Blackberry Storm: all the features. (But it's all about the clickable touchscreen)

So the Blackberry Storm has been launched. Before I got a chance to see it yesterday, I really didn't think I could be impressed by a new touchscreen device. To my surprise, I was.

Why? The "clickable" touchscreen is really quite smart.

The problem for all these new smartphones, from the T-Mobile G1 to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is how do you do something better than the iPhone? Blackberry's clickable screen is the best example of a technological feature that really adds to the smartphone experience.

Boiled down to the basics, it's all about making typing faster on a touchscreen. My short experience with the Storm suggests that knocking out emails will be easier on the Storm than on the iPhone. Success.

We all need more of a play with the Storm to figure out whether it really works as well as it promises to, but if it does, well, I can't wait to see how Apple will respond.

Here are some more of the added features of the Storm. RIM, please take it away:

3.2 megapixel camera, with variable zoom, auto focus, and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video

3G connectivity

Built-in GPS that supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos

Preloaded with DataViz Documents to Go software, so users can edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset

Sleek, elegant design with contoured corners, stainless steel back and chrome accents surrounding its large (3.25") glass lens; its exceptional 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi is crisp and bright with eye pleasing clarity

An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by simply rotating the handset

Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately 6 hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

If you peer through the marketing guff, great stuff really. But the Storm stands and falls on how good you think that clickable touchscreen is.

Comments

[Zabeen Janmohamed]

Can't wait to see the (Thunder) Storm strike!!!!

[Salv Reina]

I'm relatively new to mobile devices and internet. I have a Blackberry and like it a lot, particularly as my employer recently enabled web-browsing. Given the number of seats that RIM has in the business world, this looks like a great innovation that will have a big corporate impact.

[ubiquityman]

I don't think it has any place in the corporate world. My corporate Blackberry is locked down pretty tight. SD slot disabled, no downloading of music or videos, no installation of 3rd party apps, nothing. I think they might have disabled the browser this weekend as well.

Email, just email, but extremely good at that.

That's why iPhone will never break into the corporate world. It's too hard to secure, and if you secured an iPhone, no one would want to use one.

The Storm, IMHO, is clearly targeted at the general public. I think (and hope) it will be an iPhone killer. Verizon's network is the big seller for me.