Blackberry Storm Cell Phone Review - Hardware

The Storm's virtual keyboard proves to be fairly comparable to other touchscreen devices and those with physical QWERTY keyboards, though it will take some getting used to and may not be for everyone. What buttons it does have are solid and offer multiple functions in most cases.

Text Words Per Minute (10.53)
To see how quickly text can be entered on a device, we time how long it takes to enter a standard set of text using the fastest method of text entry available. On the Storm, this was using the SureType keyboard in portrait orientation. Typing in landscape mode with the full QWERTY resulted in slower times since it requires a level of precision to type accurately that takes significantly more time, even with spelling correction enabled. On the Storm, this test took an average of 18.24 seconds for a words-per-minute result of 52.65, putting it between the other 2 touchscreen devices, the HTC Touch Diamond at 47.56 words per minute and the iPhone 3G at 61.50 words per minute.

We think that text entry is going to make the Storm or break it for most users. Pressing down on the thick glass screen hard enough to register a click takes effort and time, more than what's required on iPhone 3G with its ultra-sensitive capacitive touchscreen. Since the entire screen activates a single mechanical button with every press, you must wait for the button to rebound between every press, theoretically limiting how fast you can type. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The Storm does have spelling correction that works with every keyboard mode available. In multi-tap and SureType modes, it works like T9 on a phone with a standard dial pad, guessing the word you're typing without requiring you to press each key multiple times to get to the correct letter.    

The SureType keyboard                                     The multi-tap keyboard

With the QWERTY keyboard, it attempts to guess what word you're typing and offers spelling alternatives to select from if it thinks you've spelled something wrong. If you keep typing an incorrect word and the Storm thinks you're typing something from the dictionary, it will replace the word for you automatically. To ignore the suggested word, you must tap on the screen somewhere other than on the keyboard or on the suggested word before you can continue, adding time to the text entry process. If the word you enter is not in the Storm's spelling dictionary and it has no guesses for you, your misspelled word will remain and will simply be underlined to show you the spelling error.

The QWERTY keyboard in landscape orientation

All in all, the Storm's spelling correction is not as slick as that on the iPhone 3G and is a bit less responsive in keeping up with you during fast typing.

One-Handed Typing (8.00)
In this test, we time entering the same text as used in the Text Words Per Minute test above, again using the fastest text entry method available but with just one hand this time. The fastest text entry mode for one hand is still the SureType keyboard, and the Storm took an average of 24.01 seconds to complete this test for a words-per-minute result of 39.98. This result beats all of our comparison phones, even the Blackberry Curve 8320 with its physical QWERTY at 26.50 words per minute.  If you're used to one-handed typing, the Storm may not be too bad for you, all things considered. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Keypad Backlighting (4.0)
While the Storm doesn't have a full keypad, it does have a backlight behind the 4 buttons below the screen. They are evenly lit and the backlight comes on in tandem with the screen's backlight, though there are no separate controls for it.

On a related note, one thing you'll notice in a dark room is that there is significant light bleed around the edges of the touchscreen, but it doesn't really interfere with using the device.

D-Pad/Joystick (0.0)
The Storm does not have a D-pad or joystick.

Touch Screen (4.0)
The Storm has a touchscreen that's pretty unique among all the touchscreen devices out there since it offers actual physical feedback when depressed fully. The entire screen is essentially one large button and presses only register when it's pressed hard enough to activate the button mechanism. Blackberry calls this feature ClickThrough and it takes some getting used to. The OS shows you what you've selected before you press hard enough to make it click by highlighting the menu or icon in blue. Clicking isn't always exact, however, even getting to spectacularly inaccurate at times since the items in menus and elsewhere are often spaced close enough to each other to make last-minute mistakes when you go to click. Particularly on the full QWERTY keyboard, even small fingers completely obscure the desired key and the screen easily misinterprets the selected key with the slightest movement at the time of the click. Something like feature where a pop-up of the selected letter appears well away from your finger to let you know what you're pressing, as found on the iPhone 3G, is woefully missing on the Storm. We don't really blame this on the touchscreen, but rather on the OS and inattention to legacy menu structure and overall spacing that didn't seem to change despite the significant adjustment to input compared to previous Blackberrys.

The physical feedback is satisfying, with a not-too-loud audible click and good feel. It does not make typing any faster in general, since it takes time to press the screen rather than making fleeting touches as you do on the iPhone 3G for input to register. But this could be comforting for those previously reluctant to make the jump to a touchscreen device, fearing the lack of tactile feedback would render the device unusable.

All in all, the touchscreen itself feels solid and fairly responsive, but it doesn't add to the Storm's functionality or ease of use beyond other Blackberry models with physical keyboards without a correspondingly thorough overhaul to the OS to fully leverage it.

Jog Dial (0.0)
The Storm does not have a jog dial.

Soft Buttons (0.0)
The Storm does not have any soft buttons.

