Fender Limited Edition “Thin Skin” ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue
Model Fender Limited Edition “Thin Skin” ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue
Intro As long-time readers of this blog may remember, in early 2007 I began a “Quest For The Perfect Strat,” with the sole intention of digging up the best combination of playability, affordability, looks, and tone that Fender had to offer in the way of vintage-style Stratocasters.
Having had a life-long love affair with the company’s simple but versatile Tele––and somehow managing to go some 20+ years without ever owning a Strat––I decided early on that I would skip the many worthy clones on the market, and keep my efforts trained on the real deal: the Fender Stratocaster
Model Fender Limited Edition “Thin Skin” ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue
Intro As long-time readers of this blog may remember, in early 2007 I began a “Quest For The Perfect Strat,” with the sole intention of digging up the best combination of playability, affordability, looks, and tone that Fender had to offer in the way of vintage-style Stratocasters.
Having had a life-long love affair with the company’s simple but versatile Tele––and somehow managing to go some 20+ years without ever owning a Strat––I decided early on that I would skip the many worthy clones on the market, and keep my efforts trained on the real deal: the Fender Stratocaster
Because there’s really no such thing as a “perfect” guitar, and the readers of this blog alone make up a huge cross section of popular guitar-playing styles and techniques, my quest has been not so much to find “the” perfect Strat, but the Strat that best suits my own personal tastes and needs… or to put it perhaps more succinctly: when reading this review keep in mind that as always, your mileage may vary.
After more than a year of searching through big-box guitar stores and pawn shops alike, I’m happy to report that Fender is producing some particularly gorgeous instruments at *subjectively* reasonable prices right now (if you’re willing to dig around a bit,) and that I found my own little piece of heaven in a 3-tone Sunburst “Limited Dealer Run” Thin Skin ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue––one of just 180 produced.
This thing is stunning…
Specs
Comfort-contoured Alder body
1-piece “C” shaped Maple neck with nitro finish (25.5“ scale length)
Rosewood fretboard with 21 Medium Jumbo 6105 frets (7.25” radius)
Three American Vintage ‘62 Strat single-coil pickups (w/aged covers)
Master volume and two tone controls
3-way pickup switching (5-way pickup switch included)
American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo w/“Ash Tray” bridge cover
Fender/Gotoh vintage-style tuners
Chrome hardware
3-ply Mint Green pickguard
3-tone Sunburst “Thin Skin” nitrocellulose finish
Limited Edition backplate
Deluxe brown hardshell case (orange plush interior,) strap, and cable
What I Liked Oh the tone… like the production-model American Vintage ‘62 Strat reissue, this “Thin Skin” beauty very commendably captures the sound and feel of a real vintage Stratocaster circa the 1960s––minus the heart-cluching price tag and cosmetic wear & tear of course.
In fact, if you’re already enamored of the ‘62 Strats then keeping an eye out for a thin skin model is pretty much a no-brainer. Many of the classier guitar joints get “Dealer Run” limited editions on a regular basis, and they are often priced competitively with the standard production models that they’re based on.
Two of my favorite retailers are Music Zoo and Music Machine (no affiliation, folks,) but there are any number of others you might want to peruse on a regular basis.
The two big selling points on this particular instrument are, surprise, surprise, the same two things that I had found lacking from Fender’s American Vintage ‘62 Strat reissue (a guitar I really loved nonetheless) ––the “Thin Skin” comes already upgraded with a set of comfy Medium Jumbo 6105 frets (those skinny vintage wires just don’t feel good to my fingers,) and of course the whole thing is decked out in a very thin nitrocellulose finish, causing it to age quickly and beautifully, and sing like nobody’s business.
As I stated in my earlier review, if you’ve ever doubted the tonal effects that a quality nitro finish can have on a guitar, then I dare say you haven’t spent enough quality time with a nitro-finished Strat––let alone a thin skin. There’s a singing richness to the sound that simply can’t be replicated by a poly-coated guitar… at least not to my ears.
