After teasing us with videos and a vague web site, Research
in Motion has finally decided to come out of the closet with full
details on its touchscreen handset, the BlackBerry Storm.
Those following the smartphone market are aware that the word touchscreen has
become a synonym for "iPhone competitor." So we’ve compiled a chart
comparing the two handsets’ specifications (below the jump). You’ll be
entertained to see that in terms of hardware, the Storm is much
more competitive with the iPhone than the underwhelming T-Mobile G1.
Behold:
Those of you who have been itching with curiosity over the Storm are
probably surprised to see the handset’s lack of Wi-Fi connectivity. That’s the major area where iPhone has an advantage, although
BlackBerry smartphones are typically aimed at enterprise users, who primarily use
their smartphones for e-mail — so they may not mind. Still, quite an
odd omission from a handset that features a web browser and multimedia capabilities virtually
identical to the iPhone.
As for the Storm’s advantages, you’ll notice that the camera sports a
superior resolution at 3.2 megapixels and also includes a flash, auto
focus and video-recording capability. We can only hope the Storm’s
battery lasts long enough to handle those features without rendering
them impractical.
Another interesting tidbit: The Storm’s screen is a wee bit smaller but
sports a higher pixel resolution than the iPhone screen. Wired.com’s
Daniel Dumas had some hands-on time with the Storm, and he’s described the screen as "Beautiful."
Moving on to software — the Storm will ship with the popular BlackBerry OS, which,
as I mentioned earlier, is optimized for enterprise purposes. Think
wireless synchronization with Lotus Notes, Outlook and Novell GroupWise.
Overall, the Storm appears to
attempt to strike a balance between "business" and "casual," allowing
serious enterprise users to take a breather every once and a while and
watch a video, for example. However, it remains questionable whether
enterprise users will appreciate the lack of a physical QWERTY
keyboard.
RIM has not disclosed U.S. pricing or an official ship date yet. Verizon
will serve as the U.S. carrier. We’ll provide updates as more details
become available.
See also:
- Hands On With The BlackBerry Storm
Specification Sheet (in PDF) [RIM]
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by admin on October 8, 2008
