When Symbian first came up with what would become a wildly popular Smartphone, even Google joined the widening bandwagon. Companies started stacking their own Smartphones against each other for market leadership. Just this November, Verizon, a telecommunications network to be reckoned with as well, announced that it would carrying a new Blackberry atop its solid 3G network.

Research in Motion, notable for starting the Blackberry craze a few years ago, just recently produced the Blackberry Storm, a wonderful new addition to the market, which is currently being ruled by the ever present Apple, with its own Smartphone variant, the sleek and svelt iPhone. How does a Blackberry stack up against the wildly popular iPhone?

Features

Since this is Research in Motion’s first device to utilize touchscreen technology, it’s interesting to note that the touchscreen available for the Blackberry Storm is completely usable and even has tactile response built into it, to enhance user friendliness.

The click-able touchscreen interface of the Blackberry Storm allows users to experience the old charm of keyboards- whether vintage keyboard of the nineties or the more svelte models present in notebooks, ultraportables and netbooks.

The Blackberry Storm can connect to EV-DO Rev. or your friendly local 3G networks- however, as stated by a two year contract, you would be tied to Verizon for your data service needs. In any case, Verizon is a dependable provider, and would even be able to provide assistance during your travels, for a small fee.

The onboard storage space is a miniscule 1 gigabyte, which you can then expand to a hefty 16 gigabytes since the unit comes with a card slot. You can buy 10 or 20 more memory cards, and the Blackberry Storm’s memory becomes infinite. Swap cards if you are not satisfied with just one.

Quality is King

If you wish to use the Blackberry Storm predominantly as a mobile phone, you would be glad to know that the main carrier for this unit, Verizon (or Vodafone in other regions of the world) is consistently number 1 for quality of calls and clarity of network presence. If you’re a business man or an office worker consistently on the go, then join the Blackberry revolution with ease.

Customer care is also one of the main concerns, especially for globe trotters who will invariably find the need to seek technical assistance from Verizon. Fortunately, Verizon can afford to give top quality customer service for those who are bound by contract to pay for their data, voice and SMS messages. But essentially, voice quality is Verizon’s specialty, so slide over to Verizon for the long haul if you want crisp calls until your Blackberry Storm gives up.

The third-generation or 3G network infrastructure of Verizon is quite solid and dependable; presence is superb, and you would never have to worry about missing the day’s email with your data service subscription. Unfortunately, Blackberry Storm is completely dependent on 3G presence, and is not Wi-Fi capable.

Now, if we are to compare prices, the Blackberry Storm is definitely less expensive than the Apple iPhone, which should be given thought by potential buyers who have tight or limited budgets.