PRODUCT REVIEW
BlackBerry Battle Royale: Storm vs. Bold

If you use a BlackBerry, you quickly will grasp the basics of how to work this phone. But if you're a smartphone newbie -- the kind of person RIM wants to lure -- who's looking for a touchscreen model, there are better choices.

The Storm is sleek and offers nice multimedia functions; videos look great. But navigating the phone can be cumbersome.

The faithful BlackBerry user may be better off with the Bold, another RIM model with multimedia muscle plus two fast network connections.

The Storm

I was disappointed during my first few hours using the BlackBerry Storm, which is on sale at Verizon Wireless for US$199 with a two-year contract. But I started to get comfortable the more I relied on it for messaging.

But let's get right to the point: The touch controls on the Storm do not compare with the more responsive iPhone or Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) phone. RIM should have included a trackball with the touch controls, like HTC did with T-Mobile's Google phone.

Navigating the Storm is challenging because BlackBerry software is designed for a trackball or scroll wheel, and RIM barely changed the interface here. An example: When you want to reply to an e-mail, you hit the menu key to bring up the familiar list of messaging options. The "reply" button is between "save" and "forward," both of which I frequently hit instead, leading to frustrating back-tracking. A trackball would have alleviated this problem.

The keyboard uses a technology called "SurePress," also called "clickable" typing, to simulate the feel of a virtual keyboard.

At first, I thought I was going to break the phone when I typed. As I became more sure-fingered, my typing became more accurate. But it's not as good as the iPhone's approach or a physical keyboard.

Also, there are three different keyboard styles on this phone, which is two too many (on the iPhone, a QWERTY keyboard appears in the vertical position):

1. A QWERTY keypad opens when the phone is held horizontally.
2. Vertically, you have a choice of a "sure type" keyboard, where the "q" and "w" share one key.
3. You also can use a "multi-tap" keyboard, which looks like a standard phone keypad.

As for pluses, the Storm is great for watching movies, thanks to its 3.25-inch screen (measured horizontally). You also can shoot video, which you can't on the iPhone, and the 3.2-megapixel camera is better than average.

The Storm will appeal to people who must have a touchscreen phone, but I think users deep into a "crackberry" addiction would be happier with AT&T's (NYSE: T) offering, the Bold.

The Bold

The biggest drawback to the Bold, which went on sale this month, is its $299 price. (Can you say "holiday sale"?)

It's a fast, responsive device that has enough multimedia content to keep road warriors entertained in a pinch. The keyboard is nice and firm, but I did find it a little slick.

Navigating through applications and e-mail with the trackball is much faster on the Bold than the touch-controlled Storm. This is a phone that remains true to its roots with impressive results.

It's also a nice media phone; videos, music and photos looked good. The camera offers only 2 megapixels, but you can shoot videos.

As with the Storm, setting up my corporate e-mail was simple. (I didn't even need help from IT.) I had more trouble accessing my personal Web-based e-mail, but I did get it to work.

The phone fits nicely in your palm, and typing messages with one hand is a breeze. It runs on AT&T's high-speed 3G network, and you can access WiFi networks (thank you, AT&T), which you can't on the Storm.

If you're looking for a new BlackBerry, my choice would be the Bold. (Is a sale on the way?)