So, word on the street is that the latest OS leak for the BlackBerry Storm 9530, 4.7.0.141, didn’t pass Verizon’s testing and won’t become the the second official Verizon BlackBerry Storm OS update. There have been well over a dozen leaked OS updates that have come out since 4.7.0.75 was made official, but none of them, including 4.7.0.141 have made the grade. Some are saying that their won’t be an official update until version 5 for the Storm comes out.
I know that I’ve been outspoken about Verizon dragging their feet on making any of the leaked updates available officially, however, if I am honest, I can understand why they haven’t.
To make a long story short, when something sucks and you make it marginally better, it pretty much still sucks, and, in the same light, when something is OK and you make it marginally better, it is still just OK. This latter is the case with just about every BlackBerry Storm update since 4.7.0.75.
Not many would argue that the original OS that shipped on the BlackBerry Storm when it launched was a nightmare. It was riddle with so many bugs that the Storm was practically unusable. The first update, 4.7.0.75, actually gave the Storm an OS that was OK. When you move from an OS that sucks, 4.7.0.65, to an OS that is OK, 4.7.0.75, your end users will perceive a benefit and think that 100 meg download was worth it.
When, however, you supply your end users that have an OK operating system with a 100 meg update that is OK plus 1 minus a fair amount of battery life, you may actually do more harm than good.
I want details on what specifically was lacking in this update.
The storm has its share of flaws and memory leaks, but keepign users in the dark like VZW does is plain useless.
So in other words Robb, in choosing to defend the carrier, you must have lost trust in RIM’s right and ability to put out device updates as RIM chooses and agree that verizon, and the other service providers? should be the gate keepers and have the final say in which and when RIM OS updates are available to BB device owners? Remember these are smartphones, like computers updates come all the time. Funny most would agree RIM makes the device, they make the OS, RIM should be allowed to make updates available to BB users when RIM chooses to do so.
But no, sadly verizon’s actions are nothing but more ways to keep up the walled garden, and to CONTROL every and all aspect of it’s customers. In fact RIM’s fighting yet another “problem” due to this same type of greed and arrogance of the “four orifices”.
“carriers preventing App World from reaching more users, they’re also preventing subscribers from getting access to the content we want. The carriers have always tried to impede tethering and VoIP applications which keep our bills low and stay connected. This is just one reason why the carrier content portal needs to bow down to App World.”
http://www.blackberrycool.com/2009/05/rim-vs-carriers-balsillie-lazaridis-strategies-to-push-app-world/
“didn’t pass Verizon’s testing” who cares? Bluetooth, WiFi and Autonomous GPS are technologies (just to name a few) which didn’t / don’t pass Verizon’s “testing” either.
Did the devices, and OS updates pass RIM’s testing? Then the device, and OS update are good to go with RIM’s stamp of approval, that is unless RIM is no longer to be trusted???????
‘however, if I am honest’ I hope that as a writer for Rimarkable this should go without saying.
As for the story….Verizon should let the OS through and if people decide its not working right they can just go back to the previous one. I wonder if Verizon thinks that they would get a flood of calls from customer to try to get the OS working on their bb
Once again Rock, you are free, like every Verizon user, not to use Verizon for whatever reason, but, when you play in Verizon’s sandbox, they are free to tell you what kind of bucket you can use.
This post isn’t to try to defend Verizon on not updating their branded BlackBerry Storm since two weeks after it was released. I am just saying that I understand possibly why none of the updates RIM has put out since .75 have made the grade. They are only marginally better than .75 in function yet drain battery life like a mother so Verizon chooses not to release them as official updates on devices that say Verizon across the battery cover.
This isn’t really a right or wrong thing… It is just how it is and part of what you choose to deal with if you choose to use Verizon as your carrier.
