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The BlackBerry’s Storm 2 is RIM’s second BlackBerry touch screen phone. The Storm series is new and has had a rough start, quite becoming of its name. In this light, RIM has taken the time and effort to create a BlackBerry phone that would still carry the brand name proudly. While their efforts in fixing the problems that plagued the old Storm are excellent (all the previous problems have been fixed), the new Storm 2 still lacks some of the features that make BlackBerry phones unique –namely, messaging capabilities. While the lack of a physical keyboard is understandable, an on screen keyboard on a transmissive touch screen is difficult to use.

Changes from the Original

The Storm 2 9520 features an improved SurePress screen. The contact portion of the old Storm used a central focal point. This meant that tapping the screen near the edges required a stronger push and moving over the center even lightly would accidentally register as a tap. The device uses four focal points that are spread evenly on the edges of the screen (more or less the four corners). This allows users to tap anywhere and it would be recognized. The screen also allowed for multi touch, using the onscreen keyboard now feels more natural because of this by allowing an alternating left right rhythm as compared to a tap-pause-tap rhythm required for the old Storm.

Aside from the screen, this mobile phone also features a better built casing and parts. The buttons no longer easily fall off and the casing no longer has the old gaps that cause dirt build-up.

In Conclusion

The BlackBerry Storm 2 9520 is a nice touch screen phone, but considering that it is a BlackBerry, it still fails to live up to expectations. The fact that it lacks one of the key selling points for other BlackBerry devices (easy messaging) means that this device still has a long way to go. Interested buyers can get this phone from Vodafone on individual or business plans.

Why did Blackberry even release the older version in the first place? Its latest versions to last year’s weakly received smartphones are so much better and should have been the ones most users are holding now. In fact, the lackluster performance of the Storm last year only tarnished the quality of phone devices from Blackberry. It was so full of bugs, disappointing operational features and didn’t have the much-demanded Wi-Fi.

Thanks for the stringent marketing campaigns of Vodafone in Europe and that of Verizon in North America, the Storm did have good sales. But more thanks to those who demanded for improvements to the software, inclusion of the Wi-Fi and larger memory capacity. Now the Storm2 is out to recover from the rather lame reviews that the older version got last year.

For starters, the operating systems are way much improved, making users appreciate the Storm2 being a touch-screen device. Text messaging, emails and other tasks are now a breeze with the unit. Plus, being Wi-Fi ready makes the device indispensable to business and corporate users. Then there’s the internal memory that integrated at 2BG and comes expandable to 16GB via microSD card slot.

The unchanged specifications include the touchscreen display, the 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus features, stereo Bluetooth upgraded to 2.1 and an integrated GPS. Its multimedia player supports Windows Media, MPEG4, H.263 and H.254 files and MP3.

As with other Blackberrys, this device’s email support will always be the strongest point preferred by business people and other consumers. Plus, the handy personal information management features helps in the device organization that comes truly helpful for busy people. Other needed applications could also be downloaded via the Blackberry App World.

For related information regarding this post, go to: Mobile Gazette