UPDATE: We’re still waiting for the BlackBerry Storm App Centre to launch, but in the meantime you can load up on apps without using RIM’s system. See the best BlackBerry Storm Apps available now!
The BlackBerry Storm is out tomorrow people: from Friday, you’ll literally be able to push your email with the Storm’s clickable touch screen. We’ve told you all there is to know already – best bits, worst bits, hands on photos – so now we’re looking to the Storm’s future. From what we’ve seen, developers aren’t using it to its full potential just yet. What can it do that it doesn’t now? Here’s our wishlist for the BlackBerry Storm.
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Voice to email
Voicemail to text program Youmail is a handy way of getting all your missed calls in an email or SMS, but it doesn’t solve the conundrum the other way. The Storm’s screen is one of the fastest ways to type on a touch phone, but it still doesn’t compare to an old school QWERTY ‘Berry. But the technology’s there to translate your voice memos into email to send to others, and even voice command who you send them to so you need not even touch your Storm.
Next-gen contacts list
A 3.2 inch screen is a major step up for a BlackBerry phone, so RIM should make full use of the space. If Three can come up with a budget phone that merges all your contacts, Facebook, IM, Skype, and regular, why can’t a BlackBerry? Bringing up a name in widescreen mode could display everything from a picture to the last email and text from them, and even an RSS feed of their social networking statuses.
Bluetooth business cards
Not new, admittedly, but as the business phone with the biggest screen, RIM could take it a whole lot further with the Storm. Meet, greet and exchange digits with a swipe of handsets, but the virtual business card could pop up by names in an address book, and provide automatic invite requests to linkedin, the social network site for suits.
BlackBerry emulator
Currently, the Storm’s touchscreen operating system doesn’t support BlackBerry OS apps, which will leave RIM loyalists in the lurch a little. But it’s certainly got the power to run them under the bonnet, and if Nokia phones can run Palm programs natively, there’s no reason that BlackBerry ones shouldn’t be able to run on a, er, BlackBerry. Who knows, maybe we could even see touch support for them bolted on.
Mashup widgets
BlackBerry are going to keep control of the Storm app store, just like Apple does the iPhone’s, but that doesn’t mean they can’t flex their creative juices with what they offer. There’s a million image geo-tagging apps on the T-Mobile G1, but the Storm could stand out by applying the same to RSS feeds, and pop it all up on a map, provide feeds you’re interested in specific to the area you’re currently in using GPS, or even show where all your Facebook friends are right now.
See more BlackBerry Storm features:
Five must have accessories for the BlackBerry Storm
BlackBerry Storm unboxed
Five firmware fixes the BlackBerry Storm needs now!
