So with all the iPhone and Google phone talk I’ve been doing on The Tidy lately, I would be remiss to stay silent on one of the biggest players in the smartphone industry and their upcoming offering to the mobile smartphone war we’re currently enjoying:

The Blackberry Storm!

I like Blackberry because they take the mobile phone industry seriously. It’s all they do, and they cater primarily to the business and corporate user, so they design with priorities in efficiency, reliability, usability and security. So I’m really interested to see how their next generation Storm works out. Some say it’s their answer to the iPhone, but I actually don’t see it that way. I just see it as the next step in the evolution of the business smart phone in the new age of phone usability we live in, ushered in by the iPhone.

I’m most excited and impressed by the CDMA / EV-DO Rev. A, quadband EDGE, and 2100MHz HSPA, making it one of the most global phones ever to hit the market. 3.25-inch 480 x 360 display dubbed “1/2 VGA+”. The screen offers tactile feedback and auto-rotation to boot, plus you’ve got that 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera with flash, 1GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion — an 8GB card is included in the box — and “enhanced background noise cancellation.” Turning our attention to software, RIM calls the Storm’s web browsing experience “best in class,” which is a good sign if those guys really know their competition, and we’ve got AGPS and visual voicemail.

As an HTC Mogul/Windows Mobile user, I can’t help but feel a little envious at the horde of sleek iphone-toting masses that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Coffee shop hipsters, grandmas and even little kids flash their iphones everywhere I go.

I certainly am pleased with the level of service I get with my phone. I use it to send email, look up directions and browse the internet now and again when I’m waiting in the doctor’s office. So what’s with the iPhone envy? Surprisingly, it’s not the marketing fad and it’s not the sweet form factor of the phone that I envy. What I envy is usability.

Navigating the iPhone is intuitive. Bright colors, big buttons, smooth transitions. Spend a few minutes with it and you know how to get to exactly what you want to get to on your phone every time. Windows Mobile? Not so much. Using the stylus to navigate feels like working a Windows desktop with a broken mouse. The tiny scroll bars make touch screen navigation a pain. It makes getting to things on your phone feel clunky and harder than it should be. Don’t even get me started on the browsers. It took Windows ages to add a zoom feature to Internet Explorer Mobile, a feature that—surprise—is clunky and not as useful as it could/should be.

Windows Mobile users will go on and on about how they can mod their phones and write their own programs and download free software, all of which is true. I use a few applications on my phone, but they’re mostly interface modification to make using the phone easier. Ironically, one of the most popular application packs for Windows Mobile users is a suite of software to make your WM interface look like the iPhone’s.

I still love my Mogul, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Windows improves overall usability of the interface with Windows Mobile 7, and I’m definitely  keeping an eye on Android from Google.

IPhone 3G

Chances are you have already heard the news that Apple is releasing the iPhone 3G. It comes with everything you could want in a phone, including improved GPS function and super-fast pageload speeds. You can talk for up to 5 hours on 3G talk, and the battery can provide for up to 300 hours of standby time. Video capability is not given short shrift here, as you can take video for as many as 7 hours.

The name “3G” refers to the third generation of a wide area wireless system that allows these phones to function as they do. You will want to check if 3G is available in your area; if not, you will use EDGE instead of the 3G system. Email attachments load very quickly on the iPhone 3G. In one test, an attachment only took a third of the time to download on the iPhone, while another brand clocked in at nearly 20 seconds.

With the 3G technology, you can talk on the phone and surf the internet at the same time – this can be very helpful in some situations. Nobody has to go through the hassle of having to hang up on a conversation so they can check out something on the internet.

As far as appearance goes, the iPhone 3G is a bit thicker at the center than its predecessor, but its curved edges help offset this fact. It’s actually lighter than the previous phone and can easily fit into a pocket. This new phone can be found in black and white if you buy the 16G model, but only in black if you get the 8G model. It’s a matter of personal preference.

You can use your best pair of surround sound headphones with the iPhone 3G due to the way the port is designed. The port now lies flush along the iPhone’s body instead of being tucked away where some headphone jacks could not reach.

As you consider buying an iPhone 3G, be aware of the rate plans you can get. The family Talk Plan is allows you to have 2 lines with 700 Anytime Minutes between them. This plan costs $130. Each month, you will pay about $10 extra for the iPhone 3G than you would for the previous phone.

As you snap photos with the two-megapixel camera of your iPhone, the GPS system will automatically record the location where you took the picture. The 3G model also seems to have a better quality sound than what has been found in Apple phones in the past.

If you are wishing to upgrade your current phone to one that uses 3G, the bad news is that this will not work. GPS systems are also not available for older phones. You’ll have to spring for a brand new, 3G compatible phone before you can get this type of speed.

Originally called the BlackBerry 9000, the unveiling of the new BlackBerry Bold came out by Rimm yesterday. Rumors has it that, it’ll be available this summer 2008 on AT&T 3G, and T-Mobile 3G. No real blackberry bold release date was mentioned. Still no touch screen yet. Maybe in the next version? Maybe 10 years later? Who knows. The Blackberry Bold will be priced around $300. Enjoy some pictures while you wait a few months =)

With this Win Iphone software aka ISwish or IZoom (Available in May 27th, 2008), you can have the same multi touch experience as the Iphones with your non-multi touch cell phones. There’s one catch though, it looks as though this software is only available on Windows CE or Windows Mobile devices. This WiniPhone or Iphone on Windows or Windows CE Iphone or Windows Iphone or whatever you want to call it has the capability of zooming into photos using multi touch capabilities like the way the Apple Iphone’s multi touch softwares work. So now you can enjoy the same similiar technology from Iphone on your Windows Mobile Phone. If you want more information visit their official project site at: flicksoftware