The HTC Droid Incredible is in many ways the new standard-bearer for Google’s Android operating system.  It is the most advanced phone on America’s top carrier, Verizon Wireless.  In fact, it is so advanced that Google decided to forgo releasing its own Nexus One phone for Verizon after the Droid Incredible came out.  This was probably a smart decision on Google’s part, because the Incredible matches or outdoes the Nexus One almost spec for spec.

Those specs on the Incredible certainly are impressive.  The main hardware might sound pretty familiar if you have been looking at any other high-end smartphones lately: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3.7″ WVGA (800×480) OLED capacitive touch screen, 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 8GB of built-in flash storage, and Android 2.1 (Eclair) with HTC’s Sense UI overlay.  For many folks, this combination of hardware alone will keep  iPhone envy away from Verizon’s customers.

So how does the Incredible actually perform in day-to-day use?  Is it, well, incredible?  In many ways, yes, but incredible might be a bit strong.  However, we certainly consider it impressive.  See what we mean below.
* First off, from a hardware design standpoint, the Droid Incredible is slimmer and smaller than it looks in pictures.  When I first picked it up, I was surprised by its svelte frame and that the screen is not nearly as monolithically huge as I expected from photos.  Also misrepresented in photos is how stepped and contoured the back cover is.  The layered look on the back cover is much subtler and less dramatic than pictures make it appear.  I came down on the side of liking the overall design of the Incredible, and if anything found it a little plain vanilla, which is a common feeling I get from recent HTC smartphones.

* After turning on the phone, the first thing you will notice is how vibrant the OLED screen is.  The truer black levels really make the color contrast pop.  However, the display is not very good in sunlight though.  Even cranking up the brightness all the way still results in a pretty washed out image.  Looks like we will have to wait for Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen in the Galaxy S to fix the outdoor readability issue.

* Although it is nice that the Incredible has 8GB of built-in flash storage, I still find it annoying that Verizon did not decide to bundle a microSD card, not even a small 512MB one.  This is particularly annoying since some apps, such as Evernote, require a microSD card to fully work.

* Most of our other thoughts relate to the Android OS in general and the custom Sense UI that HTC includes with the Incredible.  Overall, we like Android but must concede that it lacks the polish of webOS or the iPhone OS.  It feels a little geekier to use than those other systems and for some people, it is a good thing to have greater control over their phone.  However, we feel most consumers do not care for the additional complication.  Android’s biggest flaw is the lack of continuity between apps, the interface from app to app lacks coherence, so the learning curve for the OS is greater.  The addition of Sense UI, which makes many aesthetic upgrades, further confuses this lack of unity.  Sometimes there will be 2 versions of the same app or widget (one from HTC, the other from Google).  Finally, the on-screen keyboard for the Incredible is spacious and easy to type on, however it is lacking multitouch for ‘Shift’ or ‘Alt’ usage, which really holds in back.

* There are many I like about Android and specifically this Sense-ified version.  For instance, the Leap feature which you get by pinching on a homescreen is great.  It is like Expose for your home screens and shows miniature versions of each one.  HTC has really out-Appled Apple.  Another feature that Apple should have done long ago is widgets.  Widgets have been on Mac OS X for years, so there is really no excuse why they are not on the iPhone.  Widgets really make Android much more powerful and easy to use.  It allows pertinent information to be easily glanecable.  The combination weather/clock widget that HTC puts on the Incredible also has some really cute active graphics (such as a wiper for the screen that pops up when it is raining).

* Finally, despite the smaller number of apps available on the Android Market, as compared to the iTunes App Store, I did not feel like I was missing out.  All the general bases for smartphone apps are covered by the Android Market.  Also, Google’s laissez faire style to apps allows for developers to be imaginative with their apps.  For example, the lack of restrictions allowed for the creation of the Metal Detector app, which actually works alright!

* While doubleTwist is pretty good for managing music and videos, it is not as complete as iTunes is in managing the content that goes onto Android phones, coming up short mostly in the areas of podcast and app management.  I wish there was a more closely integrated solution to connect Android phones with the PC/Mac.

