Lots of people have been calling the Storm an iPhone killer -- after seeing it, I think it will cause more of a grazing wound. By which I mean, not enough to kill, or even hurt for very long, but enough of a wound to help RIM stop losing share to Apple.
The touchscreen is like a giant clickable button versus Apple's, making it quintessentially Blackberry. Except that it, and the "keyboard", have lost some of their ease of use. It appears that you have to lift your fingers completely from one key to another. That slows down the typing speed.
For me at least. Others seem more impressed by the unambiguous clicking thing. Here's a chunk of the Wired review:
But when you want to select something, be it anything from music application to a text message, you have to press down on that screen until it clicks. It’s not much — essentially it’s the same sensation you get when clicking with your mouse — but it makes a world of difference. There’s no ambiguity to button presses. You know exactly what key you have pushed and what application you have selected. Text messaging is a breeze — I was able to compose a lengthy detailed SMS without a single typo.
One really killer feature is text editing, which lets you cut and paste pieces of an email or document and move them. Very cool.
In terms of the essential sexy factor, it's pretty sexy looking, though a scosh bigger than iPhone. But it'll turn heads, which is of course 37.8% of iPhone's appeal.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.