And those fatter, taller 6105 fret wires add a bit of extra sustain to an instrument that already seems to wail unendingly. They’re also far more comfortable for those of us who like to bend strings to the moon and back, and feel particularly solid when chunking out big jazz chords and comping up and down the neck.
With these two added features out of the way (oh yes, and a Limited Edition backplate,) the Thin Skin ‘62 Strat stays pretty much true to its Production Run predecessor.
The guitar is loaded with a trio of Fender’s reissue American Vintage ‘62 Strat single-coil pickups, and these things do a very impressive (if noisy) job of re-creating that warm, organic, early ’60s Strat punch. Mid-tones are emphasized, and the traditional Strat “quack” is there in spades. As is to be expected, the bridge pickup is a bit more biting than I personally find useful, but once again: your mileage may vary.
From snarling Hendrix-style chord chaos to gut-aching blues and twang, the Thin Skin ‘62 is both highly versatile and impressively true to that vintage Stratocaster sound––shimmering highs, fat and round lows, and a truly walloping mid-section make for a thick full tone that’s difficult, if not impossible, to adequately explain.
As far as playability is concerned, the Thin Skin ‘62 Strat is everything you could want it to be… provided you like a vintage feeling guitar (like I do!)––the highly curved vintage 7.25“ fretboard radius makes for easy chording and vamping, but if you’re a serious string bender (who isn’t?) you’ll probably need to ride that action fairly high. With that kind of curve in the neck you are bound to fret-out a bit above the 12th fret otherwise.
Of course, this is true-to-form for a vintage Strat, and for folks who like their guitar to fight back a bit it’s no big thing, but if you’re a speed demon who prefers his action low and fast then you’ll probably want to look elsewhere––a vintage-style Strat just isn’t going to float your boat.
Neckwise, the ”Thin Skin“ is armed with what is easily my favorite Fender neck profile: the Vintage ”C“ shape. Now, neck preference is a very personal thing, but time and again I’ve found the vintage ”C“ to be wonderfully contoured for my own playing style, hand size, and finger length… it just feels good in my hands.
Tuners are solid, the six-point vintage tremolo is surprisingly dependable, and even with string trees on the headstock I have found this guitar to have fewer tuning issues than any electric I’ve owned in the last 20 years. For blues it’s a true godsend.
Last but not least, the ”Thin Skin“ ‘62 Stratocaster is about as handsome a guitar as you’re going to find. Beyond its tonal value, the thin Nitrocellulose finish on these beauties is absolutely stunning just on looks alone. Gone is the thick, plastic-like gloss of polyurethane––this bad boy is imbued with a subtle, almost matte-style sheen that wonderfully accentuates the natural wood pattern beneath.
On top of that, a ”mint green“ pickguard matched with aged plastic parts (including switch tip and pickup covers,) makes for a throughly vintage vibe all around. The Deluxe brown Tolex hardshell case brings the package full circle with a funky orange plush interior and old-school Fender good looks.
What I Didn’t Like Surprisingly, my only complaint after many months of constant playing is that the Thin Skin ‘62 Stratocaster, like pretty much all vintage-style Strats, has a propensity to hum and buzz like nobody’s business.
Why a world class guitar behemoth like Fender doesn’t bother to supply better shielding in its instruments is anyone’s guess, but luckily for us, adopting the much less noise-prone wiring of the popular Quieting The Beast modification is fairly straight-forward business… provided you’ve got a few soldering chops and an afternoon you can safely set aside for pulling your guitar apart.
It’s a shame that this fairly basic wiring scheme hasn’t been introduced into any of Fender’s guitars, but I definitely wouldn’t let this one ”true to the time period“ flaw get in the way of purchasing such an otherwise amazing instrument.
Other than a bit of noise I have no reservations about this guitar––it does what it does, exceedingly well, and at a surprisingly decent price point. What’s not to love?