Overall, we think despite some of the nitpicking above, the Droid Incredible is still the best smartphone on Verizon and one of the top Android phones to date, probably 1a if the HTC Evo 4G were number 1.

For now, feast your eyes on our gallery below.  But stay tuned for our full review.

We tested the Pre Plus on Verizon’s network, but it will soon be coming to AT&T as well.

At first glance, the Palm Pre Plus seems very plain, almost non descript.  It is a rounded block of shiny plastic.  Turned on, the 3.1” touchscreen display emerges from the darkness of the phone, and beneath it appears a strip of LED light that marks the gesture area.  The Pre Plus runs webOS, which is distinctly different from the user interfaces of iPhones, BlackBerries and Android devices.  While webOS has apps that open up on the screen much like those devices, the apps are contained in windows called cards.  The benefit of this approach is that you can have multiple apps open and at the same time, have things running in the background and very easily switch between all this activity.

Frankly, using webOS on the Pre Plus is a great experience.  Being able to multitask makes it feel a generation ahead of the iPhone, and the interface has a continuity that phones like the Droid just lack.  Something in particular about webOS that I appreciated was the way it handled notifications.  Unlike the iPhone, which throws a pop up at you whenever something happens, the Pre Plus has a notification tray that can show and hide multiple notifications at the same time.  This is a much more intelligent and useful way of handling notifications.  The webOS notification area is even more flexible than Android’s window shade of notifications because you can change songs from the notification area and selectively dismiss notifications.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about using webOS was the real sense of thought that went into the PIM (personal information management) apps.  You can really feel the Palm OS roots in those apps.  PalmPilots were great at managing contacts, calendar and to-do lists, and this history lives on in webOS.  The calendar and to-do apps, in particular, are much better than the alternatives (or lack thereof) that come with the iPhone.

While webOS provides the Pre Plus with a unique and intuitive experience, it is also probably the Pre’s greatest weakness.  Unfortunately, there are not nearly as many apps available for the Pre Plus as there are for the iPhone or even Android.  This shortcoming is hard to overlook because it is the extensible nature of apps that really separates today’s smartphones from the dumbphones everyone used just a few years ago.

There is one app Verizon makes available for the Pre Plus that gives it a leg up on the competition though.  The Mobile Hotspot app is a revelation.  It takes the Verizon’s 3G service and turns it into a Wi-Fi network available for up to five devices.  Best of all, this service is completely free, which is amazing considering a separate device (the Verizon MiFi) that has only this feature costs at least $40 a month.  I found this feature completely invaluable while traveling recently, both to stay sane on Amtrak and to avoid paying for internet at hotels.

At the end of the day, I came away thoroughly impressed with the Palm Pre Plus.  Especially when you take into account that it only costs $30 with a new contract, it really is a steal, considering a comparable 16GB iPhone 3GS costs $199.  The Pre Plus is a good phone in its own right, and with HP’s recent acquisition of Palm, I can only hope there will be more good products to come (and maybe even a resurrection of the long dormant iPaq line).

Below is a rundown of some of our notes from our time spent with the Palm Pre Plus:

Pros

• It has Cut & Paste and it works well enough, though it is not as intuitive as the iPhone’s system.  Still it is much more elegant than Android’s solution.
• Mobile Hotspot is a godsend.  The fact that this is now free amazes me.  I really believe for some people this feature alone might push them to this phone over a BlackBerry Curve 8530/8520.
• Hardware keyboard is a must for some and I like the portrait slider form factor.  The feedback from the keyboard is not the best though.  Palm has definitely made much better keyboards on previous Treos.
• webOS is really nicely rendered; the UI looks good and cards work well.  This is how multitasking should be.
• Synergy works well, though I wish you could be selective about which contacts get downloaded.  It is all-or-nothing right now.
• Camera has flash, autodetects portrait/landscape, geotags, video recording
• Classic app allows you to run huge back-catalog of Palm OS apps
• Hardware design feels very nice and organic in the hand, soft-touch back feels reassuring
• Adobe Flash is coming
• Placement of power button is great
• Gestures are pretty intuitive, some very useful, dragging up the quick launch bar has a lot of wow factor
• Real easy ringtones
• Search done better than in iPhone
• Airplane mode/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth on/off easier to get to than iPhone, even Android
• Integrates multiple email accounts better than iPhone, has universal inbox

