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-   -   Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality" (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=26453)

qole 2009-01-26 23:09
Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality"
 
I saw this Wall Street Journal article via BoingBoing Gadgets:

Quote:
Originally Posted by WSJ
Some Storm owners have complained about everything from clunky software for typing on the touch screen to the device's sluggish performance with basic tasks like dialing-by-voice or taking photographs.

"I found myself wanting to throw it in the ocean due to my frustration with its overall usability," said Steven Golub, a longtime Verizon customer from Morristown, N.J., who bought the Storm the day it was released, but returned it a few weeks later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBG
Despite selling 500,000 units in its first month of release, it shipped with an operating system that held together less like a mature operating system and more like an unstable element created in an atom smasher, existing for a mere microsecond before detonating into an atomic explosion. RIM released patches, but the damage was done, and the Storm's sales have plummeted... it is now very definitely known amongst most consumers as an iPhone also ran.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WSJ
Verizon and RIM, determined to release the Storm in time for the holidays, rushed the device to market despite glitches in the stability of the phone's operating system, according to people close to the launch.

RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said the companies made the crucial Black Friday deadline "by the skin of their teeth," after missing a planned October debut. Mr. Balsillie said such scrambles -- and the subsequent software glitches that need to be fixed -- are part of the "new reality" of making complex cellphones in large volumes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBG
Sorry, Jim, but that dog don't hunt. This is only the "new reality" of capitalist incompetence and greed, which is the same as the old reality. There's a perfectly viable secondary strategy available, which both Apple and Palm have followed with success: work in secret on a phone and an operating system that are excellent in and of themselves, without being compared to the competition. Design them both together; the limbic system to the body. Then work on them while they are done, and then release when you're damn sure you got it right. The world needs less Blackberry Storms and more Pres.
This is always the tradeoff... Do we want a shiny new device in our hands with lots and lots of bugs, or do we want to wait for those bugs to be ironed out a bit first?

I'm inclined to think the geeks among us want the buggy first edition, the rest of us want the sleek consumer edition.

But still, I agree with BBG's Brownlee; RIM shouldn't have released a consumer smartphone running a beta SDK version of the OS...

iamthewalrus 2009-01-26 23:51
Re: Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality"
 
Maybe releasing early is more profitable despite the resulting bad reviews. The problem is not only the sellers. It lies also with people who blindly buy version 1.0 devices.

Benson 2009-01-27 03:32
Re: Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality"
 
Buggy OSes are a "new reality"? Welcome to the Matrix! ;)

Now I'm not sure how bad the Storm's OS is, but it seems unfair at this point to claim Palm did better, since we've only observed pre-production versions of WebOS in controlled demos; we don't know that the secrecy surrounding it for a while is actually going to yield a clean 1.0 release.

While I may not like a whole lot of the decisions Apple put into their iPhone, there is a legitimate comparison there; they did put out a stable release, and all the missing features and capabilities were predictable designed behavior. I think I'd rather have bugs, though.

Quote:
I'm inclined to think the geeks among us want the buggy first edition, the rest of us want the sleek consumer edition.
Yes, but the early-adopter geek types don't need it to make a black-friday release date, so they clearly weren't aware of the distinction here. Maybe launching it a week before Christmas would have been better; less beta, and only the diehard geeks rush out and buy one.

tso 2009-01-27 03:49
Re: Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality"
 
there are two things a phone should be able to do as close to 24/7 as possible, that is handle calls and handle messages.

allnameswereout 2009-01-27 23:27
Re: Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality"
 
Storm, lighting, crash... smartphones.. now with fried brains.. :)

I don't think customers (developers/hackers, geeks/nerds, or consumers/corporate) mind a buggy device provided the impact is neglectible and the price was good. If you give a bunch of developers/hackers a good deal they'll be happy to work w/your buggy hardware and buggy SDK. Likewise, if the device still mostly works, geeks/nerds will be happy. Consumers and businesses... they want the thing to Just Work, and they're cool throwing some more money on that... at least, usually. Not sure nowadays with this economy.

I don't know where or how the Blackberry Storm is buggy. But I knew some details of the iPhone 3G. And those were irritating bugs.

YoDude 2009-01-28 04:00
Re: Buggy Blackberry Storm OS the "New Reality"
 
What I've heard about this Blackberry is that the latency or delay from the time an icon or key is pressed is apparently the exact amount of time it takes the average user to think; "I can't believe I paid good money for this piece of crap." :D


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