Blackberry storm

The Storm is a striking device. From the second you lay eyes on it, it's clear that a lot of time and care went into crafting this phone. The majority of the front panel is display, a large 3.25-inch (480 x 360) touchscreen sitting just shy of flush with a silver bezel that runs around the sides, top, and bottom of the device. The bands seem to be plastic, not metal, and trace the outline of the moderately thick (0.55-inch) phone, looping around the back, while the rest of the surface is a high gloss, piano black plastic. Below the screen are four familiar BlackBerry keys (phone, menu, back, and end / power), along the left is a convenience key and a micro USB port (RIM has eschewed the more common mini USB slot for the lower profile of the newer variation, though that seems to be the way the industry is headed), and on the right side is another convenience key, volume rocker, and (yay!) 3.5mm headphone jack. Around back, the battery cover is made from solid piece of brushed aluminum, and the camera and flash sit atop the plate, covered by a glossy plastic strip. Along the top of the phone there's a single LED to the right, and lock and mute keys incorporated into either side of the casing like soft rockers -- a nice touch. Generally, the construction of the hardware and components used seem higher in quality than previous devices from the company, with buttons that click tightly and a heft that tries (and succeeds) to communicate an understated class

IntroThe BlackBerry Storm is Research in Motion’s answer to Apple’s iPhone. Although it comes over a year after the release of the original iPhone, it is the first phone to be serious competition with Apple’s iconic telecomunications gadget.

Design

The Storm is beautiful. It's slightly shorter than an iPhone, but a tad wider and thicker. Like the iPhone, the Storm is shiny black with silver edging, and its face is dominated by its 3.2-inch touch screen. Beneath the screen, you get four buttons: a send key, an end key, a BlackBerry menu key, and a back key.

the form factor of the BlackBerry Storm is very similar in shape to its other recent BlackBerries. It is a little larger than other BlackBerries and the iPhone and is a little heavier too because of the larger screen - 5.5 ounces compared to 4.7 ounces for the iPhone 3G.

The most interesting feature of the Storm is the Sure Press touchscreen - using “click-through”. When you click something on the screen you actually click down on the screen, providing some feedback. While this may seem different, it works and you will quickly get used to it.

Touchscreen
The Touchscreen is the centerpiece of the BlackBerry Storm. This screen is different than the iPhone’s for a few important reasons. The screen on the Storm is higher resoultion, the storm is 480 pixels by 360 pixels the iPhone is 480x320 pixels. The screen will tilt between landscape and portrait using an accelerometer similar to the iPhones.
The main difference, though, is that the screen on the Storm uses “Click-Through”. This means that to press a button on the screen you are actually pushing down the screen. You can’t so much feel the screen press down as you get a nice feedback feeling letting you know that you pressed a button. This makes for great feel on the keyboard and other on controls.

Camera
The camera on the Storm is great, certainly better than the iPhone’s. It is 3.2 megapixel with an autofocus, 2x digital zoom, autofocus, and video ability

Like previous BlackBerry smartphones, the Storm has programmable buttons on the both the left and right side of the Storm. You can easily program either buttons to launch your favorite applications. The default buttons are set to “Voice Command” and “Camera”. The top and bottom of the Storm are curved. At the top of the Storm, there are two buttons, but they are sort of hidden. There is one physical piece at the top, but the right and left are clickable. The left button allows for easy access to lock and unlocking the Storm. The right button acts as a mute key for calls or multimedia. Small icons denote the buttons and it’s very well integrated into the design of the phone

The biggest change with the Storm is the clickable touch keyboard known as SurePress. The entire screen is clickable. Unlike the iPhone or any touch screen device for that matter, input is not done through touching the screen, but rather clicking the screen. With the Storm, you can select items on the screen, but you need to press down to initiate a task or action. If you look closely there is a gap between the screen and the phone itself

Operating System and User Interface
The BlackBerry Storm runs OS 4.7.065 and it is a derivative of the same OS that shipped on the BlackBerry Bold (4.6.164). The operating system is a major upgrade from the OS that shipped on the BlackBerry 8800 series and the Curve. It looks fantastic with sleek icons and functions much like the previous BlackBerry OS. While the main user interface on the Storm is the same as the Bold, the OS includes the inner workings necessary for the unique input entry of the Storm along with the accelerometer.

It is more difficult to access menu options on the Storm than on a standard BlackBerry. For example, if you are looking to close an application, there is no keyboard shortcut. You have to swipe twice and then press the close option. On the BlackBerry Bold, you simply press “C” until you reach the “close” option and then depress the trackball button

Email, Messaging and Internet.
The Storm again proves how incredible it is to use a BlackBerry for email. I can reply to a post in our BlackBerry forums and the notification comes almost instantaneously. Icons for inboxes appear on the homescreen, allowing for quick access. Scrolling through messages is not as fast as with the Bold. There are arrow icons on the bottom of the screen. Holding the arrows that allow you to scroll quickly to the top or bottom of the inbox. I found myself wanting the Storm to adjust the speed of the scroll to that of my swipe, but instead there is only one speed

Multimedia it's increasingly easier to get your multimedia to your BlackBerry. The Storm comes with an 8GB microSD card that can be used strictly for music, pictures and movies. There is no easy way to rent movies on the Storm, but you can easily make copies of your DVD’s that will play on the Storm. The display is large and vivid, but you have to wonder why RIM didn’t deliver a true widescreen display.

Some call it the "best Blackberry ever", and some just call it "awkward and disappointing". I think that one should just not expect miracles from the virtual keyboard. I've tested plenty of phones with a tactile feedback and they will not replace or even get close to a physical keyboard if you like typing fast. Let's be clear: people don't love the virtual keyboards - they love the big display and the virtual keyboard is the price to pay to get it.

The software is not as polished as the iPhone - that's a fact. However, if you want a BlackBerry with a huge display, you won't have much choice. The Storm is not a terrible choice, but you would have been warned about the virtual keyboard!

What’s In The Box?

• BlackBerry Storm 9530
• Lithium Ion Battery
• 3.5mm Stereo Headse
• tBlackBerry Travel Charger with International Adapters
• USB Cable
• 8GB SanDisk microSD card
• SIM Card pre-installed for international useDocumentation Kit

Going into this review, we really wanted to love this phone. On paper it sounds like the perfect antidote to our gripes about the iPhone, and in some ways it lives up to those promises -- but more often than not while using the Storm, we felt let down or frustrated. Ultimately, this could be a great platform with a little more time in the oven, but right now, it feels undercooked -- and that's not enough for us.
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