Blackberry Storm — RIM’s first touchscreen mobile device

RIM has recently announced the introduction of a device that eschews the traditional input methods of Blackberries we have learned to know and love. No more the keyboard and trackball. Say hello to the touch-screen display.

(Matt Buchanan has conducted a comprehensive review at Gizmodo from which many of the facts below have been gleaned.)

The Screen

The touchscreen is 3.3 inches diagonal with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels and incorporates a single touch-sensitive layer using capacitive technology.

The unique feature of the Storm’s screen is that it is clickable giving some tactile confirmation of a deliberate touch to the screen an difficult to trip accidentally.

Communication

Wireless 3G communications is enhanced by GPS ability but you’re stuck with Verizon’s VZ Navigator software. RIM doesn’t provide a network independent maps/location package. Unfortunately Wi-Fi connectivity is not present in this version.

Camera

The camera is a 3.2MP affair and early adopters claim its very noisy — so just like every other phone camera then.

User Interface

Despite a sea-change in hardware input design, and the precident set by Apple for re-inventing the wheel for the sake of the touch-screen, This Blackberry’s user interface will be farmiliar to any ‘berry user. You’ll just have to remember that selecting items is different from pushing them, that’s all.

The accelerometer will reorganize the screen if you turn the screen sideways and is pretty responsive.

Matt claims that the interface, despite its good points, is slow and suffers considerable lag that he found annoying.

Summing Up

The Blackberry Storm will be a strong development for those who are either locked into purchasing a Blackberry or just won’t consider anything else but fails to live up to the ridiculous hype that’s been surrounding it. It’s no iPhone killer but probably the best of the rest.

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Tags: blackberry,clickable,display,multitouch,RIM,storm,touchscreen,

One Response to “Blackberry Storm — RIM’s first touchscreen mobile device”

Nokia N97 sees the light of day Says:
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
[...] hot on the heels of the Blackberry Storm Nokia has at last released details of its first QWERTY sliding smartphone in the form of the N97 [...]

Blackberry Storm — RIM’s first touchscreen mobile device

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