions and buttons to the phone as I was going in as a BB newb.
Because it's my first touch screen phone, I had to get used to how it types, how it feels and wait, how do I make outgoing calls with this?!? Doh!

Here's a list of my PROS & CONS:

PROS
1) Browser -- I am really impressed with just how fast the browser is on Verizon's 3G network. It's so fast that I sometimes forget I'm surfing the web on a PHONE and not at home on my laptop. Verizon is known for its exceptional service and cell coverage so I imagine that connectivity to the web should not pose a problem.
2) The Screen -- looks amazing in high resolution 480 x 360 pixel color. The quality is so great that I can't stop staring at this pic of the rain forest I have set up as the background of my phone. Ooooooooooo ...
3) The SURE PRESS Touch Screen -- I was never a big fan of touch screen anythings because I felt like it was very clumsy and that it was too touch sensitive for my fat fingers. Unlike other touch screen devices, the Storm's "Sure Press" feature requires you to select the button first and push on the screen when the desired button is highlighted, which makes you feel like you're selecting something and not everything next to it.
4) Cost -- At $199 after mail-in rebate and a 2 year contract, I think this smart phone is quite a steal considering what the device offers.

CONS
1) I don't know if it's my fat fingers or what, but whenever I'm on GChat and I'm trying to crank out a message out at 5 WPM ("words per minute", Chris!) , somehow, in the middle of my attempt, the camera turns on. Once that happens, I can't seem to turn off the camera and go back to my GChat window. OH! And I noticed my screen flickered a couple of times (think TV static). I think my phone is possessed.
2) It's been 12 hours since I charged the phone to its full capacity and it's now running on one and a half bars (out of 5 bars) of battery. Maybe it's because I was using it a lot today in order to set up stuff, draining the battery life or it's because I haven't found the power saver function of this phone.

Though these cons seem kinda scary, Blackberry is usually very good about working out their kinks and providing system updates to improve their devices.

It's been brought to my attention that there might not be another shipment of Storms until 12/5 or 12/15. Yikes!
Here's why:
http://crackberry.com/next-batch-verizon-storms-not-shipping-until-december-5th
(This explains why my phone keeps locking up)

So hopefully by then I'll be able to discover more Pros or more Cons to share with you guys in order to make a more informed purchase decision before you take a personal day from work, go out there and wait on line for 5 hours.

~ CARLY