The BlackBerry Storm smartphone brings images and videos to life with sharp and vibrant colour through its stunning 3.25-inch, high resolution (480×360 at 184 ppi) display. Featuring a built-in media player that handles a range of video and music formats, it also supports video streaming and can be synchronised with iTunes for music content or wirelessly connected (via Bluetooth) to a home stereo using the BlackBerry Music Gateway. With HSPA connectivity, BlackBerry Storm users will enjoy a high-performance HTML browser that works in either portrait or landscape modes thanks to the built-in orientation sensor (accelerometer).

For easy access to popular IM and social networking services, the BlackBerry Storm comes with purpose-built applications for Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, and Flickr. The smartphone also conveniently supports multitasking so users are not forced to constantly open and close applications.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone features include:

• Sleek, stylish design with contoured corners, stainless steel back and chromed frame
• Large (3.25-inch), “clickable” SurePress touch-screen with 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi
• An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the backlighting and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode
• Support for popular instant messaging services and social networking sites
• 3.2 megapixel camera, with auto focus and a LED flash
• A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
• Built-in GPS
• 1 GB of on board memory storage and a microSD/SDHC memory card slot
• Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allows users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the smartphone
• Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately 6 hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

Check out SlashGear review here

http://www.slashgear.com/blackberry-storm-for-verizon-review-part-1-2023488/

http://www.slashgear.com/blackberry-storm-for-verizon-review-part-2-2023656/

Would you need to queue up for the smartphone? Probably not. BGR was told that there will be enough stock in every stores for you.

For the rest of the Verizon Wireless subscribers, the BlackBerry Storm will most likely to be available from November 24th or November 25th this month.

With just on-year contract, you will have to pay $289.99 for the new BlackBerry. To get the smartphone without any contract, the pricing will then be increased to $519.99.

Verizon Wireless, Vodafone Group and Research In Motion (RIM) has announced in October that the BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand. Vodafone UK has also announced that it will start selling the full touch screen BlackBerry smartphone from November 14th this week.

[Source HowardForums via SlashGear]

Customers who want to be the first in the UK to have a BlackBerry Storm can pre-order in Vodafone stores, online at www.vodafone.co.uk/storm and telesales, and account managers for our business customers from November 14. It will also be available for sale through Vodafone’s retail partner Phones 4U in store and online.

The BlackBerry Storm pricing starts from free on a two year contract at £35 per month on a Best for Text plan that will include 600 minutes and unlimited texts.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone includes the following features and functions:

• BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server support
• Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allows users to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
• 3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video
• Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos
• 1 GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage
• Media player that can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection; playlists can be created directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters – including “Lounge,” “Jazz” and “Hip Hop”
• A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth® stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
• Sleek, elegant design with contoured corners, stainless steel back and chrome accents surrounding its large (3.25″) glass lens; its exceptional 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi is crisp and bright with eye-pleasing clarity
• An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by simply rotating the handset
• Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately six hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

The BlackBerry Storm (also called BlackBerry Thunder previously) will be available this month for Verizon Wireless and Vodafone customer. Price detail for Vodafone has just been announced as below:

• With 12-month contract, minimum £40/month subscription, it cost £300
• With 18-month contract, minimum £40/month subscription, it will be free!
• With 24-month contract, minimum £35/month subscription, it will be free!

Check out Verizon Wireless pricing rumor here

Source [CrackBerry]

TELUS is thrilled to announce that it will be the first in Canada to offer consumers the revolutionary BlackBerry Storm 9530 smartphone from Research In Motion. The addition of this world edition smart phone to TELUS’ line-up cements TELUS’ position as Canada’s smartphone leader with the most smartphones on Canada’s largest 3G network.

A revolution in the palm of your hands
The revolution begins with the BlackBerry Storm’s advanced high resolution (480 x 320) 3.25″ touchscreen. This is the first touchscreen on a BlackBerry device and features an innovative clickable surface for precise and responsive text input. The touchscreen is also intelligent enough to present users with a virtual QWERTY or SureType® keyboard depending on the orientation of the device.

The familiar communications experience that clients have grown to love about their BlackBerry smartphones has also been enhanced as e-mails and Internet browsing are rendered in rich HTML format, with embedded images and one-click hyperlinks.

Clients will also appreciate the feature-packed multimedia capabilities of the device including a high resolution 3.2 MP camera to take pictures and videos and 1GB of memory with an expandable micro SD ^TM memory slot to store those images. Best of all, those images can be uploaded quickly with high speed access to YouTube streaming videos for mobile devices and one touch access to popular social networking sites like Facebook. And battery life is not an issue as the BlackBerry Storm boasts an extended life battery, which is replaceable.

Chase the storm with TELUS
TELUS will be making the BlackBerry Storm available just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Source [BGR]

“We are proud to introduce the first touch-screen based BlackBerry smartphone together with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-chief executive officer at RIM. “The BlackBerry Storm is a revolutionary touch-screen smartphone that meets both the communications and multimedia needs of customers and solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens. Consumers and business customers alike will appreciate this unique combination of a large and vibrant screen with a truly tactile touch interface.”

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone comes with an innovative touch-screen that actually depresses ever so slightly when the screen is pressed. The user distinctly feels the screen being pressed and released with a gentle “click,” similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. In addition to the familiar navigation keys (”phone,” “menu” and “escape”) that are common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone also features a built-in accelerometer, allowing its touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset – RIM’s SureType keyboard layout is available in portrait mode and a full QWERTY keyboard layout is available in landscape mode.

Navigating Web sites is fast and easy with the touch-screen interface that lets users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan. Icons along the bottom of the display allow for quickly accessing Web sites, switching between “Page View” and “Column View” as well as the ability to toggle between “Pan” mode and “Cursor” mode. The enhanced browser supports file downloading, streaming audio and video (RTSP), and with its built-in RSS support, new content from supported Web sites can be automatically pushed to the user.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone, available from Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, also includes the following features and functions:

• BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server support
• Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allows users to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset
• 3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video
• Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos
• 1 GB of onboard memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage
• Media player that can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection; playlists can be created directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters – including “Lounge,” “Jazz” and “Hip Hop”
• A 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth® stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls
• Sleek, elegant design with contoured corners, stainless steel back and chrome accents surrounding its large (3.25″) glass lens; its exceptional 480 x 360 resolution at 184 ppi is crisp and bright with eye-pleasing clarity
• An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting for ideal screen viewing and an accelerometer that allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by simply rotating the handset
• Removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately six hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time

Additional details related to availability and pricing will be announced in the coming weeks. To learn more or register to be notified when the BlackBerry Storm is available, visit www.blackberry.com/storm, www.verizonwireless.com/storm or www.vodafone.co.uk/storm.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source [StormReviews] via [BGR]