The Storm is RIM's first venture into the touch-screen smartphone market. Gone are the trackball and the keyboard, two of the features dear to many Blackberry users. Sadly gone is the wi-fi too, which is rather preposterous! It's intuitive touchscreen resembles the iPhone's: a light gentle touch allows you to select an application. However and here comes the difference, you then have to press to confirm your choice. The screen will depress slightly and a gentle click will be heard. This avoids any ambiguity with button presses.

The Sure Press screen : select & click

The Storm is no doubt a member of the Blackberry clan. Its design: black, sleek, clean and stylish with stainless steel means business. However one aspect of its build makes us raise an eyebrow. In order to be able to click, the edges of the screen are not totally fixed on the device. One may only wonder how much dust can gather in this gap over a longer period. It also gives the handset a rather unfinished look. Nonetheless the clickthrough screen with its selecting and clicking is quite easy to get used to.




Slow and glitchy


This won't be the first time we say this and sadly probably not the last either. Why are some phones launched with software that is not up to standard? It is unfair to to sell a device that is slow and glitchy. Wouldn't it be wiser to wait a few more weeks and offer a product that doesn't have to have its software updated a few days after the purchase?
RIM has released an update of its system. Sadly we no longer have the handset to check if the various bugs and glitches have been fixed. We shall do so shortly.

The Storm froze twice during our test. All of a sudden everything disappeared and there was nothing to be done. Some applications such as video playback were slow. Another example: in order to write a text message or type a URL, the device can go into landscape mode. You thus have the comfort of a QWERTY keyboard, which would be great, if the process took less time! Also despite the rather large keyboard, typing lacks precision. You have to press the left edge of a letter to make sure not to miss the key. Those who loved the non virtual Blackberry keyboard will have a hard time adjusting. It takes practice.


Multimedia features

The multimedia player is pretty easy to grasp. The quality of photos is not the greatest and the camera fails to deliver crisp pictures, especially in low light. Still it fares better than the iPhone, but lags behind the new generation of photo-phones. Again, it is rather on the slow side especially while zooming or focusing.

The Storm Extra gains extra points however for shooting video, which the iPhone cannot.



In terms of audio (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA) the sound is rather good as far as telephones go: powerful and satisfying for everyday use.

Web browsing is decent, without however being as good as on the iPhone. The beautiful screen of the Storm is an invitation to use the Web but one has to enjoy scrolling up and down. Also you can forget visiting websites with Flash.



Calls are loud and clear even in noisy surroundings. The battery life however is disappointing. Don't expect to get more than a day out of it.