Blackberry Storm makes landfall

The new Blackberry Storm smartphone will be available locally from Vodacom from the end of January, offering users of this popular handset enhanced functionality and features.

Dubbed the ‘next-generation’ smartphone by Blackberry manufacturer, Research in Motion, the Storm comes standard with 3G (HSDPA) network support, integrated GPS, desktop-style web pages, advanced multimedia, built-in GPS and preloaded Vodafone SatNav.

Two of the newest features are the accelerometer, which automatically switches the display to landscape or portrait orientation as the device is rotated, and the SurePress touch-screen. This allows the touch-screen to respond like a physical keyboard, thereby improving navigation and typing.

The display has also been improved with the introduction of a 3.25-inch, high resolution (480×360-pixels), colour display.

Multimedia and document storage is enhanced through the 1GB onboard memory and standard 8GB microSD/SDHD memory card. This can be extended to up to 6 GB of storage per memory card.

The Storm’s capability as a communication tool is further enhanced with common applications such as Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and Flickr preloaded onto the smartphone.

Many of these data services are available to users at no additional cost over the monthly R59.00 BlackBerry Internet Service or R98.00 BlackBerry Enterprise Service subscription fee, which excludes the cost of the device.