Originally Posted by
Blackberry Guy Palm originally defined the smartphone as essentially a messaging-centric PDA with a cellular connection and front facing QWERTY keyboard (with apps that would be considered expensive by today's standards). RIM took that concept and ran with it, and arguably was the pinnacle of that type of device.
The problem is, whether we like it or not, Apple has re-defined people's idea of a smartphone with the iPhone. Smartphones are now seen as large touch screen devices, with simple UIs, with a heavy emphasis on web browsing, media, and apps. All smartphones are going to be compared to this standard when the media does their reviews - and those are precisely the areas where BlackBerry devices have been the weakest.