RIM BlackBerry Storm 2 released and reviewed

Vodafone announced today that it will be selling the BlackBerry Storm 2 smartphone from 26 October. The Storm 2 9520 is free on a £25/month 24-month tariff, which provides 600 minutes of free voice calls and unlimited text messages.

The Storm 2 has a similar design to its predecessor, the Storm 9500, but the overall specification is better. Wi-Fi is now standard (a bizarre omission from the first model) and onboard storage has been doubled to 2Gb.

More details after the cut.

The display has the same 360 x 480 resolution and has the same SurePress touchscreen technology that caused so many complaints the first time around. RIM has improved the way it works on the Storm 2, though — or at least that’s what the first batch of post-embargo reviews reckon.

SurePress still works in the same way on the Storm 2, but its mechanical underpinnings have changed. Originally, the touch-sensitive screen was mounted on a single mechanical button that clicked, but this was awkward to press the further your finger moved away from the centre of the screen.

The Storm 2 screen is mounted on electronic sensors and there are four — one in each corner of the device. Early reports suggest that these make are much more sensitive to finger pressure and have done away with the unpleasant ‘clicky’ action. The multi-touch screen can now also register two presses at once, which — the reviews reckon — makes typing much easier than on the Storm 1.

Here are some verdicts from the first round of BlackBerry Storm 2 reviews:

CrackBerry.com

The Storm2 fixes many of the BlackBerry Storm's outstanding issues and makes a ton of incremental improvements, all of which add up to something that feels noticeably better. In a way that never quite applied to the original Storm, the Storm2 could legitimately be called the flagship BlackBerry.

IntoMobile

Pros: Improved user interface; more accurate SurePress; great connectivity (world roaming on both GSM and CDMA, Wi-Fi)

Cons: SurePress still takes getting used to; some videos still having trouble decoding

PC Pro

Suffice to say, I walked away from my brief demo this morning very impressed indeed. In completely revamping the touchscreen, RIM has made an extremely brave move and one that looks like it could pay off.

Bear in mind that these reviews are based on some very limited hands-on time with the BlackBerry 2, so opinions may change once the smartphone has been properly put through its paces.

Here’s a RIM demo video of the Storm 2, followed by the press release:

[ Vodafone]

Vodafone and RIM Introduce the BlackBerry Storm2 Smartphone

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM and WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 15, 2009) - Vodafone and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today introduced the BlackBerry® Storm2 smartphone for customers in seven European countries as well as South Africa.

The second generation of RIM's innovative and award-winning touch-screen smartphone, the BlackBerry Storm2 significantly improves the BlackBerry® touch-screen platform with new technology and new features to let customers stay easily connected to the people, places and things that matter most.

In the busy holiday gift buying period, customers in the UK and Ireland will be able to get the new smartphone first through Vodafone, and it will be offered exclusively by Vodafone in Germany, Netherlands and Spain. It will also be made available in France, Italy and South Africa in time for Christmas.

The BlackBerry Storm2 with BlackBerry OS 5 evolves the BlackBerry touch-screen platform with hundreds of hardware and software enhancements.

The BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone (model 9520) from Vodafone features:

New SurePress Technology

The BlackBerry Storm2 smartphone introduces a new SurePress technology based on an electronic system that provides the user with tactile feedback when the touch-screen is pressed. The new system responds equally to gentle pressure applied anywhere on the surface of the screen and makes clicking the display practically effortless. Typing on the smartphone's virtual keyboards is easier, more comfortable and more accurate. The new SurePress technology also allows the user to type a letter with one thumb even while their other thumb may still be touching or resting on another letter, enabling faster typing and multi-key actions such as Shift or Alt -key combinations.

Hardware Features

• Smooth design and premium finish with sloped edges, chrome accents, glass lens and stainless steel backplate
• Large (3.25"), dazzling, high resolution 360 x 480 display at 184 ppi
• Capacitive touch-screen with integrated functions (Send, End, Menu, Escape) and new SurePress technology that makes clicking the display practically effortless
• Global connectivity support: UMTS/HSPA (2100Mhz), quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM and Wi-Fi® (802.11 b/g) networks
• 3.2 MP camera with variable zoom, autofocus, flash and video recording
• 256 MB of Flash memory
• 2 GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB cards today and is expected to support 32 GB cards when available
• Premium and easy-to-access phone features, background noise suppression technology, loud distortion-free speakerphone and face detection (proximity sensor) that prevents accidental clicks and blanks the screen while the user is on the phone
• Media player for videos, pictures and music, plus BlackBerry® Desktop Manager for both PCs and Macs, and BlackBerry® Media Sync for easily syncing iTunes® and Windows Media® Player music with the smartphone*
• Vodafone's music client pre-installed, giving access to an extensive catalogue of artists
• A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and dedicated volume controls
• Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for Secure Simple Pairing, hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals
• Built-in GPS for maps and other location-based applications, as well as photo geotagging
• Access to BlackBerry App World, featuring a broad and growing catalog of mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones. Categories include games, entertainment, IM and social networking, news, weather, productivity and more. Applications developed for the original BlackBerry Storm are fully compatible with the BlackBerry Storm2
• BlackBerry Internet Service and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support
• Removable, rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately 6 hours of talk time on 3G networks and 280 hours of standby time

BlackBerry OS 5

• More responsive experience and includes usability and visual enhancements such as inertial scrolling, spin boxes that make it easier to set dates and times, gradient shading on buttons and more use of animation
• Typing accuracy and selection have been significantly refined
• BlackBerry® Browser improved with faster JavaScript and CSS processing as well as support for Gears and BlackBerry Widgets
• Customers running BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5 will gain the ability to:
  • Set follow-up Flags on the handset like they can in Microsoft® Office Outlook®
  • Manage Microsoft Exchange email folders (Add, Rename, Move, Delete) on the handset
  • Access remote files shares (Windows Shares); Save, View, Edit, and Email documents from remote file shares
  • Forward appointments and view calendar attachments on the handset
  • Benefit from wireless sync improvements for Contacts, including sync for multiple contact folders, personal Distribution Lists and contacts in Public/Shared folders
  • Certain music files may not be supported, including files that contain digital rights management technologies.

Pricing

Pricing will be announced by the individual in-country operating companies. As an indication, Vodafone UK will be offering the BlackBerry Storm2 free from £35 per month on a 24-month contract that includes 600 minutes talk-time, unlimited BlackBerry Internet Service, unlimited text messaging, as well as unlimited access to VMI (Vodafone Mobile Internet) and broadband.

For more information please visit www.blackberry.com/storm