BlackBerry Storm Reviews
Move over iPhone, the long time awaited first ever touch screen BlackBerry™ is here. Unfortunately it is exclusive to Verizon, (nothing against Verizon), the Storm features a unique moving touch screen that clicks when you press down to provide tactile feedback when typing, clicking web links, selecting icons and more. BlackBerry Storm Feature Reviews
Blackberry™ Storm SurePress Touch Screen
Bravo to RIM™ for adding something different as this isn't the resistive touch screen usually found on Windows Mobile devices, nor is it the "simple" capacitive display found on the iPhone™ and a few other phones.
The Storm's huge touch screen display is a screen made of floating layers, and the screen actually moves downward when you press it, giving a tactile click. Thus the whole screen moves just a hair, and clicks like a key on a standard BlackBerry™, a technology called SurePress™.
This changes the ways we interact with touch screens. You'll use this to scroll a web page, document or palette of icons.
Display - Screen
Screen Size: 3.25 inches (diagonally measured)
High resolution 480 x 360 pixel color display
Font size: (user selectable)
Light sensing screen
Supports over 65,000 colors
Another plus is the fact that the display is perfectly readable outdoors, which is a rarity among touch screen phones. The BlackBerry™ Storm holds its own against the iPhone on the display quality and outdoor viewable fonts.
The Storm's touch screen does smudge easily and unlike the Apple iPhone™, the display is plastic, not glass.
BlackBerry Storm New Keyboard
On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape
Dedicated keys: Send, End, Menu, Return
No more QWERTY keyboard that had become synonymous with BlackBerry™ phones. The Storm has 2 on-screen keyboards:
1) a standard QWERTY in landscape mode
2) 20 key SureType in portrait mode.
The BlackBerry™ Storm has an accelerometer that rotates the display when you turn the phone on its side (either side). You'll get the full QWERTY on screen keyboard in landscape mode and a SureType™ keyboard in portrait mode. The accelerometer is quite sensitive and we found a steady hand was required to avoid accidental rotation.
Design and Ergonomics
Width: 2.45 inches (62.2 mm)
Depth: 0.55 inches (13.95 mm)
Weight: 5.5 ounces (155 grams)
The BlackBerry™ Storm is black with chrome accents along the sides, and is made of plastic (other than the battery cover). The SIM card slot and microSD card slot are under the back door. There's no need to remove the battery to swap a microSD card. Verizon generously provides an 8 gig microSD card in the box.
Phone and Data
3.5mm stereo headset capable
Integrated earpiece/microphone
Built-in speakerphone
Bluetooth® v2.0 enabled; mono/stereo headset, handsfree
SurePress™ touch screen
On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape
Dedicated keys: Send, End, Menu, Return
The Storm is a dual band digital CDMA phone that works on the US Verizon network. It has 1x and EVDO Rev and gets an A+ for data. The Storm's SIM card slot is for overseas roaming, and is handy for world travelers, along with Verizon's international data roaming plans.
Voice quality and volume is excellent and is the spekerphone sound. Dialing on screen is simple and the Storm includes Nuance's voice dialing software, for hands-free dialing. Reception is very strong, even in a Verizon dead zone.
Data is a pleasure on Verizon's EVDO Rev. The dual function touch screen for browsing is a pleasure to use and you can drag the page to scroll as much as you like with no fear of accidentally tapping a link or banner ad.
Several levels of zoom make the BlackBerry™ Storm very user friendly for young and older eyes alike.
The BlackBerry™ browser is also excellent and that much better with a touch screen. The Storm's page scrolling is responsive, quick and accurate with no re-draw delays.
Video and Audio Capability
Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus
Forget the iPod™with the BlackBerry™ Storm you get a fully functioning mp3 Player.
The Storm holds a capable video player and handles MPEG4 formats. Videos look great on the the large, high resolution display and playback is smooth up to 550 or 600kbps. The BlackBerry™ Storm makes a great video player thanks to a high capacity microSD card slot and included 8 gig card.
Camera and Video Camera
Camera: 3.2 MP camera with auto flash, auto focus, 2x digital zoom
Video Camera: Depending on the amount of built-in memory available for use, a third-party microSD card may need to be properly inserted into the BlackBerry smartphone to enable the video recording feature
The Storm's 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus lens takes better photos than any other BlackBerry™ smartphone. The Storm does have more white out in outdoor settings, but it takes more natural shots overall.
Auto focus is very responsive by camera phone standards, and max photo resolution is 2048 x 1536. You can press the camera button to focus and shoot or press the screen. There are settings for flash control, image quality, resolution, white balance, image stabilization, color effects and geo-tagging.
The Storm can shoot video with audio at 320 x 240 and 176 x 144 resolutions.
GPS
Preloaded with BlackBerry Maps
BlackBerry™ Storm'sbuilt-in GPS works with the included VZ Navigator. The GPS gets a fix in average time compared to other recent phones and directions are prompt and the map is spot on with actual location. The spoken directions are accurate, loud and clear. In fact the Storm's directions are startlingly loud at anything above the medium volume setting. You can drag maps around with a finger, zoom and save locations to favorites. There are extensive POI listings and traffic information as well.
Navigator costs $9.99/month and it requires a data plan since maps and directions are downloaded over the air.
Memory
1GB onboard memory
128 MB Flash (flash memory)
Bluetooth
Battery and Battery Life
- Standby time: 15 days (356 hours) Talk time: 6 hours 1400 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell
Device Security
Password protection and screen lock
Sleep mode
Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry™
FIPS 140-2 Compliant (FIPS Validation in Progress)
Optional support for S/MIME
BlackBerry™ Storm Reviews from Experts
"RIM has a real innovation on their hands." Phillip Berne, InfoSyncWorld
"The Storm's GPS capabilities were great." Bonnie Cha, CNET
"Thanks to the SurePress display, typing feels surprisingly natural on the Storm." Mark Spoonauer, Laptop Magazine
"The Storm is a striking device." Joshua Topolsky, Engadget
"The advanced media player is slick and able to sync with an iTunes account for music." Ryan Kim, San Francisco Chronicle
"Texters and e-mail users will thrive on the Storm." Suzanne Choney, MSNBC
"There’s no question that the Storm is an impressive piece of gadgetry." Josh Taylor, ZDNet
"It took me less than a day and I was typing faster and more accurate than when I typed on other touch-screen phones." Bridget Carey, Miami Herald
"The first touch-based smartphone with a really usable virtual keyboard." Paul Taylor, Financial Times
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BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion®, SureType®, SurePress™ and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. Used under license from Research In Motion Limited.