Engadget got an early look at some accessories for the Blackberry Storm 2 today. It’s just more in a year-long string of leaks that point to a release some time this month, maybe even some time this week. The shots from Best Buy are just some silicone skins, but none of the material can seem to agree on a name for the device.
The accessory packaging shows 9550, the numeric nomenclature for the device, Storm II (is there a Storm III in the works?) and even Odin, which used to be the product’s code name. The three names show up right next to one another, apparently to assuage any doubt about just which device the skins are for. That a major retail chain has them, though, almost definitely points to a release date in the near future.
The iPhone has yet again proven that people will put up with some of the worst wireless service in the world just to have a phone they can love. The iPhone won the 2009 JD Power awards for customer satisfaction in both the consumer and business categories.
If you take a look at the breakdown, no other phone came close. Sure, battery life was the iPhone’s weak point, but for all the other criteria, users scored the phone as high as possible. That’s quite a testament to the fanatical love people show for a phone that struggles most with actually making and holding calls, thanks to AT&T’s network.
In other, much less interesting news, LG was the winner for feature phones. Anyone surprised?
What more proof do you need than the iPhone’s sales figures that at the end of the day, it’s customer satisfaction that really matters. Sure your phone might be able to multi-task, it might have a unique, web-based operating system. It might even have the physical keyboard its competitor lacks. But if the whole world likes that other phone better, those features don’t mean a thing.
I’ve been curious to see the Blackberry Storm 2 in action for some time now, and today I thought I’d gotten my wish. Twitter user Salmondrin (whose account has apparently been pulled) has put together a decent video detailing the tech behind the Storm 2’s new screen, and he’s made it pretty easy to understand for the layman. You can find the video
For the tech savvy user, which I’m assuming most readers here to be, the video leaves a lot to be desired. It’s definitely a nice introduction – Salmondrin gives us the CDMA/GSM breakdown (both models coming, the former on Verizon, the latter on AT&T), confirms Wi-Fi, and describes in detail the differences between the original Storm and the Storm 2. What he leaves out, though, is a thorough demonstration of the new screen, which is really what sets the phone apart from both the original Storm and Apple’s iPhone.
Please don’t misunderstand me. Salmondrin does describe the way the screen works. It’s a piezo-electric screen, meaning it’s stiff when there’s no power running through it, but the screen yields to a more squishy, clickable form when presented with a current. Unlike the original Storm, which could only be clicked in one location at a time, the PE screen allows multiple point clicking, which is a big win if you’re typing fairly quickly. What isn’t clear, though, is how well typing works in that situation. Salmondrin keeps says multiple times without actually revealing anything new that the Storm 2 is better than the Storm and better than the iPhone.
I’m not here to say that the iPhone’s screen is the best thing I’ve ever held, but it’s responsive, quick, and despite my big fingers I’m able to type fairly accurately. Part of the speed, to be honest, comes from the fact that I’m not actually pushing anything. Requiring that kind of pressure is actually worse for someone with big hands because it’s harder to keep a good grip on the phone and reproduce the pressure in quick successive strokes. Now I haven’t held a Storm 2, so I don’t know how well it works. Salmondrin has, and he could have told us. He could have demoed the keyboard by typing words with letters in close proximity, like “r” and “t”. Then we would have at least seen the radius of sensitivity with each press. After watching the video it’s still not clear whether the keyboard is intentionally laid over a grid of PE squares, where one square corresponds to one key, or if it’s a sort of spongey plane that can click just about anywhere.
Instead, all we got was a few shots of him clicking the screen in places and crowing about how great that feature is. Is it an improvement over the original Storm? Sure. But that’s true of most any touch screen. Is it really the “huge advantage” Salmondrin claims? I have no idea. He didn’t demo the thing enough for me to tell.
Blackberry is notoriously skimpy on their Mac support. Every time they roll out a new feature it seems the comments always go, “Great! But what about Mac?” Beg no longer, you Mac/Blackberry users – the Desktop Manager is coming this September.
Shocked with disbelief? Don’t be. It’s a full-fledged version of Desktop Manager – the same thing that runs on PCs. I know, I know, it’s been a long, hard road, and there have been plenty of tears along the way. It’s all over this September, though. You’ll be getting all sorts of new goodies, like iTunes sync for music, calendars, notes, everything really. You’ll also have application support, software updates, the ability to backup and restore your phone (with encrypted backups), and you can even manage multiple devices from the same machine. Now that’s what I’m talking about!
You may have noticed a theme here – the word September with no proceeding date. That’s because there isn’t one. Blackberry has yet to say exactly when the handy new software will be available, so you’ll just have to start watching on September 1.
Smartphones used to be the domain of supergeeks and tech professionals – people who needed or desperately wanted the functionality of a full computer in a tidy mobile platform. As the devices became more popular and the desire for on-the-go web capabilities grew you could almost smell the storm coming.
Then the iPhone came out and sold millions, spurring competitors to make their own touchscreen wonderphone. We’ve now got the Blackberry Storm, the HTC G1, the Palm Pre, the Nokia N97, and the Samsung Jet, all running on a different operating system. While the manufacturers tout the hardware features that make their phone the best (physical keyboards, a screen that clicks, a camera with a flash), consumers are starting to look to the software that runs the phone, and the applications they’re finally able to install, to make a decision.
Apple has been most successful with third party application sales and support due to their App Store, which opened in mid-July, 2008. Since release, the App Store has seen more than a billion application downloads and now showcases more than 50,000 third party applications. From games to translators, finance tools to ereaders, the Apple App Store has an app for almost anything, leaving its competitors lagging far behind.
It’s taken nearly a year for competitors to get their mobile application stores up and running, time during which Apple has continued to lure consumers with the promise of a robust app catalog. As Business Insider points out, consumers aren’t just investing in a phone, they’re investing in a platform, with application quality and quantity as a major component of that investment. In a similar article, BI adds that time users spend with applications is replacing time spent on the web. Apps like Yelp allow users quick access to restaurant reviews, where before they would have been using Google.
Engadget got an early look at some accessories for the Blackberry Storm 2 today. It’s just more in a year-long string of leaks that point to a release some time this month, maybe even some time this week. The shots from Best Buy are just some silicone skins, but none of the material can seem to agree on a name for the device.
