How does the Treo 755p compare with the BlackBerry Storm?How about a 9 to 4 win playing in a Treo-friendly 'park' like mytreo?
Pricing and Ordering (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
At a price of $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract, the Storm is priced to be a direct competitor with the iPhone. Compared to Palm devices however, the Centro is half its price, and the 755p was $50 more. Since the Storm is still a more business-oriented device, we will be comparing it to the 755p.
In The Box (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
Included in the box are: the device, battery, battery cover, travel charger with international adapter clips, USB cable, stereo 3.5mm headset, 8GB SanDisk microSDHC card installed in the device, and documentation. The Storm is a global device, so a Verizon SIM card (!) is also preinstalled. The 755p comes with similar accessories, including a home charger, USB cable, and stereo 2.5mm headset.
Hardware (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
The Storm is a device of many firsts for RIM, and even for the industry. The Storm is the first BlackBerry device to feature a touchscreen, as well as not have a physical keyboard. It is also the first touchscreen device to have a “clickable” screen, which really sets it apart from other capacitive touchscreen devices (more on that later). The screen is 480×360 in landscape mode, compared to the 755p’s standard 320×320 square screen. The extra pixels and wide aspect ratio make a huge difference, especially when viewing multimedia or spreadsheets.
The plastics on the Storm are, unfortunately, a giant fingerprint magnet. Whether it’s the screen, buttons, or the camera lens area, fingerprints are bound to be found. It is nearly impossible not to get fingerprints on the device as the screen cannot be used with a stylus or fingernail. Dimension-wise, the Storm is a little bit wider than the 755p, but much thinner.
Camera (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
This, unfortunately, is where poorly written software really shows up. The device isn’t particularly snappy to begin with (even with the latest software), but the camera is unbearably slow. It takes several seconds to take a picture, and during that time, all sorts of things can happen. The device could have moved, resulting in a blurry picture, or the subject could have moved outside of the picture. Nevertheless, if the device is held steady and the subject of the picture is still, you will get decent quality pictures. Colors are much better than the 755p, but each 3.2MP picture will take up about 600KB of memory.
Camcorder (Winner: Treo 755p)
The Storm records videos in 320×240 resolution, which is slightly lower than the 755p’s strange 352×288 size. Video quality is quite a bit better than the Treo, however, software issues made the video camera nearly unusable. It took me five tries to successfully record one video, and of course, moments that you would like to capture on video only happen once. Each of the first four times, the device would encounter an “unexpected error” while saving the video. The video was saved, but it would not play on the device or my laptop. The Storm would’ve won this section had the software been better, so the 755p wins this section for stability.
Screen (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
There’s really not much to say about a 480×360 screen on a mobile device – it’s excellent for viewing multimedia and browsing the internet! The clickable screen is one of its best features. Touching the screen highlights items or scrolls, and to select, you need to press down on the screen until it clicks. RIM calls this SurePress, and it is much better than a regular touchscreen because it allows you greater precision. When typing, a letter does not show up until you press down on the screen, so it is possible to reposition your finger if the wrong key has been selected. Unfortunately, because of SurePress, the screen isn’t fixed in place and some wobbling may be noticed.
Keyboard (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
Although physical keyboards are always easier and faster, the Storm’s on-screen is the best that I’ve used so far. The Storm offers three input methods – SureType and multi-tap in portrait mode, and QWERTY in landscape mode. SureType works surprisingly well, but for certain words such as try and yet, corrections may be needed. The QWERTY keyboard is well laid out and spacious. The Storm does feature copy and paste by touching a finger at the beginning of the selection, and another at the end, but it is imprecise and adjustment is not possible. This probably won’t be a deal breaker unless you frequently edit files and need to move chunks of text around, but typing large amounts of text on the Storm can be quite frustrating.
Software (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
Without any third party software onto the device, the Storm is not as speedy as BlackBerries tend to be. There is a small delay when opening applications, and the transition effects bog the system down further. Simply put, the BlackBerry OS is good at what it’s designed to do, which would be email and calendar, but there are some features to be desired from the built-in applications.
Email and PIM (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
BlackBerries are built for email and PIM, and the Storm is no exception. I didn’t extensively test out these apps as they are pretty much what you would expect from a BlackBerry. The contact list is a breeze to scroll through, and the calendar is very easy to use. The one thing that could be improved with the PIM apps would be the addition of some buttons, such as Compose New, Reply, Reply To All, or Forward in Messages and New or Delete buttons for PIM apps. The apps depend a little too much on the menu, which requires reaching over to the BlackBerry button.
Documents (Winner: Treo 755p)
The Storm is preloaded with Documents To Go, much like the 755p. However, the major difference is that the BlackBerry version of Documents To Go only supports opening files and has no support for Office 2007. You cannot create new files! If you want to create new files, you will have to upgrade to the premium version. The operating system has a built-in document reader that can only read Office 2007 files, but because all of my files are in Office 2007 format, I have no choice but to use that.
Browser (Winner: BlackBerry Storm)
The BlackBerry Browser in the Storm is much better than Blazer on a Palm OS device. By default, it loads mobile sites, but in the options menu, there is a setting to change the browser identification from BlackBerry to Internet Explorer or FireFox. In IE mode, it opened up mytreo.net’s front page in the mobile version, but article pages were shown in desktop mode. The page was rendered accurately, and after some zooming in, I did not have any difficulty reading my review of the Treo 755p.
Multimedia (Winner: Treo 755p)
The music and video player in the Storm are simple and easy to use. Maybe a little bit too simple. There are only four buttons available when playing a song, and they are Previous, Pause, Stop, and Next. Repeat and shuffle are hidden in the menu, and there is no progress slider or rewind/fast forward. Pocket Tunes in the Treo 755p is much more powerful, and depending on the skin you are using, can have a lot more options displayed on the screen. Playlists are a bit cumbersome to create on the Storm because only one song may be added at once, and songs from various folders are combined into one giant list.
Third Party Apps (Winner: Treo 755p)
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of applications available that support the Storm at the moment. I’m a big fan of WorldMate for Palm OS, and WorldMate Live for BlackBerry has a lot of features, including weather forecast, world clocks, flight schedules, and currency conversion. However, WorldMate Live only works in landscape mode. Google Maps is another application that supports the Storm (and in both orientations), and maps load quickly and are crisp and easy to read.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, the BlackBerry Storm is a great device. It is good at what it is designed to do, and BlackBerries are gradually becoming more and more multimedia-friendly. For everyday tasks like checking your email or calendar and browsing the internet, the Storm and its large screen cannot be beat. However, if you are one who needs to type a lot, a device with a physical keyboard will probably be a better choice. The advantage that Palm OS still has is the vast amounts of applications available, but BlackBerry developers are starting to catch up. The Treo does a bit of everything and fits my needs well, so I won’t be heading into BlackBerry territory anytime soon, but the Storm would make a great device for those of us who are getting a little tired of the dated Palm OS and are craving for something else.
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