The 1st Blackberry came onto the scene in 1999, ushering in a new age in electronic combo devices. The Blackberry (before Blackberry Phones was originaly intended as a complicated pager. But its local messaging system was so effective that it quickly earned a cult following of such magnitude that Webster’s New World School Compendium recognized “crackberry” as the “New Word of the Year”. RIM’s latest, The BlackBerry Storm, is a shot at un-kinging the mighty iPhone, which appears to hold a strong grip on being the #1 selling mobile device. The Storm’s partner on this is Verizon, as it is being offered as part of Verizon Phones, who is still reeling from its mistake of turning down Steve Jobs’ iPhone (Verizon as a carrier). If Verizon is attempting to make amends for missing the iPhone, it’s at least heading in the correct direction. The Storm has a wide screen, touchscreen interfaction that offers many of the same capabilities as the iPhone, yet with some additional extras on the touchscreen display. The results of these enhancements are mixed. Not like the normal keyboard, the onscreen buttons are not able to keep up with terribly fast typing. Old School Blackberry “thumbing” addicts will most likely not be in a position to rattle off messages with equal accuracy.

The clickthrough interface requires a fair amount of practice if you want to get used to pushing the touch-sensitive screen down until there’s a click, in sheer contrast to the seamless interactivity available with the iPhone.

Similarly, since your finger is on it, the blue highlight that displays confirmation of the active status of a given button is active is hard to see.

So Whether it’ll go down in the books as a design fluke or an all out fumble, is yet to be shown. Last and maybe indeed least, this Blackberry also does not feature the predictive spelling aid functions provided by the iPhone. If you are a lazy speller, the Blackberry doesn’t offer you much of a safety net. The browser renders HTML quickly and thoroughly, with context-sensitive page-dragging features allowing you to move around any given webpage. The sole complaint here is that form fields are a little unpleasant to fill out. Though the browser has earned high grades, the lack of Wi-Fi on telephones is quite mysterious. Though Verizon’s EV-DO coverage is wonderful, there are tons of circumstances where Wi-Fi would have been quite useful. As for the powerful, commercial style, Blackberry catches a top rating.

The payoff for leaving the tactile key board and trademark trackball behind is a faster, flatter, 3.25 in. glass front. 4 familiar Blackberry keys lie at the base of the telephone, they are: Telephone , Menu, Back, and End / Power. The wireless cell phone also comes ready with a mini USB key and also 3.5 mm headphone telephone jack. One probable drawback to the design is the matter of whether metal construction is superior to plastic. The phone is joined with the even so wonderful Verizon (for cellular service coverage) will keep the Storm well positioned in the race to cell phone king.