BlackBerry has released another smart phone which is their latest addition to the quick messaging smart phone lineup. It is the BlackBerry Storm 9530 which offers fast internet connection in the US as well as abroad. Its main selling point aside from being a great quick messaging phone is that it has GPS and lots of multimedia capabilities. This smart phone will truly established the brand’s name as the best messaging device to date. We have reports that the BlackBerry Storm 2 is next in line and I bet they will change the design of the keyboard too, which they usually do to keep up with the fast pacing technology. Is this going to be the best all arounder device? Let’s just wait and see and for the meantime, read my full BlackBerry 9530 hands on review for you to know its design, build, software, features and performance.

Carriers: Blackberry	Retail Price: $499.99
Manufactured by: Verizon	Contact Price: $199.99

Pros: The BlackBerry 9530 Storm is a quick messaging smart phone intended for business users and heavy texters. It features a big touch screen display that actually clicks. It also offers fast internet connection here and abroad.

Cons: The BlackBerry 9530 Storm’s user interface is a bit daunting at first. The Roxio desktop software for the smart phone runs very slow. A little adjustments on its design, and still using a mediocre camera.

Many have reported issues with the BlackBerry 9530 Storm and if you are one of the many who are holding off to buy this unit, you should not worry now since RIM already released a fix for these problems and included the App World Store as a freebie. The BlackBerry 9530 Storm is a sexy RIM unit weighing just 5.5 ounces and has dimensions of 4.4-by-2.4-by-0.5-inch (Height Weight Thickness). It has a 3.3-inch touch screen display that is capable of rendering up to 360-by-480 pixels of resolution. It is a capacitive touch screen which can detect electricity from your fingers. One thing I like about this smart phone is that it is transflective. Meaning, you can easily view its screen even outdoors or when there’s bright light. Underneath the display you will see its Pick Up and End call buttons, along with the Back button, and the BlackBerry menu key. On the left and right spines of the Storm, you'll see its Camera, Volume rocker, and the programmable multi function button. On top, you will find the Mute and lock buttons while the metal back is where you will find the speakerphone and the camera. We have seen how RIM changed or redesigned their keyboards and from the SureType keyboard of the BlackBerry 7130e, to the BlackBerry Pearl’s best selling keyboard, now the company changed it once again with the Storm, as it now comes with a radical click screen- it gives feedback a solid click, whenever you press the touchscreen buttons. Thanks to the .148 software upgrade for it makes the BlackBerry 9530 Storm's QWERTY keyboard more precise and accurate. Upon updating, clicking on characters or letters is much accurate and you would be able to type much more faster than the older BlackBerry Storm with the.75 software. It has a revamped UI around the touch screen with bigger icons virtual keyboards {QWERTY portrait, QWERTY landscape, SureType, and a smart phone keypad} as a replacement to the physical RIM’skeyboard. It seems that the 528-MHz processor is just enough to power the device, as the interface runs smoothly and have not experienced any lags or glitches during my tests. I guess the .148 software update is the reason behind all of these, as there are no major bugs, crashes, program errors any more which many have experienced on those models without this update. With te App Word Store addition, users can now download third-party applications, but be sure to check if these apps are compatible with your Storm, prior to downloading it. Overall, the BlackBerry 9530 Storm with the new update is much faster, and more stable which is why it is recommendable. The Storm rides the Verizon's EV-DO Rev network and can be used as a USB modem for any Windows PC PC. I tested this feature and I got speeds of 800 kbps and 400 Kbps up. Unfortunately the Storm does not have Wi-Fi, which does not concern me much since this smart phone comes with a Verizon data plan, and the 3G coverage here in the U.S. is awesome. The main reason why people fall for RIM’s smart phones is the voice quality. I am pretty much happy with the Storm since it is an awesome voice phone. It offers a nice reception and its earpiece and speakerphone’s volume are both loud. I didn’t sound robotic according to my friends and have not heard any background noise during our test calls. Battery is ok too, as it has managed to survive 7 hours of straight talk time which is on a par with the iPhone 3G and RIM’s Bold.Music and video playback is fantastic too, and it works perfectly with my China made Bluetooth headset. The BlackBerry 9530 runs 4.7 BlackBerry OS which support touch features, e-mail, music player, contacts book, Web browser with touch. What’s new about this OS is that it comes with Microsoft Office which is good for document editing and has support for HTML e-mail. Cool huh? Like other RIM devices, you can setup up to ten e-mail accounts, but this time the process is much easier as it comes with an easy to follow setup interface. There’s also a cut and paste text feature, and free downloadable instant-messaging apps for IM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo, and BlackBerry Facebook app. The BlackBerry 9530 Storm is a great multimedia device as you can sync your device with your Windows Media Player or use the RIM tool to sync playlists from your iTunes. However, syncing video requires you to use its slow Roxio media manager. It has enough room for your media files with 879MB of on-board storage and comes with an 8GB microSD card which is upgradeable to 16GB. I have loaded my review unit with videos and mp3 and I was able to view and listen to them without a problem. According to its manual the device can playback MP3, WMA, and AAC media and MP4 video files. Its Web Browser has been updated too, which is far better than the browser of the BlackBerry Bold. However, it still slow at loading pages with JavaScripts, which is OK not unlike with the Bold’s that crashes. You can also zoom in pages by double tapping. And if you like the built in Web Browser you can settle with the Opera Mini browser. It also features 2 GPS, the Verizon's $9.99 per month VZNavigator, and the free BlackBerry Maps. The BlackBerry 9530 Storm comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera that features an LED flash and is capable of recording videos. With the new .148 software update, the camera functions better as it loads faster than the usual. In full daylight, the pictures looked OK while indoors shots were blurry – maybe because its camera has slow shutter speeds. I also tried the image stabilization feature which really helped but it slowed the down the photo capture process. Overall, the BlackBerry Storm 9530 is a highly recommendable smart phone for business users. It is easier to use and functions well. Thanks to the new software update and finally after six months, it is indeed ready for business. This new update has fixed several isses with the smart phone's click screen. However, I don’t think that this BlackBerry 9530 is on par with the BlackBerry Curve, the iPhone or the Palm Pre. With all these information in mind, would you say that the BlackBerry 9530 Storm is the right smart phone for you? If you already bought the device, please feel free to leave your thoughts and your review in our comments section. We’d be glad to hear from you guys.