The holiday smartphone forecast is getting gusty. Last month the "Google phone" – T-Mobile's G1 – arrived. Before that came Sprint's Instinct and Apple's iPhone 3G for AT&T. On Friday, Research In Motion and Verizon will begin selling the BlackBerry Storm for $199 with a two-year contract. The reviews are already in. The first BlackBerry to eschew a keyboard for a touchscreen, the Storm also boasts GPS, video recording, and that old Blackberry standard, corporate email.

Should President-elect Obama and email addicts everywhere ditch their old BlackBerrys for this new one? Should iPhone fanboys put their beloved devices on eBay? The reviews tell the story:

The innovative "click screen"

When you push the screen and it clicks, it's a genuinely satisfying tactile sensation that ... is clearly a finely tuned experience. You won't accidentally press it when you don't mean to, but you don't have to drop a sledgehammer on it, either. Like the rest of the body, it's a sturdy piece of hardware that seems like it will hold up over the many, many thousands of clicks it will endure in its lifetime. The only concern is that it seems like the chasm between the screen and rest of the body is a lint nest waiting to happen. But the gap is large enough you should be able to clean your pocket gunk out with the edge of a toothpick. [via Gizmodo]

Where Storm beats iPhone 3G

The Storm has copy and paste functionality; MMS (a service for sending photos directly to other phones without using email); voice dialing; and the ability to act as a modem for your laptop. It also allows you to edit, and not just to view, Microsoft Office documents. All of these features are missing from the iPhone out of the box. [via The Wall Street Journal]

Where iPhone has an edge

Storm lacks Wi-Fi — and that's a mistake. You're not always going to be able to access Verizon's speedy EV-DO wireless network, which was the case in my basement. Verizon says Wi-Fi would have added to the size and cost. Storm has no direct answer for the iTunes App Store, at least not yet. And some existing third-party BlackBerry apps are not yet available for the touch-screen. [via USA Today]

The network

In addition to Verizon's CDMA, EV-DO, Rev. A madness, the Storm sports a GSM radio (a number of them), so you can grab HSPA in the rest of the world, and truck on some sweet, sweet EDGE here in the States. Speaking of that EV-DO, the download speeds and network stability of the Storm seem pretty tight. Although the phone omits WiFi, as long as you stay inside decent Verizon coverage areas, you won't feel that sting too badly. [via Engadget]

The monthly fee

There are a variety of options, but a couple of things to note. One, Verizon will let you use the Storm with a data-only plan, which is a nice touch. Two, once you’re a Verizon Wireless customer for at least 60 days, you can ask the company to unlock your phone for you if you’re traveling overseas to a country that uses GSM, allowing you to use local prepaid SIM cards, as opposed to paying exorbitant international roaming rates. [via ZDNet]

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