Vodafone Storm 9500 In the Wild!

[harps]

I at a meeting with a work associate today we started discussing our relative BlackBerry's, and he told me that at a function he attended on Friday evening he was talking to a person who works at Vodafone and he was shown the new touch screen BlackBerry, aka the Storm!

Has anyone else heard or seen the soon to be released Storm here in Australia?

[Gregmyers]

Hi Harps,
Looks like it might have a November 4th release on Verizon in the US so we can probably expect it around the end of next month. (I will keep you up to date as news comes to hand)
KR
Greg Myers.

[8120user]

Vodafone UK is an official storm launch partner. Verizon in the USA also has the rights...

The UK series is the 9500, nicest phone I have seen from Blackberry in a while.

Phone specs:

BlackBerry Storm 9500 - Full phone specifications

Here's hoping we hear something soon! I'm hopefuly, but with Telstra only now starting to push the Bold I fear we will be waiting a while.

[harps]

I'm with you 8120user.
I was looking at the Bold with a bit of excitement, but the size of the device scared me. But now having seen all the specs and the videos via forums like Crackberry.com I'm excited about the storm.
It looks really impressive, and a worthy replacement for my 8110.

[8120user]

To add fuel to the fire.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 - BlackBerry Smartphone - Vodafone

[Tfer]

The wait will be interesting.... one of our trainers really wants one!

Thomas

[8120user]

What frustrates me about the Storm is the absence, by all reports, of WiFi.

How RIM could make such a fundamental error is beyond me. It's almost a deal breaker for me.

[8120user]

Official... Storm to be with Vodafone Australia

BlackBerry Takes the World by Storm with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone

Verizon Wireless, Vodafone Group (NYSE:VOD)(LSE:VOD) and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced that the BlackBerry(R) Storm(TM) will be available later this fall, exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers in the U.S. and Vodafone customers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.

[Gregmyers]

Features Available

• Wireless email
• Organizer
• Browser
• Phone
• Camera (3.2 MP)
• Video Recording
• BlackBerry® Maps
• Media Player
• Built-in GPS
• Corporate data access
• SMS
• MMS

Size and Weight

• 4.43"/112.5mm (Length)
• 2.45"/62.2mm (Width)
• 0.55"/13.95mm (Depth)
• 5.5 oz/155g (Weight)

Data Input/Navigation

• Touch Screen Navigation, with ClickThrough for user selection
• On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape

Voice Input/Output

• 3.5mm stereo headset capable
• Integrated earpiece/ microphone
• Built-in speakerphone
• Mono/stereo headset, hands-free, phone book access profile and serial port profile supported (Bluetooth® technology)

Media Player

• Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
• Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

Display

• High resolution 480 x 360 pixel color display
• Transmissive TFT LCD
• Font size (user selectable)
• Light sensing screen

Notification

• Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones
• MP3 ringtones
• Vibrate mode
• LED indicator

Approximate Battery Life

• 15 days (Standby time)
• 5.5 hours (Talk time)

Memory

• Expandable memory – support for microSD™ card
• 1GB onboard memory
• 128 MB Flash (flash memory)

Modem

• RIM® wireless modem
• Tethered modem capability

Email Integrations

• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Microsoft® Exchange
• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for IBM® Lotus® Domino®
• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Novell® GroupWise®
• Integrates with an existing enterprise email account
• Integrates with existing personal email account
• Integrates with optional new device account

Device Security

• Password protection and screen lock
• Sleep mode
• Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
• Optional support for S/MIME

Wireless Network

• UMTS/HSPA: 2100 MHz
• North America: 850 MHz GSM®/GPRS networks
• North America: 1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
• Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks
• Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
• Dual-Band: 800/1900 MHz CDMA/Ev-DO networks

[Gregmyers]

For the Official Storm release see: BlackBerry Touch Screen - BlackBerry 9530 - Blackberry 9500