Following the everything-has-to-be-touch-screen trend, RIM delivered new BlackBerry Storm smartphone. With high resolution 480 x 360 pixels color display and multimedia & business capabilities, Storm almost secured place in high end phones category which is still dominated by iPhone and few HTC devices. Many RIM phone users won’t buy iPhone because of the lack of a physical keyboard and they continued to use their BlackBerry devices with qwerty keyboard. However, touch interface is here to stay and that is probably one of the reasons why RIM included their new "just a touch screen" device in their offer. As we heard from many users, typing is much better than typing on any other smartphone. This could be the big reason for many users to switch to new Verizon's star, the Storm.

To enable easy and smooth control over menus, RIM uses an ultra-sensitive touch screen with clickable feel which will entice fingertips even better. However, lack of physical processor power or software optimization could be a problem for some advanced users, think twice before purchase or try it in the store before you decided to buy. Why? Sometimes moving between programs will cause delays, sometimes it will not respond at all. Bugs will be probably be solved in next software update, but if you're fast user, it will bother you for sure.

Calling and messaging quality are very good, and you'll get full 4-5 bars most of the time. Typing on this smartphone is great, but needs better auto-correction like we see it on iPhone. IM clients are available for AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk, as well as the standard BlackBerry Messenger. Some of the users will be disappointed when they try to turn on WiFi, I thought that WiFi will be standard option on this type of phone, but it's not. I don't want to comment design, but overall it's a nice & stylish looking device and with GPS navigation and good multimedia capabilities LCD screen works excellent.

You can view, edit and even work on new office documents with Office apps, for advanced use you'll have to upgrade to premium version. Some users noticed that video quality is better on Storm than iPhone. Because Storm has similar screen like iPhone, this is not unusual. If you're looking for a nice multimedia phone with 1+8GB memory, Storm could be a phone for you. WMV, MPEG4, H.263 & H.264 movies are supported and picture is great, but audio files control is lacking of EQ options. Also, as we find out, some of the Mac users will have trouble transferring audio & video files, you'll have to use card reader. Like an iPhone, you can connect most of the 3.5 mm jack headsets and headphones. To take those precious moments, you can use 3.2 megapixel camera with hm... Quality.

It will come with BlackBerry Maps & VZ Navigator, you'll be able to use GPS for turn-by-turn navigation. Compared to older BlackBerry phones, Storm has much better internet browser. It's not perfect, but it's fast enough on 3G. I cannot see myself using this phone, but I can see that many BlackBerry users will become touch-only phone users. I know that many of them are business users and data security is important to them, but they're also humans, and playing nice video on your phones nice option. That is the reason why Storm will have good success on all-touch smartphone market.

SPECIFICATIONS

* Wireless email
* Organizer
* Browser
* Phone
* Camera (3.2 MP)
* Video Recording
* BlackBerry® Maps
* Media Player
* Built-in GPS
* Corporate data access
* SMS
* MMS

Size and Weight
* 4.43"/112.5mm (Length)
* 2.45"/62.2mm (Width)
* 0.55"/13.95mm (Depth)
* 5.5 oz/155g (Weight)

Data Input/Navigation
* SurePress™ touch screen
* On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape

Voice Input/Output
* 3.5mm stereo headset capable
* Integrated earpiece/ microphone
* Built-in speakerphone
* Bluetooth® v2.0; mono/stereo headset, handsfree, phone book access profile, and serial port profile supported
* M3 (Rating for hearing aids (PDF))

Media Player
* Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
* Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

Display
* High resolution 480 x 360 pixel color display
* Transmissive TFT LCD
* Font size (user selectable)
* Light sensing screen

Notification
* Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones
* MP3 ringtones
* Vibrate mode
* LED indicator

Approximate Battery Life
* Up to 15 days (Standby time)
* GSM: 5.5 hours, CDMA: 6 hours

Memory
* Expandable memory – support for microSD™ card
* 1GB onboard memory
* 128 MB Flash (flash memory)

Modem
* RIM® wireless modem
* Tethered modem capability

Email Integrations
* Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Microsoft® Exchange
* Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for IBM® Lotus® Domino®
* Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Novell® GroupWise®
* Integrates with an existing enterprise email account
* Integrates with existing personal email account
* Integrates with optional new device account

Device Security
* Password protection and screen lock
* Sleep mode
* Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
* FIPS 140-2 Compliant (FIPS Validation in Progress)
* Optional support for S/MIME

Wireless Network
* UMTS/HSPA: 2100 MHz
* North America: 850 MHz GSM®/GPRS networks
* North America: 1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
* Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks
* Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
* Dual-Band: 800/1900 MHz CDMA/Ev-DO networks

lookie  - long way to go   |2009-03-11 11:55:38 long way to go RIM, long way to go...

Linda Alfrey  - free PC   |2009-04-28 09:10:54 I heard on the radio about a free lap top. Is this the write email address? Thanks,

spoof  - I wish it's free for us   |2009-05-14 18:40:46 still no free lunch. that's the windows commercial, if you find all that you need in one laptop under $2000, it's yours I wish...

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