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Daily Debrief: The Storm has arrived Video

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Daily Debrief: The Storm has arrived
Created: 10/08/2008
Video description: BlackBerry fans rejoice. For the holiday season, Research In Motion and Verizon Wireless will sell their first touch-screen offering, the Storm. In Wednesday's Daily Debrief, CNET's Kara Tsuboi talks with CNET Reviews senior editor Bonnie Cha about its innovative typing features and how it measures up to Apple's iPhone.

Daily Debrief: The Storm has arrived Video Transcript

[ music ] ^M00:00:04

>> Kara Tsuboi: Welcome to the Daily Debrief, I'm CNET's Kara Tsuboi here with CNET Reviews senior editor Bonnie Cha who covers cell phones.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yes.

>> Kara Tsuboi: And we are here to talk about the much anticipated BlackBerry Storm.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah.

>> Kara Tsuboi: The Storm has arrived.

>> Bonnie Cha: The Storm has arrived and all the other puns.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Exactly. So we've got [unclear].

>> Bonnie Cha: [unclear]

>> Kara Tsuboi: So the biggest deal about this Storm is that it is a touchscreen offering from BlackBerry.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yes. Right.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Which is their very first.

>> Bonnie Cha: It's their very first.

>> Kara Tsuboi: And this touchscreen is no ordinary touchscreen.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah, so, unlike, you know, any other touchscreen smartphone, you know, some provide [unclear] feedback with vibrations, or none at all. The screen on the Storm, actually, you can push it physically down.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Wow.

>> Bonnie Cha: So you get kind of like that button feel; like you're pressing a button.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Is it like jelly like almost?

>> Bonnie Cha: No, it's actually like you're pressing a button. And there's like a little suspension system underneath the screen.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Oh.

>> Bonnie Cha: So, yeah, it, it's kind of weird reaction at first, cause you're not, you're not used to like pressing down on a screen, but.

>> Kara Tsuboi: No.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah, it's their way of, you know, providing that feedback that they wanted to do something different. And, you know, that's a big question for people who are switching to a touchscreen without a full keyboard and things like that. So I think that was part of the solution.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Do you still have all the other benefits of a touchscreen, though, where you can like slide and glide?

>> Bonnie Cha: Yep, yep. And they have some other actions where you can, you know, select text just by pinching your fingers and things like that. So you can, you can use it like other touchscreens, but they just added that extra click through technology.

>> Kara Tsuboi: And what does that mean for the keyboard? Obviously that's another big concern with touchscreens.

>> Bonnie Cha: Right. Same thing, you know, they're gonna have the sure type keyboard when you're in portrait mode. So when you're holding it vertically it'll be a sure type keyboard. But then when you move it to landscape mode you'll get the full QWERTY keyboard. But again, you know, they provided that click through to kind a make that easy transition for people who are moving from fully QWERTY to a full touchscreen. So.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Absolutely.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Now, of course, everyone wants to know how the Storm is gonna measure up against

>> Bonnie Cha: Yes.

>> Kara Tsuboi: The iPhone.

>> Bonnie Cha: Right, of course.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Yeah. I mean, how, how do you compare it as far as like size and aesthetics?

>> Bonnie Cha: Aesthetic way is, you know, it, I'm gonna give it to the iPhone. The, the Storm isn't a bad looking phone and they've done a lot with the, the touchscreen looks amazing and the interface looks really nice. But, you know, I think it's a little thicker and heavier. But, you know, I think the iPhone really kind of has that nailed down to sleekness and things like that. But, and you know, the Storm looks really nice, so, we'll see.

>> Kara Tsuboi: And about the same, roughly the same size?

>> Bonnie Cha: It's, it's

>> Kara Tsuboi: Rectangular.

>> Bonnie Cha: It's a little bit shorter.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Okay.

>> Bonnie Cha: And thicker. But, yeah, you know, it's that kind of candy bar shaped phone.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Exactly.

>> Bonnie Cha: So, yeah. Yeah.

>> Kara Tsuboi: And again, I mean at this point it is a smartphone.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yes.

>> Kara Tsuboi: So we know it comes with all this great other

>> Bonnie Cha: Right.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Features.

>> Bonnie Cha: We're gonna get all the BlackBerry features, and then they've done a lot with the multimedia to kind a, attract the more, more, more consumer based customers. So.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Does that mean there is a camera?

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah. Yes there is. There's a 3.2 megapixel camera with video carding.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Nice.

>> Bonnie Cha: And it has, you know, copy and paste, and all that other stuff that maybe the iPhone doesn't. Yeah. Right.

>> Kara Tsuboi: What about GPS?

>> Bonnie Cha: It does have GPS. For turn-by-turn voice directions you are gonna have to use Verizon service, which is using Navigator, but it does have GPS in it.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Now the reason why we're fumbling with air here, is because we don't actually have one yet.

>> Bonnie Cha: No we don't.

>> Kara Tsuboi: That's the bad news.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah. We got a brief demo from RIM and Verizon the other day, and it, it's pretty cool. They're still working on some bugs. But they say it should be here by the holiday season, and I think a huge factor will be price. They didn't give us pricing, so, yeah.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Are there gonna be different models with different size memory, or?

>> Bonnie Cha: Ah, no just one model.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Just one model.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yep. So.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Interesting. Well it's early October.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah. So.

>> Kara Tsuboi: So they better get things.

>> Bonnie Cha: Gotta get on it. Yeah. Definitely. So.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Okay.

>> Bonnie Cha: We'll see. I think it'll be a big item for the holidays.

>> Kara Tsuboi: I think so. There's already tons of buzz already.

>> Bonnie Cha: Definitely.

>> Kara Tsuboi: Good. Well for a complete review we have it up on CNET Reviews.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yes, we do. Yep.

>> Kara Tsuboi: On CNET.com. Thank you so much Bonnie Cha.

>> Bonnie Cha: Yeah. Of course.

>> Kara Tsuboi: I'm Kara Tsuboi, we'll see you on the next Daily Debrief.

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