BlackBerry Storm bows, comes next month to Verizon and Vodafone

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 8th 2008 at 12:01AM

A storm's arrival typically isn't something to celebrate, but we're going to make a notable exception here seeing how the BlackBerry Storm is less of a destructive weather pattern and more of an incredibly hot smartphone -- arguably RIM's hottest to date. Fit to its business-savvy roots, the long-rumored handset comes equipped with the most comprehensive global roaming capabilities of virtually any wireless device you'll find anywhere, featuring EV-DO Rev. A, quadband EDGE, and 2100MHz HSPA for Europe. Beyond that, the Storm becomes RIM's very first touchscreen phone, mounting a 3.26-inch 480 x 360 glass display on a unique clickable surface so that the entire thing can be pressed downwards -- just like a real button -- for tactile feedback when making selections. It includes a full HTML finger-navigable browser, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint editing capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB of on-board storage with an 8GB microSD card bundled in the box, 3.5mm headphone jack, automatic orientation and ambient lighting sensors, and a 3.2-megapixel autofocus cam with dedicated flash, making it a legitimate jack-of-all-trades that seems likely to be able to handle even the most chaotic personal and professional lives users can throw its way. It'll allegedly do 15 days of standby or 5.5 hours of talk time on either GSM or CDMA networks. No word on pricing yet -- we're told all will be revealed "in the coming weeks" -- but it'll launch on both Verizon and Vodafone in November.

Gallery: BlackBerry Storm bows, comes next month to Verizon and Vodafone

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, GSM, EDGE, EV-DO, HSDPA, UMTS, CDMA, HSUPA

Tags: blackberry, breaking news, BreakingNews, storm, verizon, verizon wireless, VerizonWireless, vodafone, vzw

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Lowest Ranked

owy @ Oct 8th 2008 12:21AM

I can't wait to hear on what day dis fone iz comin out

Highly Ranked

Danny @ Oct 8th 2008 12:22AM

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Can't wait to dump the terrible at&t network for something that works and the hottest device to date.

I'm a total BlackBerry fan and have been waiting for something like this for quite some time.

Does anyone know if Quadband EDGE means that Verizon is allowing either at&t's or T-Mobile's EDGE network to be added to their PRL?

Neutral

Rich @ Oct 8th 2008 3:04AM

No, the GSM 850/1900 is strictly for roaming in Latin America, etc. The roaming configuration does not allow roaming on domestic US GSM carriers.

Neutral

Rich @ Oct 8th 2008 1:05AM

Woo hoo! I am due for an NE2 upgrade on the 26th of this month! Is the pricing still rumored to be at $199? That would be awesome since it would only be $99 for me!!

Highly Ranked

bpm2000 @ Oct 8th 2008 1:59AM

wow im still not getting one, but this is the first blackberry i have ever wanted to buy.

Neutral

momchil karabulev @ Oct 8th 2008 3:11AM

wait, there is no wi-fi?

Neutral

ebs008 @ Oct 8th 2008 3:44AM

No WiFi from what I understand. What could have been a perfect product becomes an "almost"... :-(

Neutral

DannyBoyUK @ Oct 8th 2008 9:10AM

Lack of Wi-Fi is not the only internet issue mate. This storm has no lightning, because it doesn't have Flash!

Low Ranked

revolvert5 @ Oct 8th 2008 10:55AM

"...3.2-megapixel autofocus cam with dedicated flash..."

Did you even read the synopsis? Even though you can't see a flash doesn't mean it's not there.

Neutral

PJF @ Oct 8th 2008 11:21AM

I agree. No wi-fi, no interest. Unfortunate, as it sounded very promising. What were they thinking?

Highest Ranked

Esquire0399 @ Oct 8th 2008 11:26AM

@ revolvert5:

He meant flash for the browser, so that embedded youtube videos and flash could be viewed directly in the browser. Follow the context clues bubby.

Neutral

Whingnut @ Oct 8th 2008 11:26AM

Uhh... Adobe Flash, dude. That's why it was capitalized in his statement - it's a proper noun. Camera flash isn't a proper noun, so it would be lower case. Did you ever pass 4th grade English? ;)

Neutral

Bob @ Oct 11th 2008 2:31PM

It took a year and a half before the iPhone got Flash support. Let's give the Storm at least half that time (8 months) to get a software update to support Flash. Its a bummer there isn't Flash support right away but its not unheard of not to support Flash at release and have an update for it later. There is support for all social networking sites and YouTube so that should curb some of the need for Flash.

