Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Blackberry Storm 2 has been upgraded from the initial Storm in terms of WiFi, more memory under the boot and the latest SurePress touch-screen. The new BlackBerry OS 5.0 is a great compliments the phone well.
Thumbs Down:
Looks almost same as the predecessor, albeit a few trims. The phone has restarted itself twice, not a good sign (it is still in final testing stages). The performance of GPS services was not up to the mark, and left a lot to be desired.
Inside The Trunk:
Technology – CDMA 2000 1X, and GSM
Band – GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) / CDMA 800/1900 (Dual Band) / HSDPA 2100
Phone Design- Candy bar
Caller ID- Yes
Additional Features- WiFi, EV-Do Rev. A Capable, and Blackberry OS 5.0.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Blackberry Storm2 is exactly where the first Storm should’ve been. There were a few important elements in the first edition and these seem to have been resolved here. The addition of WiFi on a Verizon phone is a surprise, just because Verizon is so stingy when it comes to offering it. The SurePress technology replaces the mechanical touch-screen technology, and it surely makes life a lot easier. The Storm2 looks good, but a little more to differentiate it from the early Storm would’ve been good. The Blackberry OS 5.0 is great to work on. All in all, a great phone, but it leaves a lot to desire.
Razzle Dazzle:
The first Storm was plagued with performance issues and unwanted bugs, some of which were thankfully solved by the software updates. The Storm2 stands in the ditch that its earlier version dug and will have to work extra hard to dig itself out. RIM has a lot riding on the Storm2, and hopefully, by the time the phone is officially released, it should be ironed out and crash tested for every probable hurdle.
With the new SurePress Technology, the Storm2 promises a better handling and a more accurate typing experience. It also enables key rollover and faster typing. You can press two keys at once, for example, pressing shift and a letter for a capital. It also helps you to cut/copy and paste. The Talk and End keys, back button, and BlackBerry menu key have now been incorporated into the SurePress, and they are now no longer physical buttons. The SurePress technology uses electronic activators to detect touch. It is more accurate, and you do not need to bang down onto the screen. If you hold the Blackberry key for a longer duration, the application switcher pops up. The phone also offers you predictive text and auto correction aids. The keyboard is available in both portrait and landscape modes.
Inside Dope:
The Storm2 offers a host of other well thought of features that are small but extremely essential. For example, the 3.5 mm jack that is located on the right. The others are ‘face detection’, RIM’s term for the Proximity sensor, and a mute button that is located on top. The glass touch-screen also has in a built in accelerometer that changes the screen orientation once you flip the phone sideways.
The Blackberry OS 5.0 is a nice improvement over the earlier version, and is poised to be a well liked OS. The faster JavaScript and CSS processing promises quicker page rendering and speed. The browser will now support the Google Gears and BlackBerry widgets. RIM also has collaborated with Adobe to develop the Flash Player. RIM has announced a possible software update for the earlier storm users, but it depends on carriers. With the WiFi you can now access the internet and browse it at higher spends than the offered 3G support with EV-DO Rev A. An alternative way to access the internet when out of 3G bounds is a nice touch too.
Using the BlackBerry Internet Service, you can now access up to ten mail accounts, and the added attachment viewer enables you to open Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more formats. The preloaded instant messengers like Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and Windows Live are incentives for the Social Networking fanatics!
The microSD card support enables you to boost the memory of the phone to a nice 32 GB. The media player lets you listen and play varied formats such as MP3, WMA, WMA ProPlus, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, and MPEG4, WMV, and H.264 video clips. The general performance of the phone is good, and feels snappy. Even though the Storm2 uses the same processor as the earlier version, the memory boost helps it to multitask.
Nitty Gritty:
Storm2 is a good phone, but there are areas where it can still improve. The addition of WiFi and the SurePress technology is tempting and the BlackBerry OS 5.0 update is a welcome inclusion, and for RIM it has come in at the right time. It is still in testing and final development, and we hope that by the time it is released officially, the creases will be ironed out. We also expect the phone to cost as much as the earlier storm, i.e. around $200 with a two-year contract. I suggest that you should wait until it has been tested as a completely finished product, lest the mistakes RIM made with the first Storm are repeated.
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