Better late than never, right? The BlackBerry Storm2 isn’t exactly rocket science. Usually companies whether it’s a car manufacturer, handset company, computer maker or others follow up on an existing product and label it “new and improved.” Just like clockwork, RIM has spit out another iteration of their BlackBerry Storm series and this time it’s the much-awaited BlackBerry Storm2 9550 for Verizon. Finally the handset packs everything you’d hope for in a BlackBerry as far as hardware specs are concerned: global roaming, Wi-Fi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a decent processor, and 256MB of RAM. Since the screen is pretty much the most important part of the Storm as it’s the only navigation and text entry method, it is great to see RIM improve on their existing implementation and almost knock it out of the park. What’s funny is that the same way the Storm2 works is how it was initially described to us way back in July of last year, and we’ve heard that the original Storm was actually supposed to be more like the Storm2, but we won’t get too far into that as it’s unsubstantiated at this point.
We covered the BlackBerry 9520 a bit as we have been playing with it for a little while, but the screen has got even better with a retail unit and it’s less noisy and even more fun to use. Typing is pretty easy, and the unit in general feels great in your hand to hold and use. As far as market positioning for the Storm2, Verizon hasn’t made things easy for RIM lately. Many people have said that this is what the first Storm should have been, and while we agree, we don’t think it’s too late. If you have to have a BlackBerry and you want a touch-based phone, the Storm2 is an excellent choice. If you’re comparing it to other touchscreen handsets though, the waters get a little murky and you’ll have to make that decision for yourself. Hit up the BlackBerry 9550 gallery for more shots!
