New BlackBerry - The "Storm 9530"

RIM's first touch-screen BlackBerry, the Storm 9530, has the first touch screen you can actually physically click. Combine this innovative display with global high-speed cellular, a high-resolution camera, and an improved Web browser and you have a BlackBerry that's poised to steal some of the iPhone's thunder in corporate circles and among those who prefer Verizon's network to AT&T's. Although the Storm hasn't yet hit the PC Magazine Labs for full testing, I was able to get some quality time with the device. And I liked what I saw.
The 5.5-ounce Storm is a 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.55 inch (HWD) slab dominated by a 3.25-inch, 360-by-480-pixel touch screen, which is capacitive, meaning it detects the electricity from your fingers, and transflective, so it's easy to see outdoors in bright light. Below the display are Pick Up and End call buttons, a Back button, and the familiar BlackBerry menu key. On the sides of the handset, you'll find Camera, Volume, and a programmable Multi-Function button. Mute and lock buttons are on the top panel. The phone's metal back is home to the speakerphone and the 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash.

The touch screen feels surreal; it's like nothing I've ever tried before. Many other touch-screen handsets vibrate slightly when you touch a virtual button. But when you press a button on the Storm, it feels as if you're actually pressing on that specific spot. That's because you are: the Storm's touch screen floats along three axes in a magnesium frame, so it provides specific tactile feedback. The screen's virtual keys are as durable as those found on any previous BlackBerry keyboard, RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis told us in a meeting. (full story Link)