BlackBerry Storm 2 Full Review

The Storm 2 looks like the first name. Undoubtedly, we are dealing with a BlackBerry. The appearance is very pleasant mix of classicism and modernity, where black dominates. The metallic buttons last year left room for buttons covered with the same rubberized coating around the side of the device and found on other recent models of the brand.



The brushed steel back supports a removable battery of 1400 mAh that is necessary to remove to insert the SIM card and a slot for a micro-SD card, and a CO of 3.2 mega pixels autofocus with LED flash.

Upon ignition, the screen Storm will be out by contrast and brightness are exceptional. The unit of 160 grams is well in hand, but the buttons at the bottom of the screen have given way to all smooth tactile keys. A rather unfortunate choice because the sensitivity of the click is great, and the buttons are not physically separated.

The Storm's clickable screen 2 seemed better adjusted to the hull and dust should no longer slip into the cracks that formed around the screen predecessor.

From all this emerges a sense of confidence. The Storm 2 does not leave indifferent and attracts attention.

But how does this screen that has a click system electrically assisted suspensions based on electronic technology (SurePress)? Simply select the menu or icon desired by outcrop, and once the selected item is surrounded by a halo of blue more beautiful effect, click on the screen suspended sinking a little while vibrating slightly. We must therefore perform two operations where the machines do not require concurrent tactile one. The double click is not far and often involuntary. First disconcerting, it soon becomes irritating.

In practice, this operation is always a bit confusing, and sometimes not precise enough, and it will take a little practice to master perfectly functioning. It is remains that this choice seems hardly conducive to a good speed and some even seem annoying at times. Everyone will be his opinion but it is likely that this system will not unanimously matter of taste.
An example: any numeric field requires to switch the keyboard letter to each digital number. In fact, after entering a number, the keyboard returns to listing. Unacceptable level!

Note that the screen becomes inert once the Storm 2 in standby or off.

Like the first Storm, the virtual Qwerty keyboard is available in portrait and landscape by tilting the accelerometer board. Finally, SMS can be embellished with a wide choice of available smileys.

The main screen is that of a BlackBerry. From a glance, you know the battery level, the profile of the device (normal, vibrate, silent, etc..), The reception level GSM, 3G, time, and the number of unread messages. Clicking the button BlackBerry or middle of the screen (where there is no icon) posters applications of the device. The screen scrolls smoothly and an icon selected (clicked before) appears in a pretty blue halo.

In the same principle, the keyboard turns on "the keys are touched, and you click to type the letter. Even with the best will in the world, and although the system provides high accuracy, these clicks on a keyboard that is not physical is confusing and even disturbing. It is not uncommon to miss the letter or word you want by clicking on one or the one next door `. Clearly the system proposed by RIM does not minimize in any typos, but would even a tendency to increase them ... While it may be justified on the icons of programs, as it unnecessarily slows typing text, albeit not very but enough to annoy the user. It would be really desirable to disengage the clickable screen to keep only the click software.

The reactivity of the Storm 2 is excellent and the accelerometer is fine office without delay. A good point compared to its predecessor.

The Storm 2 is equipped with the 5.0 version of the RIM OS and seems faster than its predecessor. The addition of 128 RAM there is probably no stranger. In all cases, the lighting of the machine is one of the shortest we knew. Navigating through the menus is smooth and applications are responsible manner, virtually instantaneous with the notable exception of the camera.

Autonomy is substantially identical with nearly 6 hours of talk time and 280 hours standby, which is a good day of mixed use, voice navigation and 3G or with a little Wi-Fi, like most mobile modern market. Note that the navigation using GPS will melt like snow autonomy in the sun!

The web browsing is not the strong point of the Storm 2. The browser home is not very fast and there are few pages that do not need to be able to zoom in to read the text comfortably. In this respect, regret that the zoom can be done by separating the fingers as on iPhone. The fans of the brand they may still want the cursor to display more information clicks ...

Side connection, it is the most complete and all systems are supported: Edge, 3G and Wi-Fi + The contribution of Wi-Fi is a real plus on this type of machine as far as the connection to a hot spot is very easy.

The camera is well made but its interface is disappointing. And very slow, too slow. However, film quality is average, that is very honorable.

The audio is delivered as usual on the BlackBerry, excellent order.

If RIM wants to conquer the general public, we can only note that appworld is still far behind Apple AppStore or of Android. The few applications these are moreover not all compatible with the Storm which has a screen size very specific.

What about the Storm 2? Far from us the desire to trigger a controversy similar to that which followed the first test of the Opus, but it is clear that this very special machine we frankly do not packaged. His screen suspended and clickable causes of unintentional mistakes too but annoying. Web browsing, similar to that afforded other Smartphone brand is disappointing on a screen this size. A machine as intelligent as it is, must adapt to its user. However, the opposite occurs with the Storm 2, and a dozen days of exclusive use failed to convince us that, despite arguments rather attractive on paper ...

In the growing family of all touch the Storm 2 is a logical and necessary first named Storm, but the choice of touch screen placed far behind the iPhone, or Touch HD Android. It finally appears that the BlackBerry are never as good as when they are equipped with a standard screen and a physical keyboard ...

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