Blackberry has got into the habit of making and selling phones. And just to annoy those who already bought one, they launch the ?2? version. Bold2 came recently, updated with the optical trackpad. Now the Storm2 has arrived. Is it any better than the first version?
Lets find out.
The Storm2 looks exactly like the first gen Storm, but is still different. What carries over is the Quad-band GSM capabilities, 3.2 inch screen and the same form factor. But what is different, and most important is the way RIM?s SurePress technology works.
What SurePress did was make the entire touchscreen into a clickable button. Touch the screen, press a bit harder and you could feel the entire screen click like a button. This did not go well with the users because the response was iffy and pressing the entire screen needed too much of an effort, which other touchscreen phones don?t need.
Research in Motion realised the problem, and the Storm2 gets a different SurePress. This time, the clickable screen sits on 4 buttons, which makes the clicks more precise and the feel more solid. The Storm 9520 has a pretty good build quality, true to Blackberry traditions. The front is completely black in colour with a silver border on both sides. The battery cover has a rubbery feel to it, in contrast to the rest of the back panel.
The Blackberry OS 5.0 interface on the Storm2 is open to some customisations on the home screen, but is pretty much locked otherwise. The menu is smooth to operate and use, and the phone does not freeze up or hang. The processor is still the 528 MHz one, which could have been bumped up. But RIM doubled the operating memory from 128 MB to 256 MB, which is similar to putting more RAM in your PC to speed it up.
The battery life is better than expected. Two days from full charge to full discharge, the Storm2 is better than its QWERTY based siblings. The 3MP camera is decent enough for decent pictures. However, there are not a lot of tweaking options and this will not replace your camera. However, should Blackberry not offer a better spec camera for a phone of this price. The media player is no great thing. It just plays multimedia in a basic way and gets done with it.
On the negative side, first and most important, the GPRS/EDGE capabilities of your mobile connection are completely disabled unless you have a Blackberry plan activated with your service provider. So, if you are buying a Blackberry phone, be ready to pay your mobile service provider at least Rs 299 per month extra as Blackberry rental.
Secondly, if I disable data services completely (not linked to the Blackberry plan in any way) on the phone, even the Wi-Fi does not work! Data services, irrespective of use or not, need to be kept on for Wi-Fi to work.
Third, the Web browser is a bit of a mess. It has two separate settings?Wi-Fi browser and Mobile data services (Vodafone Live! in my case) browser. For a first time user, it is a bit overwhelming. Well, overwhelming will come later, but first the user has to even know something like this exists!
Fourth, no FM radio! Even phones available for Rs 2k have an FM radio as almost standard spec.
Verdict: Before you buy the Storm2, try to understand what you want:
1. You want a Blackberry
2. You want a touchscreen phone
3. You want a touchscreen phone which is a Blackberry
If the answer is 1, then you would be better off with the traditional (read QWERTY) Bold2.
The Bold2 is lighter to use, less flimsy because of the smaller screen and more comfortable to type on if you will be sending long mails and SMS.
If the answer is 2, then you can look at the Bold2 and also the HTC HD2, available in a similar price range.
If the answer is 3, then you really have no option (I am discounting the truly terrible Storm 1 completely)!
? CyberMedia www.LD2.in
Mail:talkLD@cybermedia.co.in