I only see 3 negatives with this phone and none are deal breakers when you look at all the other features this phone packs that others don't. Lack of wi-fi, no Flash and lack of graphics accelerator. If RIM follows Apples lead they will release a super Storm with those three things added in about a year or so.

Neutral

Gadgetxo.co.cc @ Oct 8th 2008 5:59AM

Perhaps the price is still too high for this one, but can also vitur. whether the use Safari Browser?

Neutral

CG @ Oct 8th 2008 9:44AM

Damn, I got the Curve in July using my NE2 -- will I be able to get this for the upgrade price?

Neutral

The D Train @ Oct 8th 2008 1:09PM

no. That's your fault for buying a curve. It'll be full retail for you retardo.

Neutral

Jack @ Oct 11th 2008 8:28PM

@CG,

Joke is on you *again*, because the CDMA Curve emits the most amount of radiation of*any* cell phone in the *world*!!! Yeah...about that headache? It's called a tumor.

//j

Neutral

Slliim @ Oct 8th 2008 9:45AM

May I have Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, and V-Cast please? V-Cast would just be a bonus. I notice it's never on smartphones. Can anyone tell me why?

Thanx,
~ Slim ~

Highly Ranked

caniac_01 @ Oct 9th 2008 9:36PM

actually, it does have an accelerometer..

Neutral

jay @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:51AM

and you will be able to purchase V-Cast Music from the Storm... But Dont forget the greatest feature, Data AND Phone at the same time...

Neutral

Paul @ Oct 8th 2008 11:17AM

I still really wonder what the purpose of this blog is. Mostly it is annoying. I keep it on my daily read list just in case there's some nugget of information that is posted here but NOT on Engadget, which is pretty rare. However, less rare is the situation when a story or review about something extremely interesting to mobile users is posted on Engadget but NOT cross posted here. For example (and the prompting for this comment), you posted a fantastic hands on with this phone on Engadget, but don't even mention it on this side of the pond.

Compound this with the fact that the comments for cross posted stories are kept separate (making comments here all but unread) and I keep scratching my head...

Neutral

Chris Ziegler @ Oct 8th 2008 11:19AM

If you can't figure out what its purpose is, then honestly, the only recommendation I can make is that you don't read it. Not saying that to be a jerk -- honestly -- just making the point that the people who read this site do so because they enjoy the extra mobile coverage. There's tons of stuff here that you'd never see on the main Engadget page, and that's where our value lies.

Neutral

Esquire0399 @ Oct 8th 2008 1:39PM

@ Chris:
While I do agree with what you have said, I also find it quite strange that the hands-on is NOT posted on Engadget Mobile, as Paul said. I'm sure there are several people who only check Engadget Mobile, like myself, thus many people will probably miss out on that valuable post. Do you not agree that a huge update for a huge mobile release such as the Storm should be posted not only on the main Engadget site, but the mobile specific site as well? That's just how I look at it.

Neutral

Chris Ziegler @ Oct 8th 2008 2:07PM

Esquire0399: Yep, agreed, we should've highlighted our hands-on here!

Neutral

Paul @ Oct 8th 2008 2:28PM

Chris, the point is that this blog should either be a one-stop shop for all things Engadgety-Mobile (i.e., have everything of interest cross posted) or just have it be the "additional" coverage. Right now you get about 50% (unscientific) of the mobile interest stories cross posted from Engadget, meaning that you have a site that is a bunch of repeat information (overload) but not enough to be able to drop Engadget if you are only interested in Mobile. I DO (as I stated) read this for the extra content (laudibly up to about 1/3 stories vs. 1/6 or so not too long ago), but the incompleteness of the cross-postings makes it far less than it could/should be.

Note, your response to my original post was perhaps jaded by the tone of my initial post, but you are obviously missing the constructive criticism due to your defensiveness. Make EM either an "everything mobile" site or an "extra mobile stuff" site, not something in between.

Neutral

Chris Ziegler @ Oct 8th 2008 2:53PM

Depends on your definition of "mobile". To arrive at your numbers, you must be including WiMAX and WWAN cards/laptops, because I can absolutely assure you that half of our posts do not come from Engadget (not even close), and I can also assure you that we're posting everything mobile-related that's on Engadget onto Mobile. We currently don't post much WiMAX here, but look for that to change if/when we start to hear renewed interest in handsets.

