Vodafone Blackberry Storm 2 Finally Official! Storm 2 For Vodafone
Finally RIM decided, after months of leaks, to reveal the Blackberry Storm 2; the second touchscreen Blackberry ever. And it is beautiful, it is very similar to the Storm; but, the four buttons below the screen have been flushed with the whole front part, and seems that is remarkably thinner than the Storm. The new Storm 2 is currently only official for Vodafone Europe, it is scheduled to roll out in seven European countries and South Africa: UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, France and Italy. The actual release date for each country will be different, Germany, Netherlands and Spain will get it first, while the rest of the countries will have to wait a couple of months more; but don’t worry, it will surely be before Christmas.
And what about the U.S.A? Still no word from RIM about the availability in North America. Presumably, by previous rumors, the Storm will be available with AT&T and Verizon as well. Sounds a little bit unusual for the same device to be in two carriers at the same time, however, the rumor comes from secure and reliable sources.
So whats new on the Blackberry Storm 2? Well, unfortunately, not much, as far as hardware concerns. The only improvement, although could make the entire difference, is the new screen that still offers a ”clickable screen,” while eliminating the annoyances from the original Storm screen. The other improvement is the new OS 5.0 and exactly 1GB more of internal memory. Below are the full improvements:
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
