Storm Warning! The New Blackberry Storm

There's a Storm coming your way soon!  No, don't look skywards, we're talking about the new Blackberry Storm, the latest enterprise device from Research In Motion.

Launched last week in the UK, RIM is following up the Blackberry Bold with their first full touchscreen offering, sending a message to the iPhone with one particular feature...Yes, if copying and pasting text was something the iPhone couldn't handle, Blackberry has solved that puzzle. Using the multi-touch screen, you'll be able to place one finger at the start and another at the end of the section you'd like to copy, then just slide them together to highlight. Talk of the chicken coming home to roost. The iPhone's own technology is now being used against them.

While retaining that unmistakable BlackBerry flavour, the Storm looks like it could be somewhat of a cross between the iPhone 3G and Nokia 5800 Xpress Music.

A-GPS, Wi-Fi, a 3.5 mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 and, like the Nokia 5800, it boasts of a 3.2-megapixel camera, landscape qwerty keyboard as well a traditional phone keypad on the screen. Like the iPhone 3G, it has a multimedia syncing functionality, while differing with its 4:3 ratio 480x360 screen at a whopping 3.25.'' 

To top it all, it also comes with a microSD slot, which can take up to 16GB (8GB in the box-we hear). One has 3 options while inputting text – A full-QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode, the BlackBerry standard keypad with Suretype and also a standard phone keypad.

Coupled with all the normal functions one gets with a BlackBerry device, this is really a stormy offering.

Considering that Vodafone has got exclusive rights to bundle the phone with its services in the UK, an Indian launch could not be very far off.  Keep watching this space.