I have to say, Verizon made my day/weekend with their official BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 5.0.0.328 update. While I am not using the latest OS build on a Verizon 9530 (actually TELUS), installing it on any 9530 is very easy.
If you’re a Verizon customer, you can simply grab the update from Verizon and install it like you would any OS. If you’re on another carrier, you have to remember to delete the vendor.xml file, allowing you to use the OS update for your carrier. You will find the XML file at:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader
The first thing you will notice about this update is that the transitions between portrait and landscape have been improved. While the transition is still not perfect, it is definitely better. I personally really enjoy the use of scaled transitions between screens. It’s a subtle difference yet it makes everything easier on the eyes.
There are a host of cosmetic changes in OS 5. For example, lightly tapping an icon gives it a fading blue light, a small enhancement to the previous highlighting technique. Also, leaving your finger over a message subject or name, will now produce a light blue loading bar that will search for the respective field. Before, it was more of a sparkle wipe. Again, these are all very minor, but still something a BlackBerry enthusiast would notice.
There are also a few improvements in the way you make phone calls. You can now call someone much more easily from the SMS screen. Simply press the menu button and the call feature appears. You can also press the “call” button and a message screen pops up asking whether you would like to call the contact. The only thing RIM hasn’t implemented here is the ability to press the call button while not inside the message body. Pressing the call button in the SMS folder brings you to the dial screen. Much like pressing it on the homescreen.
While the load time for the device doesn’t seem to have improved, the loading bar has. Before, the loading bar seemed to jump, whereas now it seems much more gradual.
Storm users will particularly like that the camera is now blazing fast. There is almost zero delay when taking a picture. From the time you press the camera icon, to the time the picture is saved to your media card, is a matter of maybe 1.5 seconds. Before, it seemed this process would take around 3 seconds.
This isn’t the first time we have seen OS 5, as we have seen it on the Storm2 prerelease device we had in-house. There have also been a great number of OS 5 leaks circulating which give you a preview of what it will look like. In the end, it’s best to wait for the official release as it means all your third party apps will work smoothly, and you can be more certain it won’t brick your device.
The above impressions are more geared towards the 9530, but all BlackBerry devices running OS 5 will see improvements. You can expect the following to be rolled out on all BlackBerry devices before 2010:
- Threaded SMS.
- When sending pics, you can resize individual photos to 1024×768, 800×600 or 640×480 is given.
- Flag emails for follow up. You can even change the properties of your flag, with the ability to define colors and the priority.
- Calendar can now accept conference call information, allowing you to dial straight in.
- RIM has updated the Maps application to render around two times as fast as they did in the past. In addition to this, scrolling around and zooming in should no longer result in lagging.
For Viigo fans, the bug that has Viigo rendering portions of articles in a single character wide column is still present.
The first thing I did this morning was start the down load. It went fine the only problem was. Blackberry messanger would not work and Quick Pull app won’t work, other than that the update work fine. So far. It alot smother and alot more fun. If the Storm2 is like this it must be great. To bad they changed things so the accs. won’t fit. Oh Well.
By the way got BM working.
I love the new OS except my full keyboard is all jacked up it’s a QWERTZ as the ‘Z’ and ‘Y’ are switched positions. I can’t figure it out and Verizon is of no help.
How is your install working on the Telus network? Any issues? I want to install it but am a little worried (it’s a work phone).
It would be nice if Telus actually took care of their customers and released software updates once in while. If they go at their normal pace it will be next summer by the time they release 5.0 for the Storm.
I’m happy the there is an update – but some things that annoy me:
Browser: the Navigation/Zoom Toolbar pops up on every page change & when backing up to the previous page, it doesn’t seem to keep the same zoom settings or page location.
SMS/MMS: I like the old SMS/MMS that listed the text as received/sent. Now it automatically pops up the keyboard and response box, which take up ALOT of the screen.
Phone: Maybe it’s me, but anyone who has used a Pearl knows how great it was on the reduced keyboard to just begin typing – the Pearl would then display Names in you address book that corosponded to the keys typed – If nothing matched the Pearl would assume it was a telephone # and type that in – it was a great quick way to either search your contact list or just type in a phone #. With the Storm, I have to choose to begin on Phone Dialer or Recent Calls or Contact List, and with Contact list I have to tell the phone to open the keyboard so I can type in a search name.
It is nice that the overall device runs faster. Maybe with time I’ll get used to some of the little annoyances – If not I guess I can always go back to 4.7.
Thanks and sorry for mispellings.
What’s the boot time now with OS5 – still minutes before any part of the device can be used? I’d love to be able to at least make a phone call 5-10 sec after cold boot and I can live with another few mins of wasted time before full “smart” phone functionality becomes available.