Final Word In the end, the Limited Edition ”Thin Skin“ ‘62 Stratocaster Re-Issue takes an already great thing (the production model American Vintage ‘62 Strat,) and makes it truly shine––all for a price well below that of very comparable Custom Shop models.
Sure, you could pay a few thousand more for a pre-worn-in Relic, but why bother when you can get a ”Thin Skin“ model that should age quickly and gracefully on its own, and for a surprisingly reasonable price of just less than $1500.
07.57 | Label: MUSIC | 0 Comments
IBANEZ RGTHRG1 Review
The RGTHRG1 features Giger's "NY City XIX" painting on the Ibanez RG body design popular among heavy metal guitarists.
Features: It was made in 2005 I beilive. It has 24 XJ frets as well as a 5 peice maple/walnut Wizard II neck with a dark "deluxe" sharktooth inlay. It is a neck-thru body, and has one of the most amazing feels and fret access I've ever felt. You can really get on the upper-frets with ease. The body is mahogany shaped into the typical RG design. The finish is a beautiful, eye catching graphic made by H.R. Giger himself, which contains a kind of mechanical/industrial look to it along with it's erie dark green/black colors. The whole guitar, including the finish, is satan. It comes with passive eletronics. Ibanez IFN1 neck and IFN2 bridge dual humbucker setup. The controls are Volume, Tone and a 5-way selector. The tuners are simply Ibanez stock. The bridge is a Ibanez Edge Pro II Double Locking. It came with a neat material Ibanez/Giger poster which actually looks pretty cool. I just wish it came with a case. // 9
Features: It was made in 2005 I beilive. It has 24 XJ frets as well as a 5 peice maple/walnut Wizard II neck with a dark "deluxe" sharktooth inlay. It is a neck-thru body, and has one of the most amazing feels and fret access I've ever felt. You can really get on the upper-frets with ease. The body is mahogany shaped into the typical RG design. The finish is a beautiful, eye catching graphic made by H.R. Giger himself, which contains a kind of mechanical/industrial look to it along with it's erie dark green/black colors. The whole guitar, including the finish, is satan. It comes with passive eletronics. Ibanez IFN1 neck and IFN2 bridge dual humbucker setup. The controls are Volume, Tone and a 5-way selector. The tuners are simply Ibanez stock. The bridge is a Ibanez Edge Pro II Double Locking. It came with a neat material Ibanez/Giger poster which actually looks pretty cool. I just wish it came with a case. // 9
Sound: This guitar is a pretty versitle peice of equipment. My style varies. It suits most all of them including, classical, metal, blues, rock and classic rock. The 5-way and passive makes it kind of easy to pull a more Strat like tone out of it all though never completely authentic. I play this directly into a Peavy Triple XXX Half-stack. When distorted, the noise and feedback tends to be extremely low. It has a nice warm sound but it's hard to get a good solid bite out of it. It plays beautifully for lead yet average when it comes to rhythms. The sustain was one of the best features. It went on for days and made the harmonics sing as well as scream. When clean, the sound is full, warm and clear and brings absolutely no issues. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: I had received this guitar well passed its discontiuation date. I was lucky to get my hands on it. The factory set up was decent yet needed adjustments because I use a thicker gauge of strings then the factory set. After those adjustments were complete, The guitar was perfect. Played great, everything was as described, except for me the finish looked better in person. It contained absolutely no flaws other then the neck adjustment. // 9
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is very very very durable. It only has 1 small scratch so far with it. It had 1 or 2 hard hits to the back of the neck and the paint on the back came out with no damage what-so-ever. It seems it would be perfect for Live playing and I can't wait to take it on-stage next time I have a gig. The hardware works fine and the locking tuners do keep in tune pretty well. The strap buttons work perfect even though I am going to Switch them to strap locks soon. If I were to play this guitar on stage, I'm pretty sure I would not use this as a backup guitar. The looks and reliability would be a instant yes, to taking it on stage. The finish seems to look thin but it proves durable. For me this is a first but it actually has been extremely durable and still looks new. // 10
