Tonya Malinowski / News Editor
Since the birth of the iPhone in mid-2007, it seems competitors have been releasing new smartphone models every week. The first of these “iPhone killers” to stand any sort of chance is Blackberry’s newest endeavor, the Storm.
As a child of Verizon, the Storm is connected to the strongest network available and offers the same reliable service Verizon is known for.
However, the Storm is clearly heavier than the iPhone (5.5 ounces compared to the iPhone’s 4.7) and is definitely noticeable in your pocket. The screen is smaller as well, making the extra bulk even more of an issue.
The most innovative thing the Storm brings to the table is its one-of-a-kind, clickable touch screen, or SurePress. This allows users to highlight something by touching the screen and then select it by pushing down. The screen is crisp and bright, seen easily even in direct sunlight.
Innovation is not lacking with the Storm, but the execution is what’s flawed. The keyboard is almost impossible to type on at a brisk pace, and the auto-correct feature gets annoying when it changes normal colloquialisms.
One upside is that the keyboard usually makes any text not carefully reviewed before sending seem like drunken babble, even on a Tuesday afternoon, so when the texts are actually are drunken babble, it could slip under the radar.
The keyboard also gets in the way of applications like the web browser and navigation system. Swiping downward on the screen is supposed to make the keyboard disappear, but this action rarely registered. I would have loved to see a “done” button to hide it.
The interface is very businesslike and lacks the colorful, engaging look of the iPhone or even of Blackberry’s previous model, the Pearl. The Storm does boast the ability to read third-party applications, such as Microsoft Word, which can be useful for opening email attachments, but the application selection available pales in comparison to the options from the iPhone 3G.
The Facebook application is terrible, and I ended up just using the Web browser for my Facebooking needs. The application is tough to navigate and only displays limited profile information. The news feed isn’t displayed and you can only navigate to a friend’s page by a tedious search function.
Arguably the most noticeable issue is the phone’s lag time. When clicking the unlock key, there can be a several second delay before the display responds.
Impatient users, like myself, may find themselves clicking again thinking it didn’t work, only to relock the screen again.
The email compatibility is just as simple as expected from Blackberry’s reputation. The program doesn’t cut the HTML out of emails, and PDF’s and Microsoft Office attachments are easily opened.
The Web browser is not nearly as user friendly as the iPhone. It delivers sites almost exclusively as the mobile version unless the user intentionally changes browser settings to run as Firefox or Internet Explorer.
The VZW navigation system is one of the areas the Blackberry really shines. The service is only $9.99 a month and Verizon has done a great job continually optimizing the GPS. Routes load fast and the phone’s speaker is louder than any other.
The entertainment features are still struggling, as Verizon is yet to add their V CAST music and video services to Blackberry.
The phone will not sync with iTunes without additional software and even then will not play songs purchased from the iTunes store.
Another bragging point for the Storm is its 3.2 megapixel camera. Photos are clear and color quality is pretty excellent for a phone camera. The downfall is that the phone is slow, so taking pictures of a subject in motion is nearly impossible.
However, a still shot of Fenway Park boasting bright blues and greens came out perfectly clear when taken with a steady hand.
The battery life is disappointing. With some heavy texting and one GPS usage, the Storm had less than 10 percent of its battery left after only seven hours of being unplugged.
The Storm was an ambitious effort for Blackberry, and a generally impressive one. The navigation system and network quality are great selling points, but the sluggish software gets annoying quickly.
For Blackberry to perfect a superior keyboard on its other models only to abandon it on the Storm was a questionable move.
Because its flaws are so frustrating and outweigh the phone’s benefits, I would recommend holding off on the purchase until Verizon and Blackberry’s developers, Research in Motion, can work out the major kinks and release a better version.