Cons

• webOS experience could be better on faster hardware, Qualcomm Snapdragon please?
• Picture quality only okay
• no microSD card slot
• battery life less than stellar, usually lasted around 16 hours of normal use, but sometimes I got as few as 10 hours
• slider not always the easiest to maneuver, have to put thumb in middle of screen to get a good slide
• No virtual keyboard.  For short bits of typing, I wished I could pull up a virtual keyboard instead of sliding the phone open just to put in a few letters

The ThinkPad Edge represents Lenovo’s attempt to capitalize on the budget ultraportable trend that has been popularized by Acer’s Timeline, Asus’ UL-series, HP’s Pavilion dm3 and dv2 before it and Dell’s Inspiron 11z.  These laptops offer the slim size and stamina of traditional ultraportable laptops but at a fraction of the price by running slower processors.  Think of them as supercharged netbooks, if you will.

The Edge is quite a departure for the corporate executive companion ThinkPad line.  If anything, the Edge straddles the division between the conservative ThinkPad and consumer oriented IdeaPad models.

This ambivalent nature can be seen in the design of the Edge.  For the first time ever, the back lid of the Edge is available in glossy red and glossy black, in addition to the standard matte black option.  Also, the edges of the ThinkPad Edge are wrapped in silver plastic and the hinges for the screen are plastic as well, not metal as is typically the case with ThinkPads.  All this lends the Edge a slightly chintzy feeling.  While it seems well constructed, it feel generic and lacks the stellar, bulletproof feel ThinkPads have come to be known for.

All is not bad though.  The Edge preserves the ThinkPad line’s reputation of having awesome keyboards.  The Edge has one of the best chiclet-style keyboards I have ever used.  The keys are slightly scalloped and have a firm, responsive action that lends itself to fast, comfortable typing.  Even better, Lenovo has thought about the little things, such as making the ‘PgUp’ and ‘PgDn’ buttons depressed to prevent accidental presses.  Typing on the Edge was a dream, and I regretted the day I had to part with it.  My only wish for the keyboard is that it adopt the double-sized ‘Esc’ and ‘Delete’ keys like the new T-series ThinkPad have.  Below the keyboard is a very comfortable and wide multitouch trackpad that tracks movements very well.  It is amazing to me how many companies (mostly HP) fail at making a usable trackpad.  Of course, this being a ThinkPad, you can also choose to use the red TrackPoint nub and its set of three buttons directly below the keyboard.

The review unit Lenovo sent me came pretty loaded.  It has a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive and Windows 7 Professional.  Even more impressive is the number of wireless radios packed in this particular Edge.  Not only does it have the standard Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth, it also has EV-DO and HSPA wireless broadband, courtesy of Verizon and AT&T respectively, in addition to WiMAX and GPS.   That is a lot of wireless radios.  In fact, the only thing missing is Wireless USB, which you probably do not care about anyways.

The processor inside the Edge is of the ultra-low-voltage variety, so it does wonders for battery life.  I was able to get over 6 hours of a full charge without too much difficulty.  While this means there is a trade-off in terms of performance, the Edge was more than capable at handling email, the internet, Microsoft Word and even some hardcore statistical regression tests that I ran.

Below are a number of small points I noticed or observed while testing out the ThinkPad Edge.  They are not necessarily pros or cons, but just little things I picked up on:

* The keyboard has no numpad at all, not even the customary remapped one, and in turn no ‘Num Lock’.  I did not really miss it, since remapped numpads tend to not work very well, but I know some people will bemoan this omission.

* In addition, there is a real lack of lights on the body of the Edge.  There is no light for ‘Caps Lock’, nor are there any status lights for hard drive activity or power/sleep or wireless.  There is also no ThinkLight above the screen (much less a backlit keyboard).  The only light there is is a small green L.E.D. on the right hand side that glows when the computer is plugged in.  While one can argue that there is nothing really necessary about any of these lights, I did miss them a little.  There is a sense of reassurance and an air of quality that the status lights and such lent to previous ThinkPads that the Edge just lacks.

