Touchscreen BlackBerry Storm finally unveiled
Wed Oct 8, 2008 12:01AM EDT
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After months of rumors, the Storm—the first-ever touchscreen BlackBerry—is finally official, and it's set for Verizon Wireless (exclusively, for now) later this fall. Read on for the details.
Verizon hasn't coughed up a hard-and-fast release date for the Storm—nor any pricing details, for that matter—but this much we do know: It'll pack in dual-mode CDMA and GSM radios for full-on world calling, 3G access (both EV-DO Rev. A and HSPA), GPS (along with turn-by-turn directions), Bluetooth (including the A2DP profile for stereo Bluetooth headsets), and a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash and autofocus.
Measuring 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.55 inches and weighing in at about 5.5 ounces, the Storm (which is also set to arrive in Europe through Vodafone) looks to be roughly the same size as an iPhone or the upcoming T-Mobile G1, so it should be reasonably pocketable.
The centerpiece, of course, will be the Storm's 480 by 360-pixel, 3.25-inch glass display, which will support multitouch (good for two-finger gestures, a la the iPhone). Even better, though, is a feature that RIM calls "ClickThrough": a design that lets you "distinctly feel the screen being pressed and released with a gentle click" for a "highly intuitive experience." Sounds promising, but whether the Storm's display actually delivers the tactile experience that's missing on the iPhone and the G1 remains to be seen (or felt, I guess); I look forward to trying it out in person. Update: Click here for initial ClickThrough impressions from the Web; so far, so good.
In addition to the multitouch display, the Storm will also come with an ambient light sensor, along with an accelerometer that'll automatically turn the screen when you hold the phone sideways. Speaking of which: When it comes to entering text, holding the Storm in a landscape view will give you a full QWERTY touch keypad, while in portrait mode you'll get a SureType keypad (or the same layout as on a BlackBerry Pearl).
Naturally, messaging will doubtless be one of the Storm's strong suits. Expect full-on BlackBerry e-mail support, complete with push e-mail and access to POP and IMAP e-mail servers. Also on board: SMS, picture and instant messaging.
The Storm will also come with full-on Office document editing—including support for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents—courtesy of DataViz Documents to Go. Of course, plenty of other BlackBerry applications are already available, and there's word that a branded BlackBerry store is on tap, similar to Apple's App Store and the Android Market.
Besides its 3.2MP camera, the Storm is set to arrive with full HTML Web browser (double-tap to zoom, tap and slide to scroll), a video and music player, with Verizon promising smooth, full-screen video playback. There's also a 3.5mm jack for your earphones, 1GB of internal storage, and a microSD expansion slot for another 16GB of flash memory.
All in all, sounds like a formidable package, although something's missing if you look carefully: Wi-Fi. Ugh.
So, what do you think? Likes and dislikes? Any guesses on the price? (I've heard $199 with a two-year contract, but that's not official.) Sound off below.
Related:
The Storm's ClickThrough display: "A big hardware button" [Yahoo! Tech]
Comments on Touchscreen BlackBerry Storm finally unveiled
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2 Posted by captempjack on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:17PM EDT Report Abuse
wifi has become one of the top features thanks to it's ever increasing availabilty. No wifi no deal. There are too many devices that have it, includi g current and future blackberrys.
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3 Posted by mariochamorro on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:07PM EDT Report Abuse
Excellent timing! I'm in the market for a new phone, and the Blackberry Curve 8330 *was* the best option until it was humbled by ... Blackberry! I will assume for now that this is EVDO-compatible - I'm with Verizon as well. -MC
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4 Posted by tgram4 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:02PM EDT Report Abuse
where will users be able to dl movies and tv shows?
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5 Posted by kmaire3 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:52PM EDT Report Abuse
I played with a mock up today my Verizon rep had. The ClickThrough thing is cool. The whole screen moves down to "click" when you press it, and it needs to return to the up position before you can get another "click". It wasn't operational, so I don't know if it will slow down the typing process, but it sure could. Not having wifi is not a problem for me. Unless you're going to use it in places you frequent, setting up the wifi can be a pain. At least I didn't like it on my iPhone. I'm a corporate user though, and I prefer my bb 8330 to the iPhone because of the excellent email integration with Exchange.
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6 Posted by loony2nz on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:56PM EDT Report Abuse
The Storm will come with EVDO Rev.A which means you'll get the fastest data speeds from VZW. With that, I don't think WiFi is all that important. Like magpagbst said, we don't have to search for a hotspot. I have a Curve 8330 and it's only EVDO not Rev. A and it's plenty fast for me. I'm very excited about the launch of this product. But, I will do a "wait and see" for a while.
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7 Posted by ytech_patterson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:58PM EDT Report Abuse
@loony2nz: True, although Wi-Fi is pretty helpful when you're indoors w/o a decent cell signal (take my living room, for example).
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8 Posted by georgefritkin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:07PM EDT Report Abuse
No WiFi..I love my iphone and by the way...can you name the second person to fly the Atlantic non-stop.
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9 Posted by breathweapon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:12PM EDT Report Abuse
No WiFi = No Sale, nice attempt by Blackberry/Verizon to gouge their customers, you fail.
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10 Posted by craigkirchner on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:30PM EDT Report Abuse
It sounds pretty impressive. I don't think many people need wi-fi, so it is probably nice to leave it out. I would have enjoyed more memory.
1 Posted by magpagbst on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:03PM EDT Report Abuse
this phone looks pretty cool . . . 200 bucks with a two year commitment sounds about right . . . i'm with verizon and i have an lg voyager (which i love, but i'm on my fourth as the digitizer keeps crashing . . . luckily, verizon keeps exchanging it!!) . . . anyway, i don't think lack of wifi is a big issue . . . i use verizon's unlimited data plan which is pretty good and i don't have to search for a hotspot . . .