Mildly frightening Verizon promo video gets employees hype for BlackBerry Storm

Hey, bet you'd like to know that Verizon Wireless' Mike (you know, from Minute with Mike) thinks the BlackBerry Storm is going to "crush the competition." He also expects his sales team to "take the world by storm." He also states that this handset's screen is "built to be the most responsive of its time." Oh, but he totally neglects to mention a price and / or release date. Thanks Mike. Thanks a lot. Full mind-numbing episode is after the jump.

[Sofunnytom @ Sep 15th 2008 10:56PM]

he seems kinda creepy...............

[nerdtalker @ Sep 16th 2008 1:10AM]

Why is the whole thing eerily reminiscent of the Scientology training video that leaked a long anon ago? The whole clouds-foggy-don't-know-whether-to-trust-anything mood?

[Johan S @ Sep 16th 2008 4:04AM]

Actually I thought it would be a good commercial for the phone .. I bet the actual commercial will suck. Like the one for Dare which does tout the features at all.

[haX0r @ Sep 16th 2008 4:08PM]

Tom, come back to the Space Ship now!

Actually, it is nice looking phone. Hopefully it works well.

[boss-hogg @ Sep 17th 2008 3:02PM]

Yawn......

[who? @ Sep 15th 2008 10:59PM]

Touchy here, touchy there, it's ok... Hehehe.

[chris @ Sep 15th 2008 11:00PM]

man when are they finally gonna come out w/ a price on this, we keep seeing spy shots like crazy but still no price, its becoming quite annoying

[Donmt2 @ Sep 15th 2008 11:09PM]

awsome!!!!!!

[eric @ Sep 15th 2008 11:09PM]

i like that you can scroll with ease (as it seemed) but i wonder if you have to hold your finger down on the "click" touchscreen

[who? @ Sep 15th 2008 11:15PM]

Probably not, it looks just like those videos of people scrolling down on an iPhone, and I know for a fact that is easy. I'm positive it will be the same for the Storm... Maybe.

[a ham sandwich @ Sep 15th 2008 11:59PM]

what are you referring to? flick to scroll? i didnt see that in the video...

[ec @ Sep 15th 2008 11:12PM]

The clicking/moving screen is novel and sounds very interesting, but will it really work for fast typers?

On any regular qwerty keyboard, for a sequence of keystrokes, I press one key, then press the next key in the sequence before the previous key is fully released. In other words, when typing the word "key" I hit "k", and as the key is coming up, I'm already pressing "e" down. Obviously, there is no problem with this on non-touch keyboards, since both keys have independent action (and so long as you are not hitting the keys simultaneously).

But what happens when you have one giant key? I feel that the typing speed will be limited because the user will have to wait until the entire screen releases before hitting the screen again. I realize that this is matter of fractions of seconds, but fractions of seconds make all the difference in the world for fast twitch type activities like this.

It would be sweet if the screen could recognize when you are typing very fast, and demphasize or disable the click necessity, so that you can type just as you would on any other touch device (e.g., iphone).

[Eddie @ Sep 16th 2008 12:20AM]

This is definitely the major question. We'll definitely just have to wait and see how the hands on go when eventually its leaked/released.

[Rob Pribish @ Sep 16th 2008 8:53AM]

I believe one of the first updates for the iphone added the ability to track the next keystroke before you release the current one... hopefully this touchscreen has some form of multitouch tracking.

[screech @ Sep 15th 2008 11:13PM]

so it has everything the iphone has had for nearly 17months now and it doesnt have the app store, or ease of upgrading the firmware? sign me up.

ill keep my iphone 3g

[Quix @ Sep 15th 2008 11:27PM]

Dude, you praised the iPhone. This is Engadget. Prepare to be voted down.

[holycow @ Sep 15th 2008 11:43PM]

Ya everything that the iphone has....

e.g. Video recording...

[Jonathan Bryce @ Sep 15th 2008 11:50PM]

What an awful comment. I've never chosen a phone based on ease of upgrading firmware...especially when those upgrades cause keyboard lag and offer no fixes to the problems iPhone 3G beta has in the first place.

[Mike @ Sep 15th 2008 11:56PM]

e.g. Copy paste

[alberto @ Sep 16th 2008 12:55AM]

@Screeh

One, what rock did you slither out of. Second, don;t even call yourself a mac user...please. You are embarrassing. Third, I refuse to say the name of the mac mobile. Am really tired of it.

The Storm (Black Berry itself) has over 300 apps on the web. Most suck, some are ok and the ones that count you need a little cash for. Here is another fact to prove how much a noob you are...blackberry been around more then a decade. The mac mobile only has 2 years on it and still can not even get basic phone functions right. Kinda sad really, because I do love Apple products. This one just didn;t meet up to the standard am use too from Apple.

