Blackberry Storm 2 vs Blackberry Storm 1 FaceOff

Every indication we've got is that the Storm 2 is going to foam at the mouth, tear apart the original Storm limb-by-limb, and eat its young when it's released later this year -- and if you want some preliminary evidence of that, look no further than a newly-posted video detailing a few reasons why the new model's so much better. In the event you'd like to spare yourself four minutes of rimshot-worthy bad jokes, allow us to boil down the video to its bare essentials: the star of the show says the Storm 2 looks better than the original (we're hard pressed to disagree), it's got WiFi, you've got considerably more free RAM and Flash on board, the revamped SurePress mechanism makes typing easier, the interface is snappier, and shutter lag in the camera is way improved. At the end of the day, it's still a Storm in every sense of the word, it's just been tweaked and refined in seemingly all the right ways -- which just happens to be a common theme these days. Follow the break for vid

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Blackberry Storm 2 (9550) packs amazing Piezo Screen

The second reincarnation of the BlackBerry Storm is no longer a secret but there is still enough mystery around it for all of its unofficial appearances to make the headlines. That last video we came upon is particularly interesting as it demonstrates that Piezo technology that stands behind the new BlackBerry Storm 2 touchscreen.

It seems that RIM have managed for a second time in a row to produce a touchscreen that is nothing like what we have seen so far. The original BlackBerry Storm had some controversy surrounding it due to the fact that you actually had to press the display unlike what you might expect from a touchscreen device. While we did like it back then, the new Piezo technology looks miles ahead in terms of usability.

The Piezo technology in question makes the screen much softer to press when the phone is on, while still providing some nice feedback, the author making a peculiar comparison to a sponge. That technology also allows multi-touch input, unlike the first BlackBerry Storm where the whole screen was actually a giant button. In contrast, the BlackBerry Storm 2 is said to feel like you are actually pushing buttons located under the screen.

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Blackberry Storm 2 closes into Celluloco.com's shelves still in August 2009... See here Vodafone's version (BB-9520)

Today's forecast: cloudy with intermittent leaks of BlackBerry Storm 2 photos. This time it's the Vodafone Germany's version - the 9520. The good news is that it has Wi-Fi too, like it's Verizon-headed counterpart - the 9550 Storm 2 (and Euro 3G, of course).

It shares its looks with it too, which of course means it's a chip of the old block - the 9500 Storm. This one runs the 5.0 version of the BlackBerry OS, unlike the 9550 Storm 2 we saw in July, which had 5.1.

BlackBerry 9520 Storm 2

As you can see the Storm 2 still has a chubby exterior but at least the other gripe we had with the original - lack of Wi-Fi has been fixed. And the new screen has us holding our breaths - it isn't clicky when the phone is off, but is clicky when it's on. How does that work and is it better than the original?

More photos of the Storm 2 • comparison with the original Storm

According to rumors we'll have to wait till October this year to find out - then the Storm 2 should be out for both Vodafone and Verizon.

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BlackBerry Storm 2 First Glimpses

We knew it was coming, and just like its relatives the Onyx and the Gemini, yet another unreleased model has managed to escape the confines of RIM's Waterloo headquarters. This time, however, it's the Storm 2, which we've heard has been internally codenamed "Oden." We've also caught wind that this model pictured is of the GSM flavor, and yes, it's indeed packing WiFi in addition to GPS according to one of our sources. As far as that rumored "new approach to text entry," it sounds like the keyboard has been tweaked but isn't a radical departure from the first generation. From the photos, it seems that RIM has advanced in the war on buttons and axed the bottom four in favor of some touch-sensitive controls. The real improvements, however, appear to be under the hood, as the whole device reportedly runs much faster and smoother than the current model. We can't confirm these specs, but with the Tour coming this summer, and the Storm 2 hopefully making an appearance before the holiday shopping season, looks like you Verizon BlackBerry fans might not have to be that jealous of your GSM brethren after all. One more pic after the break.

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We Present U: BlackBerry Storm 2

What's this we have here? A trusted source just hit us with a slew of beauty shots of the Storm 2 that leaked a little bit ago. Not much else to say at this point until we can get one in our hands -- the photos really speak for themselves. But seriously, what are you still doing here? Get over to the gallery and see all the tasty (and frankly, familiar) shots!

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