The Storm hands-on is a notable exception -- definitely an error on my part.

Neutral

Paul @ Oct 8th 2008 7:26PM

Yeah, you're right on the 50% number these days. I guess the last time I looked the numbers were much worse, but excluding the WiMAX stuff (which yes I would define as belonging to the mobile category) you're up to at least 75%. This is a very noticeable improvement, so good work.

I do still want to reiterate the desire for shared comments for cross-posted stories, though. This, to me, is the other big "missing piece" to make this a one-stop mobile blog. Knowing that I will for certain not miss a vital (or just humorous) comment or two by not checking the comments on the "Engadget version" of a story would be a real boon. I'm not sure if you guys own/maintain the blog software or not. If you do it should be a pretty easy fix, especially if you do it point-forward as opposed to trying to merge comments from past cross postings. Regardless, it would certainly make this site (and HD, presumably) much better. I'm sure there are others that do it, but Jason Dunn's www.thoughtsmedia.com sites are a good example of blogs that do this very well.

Neutral

Chris Ziegler @ Oct 9th 2008 1:18PM

Thanks for the suggestion Paul -- we've heard this comment a number of times, and it's something that we're definitely looking into!

Not to belabor your other point, but are you saying that 75% of Mobile's posts used to come from Engadget, and now we're down to 50%? Because that's just not remotely true. There are certain days when we have a lot of high-profile, broad-interest mobile material that will get published on Engadget, yes, but on your average day, at least two-thirds of our content is exclusive to Mobile.

Neutral

CG @ Oct 8th 2008 2:21PM

I also agree with Esquire and Paul. If I did not read their comments I would have missed the Hands-on (which was great!).

Neutral

Mike @ Oct 8th 2008 5:04PM

Neutral

Ale @ Oct 8th 2008 7:12PM

You had it right until you got to the no sim card because it does come with a sim card which is what many of the reviews i have read have stated because it does roam using other networks without charging your more you just pay the standard GSM/EDGE price

Neutral

Mike @ Oct 8th 2008 7:43PM

I am happy that I am wrong on sim card issue, i could not find any info about using sim cards made in Europe while travelling there. Do you have to use only verizon sims? or you can use any sim card in the world? please explain.

Neutral

elgee02 @ Oct 9th 2008 2:16AM

Knock VZW's roaming rates all you want, they are no worse than what AT&T will charge you if you take your beloved iPhone across the pond.

Highest Ranked

tra la la @ Oct 9th 2008 5:16AM

yeah, because, you know, you need video acceleration on a 4 inch screen.
and how many of those 16.7 million true colors do you see in said iphone screen?

"this is how you enter the apps store"
"this is how cripple user generated content by selecting what can and cannot be featured in the apps store"
"this is how to delete programs - remotely - that you don't find appropriate"

I really wish people would stop comparing everything to the iphone. it wasn't the first... won't be the last... and BY FAR isn't the best.

Highest Ranked

andrew @ Oct 9th 2008 11:51AM

*No VIDEO ACCELERATION
*No LED, regular TFT LCD
*No 16.7 MILLIONS TRUE COLORS LIKE THE THE IPHONE
*ONLY 65000 COLORS WITH OUT 3D ACCELERATION SO IT DOENS'T MATTER IF IT IS 3.2 MP OR 13.2 MP CAMERA
*No WIFI
*No SIM CARD BUT ITS A WORLD PHONE(ARE YOU SERIOUS?) $3/min global roaming
Verizon, not every body is idiot

Mike your beloved iPhone is a peice of s...
-No 3.2 camera
-Cant send pics
-No removable battery
-Their is a sim card in bb and it is not 3$ a min
-Can only be servised at an apple store (not alot of those)
-It has wifi but is on att broadband network. (Small and Slow)
- att Service (enough Said)
-at least the blackberry dosent make u buy a outdated device at launch (Not 3g or broadband network for internet) and then come with a new one 6 months later (seriously wtf i would have been mad)

Highest Ranked

Bob @ Oct 9th 2008 5:18PM

*No 16.7 MILLIONS TRUE COLORS LIKE THE THE IPHONE

I agree the 65k colors isn't as good. I am not convinced I will notice the difference between 65k (16bit) and 16mil (24bit) on a 480 x 360 sized screen. The resolution is higher on the Storm (184ppi) than the iPhone (163ppi) so the Storm will still look great while using less power. But you are right, I may not get the perfect hue of red on the Storm that I may get on the iPhone.

