theory

Exclusive
November 26, 2008
by

Story or no story, the Verizon BlackBerry Storm OS has issues

By on November 26, 2008 at 9:26 AM.

Story or no story, the Verizon BlackBerry Storm OS has issues

We gave you our theory, we gave you RIM’s official statement and now people, it’s time to move on. The bottom line is that everyone who snagged a Storm from Verizon ended up with v4.7.0.65. The indisputable caveat – v4.7.0.65 has issues. No firmware is perfect and no future firmware revision will ever be completely bug-free, but what we can tell you is that the folks at RIM and Verizon know v4.7.0.65 might be just a little sub-par. How do we know they know? Why else would they be issuing OS updates just a few weeks after releasing the handset? That’s right people, we got our hands on a preliminary internal communique detailing a series of updates coming soon to a Verizon Storm near you. The first in fact, will likely come next week – just a few short weeks after the launch. Basically, RIM and Verizon have targeted a variety of major issues and will address them through a series of OTA software updates. The list below is split up between issues that will definitely be resolved with the first update next week and issues that will be resolved in a second OTA update that will likely arrive later in December. Hit the jump for the break down and rest a bit easier knowing that whether or not the various issues with v4.7.0.65 are deal breakers for you, Verizon and RIM know there are problems are are working to fix them.

More →

364 Comments
BG's Corner
November 24, 2008
by

The real story behind the Verizon Storm OS? Part 2

By on November 24, 2008 at 1:03 PM.

The real story behind the Verizon Storm OS? Part 2

So here’s the deal… by now, you’ve no doubt seen our theory on why the OS that shipped with the Verizon BlackBerry Storm was so low. We had all along thought that this OS was never actually intended to be released. While we ran our story on what we thought happened, we did make our best efforts to convey that the information published was nothing more than a theory from me personally, not from any of our official contacts, nor sources. We just received an official statement from RIM which effectively debunks our theory about the OS and the issues they faced prior to launch. Instead of commenting on the actual statement ourselves, we’ll let you. It’s after the jump, fellas and all my single ladies in the house!

More →

128 Comments
Exclusive
November 21, 2008
by

The real story behind the Verizon BlackBerry Storm OS?

By on November 21, 2008 at 8:16 PM.

The real story behind the Verizon BlackBerry Storm OS?

I want to preface this by saying that the following statements are my opinions and hypotheses, and have not be confirmed nor denied by any of sources of mine or official contacts at either corporation. It should serve as a nice little “conspiracy theory,” though. Here’s the deal:

  • When we met with Verizon and RIM about the Storm, we asked about the software version. They confirmed it to be 4.7.0.65. We had heard otherwise, just like most of you, and didn’t understand why that OS version was so low when versions up to .90 were being talked about, and some demo units in stores showing .75 or higher.
  • We believed this to be a non-final OS and was partly why we thought the OS would get better before release.
  • We reported of a Storm shortage last night because of a last minute glitch.
  • We think that 4.7.0.82, the version of the Storm box I got from Verizon directly was the cause of the glitch, and instead of a new version being flashed on Storms, what they were in fact doing was downgrading the OS to 4.7.0.65.

Now, why would we say that Verizon has downgraded these units? Do we know this for a fact? Absolutely not, and we said that above. None of this has been confirmed to us at all, but here’s the kicker… check on your Verizon BlackBerry Storm box where the product label is. It should say Version: 4.7.0.65, right? Well, after looking at a box from a Verizon store just now, I noticed a couple layers of stickers. I decided to peel those off, and what did I find? A product label underneath with version 4.7.0.82! So, they realized that there was possibly a huge security vulnerability they couldn’t fix in time, started flashing the units with the .65 software in order to not miss the release date, thus the cause of the shortages, the limited stock, and the direct fulfillment units not shipping until December the 5th. Go ahead, you know you want to peel back those product labels with yellow stickers! Let us know in the comments, ok? The pictures are after the break!

More →

238 Comments