The BlackBerry, a phone and e-mail device that just a few years ago could be found mostly clipped to the belts of high-powered professionals, isn't just for workaholics anymore.
To its fiercest devotees, one of the best things about the BlackBerry is its carefully designed physical keyboard, which the skilled addict can play like a violin. These folks scorn Apple's popular iPhone, whose keyboard is virtual and must be operated by tapping on the screen.
Now Verizon Wireless and Research in Motion, BlackBerry's maker, have done the unthinkable: On Nov. 21, they introduced a BlackBerry model without a physical keyboard, one where typing and navigating require tapping on glass, just as on the iPhone. This new model is the Storm, which sells for $250 with a two-year contract, though a $50 mail-in rebate can bring the price close to the $199 that Apple charges for the base iPhone.
Despite having a keyboard, the Storm is a real BlackBerry, with push e-mail, corporate features and the familiar menus. In many respects, it is a touch-based, large-screen version of the recently released BlackBerry Bold, which is the most polished version of a traditional BlackBerry. It is also the latest member of the new class of hand-held computers, the super-smartphone category kicked off by the iPhone last year and joined by the Google G1 earlier this year.
The Storm sports a large, high-resolution touch screen that fills most of its surface and automatically switches from portrait to landscape mode when the phone is turned. There's also a forthcoming souped-up download store for third-party software, meant to be similar to the ones on the iPhone and the Google phone. The Storm can even be used in European and other countries where most Verizon phones don't work. Continued...
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