The smartphone boasts an innovative touchscreen that actually depresses slightly when the screen is pressed. That means the user can feel the screen being pressed and released with a gentle "click," similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse. The "clickable" touchscreen gives the user positive confirmation that a selection has been made.

"The BlackBerry Storm offers our customers more ways to stay connected to both their personal and professional lives -- whether in their communities or around the globe," said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless.

Storming the Market

In addition to the familiar navigation keys common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touchscreen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation. The Storm also features a built-in accelerometer that allows its touchscreen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset.

The Storm is a multimedia BlackBerry. It comes preloaded with DavaViz Documents to Go, which allows users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset. It has a 3.2-megapixel camera with variable zoom, autofocus and a flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video. It also makes room for built-in GPS to support location-based applications and services, as well as geotagging of photos.

A media player can play movies smoothly in full-screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection. Playlists can be created directly on the handset and there's an equalizer with 11 preset filters -- including Lounge, Jazz and Hip Hop -- for customized audio ranges when using wired headphones or external speakers.

Storm vs iPhone

Many people are trying to compare the BlackBerry Storm against Apple's iPhone, but these devices target somewhat different constituencies, according to Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis.

"The iPhone is easier to use. It is more entertainment-centric. While you can certainly get corporate e-mail on the iPhone now, it doesn't have the same level of security that the BlackBerry does," Greengart said.

On the flip side, Greengart noted, while the BlackBerry can play music and has 9GB of storage , a 3.5mm headphone jack, and even software for the PC that can move unprotected music from Apple's iTunes Store to the BlackBerry, the Storm still can't rent a movie, which you can do on the iPhone.

"The other area where the iPhone still has a significant advantage, at least temporarily, is applications," Greengart said. "This is an area in which RIM has vowed to catch up, but right now at the Apple App Store there are thousands of applications that you can download on the iPhone. That experience is not comparable on the Storm, at least not out of the gate."