4 ms·

I remember seeing the first touchscreen blackberry (it was named the Storm). It came out two months after the iPhone 3G and the app store. I remember it being

I remember seeing the first touchscreen blackberry (it was named the Storm). It came out two months after the iPhone 3G and the app store. I remember it being extremely laggy, even scrolling basic webpages while the iPhone was buttery smooth. And for some reasons they wouldn't include Wifi on it, so even indoor it was forced to use edge making it even more sluggish. You couldn't really install apps on it, there was no app store. I mean I think there was an SDK but it was for that device only and no easy distribution method. I don't think anyone ever bothered anyways. Blackberry was at least 3 years behind at that point, having almost managed to ship an original iPhone's prototype in terms of specs.

bengale 6y ago
I seem to recall the whole screen sort of clicking. I don’t remember why it did that though.
- dfxm12 6y ago
  It was just another input button. It had capacitive touch and you could also press on the screen as a button. So there was a touch and a click. This more or less replaces the other BB's trackball functionality (which I think you could click as a button). So moving your finger around the touchscreen was like moving the trackball and pressing the screen as a button was like pressing the trackball button. At a time where most apps were being designed for the touchscreen iPhone, most devs didn't take advantage of the Storm's device specific hardware, which is one of the reasons why it wasn't very memorable...
  - bengale 6y ago
    Ah that makes sense. I never had one myself, I’d moved over to a G1 at that point. But I do miss my old blackberry.
  - 908B64B197 6y ago
    I thought the screen was just loose. Had no clue it was a button. Granted I only tried one unit.
joncrane 6y ago
I used to repair cell phones for a living and OMG that device was so bad. I think they came out with a v2 that was only slightly better. Yes the whole screen was also a button. It broke really easily in addition to being hard to use.

bengale 6y ago

I seem to recall the whole screen sort of clicking. I don’t remember why it did that though.

dfxm12 6y ago
It was just another input button. It had capacitive touch and you could also press on the screen as a button. So there was a touch and a click. This more or less replaces the other BB's trackball functionality (which I think you could click as a button). So moving your finger around the touchscreen was like moving the trackball and pressing the screen as a button was like pressing the trackball button. At a time where most apps were being designed for the touchscreen iPhone, most devs didn't take advantage of the Storm's device specific hardware, which is one of the reasons why it wasn't very memorable...
- bengale 6y ago
  Ah that makes sense. I never had one myself, I’d moved over to a G1 at that point. But I do miss my old blackberry.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  I thought the screen was just loose. Had no clue it was a button. Granted I only tried one unit.

joncrane 6y ago

I used to repair cell phones for a living and OMG that device was so bad. I think they came out with a v2 that was only slightly better. Yes the whole screen was also a button. It broke really easily in addition to being hard to use.