The BlackBerry 9520 Storm 2 has probably the best pre-release coverage of any cell phone in history. We’ve seen previews and videos and pictures and more videos of the upcoming cell phone for months. RIM and Verizon haven’t released a thing about the phone yet though so some key details hadn’t been revealed. That is, of course, until Walt Mossberg posted his Storm 2 review last night alongside the Motorola CLIQ review and Vodafone went live with its Storm 2 launch details this morning that happened to include all the phone’s specs for good measure. God bless the Internet.
Overall, I found the Storm2 worked well in my tests. Battery life was decent, with 5.5 hours of claimed talk time, and typing was much improved, though I doubt it will satisfy lovers of physical keyboards.
The browser is still inferior to Apple’s, Google’s and Palm’s. And the traditional BlackBerry interface cries out for a major overhaul in a touch device like this, especially when you add a lot of apps. RIM’s menu and folder metaphor seems tired on this device.
Verizon hasn’t set a launch date or price for the Storm2, but it’s likely to appear in November at around $200.
The Vodafone press release reveals the phone’s entire spec list. Thankfully RIM updated a few key areas like doubling the amount of Flash memory to 256 MB and equipping the phone with 2 GB of onboard memory. Also, the mechanically clicky screen has been replaced with one that gives electronic, tactile feedback. It also confirms that the phone is powered by BlackBerry OS 5 that hopefully *fingers crossed* along with the extra Flash memory will mean the phone will hang less and be oh-so-much-more responsive.
Vodaphone UK will be offering the phone free with pay-monthly contracts from £35 on up and will be available on October 26 in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, and Germany. The rest of the Vodaphone world should see the phone before Christmas. Now all we need is for Verizon to let us in on how much it plans on charging for the Storm 2. A release date would be cool too.
Update: RIM just launched a Storm vs Storm 2 interactive comparison chart. Have at it.
Still not 3G?
The photo above shows a 3G signal, and reviews on other sites confirm it as well.
I thought Verizon was all 3g?
That “interactive comparison chart” (which isn’t really interactive) is a dumb move by RIM…makes it look like the Storm 2 is nearly identical to the Storm. I realize it sorta is, but this chart doesn’t highlight any of the soft improvements….things that can’t be quantified in a chart.
I concur, just reviewed the chart and the most notable change is the memory. The rest of the changes are marginal. Let’s go RIM!
I use two phones:Iphone and blackberry storm. i think storm 2 will be my new phone soon.
y do you like the storm 2 over the Iphone?
Verizon is all 3g. Most verizon phones just show 1xEV which is REV. A. They are just putting a 3G Tag on it now to keep people from complaining that they arent on “3g” when really they are. Also The technology behind the screen is about 100X more advanced than the mechanical click that was in the storm 1. Also the addition of wifi is much welcomed and the screen resolution although the same is greatly increased by the quality of the screen This is an improvement all over the phone has doubled in quality throughout the phone