*ONLY 65000 COLORS WITH OUT 3D ACCELERATION SO IT DOENS'T MATTER IF IT IS 3.2 MP OR 13.2 MP CAMERA

I don't need 3D acceleration on photos. I'll give you that the iPhone will play video games a little better than the Storm because of that. But I am buying a smart phone for its useful purposes more than the toys. Blackberry secure email, good browser, easier to use keyboard (many reviews say the button screen makes it like a real keyboard), camera, SMS, MMS and so on.

The 3.2MP camera does matter for those that will upload the photo or send it to someone else. For those that want to use the photos on more than their phone the camera MP does matter. Its nice to know this phone will have a camera that takes passable photos instead of the typical grainy junk that most phones put out (iPhones 2MP still capture without flash).

*No SIM CARD BUT ITS A WORLD PHONE(ARE YOU SERIOUS?) $3/min global roaming

This phone has a sim card. It seems like you wrote this before you read all the specs on the phone. This phone can truly be used around the world with all the important GSM & CDMA frequencies. Even the iPhone has limitations in this area (especially in some Asian countries like Japan).

*No WIFI

This is a bummer but not a deal breaker. I need my phone for when I am away from a coffee shop or my house so I wouldn't be a Wi-Fi user anyway. People that complain about no Wi-Fi and no graphics accelerator must be people that do nothing but play games on their phone. Those are the only advantages of the iPhone over the Storm. With all the advantages the Storm over the iPhone I could care less about missing Wi-Fi and graphics accelerator. The Storm will have all the features I need in a phone and then some.

Let's list the advantages of the Storm over the iPhone (compiled by someone else):

- 3D click-through screen (capacitive touch PLUS tactile click)
- MMS
- record videos
- WMV support
- WMA support
- 3GPP RTSP website audio/video streaming
- copy/paste via multitouch
- better camera (3.2mp vs 2mp)
- 2x digital camera zoom
- camera autofocus & image stabilization
- better screen resolution (480x360 vs 480x320 = 12%)(184ppi vs 163ppi)
- full QWERTY keyboard (PLUS SureType)
- second mic for active noise cancellation
- removable/replaceable battery
- better battery life w/ 1400 mAhr (5.5hrs vs 5.0hrs talk & 360hrs vs 300hrs standby)
- replaceable metal backing (vs plastic, non-replaceable)
- MicroSD memory card expandable up to 32GB
- 10x hard buttons (4 front, 2 top, 4 side)
- voice-command dialing
- global phone (CDMA/EVDO.A/UMTS/HSPA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM)
- true, lean email push w/ compression (vs battery draining ping-pong workaround)
- RIM encryption and security (with remote management via BES or Unite)
- syncronize contacts, tasks, memos, calendar with Yahoo! PIM, Outlook, Lotus Notes, Novell, etc
- save attachments & send attachments from internal/media card memory
- open PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT files
- ability to use any music manager (vs iTunes only restriction)
- high-speed PC modem via USB tethering
- Assisted GPS for turn-by-turn navigation with third-party applications
- mass storage mode (allows drag/drop of files via Windows Explorer)
- BlueTooth 2.0 with stereo headset, A2DP/AVRCP audio streaming, file-sharing, wireless printing, etc
- landscape charging dock for movie viewing, clock, etc (?)
- better network (Verizon EVDO Rev. A vs AT&T HSDPA scarce coverage and slower uploads)
- open architecture app install (vs Apple collecting a buck for EVERYTHING you buy)

Neutral

Kenneth @ Oct 9th 2008 8:30AM

Sweet. Just be patient though, I'm sure that there will be a sim-card ready Storm for everybody else in the Spring of 2009...not to mention Micro SDHC updates: 16GB and 32GB flavors should be around by then. Besides this is the 1st generation run. Knowing RIM, they may already have another Storm brewing...(pardon the pun).

Neutral

tra la la @ Oct 9th 2008 2:38PM

if by "for everybody else" you mean other carriers, then you're incorrect. The Storm is VZW *only* in the States... that's that "exclusive" word that has be reiterated plenty of times.

