I just got back from the Verizon Store, hoping to buy a BlackBerry Storm. I was very disappointed. First, I called to an in-town Verizon dealer to see if they had the phone, since they give me the same deal as Verizon. They didn't, because they had to send the phones they received back due to a last minute software upgrade that didn't get put on those phones. So I went to the Verizon store, figuring they would have the updated phones in stock. While I was waiting for a salesperson, I got to try the phone.

The first thing I noticed was that the switch from portrait to landscape was very slow. The first time I changed the orientation of the phone, nothing happened. I thought maybe the function was off, but after many seconds, the screen changed. If I want to flip to a different keypad, I don't want to wait seconds for the change. Then, when I was typing, I found the left-hand side of the QWERTY keyboard off. I kept getting a d instead of an s, and an r instead of an e. It also took me a while to figure out how to bring up the screen with the @ as I tried to enter an email address.

Then I tried to browse the web, but I couldn't find the browser application. By this time, a salesperson came to speak with me. She then talked to the technicians, who said the browser application disappearing was a known problem! I'm buying the phone for the browser! I asked if I would lose the browser on my phone, and she said probably not. The phone on display had been out three days under constant abuse. In my opinion, if a phone breaks down under three days of constant use, it's not a very good phone. Obviously, no one dropped it, since it was tethered by a retractable wire to the display.

On the good side, the touch screen does feel like a keyboard. I like the tactile feedback. I also called my wife on her cell phone, and the call was crystal clear. Unless, however, they resolve the bugs that make the browser application disappear, I would hold off on buying this phone. Once again, Verizon disappoints me.