Taking The Smartphone World By Storm

Just when you thought they were done making improvements, Blackberry comes and shows that they can at least keep up with the competition, if they don't surpass them. They have announced the prospective release of the Storm, which promises to be a top competitor with the likes of the iPhone and the highly anticipated G1.

The Storm incorporates some pretty interesting features. For starters, it has an accelerometer that changes the screen orientation from portrait to landscape and vice versa when you move the phone horizontally or vertically. It's got a 3.2 megapixel camera with 2x zoom and video recording. For those looking for speed and connectivity, the Storm supports quad-band EDGE technology.

A more interesting feature is the use of not one, not two, but three texting interface options. The user can either turn the phone horizontally to use a full QWERTY keyboard, or choose between Blackberry's standard keyboard or a numerical keypad (like what you see on regular non-QWERTY equipped phones) when you hold the phone vertically. These are helpful for situations when you may not be able to use both hands to text, or when a message is too long for you to type using multiple letter taps.

Probably the most interesting feature to me, though, is the prescence of visual voicemail much like the service offered by the iPhone. Visual voicemail allows you to see who left you a voicemail and gives you the option to listen to them in any order you wish. This is invaluable for those like me who despise checking their voicemail.

Specifics on release date and price are still unknown, but it is known that this phone will be available to the Verizon and Vodaphone networks around the holiday season.

Looks like some people will be getting very pleasant Christmas presents this year...

A Great Idea From Blackberry

Blackberry has become quite the household name for smartphones, from their first models to the Bold.

So it's no surprise that Blackberry would come up with an idea like this: a flip smartphone.

Yes, that's right: the specimen you see to the left is none other than the new Blackberry Pearl Flip.

The specs are nice, and the idea of a flip smartphone is certainly attractive to those who like flip phones with business capability.

I'm no Blackberry enthusiast, but I will admit they may be on to something here. The idea is certainly a fresh turn from the usual smartphone prototypes being offered.

This phone is being offered on the T-Mobile network and will sell for about $600 a pop. It's a hefty price tag, but well worth it for anybody who's interested.