BlackBerry Storm 9500

The BlackBerry Storm 9500 was announced today. It has some really cool features and specifications, including 3.2 MP camera, GPS, SD (16GB) card slot, video recording, cut-n-paste, accelerometer, and a clicky touchscreen.

Verizon is suppose to release it on November 2nd...just as my Verizon contract is expiring.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 Engadget review

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Comments

jamesp1983

that clicky touch screen sounds interesting. its spring loaded or something?

JDMurray

I just found out that the BB Storm Verizon will be carrying is the 9530, which has more cellular features than the straight BB 9500.

And the release date is now Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Wish I knew how much cheaper it will be after Xmas. My wife wants one too.

JDMurray

Well, I may be the only one on TE excited about this, but it looks the the official release date (for now) of the BlackBerry Storm 9530 is the weekend of November 15/16th at both Verizon Wireless stores and Best Buy. The rumored base price is $299.

BlackBerry Storm hitting Best Buy November 16th?

BlackBerry Storm/Thunder 95xx forum at crackberry.com

dynamik

I'm definitely keeping an eye on it. My contract is up in Jan or Feb, and I don't have any allegiances to any brand or carrier. Hopefully some more Android phones get out there as well. It seems like those are going to do well, but at the same time, it seems like there is still room for a lot of improvement.

JDMurray

I never buy a v1.0 of anything, so I'm not even considering Android, and I like my Verizon service just fine. The Storm has some v1.0-ish features, but I trust RIM to know what they are doing with new BB releases by now.

Webmaster

JDMurray wrote:

including 3.2 MP camera, GPS, SD (16GB) card slot, video recording, cut-n-paste, accelerometer, and a clicky touchscreen.

Yeah yeah rub it in

I can do without the 1.2 extra MP and the videorecording, but despite the minimum amount of text input required a cut-n-paste feature is something I frequently miss on my iPhone. The additional 40 x 480 pixels and the slot for MicroSD make the Storm a very interesting alternative to the iPhone. I'm not as excited but at least as impressed.

JDMurray

No cut and paste for iPhone, but the Storm won't have the pinching multi-touch gesture that the iPhone has. Apparently that trick is patent pending by Apple.

engadget: Apple patent attack: the multi-touch gesture dictionary

Webmaster

It's the pinching gesture that makes browing regular webpages (those not created for mobile devices) on the iPhone so easy. I read Apple submitted loads of patents for the iPhone; this one seems kinda silly. It's a good thing they didn't do that with the mouse 'click'.

I'm sure they come up with something intuitive for the Storm though.

JDMurray

Webmaster wrote:

I read Apple submitted loads of patents for the iPhone; this one seems kinda silly. It's a good thing they didn't do that with the mouse 'click'.

Apple must have patents for the mouse because they were the company that brought it to the commercial market from Xerox PARC. It would be hilarious if they were denied any patents because a mouse is just an upside down trackball.

Webmaster wrote:

I'm sure they come up with something intuitive for the Storm though.

Uh, well, I think the "innovation" to replace pinching in the Storm is called "double-tap."

Arvean

Blackberry Storm? I always thought that Blackberries are special because they have a keyboard and they can email better.... Take away the keyboard and you will get an Iphone clone, just less entertaining... I would hold my breath for this one...

JDMurray

Blackberry Storm to be released by VZW on Friday, November 21, 2008 .

It's $250 with $50 rebate for a new plan and nationwide email: http://estore.vzwshop.com/storm/

Lots more gossip: Blackberry Storm forum at crackberry.com

phantasm

I'm considering one of these, I've never had a BB before. I figure it's time I get myself a decent phone.

nel

I like the iphone/blackberrys but how comes there camera's are feeble? i know a phone isnt a camera and shouldnt be bought for that primary purpose possibly but other phones are coming out with around 8mp now. Surely it should be more up there considering the cost etc?

Mmartin_47

The blackberry is geared more towards business people, well the bold is at least. The storm looks awesome.

Ahriakin

I think the MP rating on phone camera's is misleading, the sensors and lenses tend to be relatively crap even on higher end models so you get 8mp of mush.

mamono

I've been considering a new phone as my contract is over. I want the Apple iPhone so that I can use touchterm and other applications to do on-call work without having to lug&whip out the laptop with EVDO card. My other consideration has been a Blackberry because there are SSH/telnet applications and the phone is extremely stable. I've been wondering whether that is the case with the Blackberry Storm as well. It being a v1 phone, I have my doubts. At least the iPhone is in its 2nd version...

Still can't decide...

JDMurray

mamono wrote:

I've been wondering whether that is the case with the Blackberry Storm as well. It being a v1 phone, I have my doubts. At least the iPhone is in its 2nd version...

Remember that Rim has been making the BB for many years. I'm not a v1.0-adopter myself, but I have confidence that the Storm will be 99% solid and workable because of the experience has with engineering all of its previous BB models.

The only thing that really concerns me is the actual life expectancy of the Storm's click-screen. How well will it still be working after one or two years of my usage pattern? Maybe Rim relies on people getting a new BB every two years, so the screen doesn't need a longer life span.

dynamik

Ahriakin wrote:

I think the MP rating on phone camera's is misleading, the sensors and lenses tend to be relatively crap even on higher end models so you get 8mp of mush.

Absolutely. That's the reason a 6MP dSLR will stomp a 10 or 12MP P&S. As far as phones go, I'd rather have a 2MP camera with better optics than some piece of crap with a ridiculously high number of MPs.

JDMurray

I'd rather the Storm not have a camera, like the BB 8820 doesn't. There are a lot of jobs (esp. DoD) that do not allow people to carry cameras, so they must choose a cell phone that don't have one. Strange there isn't a no-camera option with a different model number.