When Research In Motion, the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry, decided to make a touchscreen version of its popular mobile email device, it was taking a huge gamble.
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Text input is the BlackBerry's bread and butter - the reason it's proved such a hit with businessmen is because it allows them to type emails quickly and easily on the go using the miniature Qwerty keyboard. Hardened "CrackBerry" addicts are even able to tap out messages while giving briefings and holding meetings, so ditching the beloved keyboard in favour of a touchscreen interface was a bold move.
But it's one that has paid off in spades - the BlackBerry Storm, Research In Motion's first attempt at a touchscreen device, is a triumph. It's a really powerful device with plenty of clever features, but let's set that to one side for the moment and focus on the question people really want to know the answer to: what's it like to type on?
A revelation, is the short answer. RIM has managed to develop a touch-screen keyboard that's as close to typing on real buttons as you're currently likely to get. Every time you touch a key, the whole screen feels like it's pressing down under the weight of your finger, and a sharp clicking sound is emitted. You can switch between a full Qwerty keyboard layout in portrait or landscape mode, or opt for BlackBerry's SureType keyboard configuration (where two letters appear in a single Qwerty keyboard button), and best of all, you can copy and paste between applications - a simple feature sorely lacking on Apple's iPhone and many other touchscreen devices.
The whole touchscreen interface on the Storm is subtley different to that of other similar handsets, because a single touch is not enough - you click once to highlight an option, and again to select. While, at first, this takes some getting used to, it's easy to see the benefits. There's no more accidental pressing of email forward buttons or selecting applications erroneously from the home screen. One tap highlights the option, a second click accepts it. People who've found the sensitivity of touchscreens hard to get to grips with will appreciate this input method - it sound convoluted, but with a little use, quickly becomes second nature.
So, apart from a very clever user interface, what other tricks does the Storm have up its sleeve? Well, like its predecessor, the Bold, it's an impressive multimedia device. The Storm not only automatically drags in songs and playlists from your iTunes library, it also provides an over-the-air music download service from the Vodafone Music Store, and offers up to 16GB of storage.
Its 3.25in screen is crisp and clear, and well-suited to watching movies and viewing photos on thanks to the clarity of colours and decent contrast. The Storm's 3.2-megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom is better quality than the two-megapixel snapper found on the Apple iPhone, and it can record video too.
Web browsing is slick, thanks to the high-speed 3G network support and wireless internet access, although not quite as intuitive as on the iPhone. The Storm has built-in GPS and runs BlackBerry Maps, which means it could be used as a turn-by-turn sat-nav device. There's one-click access to popular online services such as Facebook and Flickr, and the launch of a BlackBerry application store will see the number of available programs increase.
Despite its aspirations to become a consumer-friendly device, the Storm recognises that a large proportion of its users will be businessmen, so it has plenty of smartphone features, such as the ability to open and edit documents on the go, and to communicate across a variety of instant-messaging platforms.
Battery life is solid enough, offering around six hours of talk time and about 15 days on standby. Competitive pricing (the Storm will be available for free on Vodafone's £35 per month tariffs), an innovative touchscreen interface that will satisfy CrackBerry addicts and everyday users, and impressive multimedia capabilities, make the Storm a very real alternative to the Apple iPhone, and should ensure it appeals to consumers as well as business professionals.
The launch of the Storm could see clouds descending over Apple's headquarters as the company ponders how best to fend off this latest and greatest challenge.
