Verizon to roll out BlackBerry Storm update

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

After some slight problems, Verizon Wireless officially announced on Friday that it will release a software update to RIM BlackBerry Storm owners starting on Sunday.

BlackBerry OS version 4.7.0.148 will be available to customers beginning on Sunday, May 31, at noon Pacific through BlackBerry's support site. Verizon will also roll out an over-the-air download on Sunday at 7 p.m. Pacific. To get the OTA download on your Storm, go to Options> Advanced Options > Wireless Updates.

Though Verizon did not release a full list of features or fixes, a company representative said version 4.7.0.148 adds a full QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, a phone icon, and enhances a number of existing features. Online forums have also pointed other improvements, such as a faster camera, better photo gallery browsing, and resolution of a bug that would display a blank white page for an incoming call or freeze the phone, and more.

If there are any Storm users out there who upgrade their smartphone this weekend, we'd love to hear from you about your experience.

[brinklej]

trust me it's a different device. It has the new copy and paste function, internet is faster, screen rotation is faster, memory is up and more stable, theres also a potraitrt keyboard(kinda like the iphone),home screen scolling is faster. theres more enhancments but i'll stop there, the device is much better with this OS compared to .75. I've been running the leaked .148 since May 20th and I haven't had any problems.**thanks crackberry.com**

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!! It is about time Verizon!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mr_Diamond]

It should be nice to have a official release of the update. I have also been running leaked versions of updates and have still found a few quarks. but what do you expect from unofficial update? I have noticed an extreme difference in speed and screen rotation camera included. i am looking forward to Sunday to try this update out and see what it has in store...

[Palmwarrior]

Being a Mac and Blackberry user has it's challenges. I first tried the update using IE in Parallels virtual machine. That crashed twice. I'm now trying to upgrade using "Options."

[tru Neu]

Well I currently have a leaked OS on my storm. The OTA option does not work. My mac will not work with the other option. HHMMM

[Smillah05]

Do you know when we will be able to access this new upgrade in Australia?

[letsgethightech]

Praise the lord, my BlackBerry is actually functional and stable! It's about time and the update process was a breeze! I was so frustrated w/ this device before...now it actually does make my life easier!

[gocivic]

Downloading via OTA right now. FYI...if you get a phone call or the download gets interrupted for lack of communication (error) -- you will have to pause download, reboot phone, and resume download for it to start downloading again. Otherwise, it just hangs...on the percent where it was interrupted.

[gocivic]

Update: so I installed 148...and it is great...in just a couple of emails and phone calls made, its faster and not so glitchy. Also, the new phone button is a great idea!

Only took about 45 minutes after download for the install. PS -- It may ask you to free up memory, when installing, just clear browser cache (under options browser) and any mme sent messages...it should be enough if you get an error.

[tahargens]

I just completed the download, but do not see this "phone" icon that is referred here and in the article. What am I missing?

[blaineso]

I too had a little trouble downloading because of a message saying I had to free up memory. That surprised me as I really hadn't loaded anything on yet. What made it work was clearing the History & cache in the browser along w/ most old emails. On the surface, it doesn't seem like that should have been a problem, but it did.

[jfh6200]

May very well be the slowest 19MB I've ever downloaded. After the 5 hours it took to download the upgrade across the Verizon network the actual upgrade worked pretty well and added much needed additional functionality....Still puzzles me as to why wi-fi was not included in the Verizon Storm!

[mnjbrown]

Well I tried to get the upgrade but I have been told I will need to wait until the 3rd midday. I hope it is worth the wait.

[SMHDoc]

FINALLY Verizon comes through with a fix!! I have been waiting since I got my phone for the fix on the software issues. It seems like I have a brand new phone because it is much faster, doesn't freeze and is overall a better experience! Now I love my STORM! :)

[Chicchica75]

What a difference!! I purchased my Storm on May 11th and was just getting to the point where I regretting the purchase. However, after I DL the updates yesterday, WOW!!! what a difference, the performance is so much better and I haven't gotten annoyed at the phone once :) I love the new phone button, and it just is moving so much faster.
I DL the update from my PC through the BB desktop manager and the whole process took less than 15 minutes.

[josmwalsh]

Just upgraded yesterday. Keeping tabs on my blog (www.wireless-stuff.com) http://cli.gs/E9z0NQ. So far, and it has only been a day, no issues. I was typically having to reboot my phone every two days so it will be interesting to see how things go the next few days. Operation does seem to be speedier and it also downloaded a new version of VZ Navigator that appears to be more suited for the touch screen.

[Palmwarrior]

I installed OTA yesterday. The main thing I notice is the new graphical box that helps you edit a specific position within a line of text. It may not be genius but it's useful for anyone who types more than a couple of words at a time. I'll agree with the "faster" everybody else is saying... but I take it with a grain of salt. Any clean OS install on any computer will increase computer speed versus an old and well used (trashed and corrupted) install. I'll withhold judgement on "faster" for about a month....

[letsgethightech]

i am so happy w/ this update... i just don't understand why it took so long. many people turned away from this phone w/ all the problems it had w/ version .75.... version .148 should have been on the phone when i bought it in november.

[rb-sm]

I just bought a Blackberry storm. I need help with two things. (1) I seem to have only one option for email service. There is no BIS option. What do I have to do have this on my phone without having to sepnd a lot? (2) When will this new update .148 be available for NZ uesers? Thanks for any help in advance.

[bdaniel84]

i downloaded the update and started the install process and its been over 3 hours and all my phone is doing is the service light blinks. the screen is black and the buttons do not do anything. is this normal?

thanks in advance,
Brandon

[Sighx]

Hello there. Recently got my BBSTORM. I'm just wondering when will this update be available for Canada? I'm using V.76 ATM And I guess its still kinda glitchy. Well, really glitchy. Haha. Anyone know when will this release be available for Canada?~

Thanks.

[str8ero]

Another feature I noticed is that when you remove the Storm from its holder it automatically unlocks. That is a nice feature.

[Palmwarrior]

For SplashID users, the OS update removes the permanent license number and restarts the trial period. The easy way to fix this is to reenter your permanent license number within a day or so of updating the OS. For the hard way, I didn't read the screen directions, auto-maniacally input my password into the license field and SplashID turned all my Blackberry records into gibberish. I then had the pleasure of uninstalling and reinstalling the application followed by synchronizing with the Windows's version of the database. I added to the suspense by running Windows XP in a Parallel's virtual machine on my Mac.