BACK TO THE STORM...am excited. The little in-company promo video means it will be out this year. I really hope it comes out sooner then later because i can;t wait for a new phone anymore. Between the HTC onslaught of cool phones, the storm, then the dream...man what is a gadget nerd to do. This is going to be an exciting Holiday Season i can assure you that.

[loosely_coupled @ Sep 16th 2008 2:22AM]

Well, I'll wait till the device is released and reviewed before making any sort of comparison to the iPhone, but this marketing crap is just ridiculous...

"groundbreaking.. unlike anything else on the market today" -
Seriously?
Glossy black, minimalistic "slate" phone, with large touchscreen face, and minimal buttons. Hmmm... I agree, totally original...

"most responsive of it's time" -
Woah.. That's quite a claim considering my iPod Touch is the most responsive electronic device I've ever used. If they can even come close to matching the fluid responsiveness of the iPhone, I'll be very interested..

Also, I wonder if the web browser will be anything close to mobile Safari.. It's going to need to to compete...

[Dr. Reverend Shmoove, PhD @ Sep 16th 2008 10:51AM]

iphone doesn't even do picture messaging does it?

anyway, i was at the verizon store yesterday and the guy said they're looking at the end of november for this to come out, but i take that with a grain of salt since the majority of people at verizon are morons. if it's true, no christmas this year for my family because i'll be buying it. as much as i hope they'll try to match or beat the $199 iphone, i have my doubts that they will.

[mcdj @ Sep 15th 2008 11:22PM]

When did Scientologists take over RIM?

[deyanimay @ Sep 15th 2008 11:35PM]

It didn't, it always had control over verizon though.

[zenun @ Sep 16th 2008 12:14AM]

WOW! BLACK BERRY GOT ITS GROOVE BACK
So many phones so little time. in no order of importance
Touch Pro/ Touch HD/ HTC DREAM/BLACK BERRY STORM/XPERIA X1

FIGHT!

[DallasM @ Sep 15th 2008 11:35PM]

I just bought my first iPhone and I love it. I have not had any troubles with it at all. Of course, I live in a metro area, so we are given the most infrastructure first. I'm in a two year contract now, so it's not like I'ld change anyways, but the Click screen is intriguing. However, I doubt it is really as powerful as the iPhone. So many people on these blogs do not give it credit for how powerful it really is. That is easily shown by the fact that it has been out for 17 months and the nearest competition is just now showing their competitor -and is still not releasing a price or ship date. I bet the iPhone will be 2 years old by the time the Storm actually ships.

Oh yeah, and don't expect it to have flash either.

[GON @ Sep 15th 2008 11:49PM]

The iPhone also lacks flash. What is your point?

[Justin F @ Sep 15th 2008 11:51PM]

What!? I was totally expecting it to have flash, seeing the iPhone does and all...

[alberto @ Sep 16th 2008 1:11AM]

@DAllas

What's your point? iphone does not have flash either. iphone doesn;t even have an microSDHC expansion slot. what else doesn;t the iphone do. Oh yeah. It does not have basic contact searchability. You have to scroll to find your numbers...kinda basic huh.

This is coming form a real mac fan...I been using apple products since I was 8, am 32 now and I think the iphone lacks a lot still to be a great phone. It is a great PMP...but that's why there is the touch.

If you can not appreciate new tech for what it is, you are not a real Apple fan. You're just a rich yupie that bought a $300.00 iphone and stuck with a 2 year contract. Now to justify your lame purchase, you have to diss every phone that is coming out soon that is cool. Just so you will feel better. Get BENT.

[cognitivel0gic @ Sep 16th 2008 2:29AM]

@ alberto
Last time I checked the iPhone does have the ability to search for contacts!

[Martin @ Sep 16th 2008 2:55AM]

I think he meant both of them didn't have flash.

You should also read more about the products you're going to bash. The standalone contacts app and the phone app have a search bar in the beginning of the contacts list, and if you're to far from it you can simply double tap the uppermost part of the screen to reach it, like in safari to get to the address bar. This has been around since the 1.1.4 update if I'm not wrong. Also yo don't have to scroll lamely through your contacts, you can make it more interesting by flicking through them.

He also does have a point on how powerful the phone is, a 600 mhz cpu and 128 mb of ram isn't that normal.

Any way, iphone users shouldn't bash it before it really comes out. If it turns to be as good or better than the iphone I wouldn't like to see what MS fans will do to any one who tries to defend the iphone.

I have an iPhone and I really hope RIM does a good job with the storm, that way apple will have to wake up and make the iphone better, even though they did a pretty good job with 2.1.

[Martin @ Sep 16th 2008 2:58AM]

@ alberto

I think he meant both of them didn't have flash.

