BlackBerry Storm Gives iPhone Competition

RIM just unveiled the BlackBerry Storm, a new smartphone that features the world's first ‘clickable’ touch screen and runs on 3G EV-DO Rev. A/CDMA technology and (2100Mhz) UMTS/HSPA, as well as quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM for global use.

BlackBerry Storm’s touch screen depresses slightly when pressed and releases with a light ‘click’ – similar to a physical keyboard. Support for single-touch, multi-touch and gestures allows users to quickly navigate the smartphone’s interface and full HTML Web browser.

The Storm’s 480 x 360 touch screen automatically switches between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset. Users can choose from two virtual keyboards – a full QWERTY keyboard while in landscape mode or RIM's SureType keyboard while in portrait mode.

Other highlights include:

• Support for personal and corporate email, as well as text, picture and instant messaging
  
• Enhanced Web browser with support for file downloading and streaming audio and video (RTSP)
  
• Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go suite for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
  
• 3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus, flash and video recording
  
• Built-in GPS with support for location-based applications and photo geotagging
• 1GB on board memory storage
  
• microSD/SDHD memory card slot with support for up to 16GB of storage
  
• Advanced media player, 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
  

The BlackBerry Storm will be available in the U.S. beginning later this fall from Verizon Wireless.

For more information, go to www.blackberry.com/storm