The smartphone might not be as good as it seems

Sep 11, 2008 09:07 GMT  ·  By

BlackBerry Thunder, also known as BlackBerry Storm or BlackBerry 9530, has finally appeared in its first video, allowing us to see how the handset looks like in reality. Moreover, precious details about the smartphone are given in said video, so if you're interested in them (and you should be), read below.

As you probably already know, the Thunder is the first full-touch smartphone built by the Canadian-based company Research in Motion. The handset is part of RIM's latest line-up of products, which also includes the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Flip 8220 (both of which are new for the Canadian manufacturer) and it will first be released by Verizon Wireless, in the US.

The new video with the Thunder is some sort of mini-review of the smartphone, and the reviewer's conclusion is that "it's an OK phone" but it might not attract too many users. Why is that? Well, because – as the weird reviewer points out – Thunder's wide touchscreen display might prove to be not that user friendly. The reason for this is the fact that, apparently, RIM has made the display in such a way that it functions like a big button that you have to seriously push (not just touch) whenever you want an action to take place (so we might talk here about haptic feedback).

The full QWERTY virtual keyboard that Thunder has is said to be a good one, hence the fact that the smartphone lacks a physical keypad will most probably not be a drawback. The Thunder further packs a cool accelerometer that automatically adjusts its display when you put the device in other positions than the normal vertical one.

As for the other features that RIM has packed into the touchscreen smartphone, these are a total mystery for now. Moreover, for the moment there are no official details about the release date of BlackBerry Thunder / Storm, but it's rumored that Verizon will have it in stores by the end of 2008.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the Verizon Thunder video (don't be scared by the guy's ninja look, he actually seems friendly):