It’s finally here. After several version of leaks between the previous official released version for Verizon Blackberry Storm 9530 a few months ago up until now, the latest official version is now released.

URL: http://vzw.smithmicro.com/blackberry/

If compared with the previous official released version 4.7.167, this version by far surpasses the previous. It is incomparable to a point, this is the version that should’ve been released with the Storm in the first place last year! The first thing you will notice would be the support of flicker scrolling. It makes scrolling through pages of items much more smoother. Faster bootup, better battery life, and other are among the awesome new fixes and addition in this version. Give it a try!

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Premium Black Silicon Skin for the Blackberry Storm II 9550 (VERIZON)

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OEM Micro-USB AC Charger for Blackberry Flip 8220 Curve 8900 Storm 9530 Tour 9630 Gemini 8520 (ASY-18078-001)

OEM Original RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 Black Leather Carrying Case Pouch Holster with Swivel Belt Clip Magnetic Enclosure no Snap

OEM Verizon Car Charger for BlackBerry Storm 2 II 9550

OEM Blackberry Storm 9530 Leather Case with Belt Clip Swivel Holster (HDW-19819-001)

OEM Blackberry Storm 9530 USB Data Cable (ASY-18683-001)

Body Glove Glove Snap On For BlackBerry Storm 2

To non-blackberry users, this is nothing. To blackberry addicts, this is one awesome tool that just got more awesome! Version 5.0 has leaked out for the Blackberry Storm and other Blackberry devices. Biggest noticable thing is the ability to create your contact information as a picture barcode and scan other people barcode to automatically enter into the contact. Pretty neat!

Discussion Pages:

• http://www.blackberryos.com/forums/blackberry-storm-9530/4005-want-new-bbm-your-storm-here.html
• http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/folks-bbm-5-0-barcode-experiment-270325/
• http://forums.crackberry.com/f2/leaked-blackberry-messenger-5-a-270288/

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Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Pink/Red)

For those who have Verizon FiOS DVR, you can now control your DVR from your Blackberry Storm.

Point your Blackberry browser to http://m.verizon.com/tv. You will have an option to download and install OTA the program to remote control your home FiOS DVR.

With this option, you can add record, see what have been recorded, and see TV guide listing!

Discussions:

• Forums #1 -> http://forums.crackberry.com/f134/verizon-fios-storm-support-258844/
• Forums #2 -> http://forums.crackberry.com/f40/verizon-fios-mobile-tv-central-storm-support-curve-2-a-258767/

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Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Pink/Red)

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After spending a few months reading about HDRs and seeing how it was done, I decided to give it  shot. One weekend with the Nikon D200 equip with the 70-200 2.8 VR and 16-85 3.5-5.6 VR lens, I decided to take a trip to Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

HDR is High Density Resolution. It is a process when using several RAW format images and combine them together to produce one single 32-bit image. The largest benefit of it is to allow you to take multiple pictures using different exposure to capture each area well.

Here are some HDRs I’ve made. You can view larger side and full gallery at http://gallery.knguyentu.com. Let me know what you think!

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Nikon D300s 12MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Today, or at least as of yesterday, the Blackberry Storm community rejoiced with the new “official” release of the Storm new OS for Verizon Blackberry Storm 9530!

What’s In The Number?

Explanation: http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/version-numbers-explained-148-203-181-a-238534/ (thanks FineWolf)

A RIM OS has three version numbers:

Software (4.7.0.148)

The software is basically everything that the phone does. From the SMS App, to BlackBerry Messenger, it is composed of all the applications that comes by default on your BlackBerry.

It is also the number people usualy refer to when talking about an OS release. In case of the latest Verizon update, it is 4.7.0.148.
Platform (4.0.0.181)

The platform is basically the “drivers” to the OS. It is the layer responsible of communicating commands to the hardware. It controls the cell phone radio, screen display, power regulation as well as the bluetooth radio. It is commonly refered to as the radio file on CrackBerry.

In case of Verizon’s latest release, the platform number is 4.0.0.181.
Package (4.7.0.203)

RIM develops the software and platform separately. When they decide to put the two together for testing, they give the combo a version number. This is the package number. Arguably, this should be number used to refer to a particular OS number, but convention uses the software number instead.

