In a move to square off with Apple’s iPhone 3G, Research In Motion unveiled its touch screen-based BlackBerry Storm on Wednesday. The new smartphone includes several features that compete with the iPhone including rotating display support, a full Web browser, media player, contact manager and calendar app, email, Microsoft Office support, Bluetooth, auto screen rotation, a 3.2 megapixel camera, EDGE and HSPA support, and more.
The 3.26-inch display offers touch-based navigation support, like Apples iPhone 3G, but adds a form of physical feedback thanks to its “clickable” display a feature that gives users tactile feedback when press they down on the display to select virtual buttons. It also includes 1GB of built in RAM along with a microSD card slot and an 8GB memory card, along with a camera flash.
RIM has teamed with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Group to distribute the BlackBerry Storm in the U.S. and Europe.
The Storm’s feature list looks like RIM intended to design a device to go head on with the iPhone, and then some. How well the Storm holds up against the iPhone remains to be seen since it won’t ship until later this fall, but it is proof that handset makers are taking Apple seriously as a competitor in the cell phone market.
Tags: blackberry, iphone