Impression: I play in a metal band, and this guitar is almost a perfect match. The only problem was it's distorted rhythm tone didn't have enough bite. One thing that might be a problem for some people is the fret dots on the side of the fretboard are slightly hard to see. I've been playing for over 3 years now, I also own a Dean Razorback, ESP LTD EC-1000, and a Peavy Triple XXX halfstack. Suprisingly it beats my razorback and almost my LTD. If this were lost or stolen I would hunt the person Who stole it down because this was too hard to get ahold of in it's discontinued state, and it's never gonna get lost, that's a promise. I would glady go on ebay and pay well more to purchase it again though. I love its feel and upper-fret access, as well as its screaming lead. I hate the 5-way switching and it's average rhythm tone. My favorite thing about it is definately the feel of the neck. I picked this over a Jackson RR3 and another Ibanez RG. This was completely superior. Not only that, I'm a huge fan of H.R. Giger's artwork. The only thing I wish was different about it is the passive system. The passive system on this wasent that well with the rhythms. I wish for it to be active, along with 3-way instead of 5-way. Other then that, it's great. Giger's artwork with a awesome RG model, this is a must for a lot of lead players or Giger fans. The price is very reasonable too. I just wish you good luck getting this discontinued model though. You'll probably only find it on ebay now.
18.24 | Label: MUSIC | 0 Comments
Motorola Cliq
The beautifully designed Motorola Cliq is a social butterfly’s dream phone, but others may find the MotoBlur user interface overwhelming.
The Motorola Cliq ($200 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile) caught my attention because of its sleek design and its innovative MotoBlur overlay for Android. Overall, the new features lived up to my expectations, and I applaud Motorola for doing something different to separate itself from the Android pack. The Cliq isn't perfect, however: Its camera disappoints, and it doesn't ship with the latest version of Android.
The beautifully designed Motorola Cliq is a social butterfly’s dream phone, but others may find the MotoBlur user interface overwhelming.
The Motorola Cliq ($200 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile) caught my attention because of its sleek design and its innovative MotoBlur overlay for Android. Overall, the new features lived up to my expectations, and I applaud Motorola for doing something different to separate itself from the Android pack. The Cliq isn't perfect, however: Its camera disappoints, and it doesn't ship with the latest version of Android.
Like the T-Mobile G1 and the Samsung Moment, the Motorola Cliq has both a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard. I haven't spent enough time with the Samsung Moment to compare it and the Cliq in depth, but I can safely say that I much prefer the Cliq to the G1. It feels sturdier, more streamlined, and more comfortable during use.
Measuring 4.5 inches long by 2.3 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick, the Cliq falls somewhere between the G1 and the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G (T-Mobile's other Android offering) in size. Weighing 5.7 ounces, it is slightly heavier than other current smartphones--the iPhone 3GS, for example--but it doesn't feel bulky. The Cliq feels as though it has a high build quality, thanks in part to the glass display and metal trim around the handset. I'll take heavier materials over cheap-feeling plastic any day.
The 320-by-480-pixel capacitive touch display dominates the phone's face. Though a 3.1-inch screen is large enough to support watching a video or navigating around the interface comfortably, Motorola didn't use the available real estate very efficiently. The Cliq sets a noticeable amount of space aside to accommodate logos; I wish that Motorola had made this area smaller and the screen larger.
Three hardware buttons appear beneath the display: Menu, Home, and Back. These buttons are nicely raised, easy to press, and brightly backlit. A volume rocker, a charging port, and a ringer switch lie on the left spine of the phone; and the lock/power button and camera shutter occupy the right. The 3.5mm headphone jack sits at the top of the phone.