In case of Verizon’s latest release, the package version is 4.7.0.203.
When two releases have the same package number, it is safe to assume that they are the exact same release. The leaked version of the Verizon’s release has the same package number, therefore it is the same.

There is also another number reported in your about screen:

Branding Version

The Branding Version changes from phone to phone and doesn’t change on an OS update. Is will always be the same on your phone. Branding is saved on special memory while in factory.

The version number is formated the following way:

1.0.XXX.YYY

Where XXX is your Vendor ID and YYY is the Revision Number. Here are possible Vendor IDs (That I know of):

• 100 T-Mobile US
• 101 AWS
• 102 Cingular Wireless or AT&T
• 103 Nextel
• 104 Sprint PCS
• 105 Verizon
• 106 Alltel
• 107 Rogers
• 109 Bell Mobility Canada
• 111 MM02 DE
• 113 Telfort
• 114 T-Mobile DE/AU
• 115 TIM
• 116 Hutchison
• 117 Bouygues
• 118 SFR
• 119 Orange_France
• 120 VODAFONE (UK)
• 121 Telcel
• 122 Telstra
• 123 T-Mobile (UK)
• 124 Vodafone Germany
• 125 MM02 UK/IRL/NL
• 126 Telus
• 127 SMART
• 128 Starhub
• 129 Telefonica
• 130 Swisscom
• 131 Cable & Wireless
• 132 Vodafone (IT)
• 133 Vodafone (ES)
• 134 T-Mobile (NL)
• 135 Cincinnati Bell
• 136 Telefonica_LAM
• 137 Vodafone Austria
• 138 Vodafone Australia
• 139 Vodafone Ireland
• 140 Vodafone Sweden
• 141 CSL
• 142 Orange UK
• 143 Vodafone New Zealand
• 144 SingTel
• 145 Globe
• 146 Optus
• 147 Orange Mobistar
• 148 Vodafone_HU
• 149 Bharti
• 150 KPN
• 151 TIM_Greece
• 152 Proximus
• 153 Vodafone_Portugal
• 154 TIM_Brazil
• 155 BT_Mobile
• 156 Earthlink
• 158 E-Plus
• 159 BASE
• 160 Dobson
• 161 Vodafone_Egypt
• 162 Orange_Switzerland
• 164 Triton
• 165 Maxis
• 166 Vodafone_Denmark_(TDC)
• 167 MobileOne_(Voda_Singapore)
• 168 Vodacom
• 169 T-Mobile_PO
• 170 T-Mobile_CZ
• 171 T-Mobile_HU
• 173 MTN
• 174 Entel
• 175 Amena
• 176 SmarTone
• 177 TCS
• 178 Avea
• 179 F100
• 180 Turkcell
• 181 Partner
• 183 Orange_Global
• 186 Telkomsel
• 188 Vodafone_Greece
• 189 USCC
• 190 Mobilink
• 194 Voda_Luxembourg
• 195 Voda_Iceland
• 198 Vodafone_CZ
• 204 China_Mobile
• 205 Movilnet
• 209 Sympac
• 210 TIM_Argentina
• 212 Etisalat
• 214 AMX
• 215 Telefonica_Venezuela
• 217 Orange Romania
• 218 KTP
• 222 Mobitel Bulgaria
• 224 PCCW/Sunday
• 227 Mobily
• 229 Eurotel
• 230 Hutchison Essar

Download OS

To download, point your Internet Explorer to one of these locations

• RIM BlackBerry Site -> http://na.blackberry.com/eng/update/
• Verizon Apps Store -> http://appstore.vzw.com.edgesuite.net/download/9530AMEA_PBr4.7.0_rel203_PL4.0.0.181_A4.7.0.148_Verizon_Wireless.exe
• Mirror #1 -> http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T33FUZO3
• Mirror #2 -> http://rapidshare.com/files/240033257/9530AMEA_PBr4.7.0_rel203_PL4.0.0.181_A4.7.0.148_Verizon_Wireless.exe.html

Older version (leaked) could be found here

• http://knguyentu.com/wordpress/2009/02/blackberry-storm-9530-unleashed/

Make sure you use Blackberry Desktop Manager to backup your phone first! If you need help, look here (http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/info-help-guide-upgrade-downgrade-backup-bricked-storm-your-full-resource-213706/)

For those who been using the Blackberry Storm and have not updated the OS since purchase, you will be greatly pleased with the result. The new OS made navigation much more smooth, browser is faster, and accelerator response better.