* Along those same lines, I really would have liked to have seen a hardware wireless switch, especially on this model with all the wireless radios.  In addition, there is no latch for the display and at times the lid felt a little loose when closed.

* The webcam above the screen is said to be low-light capable, and they are not lying.  I tried it in a dimly lit room and it performed quite admirably, much better than I was expecting from a 1.3-megapixel integrated webcam.

* The speakers, which are below the front edge, are just okay.  They sound a little hollow and do not get very loud.

* The screen is reflective, really reflective.  With the screen off you can clearly see what is behind you, much like a black mirror.

* I appreciate that the Edge comes with an HDMI port and that one of its USB ports is powered, so you can charge a device even when the computer is asleep or off.

This brings me to the one sticking point that prevents me from whole-heartedly recommending the ThinkPad Edge: its price.  My review unit retails for $899, but prices start at $549.  While that sounds pretty good, the budget options are equipped with a slower, less capable AMD processor.  The version with the Intel chip starts at $799.  The AMD version actually provides very decent performance, especially with its ATi graphics, but you lose out heavily when it comes to battery life.  While those prices are reasonable, it is at least $150 more than comparable systems from Acer and Asus, so the Edge does not offer the best value.  On the other hand, the ThinkPad is less than half the price of high-end ultraportables such as Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X200s and X301 and performs almost as well.

In more ways than one, the Edge finds itself caught in the middle.  It is somewhat awkwardly in between the ThinkPad and IdeaPad, and it is also in between its competitors in terms of price.

Update: Lenovo just released last week the ThinkPad Edge 14 and 15 (with 14.1″ and 15.6″ screens, respectively).  These new laptops share the same general design as the Edge 13 (and more importantly, the same great keyboard) but also add to it an optical drive and a fingerprint reader.  The Edge 14 and 15 are also powered by the new Intel Core i3 and i5 chips, which are a generation ahead in terms of performance.  Finally, the Edge 14 and 15 both start at just $650.  These new prices and additional features make the 14 and 15 a great deal, and more competitive from an economic standpoint than the Edge 13.

Stay tuned as we will be putting the ThinkPad Edge through its paces for the next few weeks and report back to you our first-hand impressions.

Some minor design things to note are the dual red LEDs that dot the ‘i’ in the ThinkPad logo, one on the back cover and one on the wristrest.  Also, note that on our review unit, there is a SIM card slot behind the battery.  This is for the included AT&T 3G mobile broadband.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is the thinnest and lightest full-QWERTY phone RIM has ever made.  It also occupies a premium position in T-mobile’s smartphone lineup.  Read on to find out how the Curve 8900 stacks up against BlackBerries from other carriers and other smartphones at large.

In the two weeks we spent with this new Curve, we came away very impressed by it.  The Curve 8900 builds and improves on the many BlackBerries that came before it, and the resulting package is sublime.  For the smartphone customer looking at T-mobile service, you would be remiss to not consider the Curve 8900.  As of right now, the superior hardware design of this BlackBerry really outclasses T-mobile’s Android offerings.

Here is a rundown of some of our favorite things about the Curve 8900:

