The BlackBerry Storm has finally been unveiled, after months of rumours, leaks and hype.
- Touchscreen BlackBerry launched to take on the Apple iPhone
- Review: BlackBerry makes storming debut in touchscreen battle
The touchscreen handset is widely seen as BlackBerry-maker RIM’s response to the success of the Apple iPhone, and reviewers have been quick to set the two devices up against each other.
Telegraph.co.uk's own gadget expert Claudine Beaumont has described the Storm as a "triumph", calling it a "very real alternative" to the iPhone.
But what do the handful of other technology journalists who have been given access to the phone think?
Below we present extracts from 10 other Blackberry Storm reviews from leading newspapers and technology websites.
The consensus is that the Storm is the best of the iPhone rivals released this year, ahead of the Google Android and the Nokia 5800. Not only that, certain features – notably the "pressable" screen – put it ahead of Apple’s offering.
RIM hasn't in any way made the phone unattractive to its traditional corporate loyalists, and might just manage to snag other users looking for a flashy phone with decent email, but when it comes to browsing, media playback and other forms of consumer-friendliness, RIM still has a way to go.
Engadget
By trying to actually innovate rather than imitate, RIM has conjured up the phone most deserving of the title "iPhone killer".
Gizmodo
We’ve seen a butt-load of handset makers jump on the iClone bandwagon since Apple’s device was announced in 2007. And without exception, every single attempt has failed to come close to meeting the iPhone’s nearly mythic combination of intuitive UI, responsive touchscreen, and gorgeous hardware. The Storm, though, actually gets closest of any device we’ve ever laid hands on. And in one critical area it — get ready for it — it actually beats the iPhone.
Wired
On the surface the Storm runs the iPhone a close second of the four Christmas touchscreens, beating the Nokia 5800 - who can be bothered to double tap everything? - and the G1. But the devil is going to be in the detail…. A badly constructed tariff could kill this phone.
The Guardian
If you peer through the marketing guff, [it’s] great stuff really. But the Storm stands and falls on how good you think that clickable touchscreen is.
The Times
The touch screen isn't the only innovation here. There's a lot going on under the hood, too. This is the first phone we've seen with dual-mic noise cancellation, a feature borrowed from Bluetooth headsets that improves voice transmission quality by measuring and then canceling outside noise using a microphone on the back of the handset.
PC Magazine
Appealing to the consumer in all of us, RIM stabs at the heart of Apple's iPhone, and comes out on top in many respects.
Information Week
Overall, I was impressed – nice design, feature rich. Again, the ClickThrough touch screen takes some getting used to, and I wonder how it will hold up over months of use. Performance wise, the device seemed snappy, but I also caught a couple of bugs. For example the camera activated when I tired to perform some function in email. However, I know it wasn’t a final product, so I wont hold that against RIM. Music and video playback were pretty impressive as well.
CNET
