|
||
The first Blackberry stormed onto the scene in 1999, ushering in a new era in electronic "convergence" devices. Research In Motion originally intended the Blackberry as a sophisticated pager. But its native messaging system was so effective it earned an instant cult following to such an extent that Webster's New World College Dictionary named "crackberry" the "New Word of the Year".
RIM's latest BlackBerry, the Storm, is a serious attempt to usurp the victorious iPhone's grip on the number one selling mobile phone. RIM's partner on the Storm is Verizon, who is still reeling from its mistake of turning down Steve Jobs' iPhone as a carrier. If Verizon is trying to make amends for missing out on the iPhone, it's at least heading in the right direction with the Storm.
The Storm has a widescreen, touchscreen interface that offers many of the same features as the iPhone, but with some enhanced improvements on the touch screen display. The results of these "improvements" however, are mixed. Unlike the QWERTY keyboard, the onscreen buttons are unable to keep up with very fast typing. Classic Blackberry "thumbing" addicts will not be able to rattle off messages with equal speed or accuracy. The clickthrough interface is the result of RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis' idea of separating navigation from confirmation on a phone interface. But it takes a substantial amount of practice to get used to pushing the touch screen down until there is a "click" event, in stark contrast to the flowing interactivity one gets from the iPhone or LG's Vu. Moreover, the blue highlight that displays to confirm that a given button is active is difficult to see, simply because your finger was on it. Whether it will go down in history as a design boo-boo or a flat-out botch, remains to be seen.
Last and perhaps least, the Storm also lacks the predictive spelling assistant functions of the iPhone. If you're a lazy speller, the Storm doesn't offer you much of a safety net. The web browser renders HTML perfectly and quickly, with context sensitive page drag features enabling you to move around a given web page. The only gripe here is that form fields are a little tricky to fill out. While the browser earned high marks, the lack of Wi-Fi on the phone is quite a head scratcher. Though Verizon's EV-DO coverage is excellent, there are plenty of circumstances where Wi-Fi could come in handy.
Blackberry does get substantial credit for the sturdy, industrial design of the phone. The payoff for leaving the tactile key board and trademark trackball behind is a simpler, flat , 3.25 inch glass face that is unquestionably inspired by the i You-Know-What. Four familiar Blackberry keys lie at the bottom of the phone : Phone, Menu, Back, and End /Power. The phone also comes equipped with a mini USB key and 3.5 mm head phone jack. One possible downside of the design - is the issue of whether metal construction is superior to plastic. The Storm is encased in the latter, though as mentioned it does feel extremely solid in the hand.
All in all, "Crackberry" connoisseurs will miss the tactile key pad and trackball. But the flat screen, click through technology of this smartphone, coupled with excellent Verizon service coverage will keep the RIM and Blackberry well positioned in the cell phone races.
The Motorola Rokr is one of those phones that has successfully brought back the single body design. It's thicker than the RAZR V3, and at 4.5 inches tall and 2 inches wide, it has a reasonably tall, thin design that fits in the hand like a chocolate bar. Its keyboard design is a welcome departure from Motorola's boilerplate grid design with small gray icons set against a slightly "smoked" black background. The scroll wheel enables easy menu and feature navigation. There is a small caveat, though, as the scroll wheel is a bit too sensitive. Some practice is needed to get the light touch needed not to breeze past your desired menu selections. Since there are no physical keys, Motorola has loaded haptic feedback onto the ROKR E8; it vibrates whenever a virtual button is pressed.
The 2 inch screen sports a great graphic display where you can adjust the backlighting and brightness. And the "Modeshift" keypad is a great little feature that tells you what menu mode you're in. If you're in music mode, the phone key pad disappears and is replaced by the "play" and "rewind" music controls. Camera mode is highlighted the same way, and it makes the interface so easy that it reduces the risk of "feature fatigue" a potential problem for all multi-featured mobile phones where users get overloaded with too many visual options. With Motorola's Rokr, you don't have to deal with more controls than you need to, at any one time. That said, there is a sluggishness in the menu responsiveness that seems to be due to T-mobile's software. This shortcoming may well resolve itself with software upgrades.
Motorola also provides a 3.5 mm jack that enables use of a headset for its music player. The phone definitely substantiates Motorola's claim that the Rockr is a "music phone" with a music interface that's easy to use. It has 2GB of internal memory which claims to store approximately 3000 songs. It synchs easily with Windows Media Player but Mac users have to transfer files via Micro SD.
The phone also has Bluetooth, a full HTML browser, and a 2.0 Mega pixel camera with an 8X zoom. And last but not least, let's get to the heart of mobile phone functionality : call signal integrity. Rokr's Crystal Talk technology claims to markedly reduce background noise during calls. This reviewer did notice a perceptibly better-than-average transmission quality, where I didn't have to do the classic clamp my free ear down to hear my friend as a subway train was passing overhead. Crystal Talk does in fact seem to be more than just marketing speak. Motorola has patented a series of algorithms that help differentiate a caller's voice from background noise.
Voices sounded very clear in conversations in the office building as well as on the street. Friends on the other line reported unusually good quality as well. Reception was a bit unusual at times. The phone would dip into "Emergency Calls Only" territory, then bounce back to four bars while I was standing in place. Regardless, when I had enough reception to complete a call, it always sounded great. For battery life, I got just over 6 hours of talk time in a single call, which is pretty good.
All in all, the lean and mean design and functionality of the Rokr will become better once T-mobile's software upgrades catch up with Motorola's ingenuity.