You make it seem like Verizon is pulling some type of evil jedi mind trick on RIM preventing them from releasing their OS updates to the masses unlike what any other carrier is doing. Why don’t you complain and rant on about how AT&T doesn’t releases updates for the BlackBerry Bold seconds after RIM creates them? What about T-Mobile? There are unofficial OS updates for the BlackBerry Curve 8900 that you can’t actually get from T-Mobile. Why isn’t it a big deal that carriers other than Verizon may not officially allow their users to update their devices when the manufacture releases OS updates? Is your issue with Verizon or the wireless industry in general?
RIM does not put out updates to it’s devices. It allows it’s carriers to do so at their leisure. Is this the right way to go about… Who am I to say? All I know is that RIM continues to sit high up on top of the most smart phones sold in America hill and not even Apple, who has total control over the iPhone OS has been able to unseat them.
I think that Verizon should have probably come out with at least one other update but, I too, can see why maybe they haven’t.
I have updated my BlackBerry Storm at least 10 times and have noticed primarily three things.
1. Full QWERTY in portrait mode
2. That new copy and paste selector
3. Significantly descreased battery life.
There is probably more but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Thanks for more than proving what you had in mind when first posting this thread (I was hoping this was not the case). “in choosing to defend the carrier, you have lost trust in RIM’s right and ability to put out device updates as RIM chooses. Yet agree that verizon, and the other service providers should be the gate keepers and have the final say in which and when RIM OS updates are available to BB device owners” It’s plain and simple WRONG for verizon to continue to abuse it’s position especially when it comes by causing a disadvantage to RIM and it’s BB device owners. It’s RIM’s BB device, RIM is not going to put out a OS upgrade which screws BB device owners.
In my opinion it’s sad when a site called Rimarkable sides with a carrier who’s actions are against the positive forward path of RIM and the BB. Heck for all we know the Storm could be messed up in the first place due to verizon’s “fixing” of the OS. All experienced BB customers probably will agree the Storm was/is not up to RIM’s normal standards. Worse now it’s been proven Verizon is blocking RIM from making incremental upgrades on it’s BB devices.
RIM and their BB’s would be MUCH better off with RIM in complete control of the device (like Apple and the iPhone) and the service provider being what they are, a data pipe. With the app store, BB desktop, and OTA RIM has more than enough ways to support it’s products with upgrades as they become available. “RIM does not put out updates to it’s devices” sounds a bit naive to me, do you think those unofficial “leaks” have just magically happened all these years and RIM has never been able to stop them?
PS we’ve been over why the iPhone while a MAJOR success in every way has not been able to sustain selling more than BB’s mutiple devices on multiple carriers, especially when the BB’s are being given out 2 for one and super low prices to boot. Not that needed to be brought up yet again. Certainly doesn’t help anyone to try and divert attention away from the topic at hand, why verizon continues to screw it’s BB customers and RIM (and other manufactures) by not allowing manufactures to release updates to solve problems and add more features to their devices. Thats no “evil jedi mind trick” that’s just what those who know call getting verizon’ed. It’s bad enough RIM is getting verizon’ed which is hurting the Storm and other BB’s, but this whole story is yet another reminder than consumers are getting verizon’ed too, some just don’t even know it (which is just the way verizon likes it)
Is it wrong here at Rimarkable to trust RIM and hold them up to a higher standard then the service providers?
Is it wrong here at Rimarkable to post the concern that service providers by their actions are making RIM’s BB products less than they could be?
If some are saying verizon (and other service providers) are right when it comes to blocking RIM’s forward progress, then what’s the incentive for Lazaridis, Balsillie, and all the RIM developers and engineers to continue working upgrading BB’s into better products each day? What’s the incentive for RIM to continue to listen to it’s customers, only to be blocked by a service provider with a control issue? verizon and all service providers would be better off in focusing their resources into being data pipes and nothing else.
Robb,
IMO, marginally better is better than nothing, no one expects a OS upgrade to be the be all end all perfect. Now this battery drain issue you bring up the Storm with it’s touch screen will use more power than other BB’s could this battery issues just be more of a design reality which with certain adjustments of user habits help? Or do you think this battery issue is a flaw in the upgraded software? Remember 3G technology with no WiFi options will use battery life, there is no getting around that, also perhaps the Storm being more like a handheld computer, users are just using it more (while using more power than they might on another device with a smaller screen)?