• Nice design.  This new Curve feels smaller than it looks.  It sports the now familiar new BlackBerry style that started with the Storm and continued with the Tour.  The Curve 8900 is compact enough that you should have no reason to ever consider the Pearl.  It actually fits very well in a jeans pocket.  This phone also blows the Bold out of the water in terms of design.  I really cannot stand the faux leather plastic finish on the back of the Bold.
• If you read our Storm review, you will know that we found it a little slow and frustrating to use.  Luckily, this is not the case with the Curve 8900.  The trackball/keyboard combination is much faster and more fluid than the Storm’s SurePress screen.  This is what a BlackBerry should be like.
• BlackBerries are known for their email prowess, and this phone is no different.  It was the easiest experience I have ever had setting up my email accounts on this phone.  All you need is email address and password; protocol, encryption settings, servers are all detected auto-magically and done for you.  Everything should be this easy.
• A very bright and crisp screen.  In many cases, it is difficult to see the individual pixels on this screen.  That is how tight the density is.
• Unlike the Storm and the Tour, this phone has Wi-Fi, which it really needs since it does not have 3G.  The Wi-Fi works really well and it supports UMA, which makes it compatible with T-mobile’s Hotspot@Home service.
• I prefer having a physical keyboard on smartphones, and the thumbboard on this Curve is a good example why.  Messages and notes just get typed out more quickly and accurately.  Although, it is not perfect.  The slanted keys took some getting used to; my thumbs frequenting crossed the imaginary continental divide that splits the keyboard and that felt slightly awkward.  Also, the curvature of the key layout made the ‘Talk’/'End’ keys a little difficult to press, because they become pinched at the edges.  My bumbling finger hit the ‘P’ key a lot along with ‘End’
• The native Gmail app is nice to have.  It supports push notifications and multiple accounts, but there is no way to label or star emails.  As a result, it is still a work in progress and a far cry from the Android Gmail app.
• Google Maps is also a great app.  It includes live traffic, local search, and connects with Latitude.  It is definitely better than the included Maps application.

As you can gather from above, it was not all rosy for the Curve 8900.  Here are some thoughts on what we did not like:

• Let us address the biggest issue right away: the lack of 3G.  Some may see this as a deal-breaker, and it is certainly a downer.  However, we must keep in mind that T-mobile’s 3G network is still being built out, so most people would not be able to take advantage of it anyways.  However, there is really no reason why this otherwise advanced smartphone should not have 3G, so it is certainly a negative.
• Battery life is not a strong point for the Curve 8900.  This phone needs to be recharged pretty much everyday.  Frequently putting it in standby helps, but that is not an optimal solution.
• The new BlackBerry App World is a nice place to search for apps and manage your installed apps, but it is not the one-stop shop the App Store for the iPhone is.  That will cause confusion and frustration for the general market.
• While the rollerball provides a fast way to navigate through menus and lists, it is not the most accurate.  From time to time, trying to click down on the rollerball causes the the selection to change from the ball just moving slightly.  I look forward to trying out the optical trackpad on the new Curve 8520 to see if it resolves this issue.
• The plastic back battery cover did not fit particularly snug.  There was always a little wiggle to it, and it did not feel as solid as the Storm’s metal cover.
• Only a 256MB microSD card is included in the box.  This is not a huge deal since microSD is dirt-cheap these days, but even the budget Curve 8520 includes a 1GB microSD card, so what gives?
• This may be a matter of personal taste, but I find the look and feel of thee BlackBerry OS, particularly the settings screens, to be a little long in the tooth.  The UI in certain areas is unclear and seems to belong in the days of grayscale screens.

Verdict: This is my favorite BlackBerry right now.  The slim form factor really does it for me.  I was impressed at how productive I could be away from the office with this phone and its mini-QWERTY keyboard.  The decision between the Tour, Bold, and Curve 8900 is tough, and probably will come down to which service provider you want.  You also have the weight the up/downsides of having EDGE and Wi-Fi as opposed to 3G but no Wi-Fi (in the case of the Tour).  Frankly, I would take the Curve 8900 with T-mobile in this situation.  Your mileage may vary, but I find T-mobile’s coverage to be more than acceptable for me, and superior to AT&T’s.  T-mobile also has vastly superior customer service to AT&T and better pricing for their service plans.  In fact, the Bold should really not even be in this discussion.  Comparing just the Tour with the Curve 8900, I would pick the Curve because of my preference for GSM phones and the freedom of Wi-Fi.  So as long as you live in an area with good T-mobile reception, you will not regret picking up the Curve 8900 for $150.

Check out our gallery for more pictures of the BlackBerry Curve 8900, including some comparison shots with the Palm Treo 750:

The Asus Eee PC 1000HE was very well-received when it first came out.  However, most reviewers only get to spend a few weeks with a device.  That is just barely enough time to become accustomed to a device.

