All eyes were on Research in Motion Friday as the BlackBerry Storm rolled out across the United States with Apple-like fanfare. The phone is available exclusively through Verizon Wireless.
The smartphone boasts an innovative touchscreen that actually depresses slightly when the screen is pressed. That means the user can feel the screen being pressed and released with a gentle “click,” similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. The “clickable” touchscreen gives the user positive confirmation that a selection has been made.
“The BlackBerry Storm offers our customers more ways to stay connected to both their personal and professional lives — whether in their communities or around the globe,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless.
Storming the Market
In addition to the familiar navigation keys common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touchscreen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation. The Storm also features a built-in accelerometer that allows its touchscreen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset.
The Storm is a multimedia BlackBerry. It comes preloaded with DavaViz Documents to Go, which allows users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset. It has a 3.2-megapixel camera with variable zoom, autofocus and a flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video. It also makes room for built-in GPS to support location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos.
A media player can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection. Playlists can be created directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters — including Lounge, Jazz…