Blackberry Storm shows winning form

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 24 November 2008 16:40

Opinion and Analysis

There are also reports the screen “turning” thanks to the accelerator could be snappier, too, and while the media player features aren’t quite as slick as the iPhone, they’re still great.

Ultimately we’re talking about a version one phone. Firmware updates can fix many of the minor problems – the BlackBerry still manages to merge its great email experience with a large 3.25-inch screen that firmly busts RIM out of the keyboard only age.

And given that slide-down physical keyboards on phones are common, a future Storm could potentially incorporate both screen and keyboard, just like the Google G1 Android phone, although the gPhone omits any on-screen keyboards for now.

Phones keep getting thinner, so there seems no reason why future phones won’t be as thin as today’s BlackBerry Storm or even the iPhone but come with a keyboard too.

That’s especially so if battery technologies improve, letting manufacturers put in ever thinner batteries that deliver more power, although we’re not quite there yet.

The reports of queues with hundreds of people outside of Verizon stores is also great news for RIM. Similar reports of queues for the G1 Android phone when it launched didn’t eventuate, showing just how much support BlackBerry has out there, despite Google being the giant behemoth that it is.

As I read on a ZDNet report, BlackBerry has the clout to make Apple run a bit scared, spooking Apple into releasing the iPhone OS 2.2 firmware update on the Storm’s launch date, although that too could simply be just clever marketing - we all know Apple is very good at that!

But Apple’s continued ascendancy in the smartphone space certainly isn’t guaranteed, and a super-mega-iPhone 3G “2009” version is surely due in around 7 months with features that will knock the current iPhone out of the park, and the BlackBerry Storm, too.

But BlackBerry is no doubt busily beavering away on a hurricane-like successor to the Storm, while Microsoft works on Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, Nokia works on an N-Series version of the “Tube” phone and Google works with HTC on bringing a “G2” to life.

We can’t forget Samsung’s Omnia either, delivering all the features the iPhone should have launched with earlier this year, but didn’t, LG's numerous touch screen phones and others I've no doubt forgotten!

Still, BlackBerry has a massive, loyal following, and for BlackBerry fans, if not many others, the Bold and the Storm are the best BlackBerries ever, with a twosome of choices that couldn’t be sweeter.