Will Storm Kill the iPhone?

Back in 1999, an obscure Canadian company named Research in Motion defied conventional wisdom and squeezed a small keyboard onto a pager-sized device, thus creating the first BlackBerry device.

Prepared by: Vanja Figenwald

RIM has recently struck again, this time completely eliminating the physical keyboard from its new BlackBerry Storm smartphone, which will go on sale this fall in the U.S., Europe, and parts of Asia. Apple’s iPhone popularized the onscreen keyboard, but the Storm is significantly different and noticeably better. The device uses a touchscreen similar to the iPhone, allowing you to gently glide your finger across the surface while navigating content. When you want to confirm a selection, you simply press the surface a bit harder. A slight flexing of the screen activates a tiny button underneath, providing specific tactile feedback. This way, the common problem with touchscreens—where it can be difficult to distinguish between navigating and launching an application—is avoided.

Here, the difference is substantial. A stronger press gives an incredibly realistic feel of a real button, far more than, for example, Samsung’s Instinct keyboard, which vibrates upon touch. Initially, typing seems easier and more accurate than it is on the iPhone or any other device with an onscreen keyboard. The keys appear in two configurations. When you lay the Storm horizontally, you get a full keyboard that spans the entire width of the screen. However, when you turn it vertically, you get a SureType keyboard, like the one on the BlackBerry Pearl model, where most letters share the same key, and the software automatically configures itself to understand which letter is being sought.

The Storm’s screen, like the iPhone’s, treats touch as something more significant than mere cursor movement. Unfortunately, it cannot replicate the iPhone’s trick of zooming in or out of content on the screen in relation to pinching or dragging a finger across the screen, but unlike the iPhone, it allows users to edit via cut and paste options, and it is possible to use a two-finger drag to select text. It is also possible to use a light finger movement to scroll pages up or down on the screen, which is very useful for quickly browsing email messages.

However, this model conceals a significant shift compared to its predecessors. In collaboration with Verizon and Vodafone, mobile service providers, the Storm has become a truly global phone. The problem that RIM had to solve was as follows. Namely, American Verizon has a high-bandwidth (and thus high-speed) network, but the technology used was not compatible with the rest of the world. The first solution was offered in last year’s BlackBerry 8830, but only for the North American region, which was not much help. Thus, the Storm is the first phone that works on both types of high-bandwidth, 3G networks.

The internet browser on the device has been improved compared to previous models, mainly because web pages are easier to browse in horizontal format and because it is possible to reveal hidden parts of pages with a swipe of a finger. Nice, but still far from the iPhone’s finesse. The Storm also lacks Wi-Fi, which could certainly be missed by iPhone users, but this is somewhat offset by the availability of global 3G speeds.

In addition to all this, the new model has all the treats expected from modern smartphones, including GPS, decent video and music players, stereo Bluetooth, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. Keeping pace with the momentum set by Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone, RIM has facilitated access to third-party applications (programs not made by the manufacturer itself) by establishing its application center online. The Storm is definitely not an iPhone killer, nor does it want to be. RIM has emphasized email and business applications, designing products intended to be managed by corporate IT departments.

Like its predecessors, the new BlackBerry is primarily aimed at managers on the go, although it includes a large portion of the latest technological trends that characterize the iPhone. The key test will be the (un)willingness of business users accustomed to a physical keyboard to switch to an onscreen keyboard. In any case, the Storm seems to be an excellent alternative to traditional BlackBerrys.