I have spent the past two months using the Eee PC 1000HE almost every day.  Now, I am finally ready to report my findings.

Not only did the Eee PC 1000HE receive good reviews when it first debuted, but it also quickly became the best-selling netbook on Amazon.com.  Since then, it has grown a little stale now compared to newer competition, some of that competition coming from Asus itself.  The Toshiba NB205 , Acer Aspire one AOD150,  Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 and Asus Eee PC 1005HA are all very strong netbooks with some of the best keyboards and touchpads ever seen on netbooks.

Check out our gallery below:

Back to the 1000HE though, Asus made many small changes to its 1000HA while keeping the same general design it has used since the original Eee PC.  These seemingly minor changes do add up and make the 1000HE a much better netbook.  Here are some of the highlights:

• While the Eee PC 1000HE has fairly standard netbook specs, it does have the newer and slightly faster Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor.  Potentially as a result of this, the 1000HE performed surprisingly well.  I was able to run 5 or 6 programs at once with little issue.  Performance-wise, I had little issue getting work done on this little Eee PC.  That being said, do not expect the 1000HE to anything too processor-intensive.  It can certainly handle all the mundane computing tasks like word processing, email , internet and even YouTube.
• One important feature that separates this netbook from others is its mammoth battery life.  With Wi-Fi on and the screen at about 1/3 brightness, I was able to get a little over 7 hours on one charge.  It is not too hard to see how you can reach the 9.5 hour battery life Asus claims.  The longevity of this netbook makes it a very good candidate to be a secondary machine, perfect for use on a couch or while traveling.
• Speaking of the battery, it is a six-cell battery that, unlike other netbooks, does not just out from the body of the Eee PC.  Asus did a good job designing the battery into the bottom, hiding the weight of the battery.
• Considering the budget nature of netbooks, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Asus included a neoprene zip sleeve, polishing cloth for the glossy plastic and Velcro cable ties on the power adapter cables.  These small things are not going to make you want to buy the Eee PC 1000HE, but they are nice value-adds that the eventual owner would appreciate.

While using the Eee PC 1000HE was pleasant in many ways, using it everyday brought to light many annoyances:

• Despite the improvements made to the keyboard compared to the 1000HA, the keyboard is still lacking compared to its newer competitors.  The right ‘Shift’ key is still much too small.  Asus dedicated too much room to the arrow keys (if you are going to make the arrow keys half-size, cut the height not the width) and for some reason put an additional ‘Fn’ key on the right side of the keyboard at the expense of the ‘Shift’ key.
• As I noted before, the design of the 1000HE clearly follows that o the original Eee PC 701.  As a result, this new Eee PC can look a little staid.  The glossy black finish on back cover and keyboard tray looks nice, but readily attracts fingerprints.  Asus even included a polishing cloth with the machine.  Frankly, I would have preferred some quality matte plastic to this shiny affair.  Also, while the 1000HE is not big by any means, it is surprisingly chunky.  It is thicker than most of its competitors (particularly the new seashell-inspired Eee PC 1005HA), and the indefatigable 6-cell battery does make it heavier than it looks.
• The brushed aluminum-look plastic on touchpad buttons look nice, but the buttons themselves are overly stuff and difficult to press.
• The touchpad itself supports multi-touch, which is pretty nice.  It actually supports many different gestures, however the responsive of the touchpad is a little lacking, so it can be difficult to get the touchpad to register which command you want.

Overall, the Asus Eee PC 1000HE is a very good netbook.  However, since almost all netbooks have about the same specs and performance, it makes the design and details even more important.  It is in these areas where the 1000HE comes up short.

As I’ve alluded to previously, the Asus Eee PC 1005HA offers almost the exact same features as the 1000HE in a thinner, more stylish package and with a more spacious keyboard.  The Toshiba NB205 also combines a surprisingly comfortable keyboard and large touchpad with a big battery all in one decently good-looking package.  The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 also has a nice keyboard and a slim, eye-catching design.  Finally, the Acer Aspire one AOD150 beats all of these netbooks in the place where it really matters: price.

