Excited about the BlackBerry Storm 2 yet? You should be, but if our hands-on photos and video, plus specs and pricing haven’t convinced you, check out our breakdown the new features RIM’s brought to the table – and the ones it hasn’t.
What’s new…
BlackBerry OS
For better or worse, it’s still the same BlackBerry OS running on the BlackBerry Storm 2. You’ll still navigate your way around by tapping the menu button, and find emails in your inbox, but RIM’s ironed out all the kinks we saw in the original Storm. Scrolling on the BlackBerry Storm 2 is incredibly smooth, and there are new shortcuts, like a headsmackingly obvious Send icon when composing messages (Instead of having to press Menu, then Send). Simple, yes, but incredibly helpful too.
Display
The main visible difference in the BlackBerry Storm 2 is the screen. It’s still the same size and resolution (3.25-inches, 320×480), but now has the call, menu, back and reject buttons merged in. It leads to a much smoother look, but the updated SurePress tech is what stands out. Not only does the screen completely lock up when the BlackBerry Storm 2 is powered off, but you can now type much faster, as you no longer need to wait for the screen to fully rise up again before pressing the next letter.
BlackBerry Storm 2 hands-on photo overload!
Hardware
Let’s get tech speccy here. Under the bonnet of the BlackBerry Storm 2 is 256MB of RAM. That’s double the previous Storm, which helps reduce lag when it comes to multitasking. There’s also 2GB of internal storage, which means you can install double the number of apps as on the original Storm. There’s still a microSD slot for up to 16GB more space of course, but you can’t install anything on that – it’s for your music, photos and video files. Oh, and the BlackBerry Storm 2 also has Wi-Fi, but we’re not going to congratulate RIM for remembering to put that in at last.
Case
The first Storm simply felt like a BlackBerry Curve 8900 with the keyboard stripped out: rock solid, but slightly plasticky, with some unwelcome float on the keys. The BlackBerry Storm 2’s outer shell is much nicer: the back cover is metal and fits like a glove. The side keys have also been tinkered with to fit in to the new, more executive look of the BlackBerry Storm 2, and the whole affair feels like something you could pull out in the boardroom without the CEO cracking a joke at your expense.
BlackBerry Storm 2: hands-on video!
And what’s not new…
The camera
RIM has reduced the camera’s processing time with tweaks to the BlackBerry Storm 2’s software, and there’s a brighter flash, but in the daylight, you won’t notice it taking better snaps than with the original Storm, as there’s still a fairly ordinary 3.2 megapixel resolution sensor stashed inside.
The BlackBerry browser
If you were hoping the BlackBerry Storm 2 would have that full Flash support and new Webkit tech powering its web browser. Guess again: it’s a slightly souped up version of the same uninspiring browser on the original Storm, and every other BlackBerry. The iPhone’s mobile Safari won’t have anything to worry about just yet.
I like the new homepage better than the old one, but reviews aren’t as obvious now they’re on the right. I only noticed the Palm Pre because of the big picture. Good site though. I’m on here most days.
Thanks Gav, we’ll do our best to get all the must click, must read content right to the top of the pile!
More competitions/giveaways. Would be awesome to have a UK gadget site doing it rather than just the American ones.
Thanks Eth, we’ll do our best. I know how gutting it is to get barred from a compo thanks to the fineprint!
I like the new operating system but how do you send pictures and recieve them?