I hated my storm before this update. I couldn’t use it, I wouldn’t even use it as a paper weight. I couldn’t WAIT to switch to Android. Now with the update, it’s terrific! Fast and great. I’m still getting rid of it for Android, but now it is more because I can’t stand that every useful app on it, you have to pay for. Same apps on my ipod touch which were free, I now have to pay for? I don’t think so! But excellent OS update. It’s about time!
Hey AT: What capabilities do you desire a free app to perform? I’ve never paid for a BlackBerry app, I use dozens of free ones. Perhaps there are some alternatives over paying a couple hundred $$$ for a new phone??
Good:
I swear I thought there was something I was looking forward to in this release, but I guess I can’t remember anything now.
Bad:
* Screen dim on landscape.
* Pandora doesn’t work: Reason alone enough for me to revert to 4.7.
* MeterBerry reset command doesn’t work; how will I easily reboot when my device runs out of free app memory now?
* No longer automatically unlocks when coming out of holster. So what’s the deal; even-numbered OS versions do it one way, and odd-numbered the other, just flipping back and forth?
* Threaded SMS = fail. Adds nothing that the old UI had, but manages to take up more screen real estate and leaves less room to read/write. Major fail.
* “Flick” scrolling = fail. Adds about 3% more scroll to each flick, which comes nowhere near to making up for the annoying over-scroll at top and bottom and the general lack of control and likelihood to scroll past what you want.
Yeah, this OS suXX0r.
And email from Vlingo Support.
Vlingo Technical Support
show details 10/27/2009 3:07 PM
Hello,
We are working hard to get you support for OS 5.0. Vlingo will be adding full support for the Storm 2 and Bold 9700 running OS 5.0 in our next release Vlingo 3.3. All other devices running OS 5.0 may run Vlingo 3.3 as Beta. We will be certifying more BlackBerry devices to run Vlingo on OS 5.0 in subsequent releases. Vlingo 3.3 is currently slated for release in mid November.
Best regards,
Vlingo Support
for those wanting Quickpull to work:
http://faq.steelthorn.com/index.php?View=entry&EntryID=26
I have to wonder how much these “reviewers” actually use the phones they review. The SMS updates mentioned all existed in the 4.7 release, ie. the light blue progress bar when holding your finger over a message for searching, the option to call the contact from the menu, etc. I’ve read several supposed reviews of OS 5, and 99% of what they mention as “new features” I have had on my Storm w/ OS 4.7 for several months now. And, no, I have never installed any leaked OS updates or any of that.
I think the reviewers need to dig more deeply into the interim updates when they come out. They fix more than just the buggy stuff that was found. Based on my experience w/ my Storm, they also add additional neat features that reviewers obviously overlook.
OS 5 is treating me real good! I love it! I’ve been ridin’ with the Storm through all the bullshit & finally, my loyal devotion has paid off. I can’t stop fuckin’ around with my Storm now; it’s like a new phone all over again.
Verizon, you saved your ass! I swear to you, I was going to get an iPhone if it wasn’t for this ultra-improvement. (OS 5 really makes that much of a difference.)
I was unable to access a couple of apps. after the upgrade. It showed they were loaded but there wasn’t an app icon link. Verizon wasn’t any help neither was the BB website. Several such as Quick Pull as mentioned earlier wouldn’t work. I went back to the older 4.7 version at least until these are fixed.
P.S.
Quick Pull works just fine for me!
OS 5.0 has been great! The addition of small features make this OS much more polished and makes the experience much better. I recently discovered that the clock and connections icons on the home screen are actually buttons! Again, well polished…
Hey everybody,
I can’t make it work. Actually, I don’t know if there is a walkthrough or something, because the explanation on the verizon doesn’t help me. I am using a 9530 from TELUS. I have deleted the .xml file. But where do I send the update ? Honestly, a walkthrough would help me a lot and I would appreciate… because I can’t get the damn thing to even be detected once installed.
Im not too fond of the SMS and MMS now. I do not like how it takes up so much space. I am also not happy about the brightness of the screen, or should I say
dimness since there is nothing bright about it even though its set on 100%, it sort of strains my eyes. I hope they fix this and soon. Rather then that i have no problems with the new update. but there is something i just cant put my finger on about the camera and yet i dont no if i like it or not lol. and is it just me or does the ” hold your finger over the persons name in txt messaging, and search ” option doesnt work anymore? I do like the touch pad more then i did before. and finally im not too happy that they came out with a Storm 2 after only a year when the first phone cost so much in the first place. they should do what apple did, turn in your iphone for the new upgrade and pay the difference ( at least i think thats what they did ) give the verizon customers who already have the storm a discount off the storm 2 since after all we did hang in there with them through the errors….
is anyone else having problems with the dim screen in landscape mode?
java errors after upgrade
I have not noticed mine any less brite in landscape than in portrait.
