RIM's Touch Screen 'Storm' Unveiled
Research In Motion (RIM) will roll out a touch-screen model of its BlackBerry smartphone later this autumn, thrusting it into direct competition with Apple's popular iPhone.
RIM said on Wednesday the BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless subscribers in the U.S. and Vodafone subscribers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The Storm—the latest BlackBerry aimed at the broad retail market—comes with a touch screen that depresses slightly when it is pressed, RIM said, adding users will feel a soft click as the screen is released.
It also comes preloaded with software for e-mail and managing documents, as well as a media player for music, movies and photos. It's also equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera.
RIM did not announce a specific release date for the Storm, nor did it offer details on pricing.
The Storm's planned launch comes shortly after RIM said it will roll out a flip-phone version of the BlackBerry to capture more of the retail market.
Click here for the full story at InternetNews.com. See next page for a full list of BlackBerry Storm specs and additional pictures.
BlackBerry Storm
Verizon Wireless - 3G EV-DO Rev. A/CDMA
Vodafone - (2100Mhz) UMTS/HSPA 3G, as well as quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM for global use.
"Clickable" touch-screen - The user distinctly feels the screen being pressed and released with a gentle "click," similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. The "clickable" touch-screen gives the user positive confirmation that they have made a selection.
Familiar BlackBerry navigation keys ("phone," "menu" and "escape")
Support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so users can highlight, scroll, pan and zoom
Built-in accelerometer, allowing touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset.
RIM's SureType keyboard layout is available in portrait mode and a full QWERTY* keyboard layout is available in landscape mode.
Cut and paste
Full HTML high-performance browser that works in either portrait or landscape orientation. Touch interface lets users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan.
BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server support
Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allows users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video
Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos
1GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage
Media player that can play movies in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows and manage an entire music collection; playlists can be created directly on the handset and there's an equalizer with 11 preset filters - including "Lounge," "Jazz" and "Hip Hop" - for customized audio ranges when using wired headphones or external speakers
A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
3.25inch, 480 x 360 resolution display
An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing
Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately six hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time
Additional details related to availability and pricing will be announced in the coming weeks.
To learn more or register to be notified when the BlackBerry Storm is available, visit www.blackberry.com/storm, www.verizonwireless.com/storm or www.vodafone.co.uk/storm.
RIM's Touch Screen 'Storm' Unveiled
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