Volume Control (3.0)
The Storm has a volume up/down rocker on the right side that is slightly raised from the side of the phone. Each end offers good travel and tactile feedback, with a raised marking on the up button and an embossed marking on the down button to help you differentiate between them by feel. There isn't much distance between them, and larger fingers may have trouble pressing the correct end without additional attention. As on the Blackberry Curve 8320, they only work on an active call or when media is playing. Otherwise, they do nothing, unlike almost every other cell phone out there that at least adjust the ring volume with the volume keys when a call is not active.

Power and Standby (5.0)
The Storm's End key doubles as the power button. When pressed briefly, it will take you back to the home screen. When pressed for a few seconds, you'll see a message letting you know that the Storm is shutting down and to press any key to abort shutdown. It offers good tactile feedback and we never once turned the phone off accidentally during normal phone usage.

The standby/lock button is a little more stealthy and is on the left side of the top of the phone and is essentially embedded in the fascia, indicated only by a lock symbol in dark gray with no backlighting. What we found odd about the lock functionality is that the Storm doesn't lock the screen automatically when left alone for period of time by default out of the box - you must press this lock button, or use the Lock shortcut in the main menu, to prevent against accidental input before you put the Storm in your pocket or bag.

Other Buttons (8.0)
The Storm has 2 convenience keys, one on each side of the device. By default, the left key is set to open the voice command application, and the right key opens the camera and activates the auto-focus and shutter. The left key has 3 raised bumps on it to help you differentiate it from the key on the other side, which is smooth, in case you're unsure of the phone's orientation in your pocket or bag. Both offer good travel and tactile feedback.

In between the Send and End keys are the Menu and Escape keys. The Menu key, as expected, shows the available menu for whatever application is open and also offers access to the application switcher to more quickly switch between applications. The Escape key always takes you back one level from wherever you were. Neither key can be re-programmed to do anything else. Both keys are relatively large and have good tactile feedback and travel.

The last key we haven't covered yet is the Mute key. When a call comes in and you want to mute the ring but not decline the call completely, pressing this key will silence the ring but not direct the call to voicemail. Also, during a call, the Mute key will mute and un-mute the microphone.

Primary Screen Gross Resolution (9.0)
CONFIRM POINTS The Storm proudly boasts a half-VGA resolution screen with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels, making for crisp images, icons, and text and making it quite competitive with the specs of our comparison phones.

Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (9.28)
The calculate pixels per inch, we measure the visible area screen along one side using calipers and divide the resulting number by the number of pixels. The Storm has 185.69 pixels per inch, one of the highest numbers among our comparison phones.

Screen Physical Size (7.99)
Here again, we use calipers to measure the actual diagonal viewable size of the device's screen, and the Storm measures in at 3.197 inches.

Screen Brightness (12.90)
To measure screen brightness, we navigate to a blank white web page with the screen's brightness set to its highest level and use a light meter to measure the output. The Storm has a pretty bright screen, putting out 168 lumens. It also has an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the screen's brightness based on lighting conditions. The Screen/Keyboard settings in the options menu offers 10 brightness levels from which to choose.

Screen Bright Light Performance (9.0)
To see how the screen performs in bright light, we place the device under a lamp putting out the equivalent of bright daylight and see how usable the phone is in this lighting condition. Once you get around the glare of the screen's glass surface, it's very easy to navigate on the Storm in bright light due to its brightness and pixel density, as well as the default themes color scheme of white text on dark backgrounds.

Color Depth (6.0)
The Storm's screen can display over 65,000 colors, putting it on par with the Blackberry Curve 8320 and HTC Touch Diamond, but behind the T-Mobile G1 and Nokia E71. Apple does not publish the color depth figures for the iPhone 3G, so we have no data for it in this category.

Secondary Screen (0.0)
The Storm does not have a secondary screen.

Power & Data Ports (3.0)
The Storm has a single micro-USB port for charging and for connecting to a computer via USB. Though this format is not used as widely as standard USB or even mini-USB, we appreciate that the Storm does not have a proprietary port for charging and data transfer.

Headphone Compatibility (8.0)
The Storm has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, making it easy for you to use any headphones you already have and offering you the widest selection when purchasing new ones to use with it. We are thrilled that the Storm offers this level of compatability and it compares well to the T-Mobile G1 and HTC Touch Diamond that don't even have dedicated headphone jacks and require an adapter to use standard 3.5mm headphones. Additionally, the Storm has the A2DP Bluetooth profile that allows the use of stereo Bluetooth headphones, earning it additional points in this area.

Internal Storage (5.0)
The Storm comes with 1GB of internal storage, a decent amount that can store at least some songs, pictures, videos, and PIM information if an expansion card is not on hand.

Expansion Slot & Format (6.0)
The Storm has a microSD card slot under the battery cover, and it comes with an 8GB card out of the box, a thoughtful and very appreciated addition to the Storm's package.

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