You should also read more about the products you're going to bash. The standalone contacts app and the phone app have a search bar in the beginning of the contacts list, and if you're to far from it you can simply double tap the uppermost part of the screen to reach it, like in safari to get to the address bar. This has been around since the 1.1.4 update if I'm not wrong. Also yo don't have to scroll lamely through your contacts, you can make it more interesting by flicking through them.

He also does have a point on how powerful the phone is, a 600 mhz cpu and 128 mb of ram isn't that normal.

Any way, iphone users shouldn't bash it before it really comes out. If it turns to be as good or better than the iphone I wouldn't like to see what MS fans will do to any one who tries to defend the iphone.

I have an iPhone and I really hope RIM does a good job with the storm, that way apple will have to wake up and make the iphone better, even though they did a pretty good job with 2.1.

[Martin @ Sep 16th 2008 3:04AM]

God I hate engadget's comments. You know, it's kind of saddening to see a tech blog that doesn't have a good commenting system.

[alberto @ Sep 16th 2008 5:21AM]

Got an iphone in front of me... I can not type in a name in contacts so that particle contact to show up on the screen. I can in address book but it takes me to maps.

Maybe am doing something way wrong. I went to the ATT rep near me and he suppose to be the expert 2 weeks ago. He told me you have to "flick" through. Sorry when you got 300 plus numbers thats ignoring.

I stand corrected. There is something called "search" that does what am saying but it's a stand alone app. it was added in 1.2. It still should be integrated within the contact list. But beggers can't be choosers i guess. If i was told this before I wouldn't have mention the lack of the feature before.

@MArtin

no search bar here on contacts. I do have a link to the "search" app. Which works for everything contacts, maps and email. Maybe am looking at the wrong place.

Am just saying to Dallas to get off his high horse. iphone is still not a perfect phone. Either way am tired of these yuppies that get on and bash a phone till it even gets in the market. SO the rest of the stuff i said I stand by.

[Nomi @ Sep 16th 2008 5:36AM]

Whats alberto talking about? Theres a search bar in both the contacts app and the phone app...just scroll all the way to the top. You need to scroll up, the contact list starts at 'A' and the search bar is just above that.

[Nomi @ Sep 16th 2008 5:38AM]

Also...what the hell is this 'Search' app? I have never heard of this app...are you sure you have an iPhone in front of you?

[farfisa @ Sep 15th 2008 11:35PM]

It's getting me hype too!

[Operation Northwood @ Sep 15th 2008 11:41PM]

I will buy this if the web browsing experience is better then the iphone safari.

[Elijah @ Sep 15th 2008 11:45PM]

Don't count on it...

[Heshmati4 @ Sep 16th 2008 12:42AM]

I expect it to be about the same because RIM is creating a new browser based on web-kit (like Mobile Safari).

So it's Mobile Safari minus the multi-touch

[kiko @ Sep 15th 2008 11:43PM]

iphberry?

[GON @ Sep 15th 2008 11:44PM]

Holy propaganda.

[Cormier6083 @ Sep 15th 2008 11:45PM]

Haven't I seen this groundbreaking device a thousand times since early 2007?

[hwoarang27 @ Sep 15th 2008 11:47PM]

Its out right now on Verizonwireless!











i lied.

[)law( @ Sep 15th 2008 11:49PM]

Looks very promising. As long as VZW dosnt cut of this phones balls to much they should be ok. Yea I said it cus we all know how VZW brands their phones like a pimp brands his hoes....

[HalfJoey @ Sep 15th 2008 11:50PM]

Just give us the Touch Pro, Verizon. I dont want to pay for an expensive BlackBerry plan.

[Zimzim @ Sep 15th 2008 11:53PM]

He's blowing an absolutely humungous amount of hot air considering it's an iPhone clone. Please, someone sit him down, calm him down a bit and point out that he's a year and half late to the table to be talking like that. It looks like a nice enough phone, but this guy looks like the type that pushes everyone out of the way and trys to take the credit for someone elses innovation. Pretty distasteful IMHO

[reuvypoo @ Sep 16th 2008 12:01AM]

I love how every full touchscreen device is an iPhone clone. Considering the iPhone wasn't even first to begin with, it's only real innovation is an excellent touchscreen and ease of use. Mobile Safari is great, but the Nokia browsers and the still lack of flash don't make it revolutionary. The App Store is great, but it's not open source. It's possible to download applications for more open platforms, like Windows Mobile and quite soon, Android. So, after 17 months and owning an iPod touch, I still fail to see how everything is an iPhone clone. The most positive thing about the iPhone is the responses from other manufacturers that were elicited.

[GON @ Sep 16th 2008 12:02AM]

Yeah.. Kinda like this dude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ12vNZ5yMY
It made it look like it was all about himself.

[Zimzim @ Sep 16th 2008 12:06AM]

It's the combination that makes it like an iphone. I also pointed out (below) the screen rotation and the visual voicemail.