Touchscreen mobile phones have walked (well, not literally walked, but you get the point) among us for many years, but only in recent times have they become so prevalent. Now, the next stage of their evolution has happened, and we are witness to two new breeds of touchscreen excellence: the phenomenal Blackberry Storm and the titanic HTC Touch HD.
Why was 2008 the big year for touchscreen mobile phones?
That’s the big question, isn’t it. After all, touchscreen mobile phones have been on the scene for years, so why has this year been so explosive in terms of touchscreen evolution. Well, as much as I hate to admit it, it can be put down largely to 1 mobile phone. The reason I hate to admit it is because it’s the iPhone, a phone I personally loathe. I don’t like it because it’s had so much hype, with Jobs himself, and Apple addicts saying that it’s obviously better than all other mobile phones, and revering it in a way usually only seen with religious icons. Except it isn’t, other mobile phones leave it in the dust in terms of features. It’s not a mobile phone, it’s a flashy toy. The one thing I will concede, though, is that the interface on the iPhone is all swishy and quite nice. THAT’s the bit that’s given mobile phone makers a kick up the backside, and once it did, the race was on for all of them to make their own killer touchscreen mobile phones, from Nokia to Blackberry, from HTC to Samsung. The big two, heading into Christmas, are from Blackberry and HTC, and both of them have something new to offer…
Blackberry Storm – storm in a teacup?
First up is the Blackberry Storm, and it genuinely does bring something new to the world of touchscreen mobile phones; specifically, it brings a whole new type of touchscreen, a clicky touchscreen. Basically the screen on the Blackberry Storm actually moves slightly into the body of the phone, so that when you press down on it, to select something on screen, it feels exactly like you’re pressing a real button. Considering that the Blackberry Storm uses a virtual keyboard for typing emails, that clicky screen is one of the single most useful additions in the history of mobile phones. Basically, no other mobile phones have got it, and the Blackberry Storm is going to sell like hotcakes because of it, AND because it’s downright gorgeous in its own right.
HTC Touch HD – the Titan awakes!
Where the Blackberry Storm is sleek, and smart, there’s another touchscreen mobile phone on it way, which is less ‘super-smart bomb’, and more ‘massive nuclear warhead’. Whereas the screen on the Blackberry Storm goes for innovation and cleverness, the screen on the titanic HTC Touch HD goes for sheer size; at 3.8 inches, it’s got a bigger screen than ANY other mobile phones in the entire world. And that’s a good thing, because the HTC Touch HD is essentially and oversized HTC Diamond, and uses the same TouchFLO 3D interface, optimised for finger controls. The vastly enlarged screen on the HTC Touch HD makes this one of the single most perfect touchscreen mobile phones ever imagined, and perfect for touch control. Oh, and of course, the HTC Touch HD also has a 5 megapixel camera, GPS and HSDPA, so it’s probably bang on the money to say that this is the one… Of all the mobile phones released this year, the HTC Touch HD is the iPhone-Killer!