I’m just saying there might be reasons for the perceived battery life, but nothing excuses any service provider from blocking a manufacture from making their device better and better for the device owners.
LOL…
Form me personally, leak .132 along with Quickpull has been a solid combination. I’ve gone through 6 devices (4 with HW issues), and the current device I have has been solid. Unfortunately, I can’t type as fast on the Storm as some other devices like the Pearl, Curve, and even the iPhone.
I think everyone would agree that the Storm release is one that should have been delayed, but holiday shopping ($$$) overrules all common sense. With that said, I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the “Tour” and the “Pre.” To hell with the Storm…to hell with the iPhone.
Rock are you serious? What’s the incentive to create a better BB?
Despite word of mouth describing the Storm as HORRIBLE, it still sold a million units. Imagine if it hadn’t shipped with a glitchy unusable OS. They might have moved 2 or 3 million units. As far as your other point, Rim should listen to its customers because it wants to retain them.
Wow, four posts in a row, LOL.
Yeah, it sucks that Verizon hasn’t come out with an update, but the leaked and official OS releases aren’t THAT much better than the original, IMO. What they add in terms of speed and function, they lose with glitches and errors.
I’ll also say that the vast majority of Storm owners I know don’t glue themselves to sites like CrackBerry, and don’t even realise that a Blackberry’s OS can be updated (or that updates currently exist).
Seriously Rock, do you believe some of the stuff you say?
“It’s plain and simple WRONG for verizon to continue to abuse it’s position especially when it comes by causing a disadvantage to RIM and it’s BB device owners.”
“In my opinion it’s sad when a site called Rimarkable sides with a carrier who’s actions are against the positive forward path of RIM and the BB.”
and my personal favorite
“Heck for all we know the Storm could be messed up in the first place due to Verizon’s “fixing” of the OS.”
If all of this is true, shouldn’t the problem just work itself out as Verizonwill loose its customer base because they will choose to go to AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile putting Verizon out of business.
“don’t even realise that a Blackberry’s OS can be updated (or that updates currently exist).”
That’s a problem RIM needs to solve by making getting upgrades to be as simple as syncing or pushing OTA updates. Updates are more stable than what it’s replacing, some times upgrades are done for security reasons, sometimes for bug fixes, sometimes for adding functions and features. verizon’s actions are helped along by ignorance, when consumers find out what’s really going on and let verizon know they are wise to their gam and that’s not how things are going to play, verizon backs down and flip flops, much like they did during the wireless number portability fight years ago, much like they did with bluetooth years ago.
A smart, educated consumer is a good consumer, which is good for RIM and good for the consumer too.
IMO if RIM releases 4.7.0.141 and deems it ready that’s all that’s needed to let consumers know it’s ok to upgrade, verizon is holding back RIM, verizon is holding back consumers, verizon is holding back BB technology.
Robb,
Do you truly care about RIM? Do you care about personal freedom? It’s not about “putting verizon out of business” it’s about service providers doing what’s right for it’s customers, it’s about service providers not blocking manufactures like RIM from doing what’s right for it’s customers. Rimarkable should be making strides to educate consumers as to reality instead of trying to defend a service provider from blocking, crippling, and /or interfering with the day to day operations manufactures design into their devices, in this case the RIM BB. You cannot say that verizon’s interference help’s RIM in any way. Some claim the Storm sucks? well why not let RIM fix it?
Guess it all boils down to knowing and expecting personal freedoms, and respect and trust of a manufacture like RIM who has proven itself time and time again that they do have the ability to put out great products. Let the manufactures do what they do best, let the service providers do what they do best and what we pay them to do, which is NOT what verizon is doing by blocking RIM’s forward progression.
I think RIM is a good company and I love the BlackBerry. The fact that I have been running this blog for going on 6 years kind of indicates that. You completely lose me, however, when you ask if I care about personal freedom.
