BlackBerry Storm 2 review

While it’s clear to see how the first BlackBerry Storm was so successful – selling one seemingly every time someone blinked – some of its flaws were just as obvious.

The big gap between the lusciously large screen and the rest of the casing and the fact that the whole screen tilted like a see-saw every time you typed were two of the biggest irritations we’ve encountered in a touchscreen phone. Beyond the touchscreen element not working, of course.

But, as is usually the case, the first generation of any handset is usually a bit of a learning curve for both the manufacturer and users alike. Thankfully RIM has been doing its homework and extra lessons since the first Storm and we now find ourselves lovingly clutching the Storm 2, or BlackBerry 9520 as it’s also known.

The Storm 2 brings together all that was good about the original Storm, but without any of the stuff that brought us to near violent acts.

With vital statistics of 62.2x13.9x112.5mm (WDH) and weighing in at 160g, the Storm 2 sits comfortably in the hand. It’s a reassuringly solid device in a classy shell. Whether you’re a business user or a consumer, it’s the sort of phone you won’t be embarrassed to be seen with. Although, like so many of its peers, it does suffer from greasy finger marks, so if you want to ensure the looks of admiration continue, just bear that in mind and be prepared to wipe.

A 3.25-inch 360x480 pixel screen sits centre stage. Blacks appear blacker than we’ve seen them in a while and other colours are served up with great clarity.

The gap is also gone, as is the break between the hard key buttons that separated the screen from the controls. Instead, they’re part of the touchscreen itself, which just makes the finished look much slicker than that of its predecessor.

SureType has been replaced by SurePress and we like. The type-and-the-whole-world-types-with-you like screen is gone. Instead, there’s more subtlety to the movement. The reassuring click that the screen has received your command is still present, but it’s a much more pleasant user experience thanks to four electrical actuators under the hood.

Even larger-than-average digits can comfortably use the keyboard without spitting out gobbledygook sentences. And the automatic spell checker generally gets things right most of the time, which is not something that can be said for that used by some handsets.

Complementing the input enhancements, you’ll find copy and paste on board, in addition to the ability to send various types of message from the same menu (such as email, SMS or MMS), which all go towards helping make the Storm 2 easier to use to communicate than ever before. Indeed email is very easy to set up, with a number of presets available to choose from such as Google et al.

Running the latest version of the BlackBerry operating system, you’d expect the handset to run just as slickly as its outer shell. And you’d be right. Scrolling is a doddle and the ability to search quickly and easily from within key apps is also a handy time saver.

Speed and ease of use is also helped by 256MB of Flash memory, 2GB of internal storage and the ability to beef up the handset’s arsenal by up to 32GB thanks to a microSD slot that lives underneath the back casing.

While you could control volume from the homescreen on the Storm, this has now been stepped up a notch and extended to cover the clock and connectivity options in the same way. It’s certainly a shortcut most of us are likely to use a lot, so well thought out on RIM’s part.

Talking of connectivity, HSDPA with Wi-Fi is now present and correct, with the handset locking onto our chosen network with little effort. The inbuilt browser also supports enhanced CSS and Javascript and the ability to double tap to zoom makes surfing the web an all-round improved experience.

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