Discussion Threads:

You can read up on people discussion here:

• Crackberry Discussion Form – http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/148-out-download-issues-me-too-posts-238361/
• Approval Leak Memo – http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/148-approved-verizon-237223/

If you are interested in more talk, you can look at the discussion of this version when it was leaked over 2 weeks ago.

• Leaked .148 Findings – http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/4-7-0-148-finding-fixes-thread-231484/
• Download .148 Leaked Version, look at the Blackberry thread on this forum for the list of all previous leaked version at http://knguyentu.com/wordpress/2009/02/blackberry-storm-9530-unleashed/

If you are not sure about doing the install yourself, wait a few weeks for the local store to have them. You can bring it in to your local VZW store for them to upgrade you to the latest Official OS.

OS Change Logs

What changed? A whole bunch! Here is a list from version 0.75 and all the changes along the way until .148 we have now.  (http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/29/blackberry-storm-os-470148-change-log/)

Text Version: http://forums.crackberry.com/f132/just-got-sent-full-change-log-another-friend-236583/

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OEM Blackberry Storm 9530 USB Data Cable (ASY-18683-001)

If you are a Blackberry addict or just a fustrated Joe with the original Blackberry Storm, I am sure you’ve been seeing a lot of buzz around the upcoming Blackberry Storm 2. Some people say RIM abandon original Storm users. I say, technology stop for no one.

Similar to Apple original launch of the iPhone, it did came with a host of bugs and issues. Apple dropped the price on the iPhone so close after the original launch caused an uproar. Shortly after, rumor and leaks of iPhone next gen stir the pot.

With the Blackberry Storm, the path are very similar. Now with the rumor mill being more and more concrete, we can say the new one is heading in the right direction.

If you are original Storm users, there has been a host of leaked OS you can update to. These OS have been confirmed to be stable and improved speed of the over all device significantly. You can look at the tips site for further info on it

• Blackberry Storm Unleashed – http://knguyentu.com/wordpress/2009/02/blackberry-storm-9530-unleashed/

For Blackberry Storm 2, more information can be found at these sites:

• Engadget hands On – http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/21/blackberry-storm-2-the-unofficial-hands-on/
• CrackBerry Storm 2 Discussion – http://forums.crackberry.com/f145/
• Phone Arena Storm 2 Specs – http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/RIM-BlackBerry-Storm-2-phone-pa_3704.html

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As discussed in this thread: http://forums.crackberry.com/f86/how-get-storm-unlock-code-101858/

If you are a current Verizon Wireless subscriber and wish to use another carrier SIM card, follow the methods below. It is useful in cases such as, you have one line for personal and another line for business. Or another scenario is you travel oversee to a GSM zone. You could purchase a pre-paid SIM card and stick it in.

Call 1-888-844-0395 to reach Verizon Global Phone Support Line. Tell them you would like to unlock your Blackberry Storm. They will ask to verify you are the phone owner and will read to you some legal stuff. Afterwards, they will give you the unlock code.

Follow instruction below to unlock. (http://forums.crackberry.com/f86/mep-unlock-screen-won-t-appear-165361/#post1925351)

To unlock the phone, the original Verizon Wireless SIM card must be in the phone.

1. Go to Options -> Advanced Options -> SIM Card
2. Flip your phone to horizontal mode and bring up the keyboard. To bring up the keyboard, hit the BlackBerry button and press Show Keyboard.
3. Type “MEPD” without the quotes. This will bring up the SIM Card screen.
4. You should see a list of Active and Disabled SIM locking categories.
5. This time type “MEP2″
6. You should get a dialog that says “Enter Network MEP code (10 left):”
7. Enter the SIM unlock code you got from Verizon and hit the Enter button.
***MAKE SURE YOU TYPE IT EXACTLY AS YOU WERE GIVEN IT*** If you type it incorrect 10 times, you will render your phone useless. If it doesnt work after the first 2 times, call Verizon back and verify the number you got is right.

Now that it is unlocked:
1. Pull the battery out and pull the Verizon SIM card out. Easiest way is with a pencil eraser.
2. Put the new SIM card from either TMobile of ATT in and put the battery back in.
3. When the phone finally boots back up go to Options -> Mobile Network
4. Change the Network Technology to GSM/UMTS
5. Hit the back button and wait as your GSM carrier is detected and the phone is registered with them.

