SmartPhones

Research In Motion and Verizon Wireless just announced the impending release of the Blackberry Storm 2. A clear candidate for de-seating the title-wielding iPhone, this 3.25" touchscreen smartphone has a scant 4 buttons on the face, the rest of the controls left up to a cutting-edge touch screen technology called SurePress that gives the screen the same clickable functionality as a standard keypad.

Other nifty new bells & whistles promised are spin boxes, inertial scrolling, greater use of animation, and gradient shading on the buttons.

Eschewing the Storm's old chrome backing for a flashy new stainless steel one, the Storm 2 will have - its exclusive carrier Verizon promises us - data access in 185 countries and call in over 220.

Running for around $180, and running on the latest BB OS 5.0, the Blackberry 9550 (aka Storm2) will hit the shelves (and eShelves) this Wednesday, October 28.

In the meantime, users of the original Blackberry Storm can upgrade their OS to 5.0 for free.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Blackberry, RIM, Storm, Storm 2, verizon

Verizon is having a "fire sale" on its smartphones, slashing prices by as much as $100 and dropping prices on some of its devices to unbelievably lows in an obvious effort to push out old stocks before new holiday inventories come in (such as the HTC TouchPro 2 and the Blackberry Storm 2). This in an obvious effort to compete with AT&T's recently slashed prices on the iPhone and iPhone 3G.

Included in the bargains are several $99 deals (with 2-year contracts, of course) on smartphones like the HTC Touch Diamond, the Blackberry Storm, and the Samsung Omnia. The biggest price drop (also to $99.99) is for the HTC TouchPro which came down from a staggering $419.

The Blackberry Curve (recently revealed as the top selling smartphone of 2009 Q2) is getting a price cut down to an incredible $49.99.

Even the newer Verizon smartphone handsets are getting discounts (though not as heavy ones, of course) like the Blackberry Tour which will sell for $149, and the Samsung Saga, both carried by Verizon Wireless, are not discounted in this sale.

According to Boy Genius Report (which broke the story) the TouchPro2 should be out soon, while the Storm2 will probably not see the light of day until sometime in November. That gives smartphone users plenty of time to devour the good bargains available now.

Clearly whether they're doing it to compete with the iPhone's slash in prices (and particularly the $99 iPhone 3G 8 GB model) or in an effort to clear out TouchPro and Storm handsets to make way for their successors, one thing is for sure: Verizon Wireless is now deeply entrenched in the smartphone price wars.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AT&T, Blackberry, Curve, HTC, iphone, iphone 3g, Omnia, Saga, Samsung, Storm, Storm 2, Touch Diamond, TouchPro, TouchPro 2, verizon