These words should not be taken too harshly on the Eee PC 1000HE though.  It is a very capable netbook and will make many people happy.  However, unless its price comes down in the near future, there are simply better options out there.

The initial reviews of the BlackBerry Storm 9530 when it first came out were not exactly glowing.  A few firmware updates later, has it improved much?  To answer this question, we lived with the Storm for two months to see how well it fits in the life of a young mobile professional (maybe we are giving ourselves too much credit there).

To start, let’s take a little tour around the outside of the Storm, which is fairly compact as far as BlackBerries go.  The front is dominated by the 3.25″ SurePress clickable touchscreen.  Under it are the customary four BlackBerry buttons: Call, Menu, Back and End.  In a very slick design move, RIM has hidden the Lock and Vibrate buttons under the curved top edge of the phone.  On the right side of the Storm are a 3.5mm headphone jack, two volume control buttons and a camera button (can be reprogrammed), from top to bottom.  The left side has a programmable convenience key and the micro-USB port.  Running around the outer edge of the Storm is a strip of convincingly metallic plastic, while on the back of the phone is a genuine metal battery cover and a 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash.

The question on everyone’s mind about the Storm is “how well does the clickable touchscreen work?”.  Initially, I had a lot of trouble using the Storm’s screen.  The capacitive touch response was fine, but the need to click the screen really slowed down navigation and typing.  After a few weeks though, I noticed my typing speed had improved dramatically.  I could type at least as fast, if not faster, on the SurePress as I could on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard.  This is helped of course by the fact that the Storm has a landscape keyboard available throughout the system, something the iPhone will not get until later this year with the iPhone OS 3.0 update.  Although, I did find it annoying that there is no full QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode.

While I found the Storm and iPhone to be relatively even with regards to typing speed and navigation ease, the Storm is considerably outpaced by the traditional BlackBerry interface of a rollerball and physical keyboard.  In comparison to a Bold or Curve, the Storm is just not in the same league.  CrackBerry-holics will probably be as frustrated with the Storm as they would an iPhone.

Note: There is a leaked version of the Storm firmware (ver. 4.7.0.114) that addresses some of the issues I raise, namely it includes a portrait QWERTY keyboard and has snappier transitions between screens.  I tried out the new firmware on a friend’s Storm and while it did perform faster, it still fell short of a traditional BlackBerry.  No word yet on when Verizon will release the new firmware as part of an over the air update.

After spending an extended period of time living with the BlackBerry Storm, I noticed some small, but significant things that I liked.

• Cut & Paste – the Storm has it, and it works pretty well.  Double-tapping on a word selects it.  Tap once and then place a second finger down to select a whole block of text.  The copy and paste functions are accessed through the menu.
• Search – another feature not yet found on the iPhone (but will be in iPhone 3.0).  Search on the BlackBerry OS is not of the whole system, but rather of all your contacts, messages, and the like.  A useful feature I found was that tapping and holding someone’s name in an email will show all emails sent to and from that person.  This is a useful function to have and I am glad they made it so easy to access.
• Viewing/Editing Office documents – After installing DataViz Documents To Go, I was able to not only view Office documents, but I was even able to to edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.  Try doing that on an iPhone.
• Accessible file structure – This leads me to another important feature of the BlackBerry Storm for business users, an accessible file structure.  By this, I mean you can move through a folder tree and save and access your files where you would like.  This is a pretty basic function and I find it particularly annoying that I have no control over where my files are stored on an iPhone.  It is for reasons like this and the above that iPhones are not suited for proper business use.
• Verizon reception – a lot of my comparing between the iPhone and Storm is moot, because they are locked to their respective carriers.  In that respect, the iPhone is blown out of the water.  From my experience in New York City, Verizon has superior network coverage to AT&T.  Outside the city, Verizon’s lead over AT&T only becomes greater.  The 3G performance of both carriers is comparable, with no noticeable speed difference either way.
• Video camera – not that it will ever be used, but the Storm can take videos with its camera.  Combined with the LED flash and side button placement, the Storm’s camera was much more user friendly than the iPhone touch screen set up that can result in many accidental photos from brushing the screen with your finger.
• Visual voicemail – much like the iPhone, you can get Visual Voicemail on the BlackBerry Storm.  Visual voicemail is one of those things that makes so much sense, you wonder why we are still using the old system.  Unfortunately, Verizon saddles this service with a monthly fee, which will certainly hinder its widespread adoption.

