The mobile landscape has gotten more than a little competitive in recent years, what with mobile manufacturers unearthing new ways to integrate higher-tech hardware into their mobile units, thereby making them run faster and more smoothly with greater versatility without rendering them bulky and clunky chunks of plastic that have a hard time fitting in palms or pockets. Mobile phones can now do more things than ever before, and the challenge for mobile manufacturers and service providers is to put together a mobile package that manages to do a wide range of tasks without sacrificing quality and performance – avoiding the pitfall of making a jack of all trades but a master of none.
Mobile manufacturer RIM has put out consistently solid BlackBerry models for the last few years, going so far as to tie up with mobile carriers to outfit each model with a good set of features and coverage items to entice buyers. The RIM BlackBerry Storm 9500 is a new model that has been highly anticipated with a good deal of hype behind it, and it’s not hard to see why. The first full touchscreen smartphone from Research In Motion has caused quite a stir, with expectations that RIM’s signature dependability and solid models would be manifest in the latest groundbreaking model as well.
A virtual keyboard is a somewhat odd sight for a BlackBerry, the models of which have traditionally been physical QWERTY keyboard-based. Intriguingly, RIM have stayed true to form by not being content with merely following the touch screen crowd, and have instead made a fully clickable ClickThrough touchscreen that is itself an innovation of an innovation. The 3.25 inch screen is essentially a giant button, depressing every time an icon or key on the screen is pressed – with a tap, a blue flash and pop-up indicates what each key controls, and a deeper and fuller press activates the function.
Potrait orientation gives a user the RIM SureType keypad layout, with the option to switch to Multitap input. Shifting the phone to landscape orientation directs the internal accelerometer to switch the phone to full-QWERTY. While you can’t see every bit of message text, the Storm 9500’s keypad does support copy and paste [click at the start and end points, select Copy and then Paste from Menu]. The screen’s not exactly the most responsive one out there though, and the accelerometer is more than a little slow. Still, while the Storm 9500 does take some getting used to, it’s an altogether new text and navigation managing experience that’s worth a try.
No such compromises have been made with communication, especially email, which has always been BlackBerry’s strong point. The integrated Enterprise functionality continues to make the BlackBerry model exceptional, and personal accounts are easier than ever to set up. The Documents To Go app also helps users easily deal with email attachments, and the signature RIM suite of calendar and address book apps help keep you as organized as always. An Application Centre connection helps users increase the phone’s versatility even more, with YouTube, Flickr and Google Maps applications – not to mention great use of social networking apps – at the top of the list.
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