BlackBerry Storm bug fixes are coming

Posted by Al Warmington on Thu 27 Nov 2008

Unfortunately, you can't add WiFi via a firmware update

The BlackBerry Storm is an undeniably beautiful handset. Sadly, users have found that this beauty is only skin deep. Software gripes that were optimistically passed off as mere niggles in demo units soon started showing up in the proper retail versions.

The list of complaints is now longer than a BlackBerry user’s average email string and has been subject to a few conspiracy theories. Happily, RIM has heard your cries and is readying an update to soothe some of the pain.

A list of planned updates has leaked from Verizon – the US carrier that has exclusivity rights on the Storm. The fact that it’s leaked may explain one or two of the more humorous ‘Interim Recovery Instructions’. Here’s what you can expect to appear from early December:

If a customer receives a call while listen to music at low volume using a wired headset, the music volume may suddenly increase to the highest level. Interim recovery instructions: Lower the volume using the buttons on the side of the handset.
When using voice-activated dialing, incoming audio may be muted. Interim recovery instructions: Enter the menu and select “Activate Handset or Speaker”.
The handset may reset itself while sitting idle or while using multimedia applications. No interim recovery instructions provided.

If you’re looking at that and thinking that’s just the tip of the iceberg, you’ll be pleased to learn that RIM has more fixes planned following this first update.

Customers may intermittently lose email connectivity via CDMA and/or international roaming modes. Interim recovery instructions: Main menu -> Manage Connections -> Select mobile network -> Turn radio off, then Turn radio on. If this does not resolve the issue, pull the battery.
When powering on the handset, the radio sometimes does not turn on. Interim recovery instructions: Main menu -> Manage Connections -> Select mobile network -> Turn radio on. If this does not resolve the issue, pull the battery.
Pressing the send key while the device is in landscape mode will open the phone application in portrait mode, but the speed dial function may not work. Interim recovery instructions: Press escape until the home screen appears, then press the send key with the handset in portrait orientation.
Sometimes entering characters on the virtual keyboard doesn’t work. Interim recovery instructions: Re-select the character.

Now if they can just fix the laggy scroll function and the laggy accelerometer, much of the disappointment could be undone before customers go back their trusty old QWERTY BlackBerry handsets.

BlackBerry (via BoyGeniusReport)