In this multi part article, we look at several smartphones and mobile carriers, and try to extract the best overall values for small businesses. We rate the phones according to several business criteria, including business productivity (email, calendar and contacts), applications, mobile network, cost, and fun factor.
Next up, the BlackBerry Storm2 from RIM and Verizon.
There are several BlackBerry models from several carriers we could have reviewed. In the end, we decided to review the Storm2 from Verizon, because it has a full screen like the other smartphones in this review.
There are 2 potential methods to connect your BlackBerry smartphone to your Microsoft Exchange or Google Apps push mail, but neither is all that user friendly. Most of our clients who use BlackBerry use BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express (which recently was released as a free basic product, before February similar BlackBerry technology cost several hundred dollars). To connect your device to your user data, you must either physically connect the device to the server, or go through the clunky process of over the air Enterprise Activation, which takes a long time and is an involved process that uses temporary passwords and hardly ever works on the first try. The other method, which is not available on all BlackBerry smartphones, is to use Push through BlackBerry Internet Service, but this does not always give you access to Calendar and Contact data. For Google Apps, you must use this method. 1/5.
Apps on the BlackBerry is a tricky category. The BlackBerry Storm2 is geared especially to business users, and actually comes with several business apps standard out of the box that you do not find on the iPhone 3GS or the DROID, such as support for Office and PDF documents. Until recently, loading and deploying apps to the BlackBerry was too much of a hassle for a small business, that is until BlackBerry deployed their own store, the BlackBerry App World, similar to the Apple iTunes App store. The App World is available from the Storm2, but not necessarily on older BlackBerry models. 4/5.
What can we say about the network that we haven’t already said? The Storm2 that we tried was on the Verizon network, which has the highest customer satisfaction and fewest dropped calls, although there are BlackBerry models available on every carrier in the United States. 5/5.
The cost of the BlackBerry Storm2 is somewhat less out of the box than other reviewed models at $179.99, and the voice and data plan are a little less than either the DROID or the iPhone 3GS at around $65 per month. Be careful on Verizon, however, as Verizon imposes a charge of $15-$25 per month extra, depending on the phone model, in order to do the very basic task of Enterprise Activation if you happen to use BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express. Verizon is the only carrier to have this extra charge to my knowledge. As I already mentioned, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express was recently released as a free licensed product. BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express takes about 2-3 hours to install. Despite the added time costs, if an organization hopes to deploy 10 or more smart phones, BlackBerry Enterprise Express may be the way to go because of the ease of administration and policy deployment not available with regular Microsoft Exchange Push, especially if you go with even less expensive smartphone models. 4/5.
The BlackBerry Storm2 is clearly a smartphone designed for business and therefore rates a little lower on the fun factor than other reviewed smartphones. You can play games and have other means of entertainment, and the preloaded Sims 3 and Tetris are actually quite fun. Also, Verizon’s V Cast Song ID is a fun inexpensive app. 3/5.
Overall, the BlackBerry Storm2 from Verizon rates a 17/25.
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© 2010 Skyrope, LLC. All right reserved
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