Neutral

Jim @ Oct 8th 2008 10:41PM

Pity there's no wifi with this. Could have been a contender.

Highly Ranked

elgee02 @ Oct 9th 2008 2:17AM

I'm sorry, not everybody spends decent time in or around a wifi hotspot. VZW's excellent Rev A coverage will be more than sufficient for me: www.vzw.com/reva

Neutral

tra la la @ Oct 9th 2008 5:10AM

agreed. there's only 1 time that I'm near a hot spot... and that's at home. where, by the way, I also get 4 bars 1x and ev. so the only benefit would be the speed and the lesser battery consumption. big deal- when I'm at home I have my regular computer to do whatever I need/want.

Neutral

andrew @ Oct 9th 2008 11:48AM

All you idiots complaining about wifi... why! First off verizon has the most extinsive broadband network. Also on all blackberrys its required to get the internet package on it anyways. Finally now that is has edge and 3g network for over sea's use their is no absolutly no reason for it to have wifi.
I guess their is one if u live in the middle of no where and if thats the case why would u really need a phone like this u cant be to busy..

Neutral

Ryan @ Oct 14th 2008 1:22PM

Amazing, i was actually aroused when I first saw this phone online about three days ago. As noted by BPM2000 above, this is the first blackberry that I have actually got excited about. No WiFi, No Flash media...please, I have freakin Sprint, so I would be grateful if a phone with this kind of capability would just become available with my service provider. Honestly its like i am constantly being punished, forced to watch from behind the craptastic slow screen of my Instinct whilst the cool kids named LG UX830, Dare, Blackjack2, and even iPhone party outside and revel in their trendy modern shiny fast glory. It seems that Sprint is stuck in a pre-3G time lock of technology and speed. But whatever, great phone

Neutral

Craig @ Oct 10th 2008 11:44AM

I've spoken with plenty of iPhone users who hate their touchscreen keyboard. This move for RIM could backfire on them bigtime!

Neutral

Andrew @ Oct 10th 2008 6:52PM

That is why they have the curve... This phone is not gonna replace it. They are going to be sold together like the pearl and curve are now you can just add the storm to the mix...

Neutral

Bob @ Oct 11th 2008 2:50PM

If you read the hands-on reviews you would know everyone is writing how the click touch screen is almost like a real keyboard. They write how this touch screen that clicks overcomes some of those iPhone complaints. This is a move in the right direction for RIM and helps them compete on many fronts with all the available devices for different consumers.

Depending on your needs you could get a small candy-bar BB with the Pearl, the popular qwerty BB with the Curve, an updated version of the Curve with the Javelin, a flip phone BB, the QWERTY BB with better screen & web in the Bold or a click-able touchscreen BB with the Storm. I don't see how the addition of the Storm will backfire on RIM since they aren't replacing any phones with the Storm, just adding it to the lineup.

This isn't Apple we are talking about where you have only one phone to buy. If the Storm doesn't suit your needs RIM has many other Blackberry styles you can buy and still get that great underlying blackberry system for email, messaging and so on.

Neutral

jose @ Oct 13th 2008 7:46PM

Majority of business professionals will be lured to this handsets. They love the blackberry and now they will have a blackberry product with a cool factor. I really like the I-phone, but I think Storm is going to steal all the corporate and small business segment from Apple. What do you guys think?

Neutral

dan @ Oct 14th 2008 5:47PM

Well no wifi is an issue if you download lots of stuff, like podcasts and videos for instance. I have 3gigs use with Tmob, so i download much as i can at home before i leave but given the time diff from uk to usa, often i end up dl stuff late in the afternoon and 3gigs soon gets eaten up and plenty fast hotspots round my way. (london)

As for no flash, well, its annoying and pointless not to have it. Im guessing its a political thing along with apple to give the hurry up to Adobe.

Looks nice but i stick my Bold/E71 for now and wait for rev2.

Neutral

Martin @ Oct 15th 2008 10:24AM

When will it come out on Telus then? Before 2009?

Neutral

Photosapien @ Oct 15th 2008 9:20PM

I went in to the Verizon store in union square earlier today. I wanted to see about replacing my busted up curve. I asked when the Storm was coming out and the guy straight up said November 10th...

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