A physical keyboard is necessary because the native touch keyboard on the current version of Android is far from perfect (as we noted in our reviews of the T-Mobile MyTouch and the HTC Hero). I appreciated the raised, dome-shaped keys, but I didn't like their mushy feel in comparison to the responsive clickiness that other QWERTY keyboards (such as the BlackBerry Tour's) possess. I suspect that I'll get used to the keys with more use, however. The keyboard is spacious, and I liked how large and easy-to-find the Alt, Search, Space, Sym, and Undo keys were (they're a different color than the other keys). A four-way directional pad sits to the left of the keyboard and serves as a handy navigation control if you don't feel like using the touchscreen.
Call quality over T-Mobile's network was very good. I made a few calls on a busy street corner and could hear my contacts perfectly. Motorola says that the phone incorporates two microphones as well as noise-cancellation technology. Callers on the other end of the line told me that my voice sounded very clear, although one noted a faint hiss during our call.
The Motorola Cliq is the first phone to showcase MotoBlur, Motorola's skin for Android. Before we delve into Android, however, I should note that the Cliq doesn't ship with the latest version of Android OS 1.6 (more deliciously known as Donut). T-Mobile says that it won't announce any plans for 1.6 at launch, but the company did mention the ease of making over-the-air upgrades via MotoBlur, so perhaps you can expect one later in the year.
When you start up your Cliq for the first time, you have to register for a MotoBlur account. This establishes a registration record of your phone on the MotoBlur servers so you can receive updated information without interruption. You then choose which social networks or accounts--such as such as Facebook, Last.fm, MySpace, and Twitter--you want to associate on your Cliq. MotoBlur then aggregates all of the information from your networks and delivers it to the phone.
The best example of how MotoBlur organizes this information is your contacts. The application collects all of the contacts from your various social networks. If you're friends with the same people on multiple networks, MotoBlur condenses all of their information into a single listing to avoid duplicating data on your phone. You can then see each of your contacts' current information--birthday, status update, current profile picture, e-mail address, phone number, and the like. You can view your communication history with a particular contact as well as viewing that person's activity on different social networks.
When your friends update their information in one of the supported social networks, MotoBlur will update their listing on your phone. To see how quickly the updating would occur, I used my PC to change my picture on Facebook via the Web. My picture updated in my contact info on the Cliq in less than 30 minutes.
Android is easy enough to get the hang of, but it lacks the aesthetic appeal and intuitiveness of some other OSs. This is where MotoBlur comes in: MotoBlur uses Android's live widget capabilities to bring all of your messaging and social networking activity to the phone's homescreen.
At first glance, MotoBlur is a bit overwhelming: Text, talk bubbles, and images fly out at you in every direction. And the text and icons don't pop out as much as the ones on iPhone OS or the Palm Pre do. Fortunately, you have five homescreens to fill with the widgets and applications of your choice, which helps reduce the clutter (a small indicator at the top of each page tells you which page you're on--much as on the iPhone. In addition to the standard Android widgets (Music, Clock, Calendar, and Search, to name a few), you'll see four MotoBlur widgets: Messages, Status, Happenings, and Weather.
As its name implies, Messages delivers your most recent unread texts, social network messages, and e-mail messages to the homescreen in a speech bubble. The sender is identified at top of the message in bold, so you can easily tell whether the message is important or just spam. A snippet of the e-mail appears, but when you tap on it, you jump the full message, at which point you can reply or delete it. You can also view all of your messages in a universal inbox similar to Palm's WebOS--or you can view your messages by account, if you prefer.
MotoBlur's Happenings widget gives you instant access to your social networks from the homescreen. Facebook, Gmail, Last.fm, MySpace, Twitter, Yahoo, and other social networks are constantly connected and continually updated on the app. Honestly, I found Happenings a bit annoying. Do I really want some random former classmate's status popping up on my phone?
