BlackBerry unveils new Storm smart phone

TORONTO, CANADA: BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) unveiled a new version of its Storm smart phone.

Called BlackBerry Smart2, the new touch screen smart phone features a much faster web browser than the Storm1 which was introduced last year in competition to Apple's iPhone.

But the first Storm smart phone was not well received because of its software, though RIM sold more than a million devices.

The new smart phone will be first launched in the US and Canada later this month.

In a statement, the Canadian wireless giant based at Hamilton near Toronto said it is joining hand with Vodafone, the world's largest wireless phone company, to launch the new Storm in seven European countries in coming the holiday shopping season.

"The second generation of RIM's innovative and award-winning touch-screen smart phone, the BlackBerry Storm2 significantly improves the BlackBerry ouch-screen platform with new technology and new features to let customers stay easily connected to the people, places and things that matter most,'' the company statement said.

The new smart phone is laced with a new technology based on an electronic system that provides the user with "tactile feedback'' when the touch-screen is pressed.

Its new electronic system responds even to gentle pressure applied anywhere on the surface of the screen and makes clicking the display almost effortless, the BlackBerry statement said.

The statement added that typing on the smart phone's virtual keyboards is much easier, more comfortable and more accurate.

Its new technology will also allow the user to type a letter with one thumb even while the other thumb may still be touching or resting on another letter, enabling faster typing.

The new BlackBerry smart phone also features a 3.2 MP camera with variable zoom, autofocus, flash and video recording as well as 256 MB of Flash memory.

Apart from an in-built GPS, this latest smart phone will also have 2 GB of memory which can be extended to 32 GB.

"This is a dramatically different, dramatically enhanced product,'' BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie was quoted as saying by Bloomberg news.

"I have never felt more optimistic about our position and more excited about our prospects, but I have also never felt like we had more work to do. So everything has become more amplified,'' he said.