Verizon made a quiet little announcement yesterday – the Blackberry Storm 2 will be out tomorrow, October 28th. The news follows a year of leaks, so it’s not much of a surprise. It’s odd, though, that Big Red is so nonchalant about the release. The original Storm wasn’t quite the hit it was supposed to be, but the Storm 2 is supposed to have fixed most of the original problems.

Part of the Storm 2’s problem is that it’s been almost universally panned. The GPS is supposedly awful and the Blackberry OS 5.0 has a tendency to reset spontaneously on the 9550. There’s also the fact that the Blackberry OS continues to age while systems like the iPhone OS and Android are doing a better job of growing alongside the devices they support.

As for positive additions, the Storm 2 finally adds WiFi and makes a big improvement on the original’s touchscreen. The Storm 2 will run $179.99 on contract after a $100 mail-in rebate.

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.

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.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been patiently awaiting some sort of announcement regarding the release of the Blackberry Storm 2. Yesterday Verizon gave us the cumulus cloud before the…Storm…2. At any rate, Verizon has announced that the original Storm, the 9530, will drop to just $99 on contract. The pricing plan follows the iPhone 3GS release, though the new phone from Apple didn’t drop the iPhone 3G to $99 until its announcement.

This would be the first solid confirmation of an impending Storm 2 release from the biggest wireless network in the US. As is the case with most major releases, Verizon is likely trying to reduce their stock of the old Storm before releasing the new model on the public. The price cut comes just eight months after the initial release of the original Storm last November.

Are you holding out on a contract upgrade for the Storm 2, or is a $99 Storm appealing enough to get you to sign up?

The latest from Lowell McAdam, top exec for the Verizon/Vodafone venture, has Verizon selling the Palm Pre and the Blackberry Storm in the next “6 months or so.” The Storm 2 is no big surprise. Plenty of people have had their hands on that things for weeks. But the Pre, too? We knew Sprint’s exclusivity contract was short, but 6 months hadn’t even crossed my mind. Earlier this week AT&T announced similar plans to snatch up the Pre, but made no projection as to when.

This really shakes things up, both for Palm and Sprint. For Palm, it could mean new life. I know plenty of people who don’t have an iPhone because of AT&T. Verizon could be enough to make them consider the sleek Palm smartphone as an alternative. For Sprint, though, this is like a cancer diagnosis. The company bled more than a million customers in the last quarter of 2008. If Palm’s launch stock is as scrawny as rumors say, they could be out of phones and out of exclusivity with Palm before they have a chance to dig their toes in. Could Sprint bounce back from having their most-hyped phone on Verizon? I wouldn’t hold my breath for that one.

Source: Reuters