Status is fairly self-explanatory, too: You can use it to update your status to one or all of your social networks from your phone. This feature is pretty convenient because you don't actually have to open the application to enter a status update; instead, you can do it from the homescreen.
MotoBlur's best feature may be its ability to track your lost or stolen phone via GPS and remotely wipe it. And since all of your data is stored in the MotoBlur cloud, you won't have to reload everything into your new phone.
The Web browser loaded pages quickly; but the Cliq doesn't support Flash, so certain videos and pages won't load. Though Flash 10 for Android is coming soon,you'll just have to hold out until it is available. The browser itself is reasonably easy to use: You can open multiple windows, bookmark pages, and search for words on a page.
Holding down the dedicated shutter button launches the camera application. My outdoor pictures looked great, with bright, accurate colors and sharp details. Snapshots taken in dimly lit indoor settings didn't fare as well, however. Some test images had yellow or blue color casts and looked grainy. One shot of an acoustic guitar had a noticeable amount of noise in the lines of the wood. In addition, the shutter speed is disappointingly slow, and you can't adjust it, so you'd better make sure that your subject stays put for a good 3 seconds to ensure a decent shot.
The Android music player is straightforward and easy to navigate. You can download DRM-free tracks from the Amazon MP3 store, which is a nice alternative to iTunes. Music playback sounded good (though slightly tinny) through the included earbuds. Video playback looked great on the Cliq's 3.1-inch display--but again, I wish that the display were a little bigger.
For hardcore social networkers, the Motorola Cliq is a dream phone. You get fast access to all of your accounts and a well-designed QWERTY keyboard for typing long messages. If you aren't into social networking or if you want to keep that information limited to your computer, you may be turned off by the Cliq. The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G might be a better Android option, or you could choose one of the many BlackBerry models on T-Mobile.
pcworld.com
16.36 | Label: COMPUTER AND MOBILE GADGET | 0 Comments
Research in Motion BlackBerry Storm 2
The BlackBerry Storm 2 phone is an overall improvement from its predecessor, but SureType still feels a bit unintuitive.
When the BlackBerry Storm debuted last fall, RIM's first touchscreen device received not-so-stellar reviews. RIM took reviewers' and customers' gripes into consideration, however, when designing the BlackBerry Storm 2 ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 10/14/09). The result? This is the Storm that I wish RIM had released last year--the device's build, the on-screen keyboard, and the software are miles beyond the first generation. Even so, pressing to type still takes some getting used to.
The BlackBerry Storm 2 phone is an overall improvement from its predecessor, but SureType still feels a bit unintuitive.
When the BlackBerry Storm debuted last fall, RIM's first touchscreen device received not-so-stellar reviews. RIM took reviewers' and customers' gripes into consideration, however, when designing the BlackBerry Storm 2 ($200 with a two-year contract from Verizon; price as of 10/14/09). The result? This is the Storm that I wish RIM had released last year--the device's build, the on-screen keyboard, and the software are miles beyond the first generation. Even so, pressing to type still takes some getting used to.
In measurements and display size, the Storm 2 is identical to its predecessor. It weighs just slightly more (0.1 ounce more, to be exact) than the original Storm. If you put the two handsets side by side, however, the older Storm looks clunkier. All of the buttons on the Storm 2 are more recessed, making for a more streamlined design. Hardware buttons no longer run below the display; instead, the new handset offers touch-sensitive buttons there. And unlike with the first model, on this version you won't see a crack between where the display ends and the keys start--this alone puts the Storm 2 eons beyond the Storm in design aesthetics.
The absence of that (somewhat disturbing) crack is due to the new SurePress technology, which is now electronic rather than mechanical. You still have to push down to type or select an application, but the unit no longer feels wobbly or clumsy to press. As my colleague Yardena Arar noted in last year's review of the Storm, the mechanical SurePress interface was often inaccurate: You'd press one application, and another would activate.
