Verizon created quite a storm with its recent introduction of the Blackberry Storm. I looked forward to a test drive with great anticipation, just like the many people who waited in line to purchase one a few weeks ago.  Being a Blackberry user, I even looked up my contract to see when I would be eligible for an upgrade to make the switch. But not so fast.

After a few days with the unit, I’ll let the storm pass and wait for the next round. It’s a great device with great potential, but I just don’t see it being there yet.

Typically, when I get any device I try to use it right out of the box (without reading instructions), because that’s what most of you do. I’ll then use the quick start guide that comes with just about everything these days and then move on to the main instruction book.

To me, the device is a phone first, source to read email second and everything else third. So right out of the box, I wanted to make a phone call, but it wasn’t that easy since the opening screen wasn’t the numerical keypad. With a little (talk) button pushing, I did find the keypad to make a call.

When I handed a Verizon representative the phone, with the power off, and asked him to make a call, he turned it on and seemed kind of confused.  Eventually, the call was made after pressing or in this case “touching” the right key command.

With this particular Blackberry, users must realize it’s a whole new device. Forget everything you know about current Blackberries, because there is nothing similar. Everyone can deny it all they want, but it’s also really hard to not compare it to the iPhone, whose touch screen works great.

Another thing that I found kind of weird is that the touch screen itself. It reacted to my touch on most occasions, but either I have big fingers or it sometimes just did what it wanted, not what I wanted.

The screen feels like it’s just not smooth in operation. You have to really press the item you want _ almost like a double click _ and the whole display actually moves. I don’t know if this is good or bad, but after using many other touch gadgets including phones, computers, cameras and printers - I thought this was kind of odd.

A Verizon press release calls the keyboard “The world’s first ‘clickable’ touch-screen (and) responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation.” I think they need to pick one or the other.

Once I figured out how to use the device, it worked great. From phone calls to web surfing, all functions worked with great speed and reception on the Verizon 3G network. It comes with an 8G memory card and for an extra fee it works outside the country.

The Storm is a great looking device and is loaded with features, although it kind of head scratching why it doesn’t have Wi-Fi.  Users will enjoy web surfing, GPS navigation, video and music along with the usual phone and email functions.

As I disclosed above, I’m a Blackberry user and look forward to someday owning a Storm, but I’ll wait for next season’s round.

Another touch screen device Verizon recently introduced is the first interactive clear flip, full-touch phone - the Motorola Krave ZN4.

This phone is easy to use, performs well and is well designed. It has a clear flip used to close and protect the phone, while also letting the user control many of the touch screen features. Once the flip is opened, just hit the Dialpad button and the phones keypad appears. Other one-touch buttons provide easy access to music, pictures, V Cast TV and VZ Navigator.

Lots of features are packed into this standard sized flip phone, including Bluetooth, V CAST Mobile TV and V CAST Video, which can be viewed in the phones landscape mode on the 2.8-inch display. VZ Navigator lets you use the phone to get directions and maps to get you where you need to be and a 2.0-megapixel camera takes digital photos on the run.

For those who want a touch screen experience without the bigger screens, bells and whistles, this is your device.

www.verizonwireless.com

– Gregg Ellman