Design firm Storm out of London has created a very cyber friendly watch that should appeal to futurists everywhere. This stainless steel watch uses bright red LED’s to display the time, and will definitely make you stand out in night life scenarios.
Priced at $200, it just may be cheap enough that that watch connoisseur could have one of these in addition to all the other cool watches he already owns. What would make this watch a lot cooler would be a matching prosthetic arm to go with it.
Verizon officially launched the Blackberry Storm 2 today, and despite its name, I think it is fair to say it will be overshadowed by the launch of the Motorola Droid. Nonetheless, the device that a ton of people hated upon its first release is back for a second helping and this time around they’ve added WiFi, a preinstalled 16GB microSD card slot, a slightly updated facade and what RIM is claiming to be an improved SurePress click screen. You can order one today for $179.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and 2-year contract signing.
While I can’t predict the weather, one thing is for sure: a storm is on the way. To be more specific the Storm 2 from RIM. Yup, they’re releasing the second iteration of the device on October 28th, at least according to some leaked documentation. This is supposed to be the launch day of Motorola’s Droid…
The Blackberry Storm hasn’t exactly been the smash success that Verizon or RIM had hoped for. As a result, they’ve spent no time denying the existence of the next iteration of the device and even sent an early build to the folks at Crackberry.com for a hands on.
Thanks to a set of leaked documents we now know – that is assuming these are legit and accurate – that the Storm 2 (aka 9550) will arrive in retail stores…
I’m in shock and awe. I hardly thought we’d see pics of the Blackberry Storm 2 this year let alone just a few weeks after rumors emerged about the handset. It’s a bit difficult to tell what the major differences are between this version and the original, but if you look closely the buttons located at the bottom of the handset now appear to be ‘touch’. I just hope they get rid of that ridiculously gimmicky ‘click screen’. Yap in my ear all day about how great it is, but I’ll never buy it.
October 30th, 2008 12:17 AM | by Christen da Costa
I’m just getting back from the Blackberry Storm Launch Party here in LA. Getting in was a breeze. I just texted a 5 digiit smart code and later showed the SMS at the door for entry. Unfortunately, I wasn’t offered any VIP or press access, which was a little disappointing, but in all fairness I’ve been slow to post some Verizon phone reviews in recent – perhaps they’re punishing me. Once inside – it was held at the Avalon – I was pretty underwhelmed. The event was far from full, the ’sponsored drinks (Blackberry Bubbly and BlackBerrytini) were not discounted and they had one BB Storm on hand for 800+ people. To make matters worse, the Blackberry girls seemed far from educated and looked at me cross eyed when I made mention of the word ‘accelerometer’. But the worse had yet to come: they wouldn’t let us take pictures of the device. No press credentials, nothing to compromise, right? So I squeezed off a few shots and nabbed some video, all while being chased down by the day hire Blackberry girl.
I got a few minutes with the Storm. I’m an avid iPhone owner, which heavily skews me, but I’m not digging the click screen. After a quick fondling, I’m convinced it’s more gimmick than utilitarian. In order to feel the ‘click’ I had to press the screen longer than justified. Strangely enough, and this might just be something that needs tweaking, but the app I was in (I don’t remember) wouldn’t register my keystrokes unless I accomplished the clicked, even though the screen reacted by showing a ‘depressed’ key. I held my iPhone up to the Storm for comparison’s sake; afterall the iPhone set the touchscreen bar. The first thing I noticed was that the Storm’s screen didn’t appear as bright. And where as the iPhone has a blueish hue the Storm’s was a bit more red. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on the Storm long enough to make any more judgements, but I’m convinced it’s not an iPhone killer. Although, it should be a nice upgrade for BB fans, that is assuming they work out whatever bugs they didn’t want me to capture on camera.
As for music, I managed to catch a little Queens Of The Stoneage, who seemed solid. Foo Fighters came on an hour later. I only stayed for three songs – I had to leave early – but they rocked!
Honestly, this type of info is probably more deserving of the soon to be owners of the Blackberry Storm. But if you’re dieing to know the torrid details of the device, and perhaps think your IT department will double you up on touchscreen devices (assuming you have an iPhone or something similar) then hit the link for details galore. I’m just glad the 3.5-inch touchscreen is rocking 480×360 resolution.
Crackberry.com got ahold of a Verizon employee video and copies of the PDF talking points announcing the BlackBerry Storm. It’s the first touchscreen phone for BlackBerry and it looks to be a strong rival for the iphone. Availability and price TBD. Click below for the juicy details.