What, in the world, does a tech company that makes really cool cell phones have to do with personal freedom?
Verizon is the largest wireless company in the U.S. Verizon has the least amount of customer churn. I believe AT&T has the fastest new subscriber rate, due in large part to the iPhone, but, their churn actually puts their growth behind Verizon.
Let me see, biggest, fastest amount of growth, most satisfied customers. How exactly is this a bad thing for these customers and as importantly, Verizon’s investors, namely Vodafone?
“What, in the world, does a tech company that makes really cool cell phones have to do with personal freedom?” hmmmmmm perhaps the industry standard functions that RIM (in this case) design’s into it’s BB products which work with or without cellular service, yet in this case verizon cripples these functions making them not work unless you pay verizon per use? WiFi data, Autonomous GPS. The personal freedom to upgrade the device you own to the newest release by the manufacture.
Trying again to change the subject with baseless adjectives? “biggest, fastest amount of growth, most satisfied customers” What does this have to do with verizon blocking RIM from updating it’s device firmware?
How exactly is this a bad thing for these customers and as importantly, Verizon’s investors, namely Vodafone? Because believe it or not a knowledgeable, smart consumer is a better consumer in the long run. verizon blocking and crippling, doing things they think they can without getting caught only hurts them in the long run. Smartphones use more data, embrace that, let us pay for that, don’t block or retard the forward progress by rejecting firmware updates which turn on or bring features or functions which verizon feels threaten them.
^^ LOL. It just doesn’t end…
It really doesn’t… But you’ve got to give it to him. He believes what he believes.
We shouldn’t place the blame on Verizon. They just have high expectations.
Users know how to get .141 if they want it. If Verizon says it’s not up to par…maybe that’ll push RIM to make a descent OS for the Storm. A PDA and/or smartphone is nothing without performance. Performance is the main reason the iPhone is so successful. The application base took off because the performance was so good. How “pretty” the device looked had nothing to do with it. The iPhone as of right now is a better device and will be until RIM steps up to the plate and supports this device appropriately. This is “surepress”ing my buttons…
“bluehorseshoe 05.12.09 at 1:46 pm
LOL…”
“bluehorseshoe 05.12.09 at 4:14 pm
^^ LOL. It just doesn’t end…”
Desperate ego posts with nothing to add…
So 4.7.0.141 is good enough for Vodaphone, it’s good enough to show at WES to the RIM gear heads, Eric Zeman at infoworld has it and gives the upgrade his approval, and it contains more than just tweeks to the OS. By the lack of release, verizon must feel threatened by a function or feature, there really is no other excuse for blocking yet another proven upgrade from RIM. RIM’s OS updates really have nothing to do with verizon, yet has everything to do with BB owners devices.
http://www.wirelessandmobilenews.com/2009/05/blackberry_storm_update_470141_seen_at_wes_official_at_vodaphone_verizon_soon.html
What 4.7.0.113 added/solved (and verizon didn’t release)
http://www.wirelessandmobilenews.com/2009/04/latest_blackberry_storm_update_470113_coming_from_verizon.html
“A full-QWERTY keyboard will be available in portrait mode.
Rotation speed while viewing contacts has been improved and pre-loaded games are more stable.
Version 4.7.0.113 of the Storm OS reduces waiting time before MP3 files start playing.
There will be an enhanced system to ensure that OTA updates continue if the media card is removed and OTA via an internal media card.
Languages support for Arabic languages, and full support for English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish in the East Asia language pack, as well as rendering support for Indonesian Bahasa, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
They added a “Go” button next to the address and search fields in the browser and for search. application.
Improved capability in auto off/on functionality for connecting to wireless networks when turning back on.
A Phone icon was added to the home screen.
Volume consistency across applications and calls has been improved.
The Calendar application when selecting “go to date,” is faster.
Streaming video content is now supported when the URLs are longer than 512 characters.
But wait— there are more improvements in the 4.7.0.113 firmware update for the BlackBerry Storm, take a look at all the bugs they fixed.”
