RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: Why the Fuss?

Why is Research In Motion being lambasted for its BlackBerry Storm communications device?

The smartphone maker’s latest gadget, which is designed to run on CDMA networks run by operators such as Verizon and Telus, isn’t half as bad as the critics have portrayed it.

Well-regarded tech reviewers, such as David Pogue of the New York Times, (and other reviewers) you’ll recall have slapped the ‘dud’ label and other nastiness on the Storm in recent months.

The Storm, of course, is a touchscreen smartphone device created by RIM for business users primarily. It is the company’s answer to Apple’s uber popular iPhone.

It is this very touchscreen that seems to have engendered the most hostility from critics to date. To control the device, you need to flick your fingers up and down the screen to control it. This is a different take on the keyboard as there are no keys for users to plunk their fingers down onto. Instead, users must click the letters on the screen to help create messages. This is unlike the iPhone, which has a touchscreen that users need only touch to input letters.

Having played with it casually over the past week, I can say the Storm is a worthy competitor to the iPhone if not a superior device.

The device, contrary to the opinion of early naysayers is well designed for the most part and is easier to use in many cases than the iPhone (horror of horrors!).

The Storm’s keyboard is relatively easy to use, has a big, bright screen and seems to be as reliable as any other BlackBerry I’ve used in past though admittedly I haven’t tested its limits.

The keyboard is hardly a chore to use, as some say. This point will become salient for anyone who’s ever struggled to input more than 30 words a minute on an iPhone keyboard. (Talk about a laborious experience!) In fact, I’d say the Storm is almost more fun to use because it’s a more tactile experience though a marginal amount more effort is required to input characters into the device.

Oddly, Pogue has also criticized the company for its desire to "go there," to create a device with a touchscreen in other words.

Bollocks.

If more business people thought the way Pogue did, we’d still be using pushmowers, instead of gas-powered or electric lawnmowers. We’d also be using candles to light up rooms, not light bulbs.

I suppose RIM should’ve stuck to its famous scroll wheel and the tactile QWERTY keyboard, not create a touchscreen device. Pogue has also likened the Storm’s keyboard to a manual typewriter. That’s one major strike, according to Pogue, against the Storm and its very existence.

The point is innovation, even if it’s practically a cliche, is a necessity especially for tech companies. Companies should try to diversify, especially in the hypercompetitive smartphone market. RIM shouldn’t be knocked for creating such a device, should it?

But I digress.

There are issues with the Storm, Pogue for one has said the Storm’s design is "inconsistent" and "confusing." He is right to some degree.

One major design flaw on the part of RIM is the fact two different touchscreen keyboards have been created for the Storm. Hold the device in a sideways fashion and you’ll be able to type on a QWERTY keyboard. Hold it upright and the keyboard looks more like a dialpad for an old touchtone phone. To type a message when the device is held in an upright fashion means users are wholly dependent on the company’s unreliable SureType technology. Not cool.

Keep it on its side and its fine as is the device overall. It’s not going to blow you away but it’s good, solid in fact. I’d even use it as a music player.

I’m not a RIM booster or apologist. At varying points in time, I’ve owned a Nokia e62, Apple’s iPhone and the BlackBerry Curve, among other devices that I have run on the Fido/Rogers network.

But RIM’s Storm doesn’t warrant half the criticism it has received to date. Perhaps RIM has come of age. Reviewers don’t just want to put their hands around a BlackBerry anymore. They want a piece of the company’s hide too.

[tags] BlackBerry Storm, Apple, iPhone, David Pogue [/tags]