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?

Interesting article by popularmechanics.com this week. Here they explore “5 Design Flaws that Ruined Otherwise Smart Gadgets.”

In order for a touchscreen to be successful, the user needs to feel that he is in constant control, and for this, responsiveness is key—even small lags can prove immensely frustrating. One recent offender of this rule is the Blackberry Storm, RIM’s first touchscreen phone.

Some history: Before the Storm was released, there was a lot of buzz surrounding its supposedly ground-breaking touchscreen, which depresses like a button, giving users a satisfying “click”.

But when users and reviewers actually got their hands on their device, the real shock was how buggy the whole thing was. The touchscreen suffered from long delays—often a second or more—that made users yearn for their old button-based Blackberry. And completing simple tasks took an unnecessary number of steps. For example, inputting the letter “C” involves putting one’s finger on the letter, waiting for the phone to respond by highlighting the letter, and then pushing down. All that for a simple letter.

I can definitely agree with some of this. BlackBerry, for instance, had a good vision when designing the touch-and-click function in the Storm, but the execution was less than stellar. Have you tried this thing? Press and hold, press harder, wait for it… wait for it… and click. Are you kidding me? That’s the ultra-innovative touch-screen we’ve been waiting for? Please.

I can’t agree too much with the Wii Remote. After all, they did include a wrist strap with every Wiimote. If you choose not to use the wrist strap, that’s at your own risk.

I’ve already touched on the Kindle vs. the Kindle 2 here, so I won’t go there right now.

Check out the article and let me know if you know of any sweet gadgets that have a clear miss in the design.