I have beena Blackberry Pearl user for quite some time and I love it... love the size, love suretype, and love the quickness with which you can get things done is such a tiny package.
I am a member of Verizon's Customer Council which means from time to time they send me free phones they would like our opinion on. Each and every time I have always gone back to the pearl after using the phone long enough to get my opinion settled on the new deive.
Well, they just sent me the storm and while I like it... and think I may end up keeping it as my primary device for a while, there are a few things that bug me about it.
A) it is huge... not good for someone that carries their phone in their pocket
B) Touchscreens are over-rated, it is much quicker and easier to navigate and get things done with the trackball, why they didn't just include it with an OS that was designed and optimized for one makes no sense to me.
What do I love about the Storm??
A) The camera is amazing and takes the best shots I have seen from a camera phone. The flash is powerful enough to take pictures in a pitch black environment.
B) The SCREEN!!!! this is what I really think is attracting everyone to the device. It is beatiful, large, bright, and easy to read in any environment. Without it, I think the Storm would largely be a huge failure. The input method is OK, the software is OK, everything is just OK... but I just can't let go of that big beautiful screen.
What I really wish was an option was taking all the great things about the Pearl, and combining them with a big beatiful screen. A 2.8" or so high-resolution non-touch widescreen could be packed into a Slider form factor in a device about the same size as the Pearl and it would be a HUGE hit. Keep the 3.2MP camera and the orientation sensor... and it would be perfect.
Photoshop of what it could look like.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a8/...arl_slider.jpg