Storm puts BlackBerrys in the sun
Boston Business Journal - by Eric Convey
When it comes to picking a fight with a burly competitor, it’s hard to top Research in Motion Ltd. (NYSE: RIM), maker of the BlackBerry.
The company Friday begins selling the the BlackBerry Storm, a device carried by Verizon Wireless and aimed squarely at users or potential users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
The Storm looks like an iPhone. In many ways it works like an iPhone. It costs the same as an iPhone, at least before a data plan is added to a customer’s mobile phone contract.
But it’s also different from the iPhone in some significant ways.
After 24 hours of testing, it’s clear the Storm does not match the iPhone in some ways that iPhone aficionados would find non-negotiable. But it’s also clear the Storm is a very nice mobile phone in its own right and may appeal more to some shoppers.
The most obvious similarity to the iPhone is in appearance and basic functionality.
The Storm has a big glass front and a touch-screen interface — a lot like the iPhone’s. Most navigation occurs not by typing buttons but by tapping on the screen in certain places depending on the application and what, precisely, you’re trying to accomplish at the time. A spot that might serve as a number button at one instant could become a letter key a second later. Soon after that it could be a place on a map you’ll drag around by fingertip.
A big difference from the iPhone, however, is that the Storm’s entire screen serves as a movable button.
On the iPhone, you just tap. This can be nice. Or it can be a hassle if you have less-than-steady hands.
On the Storm, you locate your finger in the right place and then depress the screen to carry out your desired action. The positive feel is reassuring, and for some users likely to result in far fewer inadvertent clicks than would occur on an iPhone. Some bloggers worried when word of this feature spread that it would make the Storm fragile, but early impressions are that this device is durable.
All in all, though, the process of navigating around the Storm’s interface is not as elegant as that of navigating around the iPhone’s. The latter phone, carried exclusively by AT&T, works more smoothly. And requiring fewer clicks in most instances, many actions are quicker.
The other area where the Storm, at least for now, falls short of the iPhone is going to be the availability of third-party applications. Apple’s Applications Store, and the popularity of the phone’s operating system among developers, have created a huge variety of programs that run on the iPhone. Verizon Wireless and RIM have a lot of work to do if they’re to catch up.
But there are advantages to the BlackBerry, too, and they’re not insignificant.
For one, the Storm can shoot video. Film clips look crisp and audio is quite good. (Overall, the Storm’s multimedia capabilities and the iPhone’s are very similar.) The iPhone does not do video, a shortcoming that seems inexplicable given Apple’s strength in the field.
The Storm also had what seemed to be better call quality when compared to the iPhone’s in a wide variety of settings, though in areas of good signal strength, calls on the iPhone were a little gentler sounding.
Data speeds, in completely unscientific testing, seemed to be about even, though perhaps a little quicker on the Storm.
It’s important to note that, unlike the iPhone, the Storm cannot connect to Wifi. When used with Wifi, the iPhone wins the speed contest.
Significantly, the Storm has a removable battery and data card; the iPhone doesn't.
Both phones can handle spreadsheets and word-processing programs in popular formats.
For many shoppers, the determining factor may well be whether they’d rather be on Verizon Wireless or AT&T — and whether they are hard-core BlackBerry users or not.
If you’re sold on Verizon or love BlackBerrys but craved multi-media options, you’ve got your chance. This is a very BlackBerry that does much more than its brethren. Visual voice mail alone may justify the price of jumping to a Storm.
If you’re sold on AT&T and want the simple elegance of an iPhone, the choice is pretty clear there, too.
The Storm and iPhone both cost $199 with two-year contracts.
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