Its screen, while 7% smaller physically, offers about 13% higher resolution. The Storm has some important advantages over the iPhone. And, at home or in the office, you can’t take advantage of Wi-Fi connections that are often much faster than cellphone data networks. This means that, unlike on the Bold, the iPhone or the Google G1, if high-speed cellphone data service is absent or pokey, you can’t fall back on speedy Wi-Fi connections in public places. There’s another glaring deficit in the Storm: It lacks Wi-Fi capability. For instance, on the iPhone, when you are typing in a Web address in the browser, the keyboard morphs to offer a convenient key that automatically enters “.com”. RIM also failed to customize the Storm’s virtual keyboard for some common, specific tasks. RIM could have offered a full, vertically oriented keyboard, even if it would have had smaller, more closely spaced keys. Once a company ditches a physical keyboard for a virtual one, it can create all kinds of keyboard variations. You can also switch to a virtual cellphone-style keypad that requires you to hit each key multiple times.įrom left, BlackBerry Storm, Google G1, and iPhone 3G This keyboard design relies on software to guess which letter you meant to press. When you hold the Storm vertically, you get a mashed-up keyboard, like the one on the narrower BlackBerry Pearl, which has multiple letters on each key. It presents you with a full virtual keyboard only when you are holding it horizontally. The Storm also has a keyboard oddity that I found annoying, and that may put off others. I found that I could type quite well on the Storm after awhile, but that a greater adjustment, and more practice, were required than with a physical keyboard. In my opinion, using the Storm’s keyboard is much more like using the iPhone’s keyboard than a traditional BlackBerry’s. But neither I, nor any of the several BlackBerry addicts I asked to try it out, considered typing on the Storm’s keyboard to be very similar to using the keyboard of a traditional full-sized BlackBerry. The feature does provide a more reassuring confirmation that a key has been struck or an icon has been clicked than the mere visual feedback one receives from the iPhone. This push-down screen also replaces the side-mounted scroll wheel or track ball on other BlackBerrys for activating menu choices and icons.īut, in my tests, this physical feedback feature, which RIM calls SurePress, didn’t magically turn the Storm’s touch interface and virtual keyboard into their physical counterparts. The idea behind this feature is to make typing on glass feel much more like typing on a real keyboard, and thus to make the virtual keyboard, and the touch interface, more acceptable to people used to physical keyboards and buttons. The entire glass display is one large button, mounted on a mechanical substructure that allows it to be depressed when pressure is applied. That’s because you are, in fact, pressing a real button. When you strike a key or icon on the Storm’s screen, you feel a physical sensation, as if you were pressing down on a real key or button. However, the biggest innovation in the Storm is a clever feature RIM hopes will give it a big advantage over the iPhone. The rollout of V CAST Apps provides proof that the company is focused on delivering the most innovative services and applications that will entertain, educate and make their lives a little more fun,” shared Ryan Hughes, vice president, business development and partner management for Verizon Wireless.BlackBerry Storm’s touch screen switches from portrait to landscape mode when turned, and aims to make typing on glass feel more like typing on a real keyboard. “Consumers want to do more with their wireless phones, and V CAST Apps is another way Verizon Wireless is bringing the most desirable applications to the nation’s most reliable network. Business users using BlackBerry Enterprise Server will have to get in touch with their business specialists for information on how to download V CAST Apps. These Apps help users access various productivity, navigation and education apps as well as games and entertainment apps. BlackBerry users who use BlackBerry Internet Service will receive an icon that connects to V CAST Apps. The ‘purchased’ apps are instantly invoiced on users’ monthly account billing statements.Īs of now, the V CAST Apps are available on the BlackBerry Bold 9650, Storm2 9550, Curve 8530 and Tour 9630 and are anticipated to roll out for Storm 9530 and Curve 8330 in the coming weeks. The apps offer users a one-click process to purchase a huge range of apps with utmost ease. Well, the company has revealed that V CAST Apps, its mobile applications storefront, are now available on select BlackBerry smartphones. People seeking ways to get entertaining apps on their BlackBerry device have just got something interesting from Verizon Wireless.
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