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PHON UTSTARCOM PC5740VW EVDO PC CARD VERIZON APPLICABLE TO THE END USER REBATE AND ALL SPIFFS

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BlackBerry: 8220 Kickstart, 8220 OEM BLACKBERRY WORLD TRAVEL CHARGER for BlackBerry: 8220 Kickstart, 8220 PEARL FLIP, 9500 Thunder, 8220 Pearl Flip, 9530 Storm, 8900 Verizon Wireless / T-Mobile (OEM Blackberry Micro USB Home Charger)

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OEM Original RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 Black Leather Carrying Case Pouch Holster with Swivel Belt Clip Magnetic Enclosure no Snap

Yesterday while walking around Bestbuy, I was looking for a leather case for the Blackberry Storm. After purchased one, to my little amazement, there was a little known function on the Blackberry Storm utilizing a magnet in the case to put it in standby mode. People refer this as Sleeper Magnet.

How it works?

If your phone is on, when you place the phone inside these cases, the phone automatically goes to sleep, NOT OFF, but standby mode. You can still receive calls, messages, etc. If you bump into things or accidentally press a button while it is in the case, it won’t turn the phone on. Once you take it out of the case, it will turn on.

If you screen lock your phone and place it in side these cases, when you remove it from the case, it automatically unlock the phone for you.

Where To Find

Most phone cases stating Blackberry Storm compatible and has a magnet inside it. The one I purchased was the Eddie Bauer Case.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8948847&st=eddie+bauer&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1215819593452

Other Discussion / Info

• Blackberry Forum – http://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=9500&thread.id=23736
• Blackberry Charging Tips – http://www.blackberrynews.com/2008/05/20/battery-use-tips-for-your-maximum-battery-life/

Use your sleeper-magnet enabled holster. The magnet in the holster is there for a reason – it puts the BlackBerry to sleep, saves the battery, and makes you a happy camper.

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Wireless 5720 Verizon Mobile Broadband (CDMA EV-DO) Revision A PCI Express Mini-Card for Select Dell Systems - Customer Install

Since the first launch of Blackberry Storm 9530 from Verizon late Fall 08 / early Winter 08, it was doomed out of the gate. The was a rush release with a extremely unstable OS. The lag and lack of response turned people away to Apple iPhone and other phones alternative.

Now fast forward a few months and several OS versions later, I have to say it is heading in the right direction. The latest software for the BB Storm 9530 does improve on stability and functionality. The scrolling is a lot smoother with less lag. The keyboard type response has dramatically improved. You still have some bugs, but that it is now at a stage what it should’ve been in the first place when it first launched last year.

As of right now, the official released version for Verizon Wireless is 4.7.0.075. For the most part, this is still better than what came originally when it was released. If you recently purchased a phone, make sure the Verizon Wireless store upgrade the firmware for you to the latest official version prior you taking the device home. If you want to do the upgrade yourself, follow these steps (HERE).

The latest leaked version for Verizon Wireless is .113. There have been some rumor Verizon might skip this version entirely and go with a few version later as an official release. Nonetheless, it is still better than what came with it last year.

At the same time, Bell released their latest version .122. This version from Bell is their Offical Released version. Upgrading to either one of these version will surely bring smile to most Storm users today and future Storm users.

More info on where to download these version, see the post (HERE). What was fixed in version .113?As you can see from below, they were busy!