With all those things I liked about the BlackBerry Storm in mind, here is a list of things that bugged me about it:

• SurePress in portrait mode – I mentioned this earlier and it is probably my single biggest annoyance with the Storm.  There is simply no good reason for it not to have a QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode.  I’m glad the new firmware addresses this, but again that is not available yet to the public at large.
• Lag after key presses – another thing I alluded to before.  The Storm does not have the snappy responsiveness people have come to expect from BlackBerries.  This is also something that is aided by the new firmware, though not completely cured.
• Orientation sensor – almost the opposite of the iPhone, the orientation sensor of the Storm is almost too sensitive.  This is not a huge issue, as I quickly got used to it, but those in the market for a smartphone might be put off by the Storm’s overzealous flipping screen, just as they might by the iPhone’s slow to turn screen.
• Browser – first of all, the browser included with the BlackBerry Storm is the best browser ever on a BlackBerry, that is including version of Opera Mini you could install yourself.  That being said, the browser still does not compare to the iPhone’s.  The Storm browser does not support tabs, nor does it render pages as accurately or smoothly as Mobile Safari on the iPhone.  However, on the plus side, the Storm browser does support Flash, so there is no need for a separate YouTube app like in the iPhone.
• GPS – I tried out the VZ Navigator service on the Storm and it was pretty good.  I especially like how it used the wireless internet to get traffic data.  However, one thing I could not get used to was the computerized voice.  Simply put, it sounds creepy.  It actually startled me whenever it came on, even when I knew it was coming.

In total, I found the Storm to be a good phone and email device.  Unfortunately it does not live up to its billing as everything a classic BlackBerry is with the touch screen abilities of the iPhone.  However when I look at Verizon’s phone lineup, I believe the Storm is currently the most compelling smartphone they offer.  However, if you are in the market for a smartphone from Verizon, keep in mind that there have been rumors for a Storm 2 and Bold/Curve 8900 hybrid BlackBerry coming for Verizon.  All in all, I enjoyed my time with the Storm and was sad when I had to send it back.

It’s probably easiest to divide this into sections of where Microsoft probably got its ideas from.

Features taken from Firefox:

Search suggestions – Microsoft may have actually done this better than Firefox by putting in “visual” suggestions. As you can see on the left, IE8 doesn’t just give you search suggestions, but for specific suggestion providers (Wikipedia) you can also get pictures of what you are looking for.

Sidebar Web Browsing – Firefox lets you load any of your bookmarks in the  sidebar, IE8 mimics this by letting you load some website content in a small pop-out from the favorites bar, for some stupid reason Microsoft has chosen to call these “web slices” a term I already hate. For some reason this feature would not work for me. As you can see on the right, I was connected to the internet, proven by the fact that msn.com would load, but the msn.com image slideshow web slice kept saying i wasn’t connected to the internet.

Taken from Google Chrome:

Private Browsing – This feature is pretty much copied exactly except Microsoft calls it “InPrivate” browsing and there’s no cool guy in a trench coat to silently judge you. There’s a little icon in the address bar to let you know that you are using InPrivate mode.

New Tab Window – I love the window that opens when you create a new tab in Chrome. Microsoft did a pretty average job copying this one over. As you can see on the right, it shows recently closed tabs, asks you if you want to browse “InPrivate” and shows you some accelerator options.

Taken from elsewhere:

Accelerators – I don’t actually know where Microsoft got this idea, but it’s a pretty god one so I refuse to accept that they came up with it on their own. It pretty much just adds options to the right click menu. This allows easy access to mapping an address or blogging about some text.

Overall this is a pretty good update for those of you still using Internet Explorer, but for those of you Chrome and Firefox users, you might want to give it a try but you probably won’t switch over.