New BlackBerry Storm Touchscreen Smartphone Review

We have always debated about a phone which can compete Apple`s innovation of the millennium. There is Samsung, LG and NOKIA who has already came with products to compete with Apple iPhone. But frankly speaking except Samsung and Nokia  no one has given a fair competition to iPhone. BlackBerry has also launched one 9500 series product sometimes back named BlackBerry Storm. They have basically tried to capture iPhone market share as well as to focus on their traditional Business phone users.

Well BlackBerry Storm  phone, is a RIM (Research in Motion) handset. With Storm, BlackBerry has tried to give a stylish phone touch to its business phone users. Now we will review claims and reality of BlackBerry Storm.

First have a look on its specification and features

 Network Compatibility

• GSM 850/900/1800/1900,
  
• 3G HSDPA 2100, CDMA2000 1x EV-DO

Phone

• Size 112.5 x 62.2 x 14 mm, 
  
• Weight 155 g
  
• TFT Touch screen, 65K colors
  
• Size 360 x 480 pixels, 3.25 inches
  
• RAM(Random Access Memory) 128 MB
  
• CPU 624 MHz processor
  
• Operating System BlackBerry OS
  
• Storage Internal 1 GB
  
• Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 16 GB

Camera

• Camera 3.15 MP with autofocus, LED flash, Image Stabilization, Video Yes, QVGA
  
• No Front Camera for Video Calls

Data Capabilities

• GPRS Class 10, 32 - 48 kbps
  
• HSCSD No
  
• EDGE Class 10,236.8 kbps
  
• 3G HSDPA (7.2 mbps)

Connections

• No Wi-fi
  
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
  
• Infrared port Not available
  
• USB, v2.0

Media

• Media player MP3/WMA/AAC+
  
• Video player MPEG4/3gp/H.264/WMV
  
• No Radio
  
• Speakerphone and 3.5 mm audio jack

GPS with A-GPS support 

Batterry and Talk time

• Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh
  
• Stand-by Time Up to 360 h
  
• Talk time Up to 5 h 30 min

Other Features

Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, Geo-tagging, BlackBerry maps, Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)

Now let’s review Blackberry Features

Design and looks

The Storm is absolutely amazing. You will definitely fell love at first sight. A big giant high pixel touch screen is the focal point of looks and a silver bezel around sides of phones. 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, this gives a good quality looks to a business class phone. Generally, the construction of the hardware and components used are good in quality than previous BlackBerry devices. Overall design is killing and no doubt you will love it.

Touchscreen

I can bet, you will not find this anywhere else. Yes I am talking about “Click-Through”. With the help of this technology, you will actually feel pushing down the screen when you touch screen to press a button. This will surely help you when typing with touch screen keyboard.

In term of Screen Pixel also Storm has an advantage; the Storm Screen is 480 pixels by 360 pixels while the iPhone screen is 480x320 pixels. Tilting between portrait and landscape modes is similar to iPhone with Accelerometer Technology. In terms of touch screen Storm is surely have an edge over Apple`s iPhone.

Keyboard

In Landscape mode you will have a full QWERT experience in BlackBerry Storm that too with clickable screen. When you switch to portrait mode - the standard mode for a cell phone, there are two options first is Pearl - 20 buttons keypad, second is a normal phone keypad where you choose letters by multiple taps on the numbers.

Camera

Picture quality of Storm`s 3.2 Megapixel camera is great. Actually far better than Apple iPhone. Auto focus, 2X Digital zoom and Video ability is an added advantage over Apple`s iPhone.

But wait, Storm is a BlackBerry high end phone with 3G capabilities. Still very sorry to say, No front Camera for video calls.

Storage

The Storm has 1GB of internal storage and an 8GB MicroSD card is included in Box. Maximum capability is for MicroSD cards up to 16GB. Well 8GB-16GB is always enough for any Business or Media player phone.

Internet Browsing and Email

Its inbuilt browser is quite capable, but not as good as Apple iPhone`s Safari. Storm browser will zoom in when you double click on the screen and free finger scrolling is also there. 

Media

The Storm allows for playback of almost all major audio formats. Good Screen resolution and great quality speakers. It doesn’t have Radio, which is a negative. Overall Storm is a good media player device.

Business Features

Well a BlackBerry is a BlackBerry. It has all document software like Word, Excel, and PDF... But don’t you think that a business phone should have video calling.

VOIP in BlackBerry Storm

I will say -10 for this... With non availability of Wi-Fi (WLan), your 3G data plan will cost you a lot until you have an unlimited one. There are few RIM's pre-approved apps like Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Flickr, Facebook etc, if you talk about True VOIP application I think only Skype and Truphone are the applications right now. I think this is an area which will surely hit Storm Market.

Visual Voicemail

Visual voicemail comes in fashion with iPhone. This means you will see a visual representation of your voicemail.

Cost (Slightly over priced) 

Cost in India is around 27900 Rs.

Cost in US is around 500$ (unlocked)

Cost in Italy is around 400-450 Euro (unlocked)

Conclusion

BlackBerry Storm is definitely a strong competitor for iPhone. But no Wi-Fi and Video calls gives a feel that it will not be as suitable for VOIP and well as Business. Only advantage you will get from BlackBerry Storm is killing looks with BlackBerry facilities. But I don’t think this will be a wise option in 500$. We will give 2 out of 5 to BlackBerry Storm. 

for details visit http://www.blackberry.com/blackberrystorm/

Please share with us, why Do you love your phone?????.....