MUKOYAR

Verizon isn’t just teasing us with Droid material, they are launching the BlackBerry Storm 2 this week. The new Storm hits on October 28, and the refreshed phone has Wi-Fi, making it much better than the original Storm. Owners of the original Storm needn’t fret, as Verizon has released the next major version of the BlackBerry OS today for that phone. OS 5.0 has a big list of improvements and changes, and the browser performs much better in particular. Storm owners should see the new OS version available in the Blackberry Desktop Software. Full Storm 2 press release after the jump. A POWERFUL NEW STORM ROLLS ONTO VERIZON WIRELESS’ NETWORK ON OCT. 28 New Operating System for Existing BlackBerry Storm Customers BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and WATERLOO, Ontario – Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced that the BlackBerry® Storm2™ smartphone will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications stores, online at www.verizonwireless.com, and through bu

The web might be buzzing with rumours of Rachael, but it's easy to forget that the Android-powered superphone's predecessor, the Xperia X2, hasn't yet been released. We got hands-on with the device and grabbed a few pictures of the Windows Mobile-powered handset. The big feature is "panels", as with the original Xperia, which are a bit like full-screen widgets that sit on top of the default Windows Mobile 6.5 interface. There's plenty provided and available, including some from companies like Skype, eBay, Qype and Amazon, and there's also an SDK available so that developers can code their own, too. Sony's brand manager for the device, Aaron Duke, told us that the company was working with both Last.fm and Spotify to develop panels for the device that'll add more music functionality. The company sees the market for this handset as business users that also want some multimedia functionality. The handset will be available exclusively from Vodafon

If you are already decided on the BlackBerry Storm and you've only been waiting for RIM to fix the long list of problems with the first model, fear not, because the BlackBerry Storm 2 addresses almost all of the complaints buyers had with the original. The BlackBerry Storm 2 is faster, more responsive, built better and more feature-packed than the first Storm. Even so, the interface was wildly inconsistent, as if the phone could never remember when you're supposed to press and when you're supposed to lightly tap; when you're supposed to swipe or when you should just point. Sometimes, it simply didn't work. Sometimes, the interface design was so counterintuitive that we decided to give up. Even with the improvements, and they are significant, using the BlackBerry Storm 2 was a real chore, as the extra pressure required to 'click' makes every action a bit harder compared to other touchscreens. The interface design was continually frustrating, even while newe