Without getting too technical, the difference in the two generations lies underneath the display. The original Storm was essentially one big suspended button mounted below the screen's center point. Below the Storm 2's hood, in contrast, four activators sense when you're pressing on the screen. This design allows for a more stable navigating experience.
I had a much easier time typing on the Storm 2's keyboard than on the original's, but I still can't get accustomed to pushing down on a display to type. I know that it is supposed to feel more natural than a typical touch keyboard, but I think I prefer the physical BlackBerry keyboards. I do like how you can hold down the Shift key and a letter to capitalize it, as you would on a physical keyboard. A colleague with larger hands had more difficulty typing on it than I did, however.
One interesting thing to note: RIM studied the way people typed on touch keyboards, and found that, while typing quickly, they often briefly held down two keys at once. The Storm 2's keyboard mimics that by having both keys respond when you press them, thus making typing faster. And of course, the keyboard has RIM's excellent SureType predictive-text entry, which facilitates speedy typing.
The new Storm also has inertial scrolling, which means that you can move through your contacts or media library quickly with a flick of your finger. It isn't as speedy as the iPhone's scrolling, but it is a big improvement from that of the older Storm, which barely budged when you flicked to scroll. There were times when I had to flick multiple times to get the phone to respond, however. The cut/copy/paste functions are also easier to use, since the "handles" you grab to select text are bigger.
While the Storm 2 retains the original's 480-by-360-pixel display resolution, the user interface looks a lot brighter and sharper. This is due to the BlackBerry OS 5.0 software, which has sharper icons, brighter colors, and blacker blacks than does BlackBerry OS 4.7 (which shipped on the original Storm). The interface is clean and simple to navigate, thanks to the easy-to-identify icons.
Call quality over Verizon's 3G network was very good, with no background static or hiss. Voices were loud enough for me to hear easily, and they sounded natural. Parties on the other end of the line could hear my voice clearly while I was standing on a busy street corner.
Like all BlackBerry products, the Storm 2 has excellent messaging and e-mail capabilities. You get BlackBerry Enterprise Server support for your work e-mail, and you can load up to ten work or personal POP3 or IMAP accounts. The Storm 2 doesn't come loaded with the new BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, but you should definitely download it from BlackBerry App World. Trust me, you'll never go back to the old Messenger: Version 5 sports a spruced-up interface that's easier to use, it offers more emoticons to choose from, and it has the ability to display your location via GPS.
Pages loaded quickly over Verizon's 3G network, and even faster over Wi-Fi. Yes, the Storm 2 has Wi-Fi, and that alone makes the revised handset a big step up from the original Storm. RIM says to expect all of its future CDMA handsets to ship with Wi-Fi connectivity, so kudos to the company for finally getting past that roadblock. The browser will default to a mobile page when one is available, but it also loads full sites without any issues. Of course, the BlackBerry platform doesn't yet support Flash, so Flash-heavy sites won't load.
The music player displays album art and has easy-to-access touch controls. Audio quality sounded a bit hollow piped through the bundled headset and on my own higher-quality earbuds. Video playback was very smooth throughout most clips; I noticed only a bit of stuttering in fast-action scenes.
Overall, I was impressed with the Storm's 3.2-megapixel camera. Snapshots taken both indoors and outdoors looked better than pictures taken with the iPhone 3GS. Colors were a bit washed out and even more so when the flash was on, but details were sharp and I didn't detect any noise or graininess.
The BlackBerry Storm 2 is definitely an upgrade from the first Storm in design and usability. And while the keyboard handles better, I still can't really get the hang of it. Before you decide to purchase the Storm 2, try it out extensively in a Verizon store. If you discover that it isn't for you, consider getting a phone with both a touchscreen and a keyboard, like the LG enV Touch or the HTC Touch Pro 2. With one of those models, you get the best of both input technologies rather than something in between.
pcworld.com
17.38 | Label: COMPUTER AND MOBILE GADGET | 0 Comments