What 4.7.0.141 added and solves (and verizon hasn’t released)
http://www.wirelessandmobilenews.com/2009/04/470141_verizon_version_of_blackberry_storm_update_coming_may_day_or_later.html
“Faster screen rotation.
Faster (no lag) in clicking through menus and folders.
Faster unlocking and not can click on any button to unlock.
There appears to be a delay in locking.
When typing messages the font is smaller and seems less “laggy.”
Fading effects appear nice.
Camera appears faster.
Web browser loads faster.
More memory use at load up but less memory drain after a few minutes.
Accessing multimedia and music is very snappy and plays immediately.”
RIM is doing what they can, it’s a real shame RIM’s efforts are being blocked by a service provider famous for these types of actions. Let’s hope RIM takes all device control back from the cellular service providers. RIM deserves better, RIM BB customers deserve better. Say NO to verizon’s walled garden.
in my opinion, RIM has decided to deliver its OS to the carriers, and let them handle the decision of releasing to the public.
There is RIM’s position, which is “every new version is a load of bugfixes, and of some regressions”, and which provides the most choice to the carriers.
and there is the carrier’s decision, which is to say “RIM’s Q&A is less than our own Q&A, we decide is the new regressions are bearable by our subscribers.
RIM’s position (release as fast as possible, nearly every 6 weeks !) is the most conciliate one and allows the carriers to choose. It’s thus the best way possible (apart from releasing directly to the public, which would oblige them to have a direct customer support as opposed to today’s indirect support, since the first support is taken care of by the carrier).
So basically RIM’s Q&A is low, on purpose, so that carriers can release an OS version if they want to. It’s like in a soccer team : attackers do not really care about defense, because there is a goal (your “gatekeeper” or Heimdall), they care about going forward.
About making an OS upgrade easy, many steps have been made in that direction. First the ActiveX upgrade, soon the wireless upgrade (for those already using a 4.5+ OS). I can accept people saying “oh but on the iPhone, it’s just a finger touch away”. But the upgrade from BlackBerry is not so far from that to this day ! 10 clicks of a mouse and it’s done.
I’m using a Verizon-issued BB Storm with .141 OS (leaked) and am fat and happy. I don’t need Verizon to give me permission to help myself. Thank you RIM for making these available.
wow you should work for RIM rock!!!
Thanks for the update Robb it is appreciated. As both a verizon consumer and a vodafone Australia customer, I am disapointed with the storm but know that once the bugs have been worked out you will have a device that is a jack of all trades. Until the next update see you on the flip side !!
Robb, I agree with you pal!. I upgrade to version .113 with internet, it is a lot of times faster and stable than version .75!! now I can use my phone!… If you sit waiting for verizon… then put your phone again in the box
I started with ver.65 and waited for Verizon and .75… I got tired of waiting for an official release and upgraded to .141.. It is so much better, I can’t believe it.. There is more to Verizon not releasing it than we know!! Maybe they don’t want the customer service calls from those who “mess” it up or there is something in the upgrade that conflicts with Verizon “paid” apps, I don’t know… I do know that .141 is a better os than version .75 from a user stand point.. IS IT PERFECT? NO.. But it is so much better than .75, it is well worth the upgrade, even if there is a reduction in perceived battery life.
I was going to dump the Storm but the .141 upgrade has made me say it is worth keeping as most things work as they are designed.. (other than the GPS stuff Verizon has blocked)…
I’ve been using the OneOfAKindPC’s 109/132/141/5.0 (.93) Hybrid I pulled off of berryaddicted.com and I can honestly say I love my Storm now. The performance difference is an order of magnitude different. If the difference is that great in a hybrid cobbled together from various leaks in someone’s free time, I can only assume full time Verizon coders are intentionally delaying (or being told to delay) an official release for reasons other than stated on this blog. If Big V wants to make a big splash with a 5.0 in the Storm 2, fine. Just be honest about it. We deserve that much.