I DID notice the Webb browser had JavaScript turned on by default where 4.7 had it off by default. This could explain why some are not seeing the web browser as much improved from a speed perspective. Turn JS off it you want fast web browsing. The 5.0 browser IS faster than 4.7 was, but on many sites the JS scripts will make it seem slower. If you see “Running script” or “waiting for script” a lot across the bottom status bar, turn off JS and try the site without.
I was satisfied with this update, but I agreed with Crystal that I did not really like what they have done to the SMS and MMS now. It seems as if they made it into a instant messaging program and it takes up so much space from the texts.. Can anyone tell me if there is anyway to fix this problem or how to return back to an older version how the old SMS and MMS was?
I just updated to the new OS and I’m going to quickly go back to 4.7. Although the new transitions are cool, I HATE the new SMS set up. I thought it was a lot cleaner in 4.7 because now it just seems cluttered. If there were a way to have all of the perks of 5 but with the SMS display of 4.7 I would go for that.
Oh and for Jon with the QWERTZ keyboard problem, go to options, language and text input, keyboard layout -> you have the option of QWERTZ, AZERTY, QWERTY or automatic.
The mass market complained that BlackBerry OS didn’t have threaded SMS. So this was RIM response. You can feedback your dissatisfaction at blackberry.com. Some will live it, some will hate it.
Its different, yeah, but not upgrading a Storm 9530 to OS 5.0 because of it you really miss out on a vast improvement in the total device experience. IMHO.
options/SMS text/conversation style/ select stripes vs. bubble
I think the stripe is cleaner looking…perhaps this will help.
Maybe a future upgrade will include the additional option of classic as seen under the new BBM 5.0 options for conversation style.
I guess the moderators didn’t like the mini review I wrote a couple of days ago!
And it wasn’t even anything bad!
Anyways… I guess I jinxed myself on the Quick Pull. Now it doesn’t work anymore on my Storm. I pretends like it’s gonna work, but will return to the “Your device is rebooting, blah, blah, blah” screen and sit there w/ the screen on until the battery is drained. Wonder what happened…
Updated my storm to os 5 from Verizon. It is the best os on blackberry todate. I think this makes the Storm a decent phone now. The only issue I have is with the threaded SMS. I can’t stand it. It seems like it uses too space and it’s hard to search. I hope someone finds a way that allows you to go back to the old way.
AFTER UPDATING TO V 5.0 IM GOING BACK TO 4.7. FTER THE UPDATE MY PHONE KEEP FREEZING ON ME. IS ANYBODY HAVING THIS PROBLEM? I DELETED ALOT OF APPS AND GOT 43 MB FREE ON MY STORM.
@Liza: if you didn’t do a full wipe of your phone while installing 5.0, I would recommend doing a full wipe and install 5.0 clean. Use a tool such as BBSAK to do your wipe, backup, and OS load. It seems to do this sort of thing better than Desktop Manager. But do use DM first to backup contacts and calender and such then once your are done installing OS do a selective data restore with DM.
You may also have some app that got restored during your upgrade and may not be fully OS 5.0 compatible. Check all critical 3rd party apps and make sure you have OS 5.0 compatible versions of them.
HTH.
From my BlackBerry Tour…
I just updated my storm. on the short menu i used to just keep one line of menu grid showing and now its two and i cant figure out how to change it. I know on the old OS it was changeable. is it not changeable or am i doing it wrong?
Im really not liking this new one really. just off the bat i had to re customize which isnt so bad. but i agree the sms sucks now. and i have a bunch of icons that i cant get rid of like slacker radio and vzw tunes and visual voice mail but now they all say ”browser” instead of what they are…
not sure why i can’t upgrade my telus bb storm as well…
i deleted the xml but still doesn’t work like the person above me…can someone help me out?
@christina:
From the home screen press the BlackBerry button twice and select Options. Self explanatory from there.
@tsz:
search for and use. Loader.exe to install instead of Desktop Manager.
From my BlackBerry Storm…
I have read through all of the responses. Very helpful by the way. However, the biggest issue I have had is battery life. Every since I upgraded to OS 5.0 my battery will deplete without even using the phone. Verizon replaced my battery. Same thing. Seems something is maybe now running in the background that wasn’t in 4.7???
hey i got a blackberry storm and i updated my phone with the new OS and now everytime i am using my phone to text or w,e the light on it will go dim even though i have turned the backlight off … please help me fix this problem
my email is janzzyy@yahoo.com
http://rapidshare.com/files/309558472/9500_omadrmM_PBr5.0.0_rel508_PL4.2.0.128_A5.0.0.328.rar