RIM and Verizon announce BlackBerry Storm2 9550 touchscreen smartphone

RIM BlackBerry Storm2 9550

RIM BlackBerry Storm2 9550

Research In Motion and Verizon Wireless have announced the new BlackBerry Storm2 9550 touchscreen smartphone, the anticipated follow-up to the Storm 9530 launched one year ago.

The smartphone has a sleeker design with sloped edges, chrome accents and a stainless steel backplate. Its most marketable feature is an improved 3.25-inch capitative touchscreen with SurePress haptic feedback technology, the earlier version of which received a fair amount of criticism. The device also features the new BlackBerry OS version 5.0.

The Storm2 utilizes Verizon's 3G EV-DO network and supports global GSM and UMTS frequency bands for international use. It also includes WiFi connectivity, unlike the original Storm. The phone is expected to be snappy with its 256MB application memory and 2GB of internal storage. There's also support for microSD cards and an 8GB card is bundled in-box. A 1400mAh battery is claimed to offer 5.5 hours of talk time and 11.2 days standby time.

BlackBerry OS 5.0 brings typing and selection improvements, visual enhancements, and a better web browser with faster JavaScript and CSS rendering that supports Google Gears and BlackBerry widgets. There are also improvements for Enterprise Server 5.0 users.

The Storm2 9550 includes BlackBerry Desktop Manager for PCs and Macs and BlackBerry Media Sync to pull music from Windows Media Player onto the device. Verizon services like VZ Navigator, V CAST Music with Rhapsody and Visual Voice Mail are also included on the device. BlackBerry App World is onboard too, for downloading third-party mobile applications.

The RIM BlackBerry Storm2 9550 will be available from Verizon Wireless on October 28 for $179.99 after a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. You can see our initial thoughts and unboxing of the Storm2 in a video we did just last week.