We knew
it was coming, and just like its relatives the
Onyx and the
Gemini, yet another unreleased model has managed to escape the confines of RIM's Waterloo headquarters. This time, however, it's the
Storm 2, which we've heard has been internally codenamed "Oden." We've also caught wind that this model pictured is of the GSM flavor, and yes, it's indeed packing WiFi in addition to GPS according to one of our sources. As far as that rumored "
new approach to text entry," it sounds like the keyboard has been tweaked but isn't a radical departure from the first generation. From the photos, it seems that RIM has advanced in the war on buttons and axed the bottom four in favor of some touch-sensitive controls. The real improvements, however, appear to be under the hood, as the whole device reportedly runs much faster and smoother than the current model. We can't confirm these specs, but with the
Tour coming this summer, and the Storm 2 hopefully making an appearance before the holiday shopping season, looks like you Verizon BlackBerry fans might not have to be that jealous of your GSM brethren after all.
posted May 14th 2009 8:05PM
Let's just hope it's better than the first, which I just so happened to like.
It better be. I love blackberry qwerty phones, but they need to realize that other brands are catching up to them fast. I would even say that Nokia have a smartphone that's at least on par with Bold. And with iPhone being the king of touchscreen phones, suddenly Blackberries are not that unique anymore.
yeah, not unique. Just happen to be the only device that does push calendar,mail & contacts flawlessly.
No trackball?!? FAIL!!!
I own a storm and I feel this feature should've been thrown in...
Just the hint of a new BlackBerry arriving makes RIM share price rise. Investors get so excited over their new products. No wonder they introduce a new BlackBerry every couple of months. It's tough to beat a company that makes a model for almost every type of smartphone customer instead of Apple's traditional one-size-fits-all version. RIM went against their own rules when they decided to build a big touchscreen model. At the time, I know one of the co-CEOs had said he hated the idea of touchscreen phones. They're smart. Build to sell no matter what they're philosophy is in design. RIM should continue to do very well as long as they're willing to make whatever the customer asks for. For RIM, the customer is king. They have no problem building a GSM version for those carriers that use that technology.
That being said, I hope Apple never has to build a handset with a physical keyboard, although that will certainly hinder potential sales volume to some degree.
Well at least the guys at RIM know the person that leaked it is sitting in the passenger seat of a 1998-2006 Mercedes. You can tell by the seat heater button.
You can also tell by the pattern of the black leather under his jeans.
Shhhhhh.... You might have just blown our Ninja's cover!
Seriously? Looks to me like a Nissan/Infiniti seatheater button. A G or an FX perhaps?
Looks Nissan/Inifiniti to me too because of the brushed metal trim.
definitely not mercedes.
especially since mercedes wouldnt have even CONSIDERED putting aluminum trim in their cars from 1998-1994. and when they finally gave in, it itsnt that cheap-ass shit.
I've got that same button in a Nissan Murano, this must be an Infinity of some sort because of aluminum trim.
I bet its a 2005 Car, Model Number 7.
You can also tell by the pixels...
dont think thats a passenger seat. i think it is the driver's seat
That's a negative on the mercedes buddy. The seat heater icon is actually widely used so that doesn't narrow it down. In addition, that metal-looking stuff (b/c I can't confirm what material was used) was not present around the gearshift on the benzes at that point. And there was no "manual/auto-stick" option on them like this vehicle seems to have.
The person is definitely playing shotgun in a Infiniti of some sorts. that is definitely the heater switch and in 1 of the shots you can notice the seat adjuster. more than likely a G or FX since those are the ones with aluminum around the center console. my inner car geek tells me so =)
i hope this one doesnt suck.
I bet it still doesn't have WiFi and that verizon is still going to cripple the living day light out of it
I was referring to the CDMA Storm 2 not having Wifi, just to be clear....
if you are really on verizon you would know that wifi is fucking trivial unless you are sitting in your house (in which case get a lapop), or being a hipster in starbucks.
if you are using your phone for what it is, you are using its features ON THE MOVE and not in a building with free wifi ... im sorry but what a joke i cant stand these tools hating on shit because of the lack of wifi
Maybe since it's something I'm paying for then I want it to have wifi because I want the added functionality. It's fine if you love Verizon even when it sells you fecal matter with the ability to dial out, but some people want the total package.
I have never been in a situation where I needed wifi... it would only drag my battery life down. I have the unlimited package with no data cap for $49.99 and well it works flawlessly for what I need. I can read/write up word documents, send/recieve emails from my work and home accounts, send sms/mms, surf the web in full html without the mobile site bs, watch movies/etc. I'm not sure what more you all want from a phone. Plus the picture quality is great for a phone, and it has flash.
@ Anticrawl
That's because you've never left your Mom's basement.
@Nerd
That doesn't make any sense. I have my own place and my own job. There are no basements in New Orleans and if there were you'd get terrible reception there.
The code name would make more sense if it were spelled "Odin". Oh well... there are storms and then there are Storms...
I thought the same thing. "Oden" is a kind of sweet, fishy anything-goes Japanese wintertime soup that borders on a stew. So unless that was the inspiration for the codename (which would worry me a bit) ...
So that what RIM means...
*that's
The more ya know.
*thats
that's*
When will smartphones up the resolutions of the cameras! Only thing holding it back
Probably not going to get one (just fine with my physical QWERTY), but playing with the first generation for a bit, RIM should really consider implementing an option where you don't need to use SurePress, that way you don't alienate those who like one of the 2. As for the OS, I think RIM needs to develop a new one if only for the Storm. The icon-driven OS works for the previous BlackBerry's but not of the Storm variant. Given that the hardware has stepped up, if RIM implements the above, I'm pretty sure they can really "nail it" this time around...(...and if they don't rush it!)
Correct me if I'm wrong, I was under the impression that you could disable the SurePress.
Not that I'm aware of.
"you can disable it, choose "Multitap" in Options - Screen/Keyboard - Portrait view keyboard.
but there is a bug(.65) and sometimes it switchs to suretype again despite of "multitap" in options"
Read that here - http://supportforums.blackberry.com/rim/board/message?board.id=9500&message.id=2235
I didn't really read too far though, so i may still be wrong.
That doesn't completely take out SurePress. You still need to click the screen in order to type.
Talk about EXTREMELY early.
Oden? Like the shitty Blazers center who gets more fouls than points?
I wish it had a slideout keyboard.
That would cinch it for me. I can't find anything better than my Voyager -- but I WANT to want the Storm.
@reisa
I agree, I love the qwerty of my Voyager.
If the voyager's screen were more the size and shape of the Dare and just slid out, It'd be perfect.
I always wanted the drawing feature of the Dare too.
Not liking the touch-sensitive buttons. Honestly, I think I like the design of the first Storm a lot better. It looked professional and felt solid.
That said, if this thing performs significantly better, I can forgive its aesthetic flaws. Oh, and hopefully RIM will do a good job sealing the screen against dust this time around.
Hopefully it's better than the first piece of crap they released... referring to Storm 1 that is..
It is only "crap" if you expected a direct ripoff of the iPhone, otherwise it's a nice device that contrary to popular belief is actually good
so no ninja this time, complaining bout the mushy virtual keyboard?
in case u have no clue bout what i just wrote,
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/10/blackberry-thunder-caught-on-video/
Would make sense at this point to not buy the first storm
Looks a little thinner?
Dammit RIM, release your nextgen berries BEFORE leaking your next-nextgen ones. You just just end up taking hype away.
WHERE'S MY TOUR ALREADY!?