Video: Rim's Blackberry Storm rivals iPhone in touch-screen market

Research in Motion has introduced the Blackberry Storm, a version of its popular smartphone featuring a touch sensitive screen which Rim says will simplify navigation and typing.

Blackberry Storm, with its touch-sensitive screen, will put RIM in direct competition with Apple, which launched its iPhone earlier this year.

Unlike previous generations of Blackberry with a mini QWERTY keyboard, RIM has developed what it claims is the world's first "clickable" touch-screen. The screen-based keyboard is able to respond much like a physical keyboard, RIM claims.

The screen depresses slightly when it is pressed to mimic the action of pressing a key on a physical keyboard.

"The user distinctly feels the screen being pressed and released with a gentle 'click', similar to the feeling of a key on a physical keyboard or a button on a mouse," Rim said. "The result is a dramatically enhanced touch interface and a highly intuitive typing experience."

The screen also supports multi-touches, taps, slides, and other touch-screen gestures, which Rim said can be used to highlight, scroll, pan, and zoom.

Blackberry Storm features

• Preloaded software allows users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the handset
• 3.2megapixel camera, with variable zoom, auto focus, and flash to provide continuous lighting when recording video
• Built-in GPS supports location-based applications and services. Enables "geotagging" of photos
• 1GB of on board memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16GB of additional storage
• Media player that can play movies in full screen mode, display pictures and slideshows and manage a music collection. Playlists can be created directly on the handset. An equalizer features 11 preset filters - including "Lounge", "Jazz" and "Hip Hop"
• An ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts backlighting on the screen. An accelerometer allows customers to view applications in either portrait or landscape mode by rotating the handset
• Removable and rechargeable 1400mAhr battery provides approximately 6 hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time