BlackBerry Storm launches: All the details!

October 8, 2008, 5:23 am by James Holland 4 comments

Filed under Mobile phones Tags: Blackberry, storm, thunder, Vodafone

Just as we predicted, RIM has officially ripped the covers off the BlackBerry Storm. It’s the first touchscreen BlackBerry in history, and set to challenge the iPhone and T-Mobile G1 in the ultimate mobile showdown. Read on for all the facts!

As expected, it’s a 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.55 inch touchscreen handset, with a brand new type of haptic screen. It uses what RIM’s calling a “suspension system” to make on-screen buttons feel more responsive, make them “click” as pressure is put on them, and give physical feedback when they’re prodded.

Around the back, there’s a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, and on the side there’s a proper 3.5mm headphone jack.

We already knew the phone would come with Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Chat, AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, BlackBerry Messenger and Facebook, but now we’ve learned there’s YouTube and Flickr support too.

There’s all the e-mail wizardry you’d expect inside, as well as a capable media player, making mincemeat of MPEG4 and WMV videos. It’ll also play nice with music, spewing out MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA tracks with ease.

The BlackBerry Storm will also come packing RIM’s new Application Centre, hosting 3rd party apps (developed using an SDK due to launch to developers today), as well as Assisted GPS and BlackBerry Maps for ultra-quick positioning.

What’re the downsides? It’s limited capacity for a start. Sure, it’ll take microSD cards, but since they max out at 8GB, it’s no challenge to the iPhone, N96 or even the 5800 XpressMusic, all of which can either be ordered with 16GB as standard, or upgraded with a new card.

There’s no Wi-Fi inside either, with RIM gambling that 3G speeds will be enough to keep you happy. We’ve got news for RIM: when it comes to downloading beefy e-mail attachments, streaming video and downloading large applications, they won’t be.

Vodafone has the exclusive rights to the Storm in the UK, and will be offering it with contracts around the £35-40 mark.

TBC | £TBC | BlackBerry