Research in Motion (RIM) has officially announced the BlackBerry Storm, its first touch-screen smartphone. RIM states device will be available later this fall for Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand. In Canada, TELUS is the sole carrier. RIM notes that this will be the first smartphone with a touch screen interface that supports force feedback. From its press release:
The BlackBerry Storm smartphone comes with an innovative touch-screen that actually depresses ever so slightly when the screen is pressed. The user distinctly feels 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" touch-screen gives the user positive confirmation that they have made a selection and the result is a dramatically enhanced touch interface and a highly-intuitive typing experience. In addition to the familiar navigation keys ("phone," "menu" and "escape") that are common to other BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Storm adds support for multi-touches, taps, slides and other touch-screen gestures, so customers can easily highlight, scroll, pan and zoom for smooth navigation. The BlackBerry Storm smartphone also features a built-in accelerometer, allowing its touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset - RIM's SureType® keyboard layout is available in portrait mode and a full QWERTY(1) keyboard layout is available in landscape mode. Other relevant features, such as cut and paste, are only a touch away for the ultimate smartphone experience.
Sites such as The Boy Genius Report and Gizmodo have many screenshots, videos, manuals and other information about the Storm.