On the other hand, the Storm excels at a number of tasks where other smarphones like the iPhone drag. The Storm allows users to copy-paste, meaning that editing Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents is a breeze in landscape mode, with the screen's full QWERTY keyboard. It also has a wonderfully detailed 3 modes of calendar viewing, pretty good GPS mapping, Verizon's solid turn-by-turn driving directions, and a decent 3.2MP camera that takes video with sound. It probably goes without saying that Verizon's mobile broadband feels snappier than AT&T's does, and that it has more consistent coverage. Another bonus: a loud, clear speakerphone. The iPhone's is still impotent, even after it was bolstered in the 3G model.
Other plusses are small, but they add up. Stereo Bluetooth is a nice touch, as is the ability to tether to a laptop and share mobile broadband. A dedicated “mute” button on the top of the device pauses music at a touch, and two hotkeys on either side are programmable, as with other BlackBerrys - with the Storm held in landscape mode, one of those buttons is ingeniously placed to act as a shutter key. Press it down halfway, and the camera focuses, and then press it fully to shoot a 3.2MP picture. This is how all phone-cameras should work. Hear that, Apple?
On, finally, to the SurePress screen - the infamous “clicking” touchscreen. The good news is, it's not a cheap gimmick; the screen doesn't flex, or vibrate, or do anything cheesy like that. Instead, the whole glass face of it acts as a button, so when you push on it, the entire thing depresses into the body of the phone. This is crucial because it allows you to select things on the screen by tapping, without actually activating anything. (This is what makes cut and paste possible, since you can drag your finger to select text.) It works quietly, unobtrusively, and intuitively. However, it's arguable that the SurePress screen is just as much a work-around for an OS that relies too deeply on menus - stop, select, open menu, select - as it is a usability feature.
To boot, you don't always want to be clicking things just to activate them. Typing is the task that comes to mind here. I prefer light, quick taps to get the job done, as they do on the iPhone, and I didn't find that having to “click” the key actually made my typing any more accurate. The system may be meant to appeal to users familiar with the hard-buttons on traditional BlackBerrys, but since there's no key-feel, I found my Curve experience moot. Using the QWERTY keyboard was satisfying, if a little sluggish. You just can't click very fast with your thumbs when you can't feel the keys. Or at least, I can't; try one before you buy it.
If it sounds like I'm being critical of the Storm, it's only because it's the first touch-based smartphone that can be considered in the same class as the iPhone. The comparison will be more fair once RIM's app store gets off the ground, but existing applications like Facebook and Flickr bode well for the Storm's platform. In a field of imitators, RIM has proven once again that they're blazing their own trail, and while it may not be as scenic as Apple's just yet, it is surely going somewhere good.
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Recent Comments | 4 Total
November 20, 2008 at 11:41am by Anomoly Smith
Time will really tell, i know that RIM had to do something to fend off apple.