Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

More memory, Wi-Fi, updated OS, improved SurePress interface, multi touch capabilities.

Thumbs Down:

The browser needs improvement.

Inside the Trunk:

Technology: CDMA 800/1900; GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Band: Dual band (CDMA)/Quad band (GSM)
Caller ID: Yes
Phone Design: Candybar
Other Features: Wi-Fi, music player, camera, etc.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Display 3.2 inch, 480X360 resolution, accelerometer, proximity sensor, 3.2 mega pixel camera, flash, image stabilization, geotagging capabilities and the standard camera tools, such as white-balance settings, variable resolutions and qualities.

Supported formats for music player MP3, WMA ProPlus, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA files Supported video formats – MPEG4, WMV, and H.264
256 MB flash memory, 2 GB onboard memory, 16 GB micro SD card included, 1400mAh lithium ion battery.

Razzle Dazzle:

BlackBerry Storm 2 doesn’t look much different from its predecessor and the dimensions are quite similar to the iPhone. It looks quite pretty with just four buttons on the screen and no keyboard. If a phone doesn’t have a slide out QWERTY keyboard then it adds to the sleekness of the phone. On the phone there is power/lock button, mute button, microUSB port, 3.5 mm phone jack. SIM card and microSD slots are located behind the battery cover. The latter isn’t hot swappable but at least you don’t have to go digging inside the battery.

Inside Dope:

The display of the phone is 3.2 inch big, which is quite large. It accommodates lot of icons and gives a lot of work space on the display. The big screen is well complimented by the 480X360 resolution.

The display has proximity sensor, which the RIM calls face detector, and will lock the screen when you place it close to your ear to prevent accidental touches. The phone also has an accelerometer which changes the display from vertical to horizontal when you place the phone sideways.

The phone doesn’t have a numeric keypad and neither does it have a slide out QWERTY key pad(which is the reason behind the thin look). So the virtual touch screen is all you get. Now the touch screen QWERTY keyboard has its own set of issues and you will need some time to get used to this keyboard. RIM has improved its SurePress interface and it shows in the keyboard. If you want to type in capital you can press the shift key and the letter key at the same time (earlier it was one key at a time).

This is not all, the SurePress key also gives you a click feel when you press the display. You can use your finger to roam around on the display and then you can click on the button that you want. The same goes for places like drop down boxes where you can surf through the available options through your finger and then click the entry that you want.

The keyboard lights up when you click on the QWERTY keyboard buttons and the accelerometer is available for the keyboards so you will prefer typing with the device placed horizontally, because you get more place.

The phone has the same processor as its predecessor but with the larger memory cards, you might think that this phone would get a little slow. We thought so too, but we were glad that the phone has same great speed. The transitions in the accelerometer were quick and there won’t be any lag when you open applications.

This phone supports multi touch so you can exploit this function while messaging. You can place one finger at the start of the piece and other finger at the end of the piece and then cut/copy/paste.

The phone has a built in 3.2 megapixel camera which gives a good picture quality. It also offers a flash, image stabilization, geotagging capabilities and the standard camera tools, such as white-balance settings, variable resolutions and qualities, etc. The camera has video recording capabilities too and the video quality was decent.

The RIM BlackBerry Storm 2 has a 1400mAh lithium ion battery which gives a talk time for 5.5 hours and standby time of 11.2 days. The phone comes with a 256 MB flash memory, two GB flash memory and a 16 GB microSD card for storing all your songs, videos and photos.

You can access 10 POP3 or IMAP4 email accounts at a time on RIM BlackBerry Storm 2. You can also view PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, Excel, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more with the attachment viewer. Popular IM clients like Windows Live, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and AIM are all included.

The phone also has WiFi built in so that you can use it if you don’t have 3G coverage in your area. There are features on this phone like speed dial, voice-activated dialing, smart dialing, conference calling, speakerphone and text and multimedia messaging. The phone has unlimited entries and shortage of card memory is the only thing that will stop you from saving more contacts. You can store multiple numbers, e-mail addresses, job title, work and home address and more in a single entry. You can also tag a photo with a contact and you can assign individual ring tone to a person.

The one lamentable thing about Blackberry phones is the browser and it has still not improved yet. But there are lots of improvements made, this product has better page renderings and speed improvements because of faster JavaScript and CSS processing. The browser also supports Google Gears, BlackBerry widgets, there were rumors of tabbed browsing (like the ones in computer browsers) but we haven’t seen it here. But there is no flash.

The music player on the phone is capable of playing MP3, WMA, WMA ProPlus, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC formats and the video player can play MPEG4, WMV, and H.264 formats. There are functions of repeat, search, shuffle which are found in normal mp3 players in phones. You can view videos full screen on this and it is an awesome experience to view videos on this big screen. The supported video formats are MPEG4, WMV, and H.264. The included CD with the phone has Roxio Easy Media Creator with which you can create MP3s from CDs and add audio tags to it.

Call quality on the phone was excellent on both ends. There was no distortion and there was no background noise. The people at the other side of the phone too said that our voice was crystal clear on the phone. The speakerphone too was good but the quality drops a little. The included Bluetooth feature allows you to pair the device with a Bluetooth headset. We tested the device with a wireless headset and the call quality was great.

Nitty Gritty:

BlackBerry Storm 2 is definetly better than its predessor in many ways. This device has an improved SurePress touch screen, an updated operating system and provides better user experience. But there are still issues in the phone, the browser isn’t as good as other manufacturers phones. If you are a RIM fan and if you haven’t got BlackBerry Storm, then get this device. Others might prefer Samsung Omnia 2 or Motorola Droid.