• Fixed bug where Mute and End buttons would work incorrectly while using an A2DP headset on a call.
• Fixed bug that caused display to briefly show small, multi-colored dots across the entire screen.
• Fixed bug that could cause a white bar to display on the screen.
• Fixed bug that could cause custom ringtones to play even when phone is set to vibrate.
• Fixed bug where pictures taken in landscape mode and sent could show in portrait.
• Fixed rare bug causing notifications not to show for incoming text messages.
• Fixed bug causing call timer to intermittently show incorrectly.
• Fixed bug causing an error and possibly display issues when more than 40 items are present in the call log.
• Fixed rare bug where multitap keypad could behave like SureType keypad.
• Fixed bug where if a music artist is deleted from the phone, the artist’s tracks could still show.
• Fixed bug preventing renaming of file extensions on music playlists.
• Fixed bug causing choppy audio playback on downloaded WMA files.
• Fixed rare bug where phone could reset while recording a video for MMS attachment.
• Fixed bug that could cause the device to stop responding and display an error when pausing a video recording.
• Fixed bug that prevented the backlight from timing out while playing streamed video content.
• Fixed bug with display of track names containing periods.
• Reduced amount of time it takes to being playing MP3 files.
• Fixed bug that could cause viewfinder to not display correctly when camera is started in portrait mode and quickly flipped to landscape.
• Fixed bug that occasionally caused screen to briefly show white after taking a picture.
• Fixed rare bug that caused phone to reset when taking a picture with image stabilization and white board effect enabled.
• Fixed rare bug where camera application would remain open after user had closed it.
• Fixed rare bug where camera application would start without being commanded to do so.
• Fixed bug that could cause phone to go to EV-DO after an automatic reset when it is in 1X-only mode.
• Improved capability in auto off/on functionality for connecting to wireless networks when turning back on.
• Enhanced system to ensure OTA updates continue if media card is removed.
• Added Arabic language support.
• Added full support for English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish in the East Asia language pack.
• Added rendering support for Indonesian Bahasa, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
• Added “Go” buttons next to address and search fields in the browser and search application respectively.
• Added Phone icon to home screen.
• Removed Call Log icon in Applications folder.
• Device can now be upgraded OTA using either internal memory or a media card.
• Improved volume consistency across applications and calls.
• Fixed rare bug to prevent uncommanded scrolling of text.
• Improved speed when composing messages.
• Improved speed in Calendar application when selecting “go to date”.
• Fixed bugs to ensure Application Permission screen is always correctly displayed.
• Fixed various bugs causing device resets.
• Fixed rare bug causing device to freeze while using Voice Dial.
• Improved accuracy of signal strength meter.
• Fixed rare bug where phone could lose data connectivity.
• Fixed bug to ensure new languages can always be added.
• Fixed bug to ensure phone always vibrates and beeps for incoming text messages when it is set to do so.
• Fixed bug that could cause device to not allow text messages to be sent to numbers in the Frequently Dialed Number list.
• Fixes to make sure emails are always displayed correctly.
• Fixed bugs that could cause static on phone calls.
• Fixed bug that could prevent audio from routing through a Bluetooth headset when using speed dial.
• Enhancements to ensure that phone features are not accidentally accessed when phone is held up to ear.
• Fixed bug to ensure holding down the 1 button always triggers voicemail.
• Fixed bug that could prevent .odf files stored on media cards from playing correctly.
• Fixed bug that could inform the user they don’t have rights to play music when the message is not necessary.
• Fixed bug causing popping noises in downloaded songs.
• Improved display of files saved on media cards in all applications.
• Fixed bugs preventing creation and opening of playlists in some circumstances.
• Fixed bug that could prevent access to the Music Library from the Options menu in the media player.
• Improved support for streaming video content whose URLs are longer than 512 characters.
• Fixed bug preventing correct display of streaming video content sent in a text message.
• Improved accuracy of progress bars displayed when downloading files.
• Fixed bugs preventing preview of songs when using V CAST Rhapsody.
• Fixed bugs preventing playback of video recorded on the phone.
• Improvements to prevent intermittent error messages displayed in the media player.
• Sped up display of pictures.
• Fixed bug that could cause pictures to display at the wrong resolution.
• Fixed rare bug causing device to lock while typing.
• Fixed bugs involving incorrect display of keyboard.
• Made sure device remains in portrait mode while being unlocked in portrait mode.
• Full QWERTY keyboard now available in portrait mode.
• Improved performance and stability with pre-loaded games.
• Fixed bug causing Incoming Call screen to not show when user is in some applications.
• Fixed bug that could prevent LED indicator from turning on when device is charged.
• Fixed bug causing Enterprise Activation screen to show after activation is complete.
• Improved display rotation speed while viewing contacts.
• Improved data call setup when switching wireless technologies

As mention earlier, buying the Storm a few months ago was not a good idea. But now with the later software released, it is a solid buy. I highly recommended to people who are interested in an iPhone alternative. The OS is simple to use, it has iTune sync functionality, and backed by RIIM famous push email functionality.

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