Blackberry Storm 2 (9520)

A year after the BlackBerry Storm, RIM's first touch phone, the Storm 2 has made its appearance. With its clickable capacitive touch screen, the first Storm was less than convincing. Has Rim managed to sort out the lack of precision and sluggishness on the new generation? Do the system developments and the increase in RAM make a significant difference? Indeed, has Rim come up with a reliable and user-friendly touch screen phone? Answers in the test.

The clicky screen: inventive but... clicky

In terms of size the Storm 2 is very much comparable to the original model. It's a Blackberry phone and you can tell. Sobre, rather masculine looking, an interesting mix of glossy and matte black (on the back of the phone), the Storm 2 doesn't exactly push the envelope in terms of style, but it doesn't lack taste either.

The finish is reassuring, though the back is covered in brushed metal (not impervious to scratches).


The phone handles nicely when you're making a call or messaging, but we would have preferred it a little lighter (it's 160 g) and slimmer. The separate raised buttons (call, hang-up, menu, back) on the previous version have been replaced with touch buttons that are harder to use. You don't simply touch them but have to actually press them in, a not altogether logical choice that takes some getting used to - you'll often find yourself pressing down a second time thinking that the phone didn't register first time round.


When you use it first time round you may be surprised by the 3.25-inch screen (bright, good contrast, resolution of 360 x 480 pixels) as it's backed with springs. The gutter (a real crumb-magnet) on the original Storm is no longer there. As the perimiter isn't as wide here, dust doesn't fill it up.

There's no doubt that the Storm screen is original and different from the competition, but how does it work? The user selects the application they want to launch, then, once the icon is highlighted blue, they press (click down) on the screen, which then vibrates slightly (haptics) to let the user know that the command has been registered. This screen system surprised us a little during the Storm test, though we did salute its originality. Although you don't need to click down as hard on this second generation model (a good thing) we were only averagely impressed. While original, the system means you have to move your finger twice whereas the best competitor capacitive touch screens only require you to brush your finger over them.

Faster than the Storm, though still lacking precision

If you go for this model, you'll have to juggle two significant elements that unfortunately aren't complimentary. While the Storm is a lively (rapid start-up, apps open immediately) and responsive - more so than its predecessor - smartphone, it does still lack precision and can be annoying when handling certain operations.


The QWERTY keyboard, that switches from vertical to horizontal a little faster than with the Storm, doesn't handle keying errors all that well. The predictive text function is advanced but when you want to select the desired word, you often erroneously select the word above or below. The same goes for keying letters: too imprecise once again. We're light years behind the iPhone 3G S or HTC HD keyboard.

The multimedia functions and applications store are still limited

The web navigator isn't the most comfortable we've seen though for occasional surfing, it should be fine. You zoom by tapping the screen. The two-finger movement isn't supported and pages don't load particularly quickly - scrolling fluidity is a little better than on the first version. How pages are handled could certainly still be improved.


The camera interface is disappointing. Here, the click system could have been better worked out. Although you can, for example, focus and zoom by moving your finger on the screen, you then have to press on a virtual button on a specific part of the screen to activate the sensor. The response time is too long and the image stabilizer ineffective: don't bother trying to take moving objects or people. The image quality can only be described as mediocre.

The audio is similarly mediocre: the interface could be more logical and the sound is below average for current smartphones. It lacks detail.


When it comes to RIM's app platform, note that there are still not that many applications available. With around 3000, the AppWorld is a long way behind Apple (115,000 applications in the appstore, the majority of which are for the general consumer) and the Android store (around 15,000 applications). BlackBerry is going to need to take things up a few notches, get more developers on board and hope that an increase in users will also increase downloads. At the moment, they seem to be having trouble getting the store off the ground!.


If you're using a lot of the features you'll have to recharge each evening. As usual with RIM phones, when the battery is low, network access is cut, so as to protect current data - you won't lose the mail you're working on for example, as you would if the phone shut down completely. Although it may be annoying at first, this restriction can prove useful. Once the phone is plugged into the charger, and this is something we appreciate less, you have to wait a moment before regaining network access.