Phone Wars: iPhone 3G vs Blackberry Storm

Another day, another round of 'could it be an iPhone killer?' whispers. RIM is keen to point out that there's enough room in the smartphone market for everyone, but that just doesn't make good copy, does it?

So, on paper, who wins in the battle of *adopts wrestling commentator voice* the Apple iPhone 3G and the Blackberry Storm?

(And yes, it's on paper - we haven't had a chance to properly play with the Storm yet. Bear with us).

Size
Surprisingly, there's very little to choose between the two - 4.4x2.4x0.55 for the Storm, and 4.5x2.4x0.48 for the iPhone. Having said that, the iPhone can claim the minimalist crown, as the hard buttons at the bottom of the Storm prevent it from looking super-slick. The Storm also weighs an extra ounce.
Winner: iPhone

Screen
They've both got a 480x360 display and the iPhone wins size-wise by 0.25 of an inch. Having seen movie playback briefly on the Storm, it looks just as crisp and bright as the iPhone.
Winner: iPhone, just

Battery
Apple quotes five hours of 3G talktime, whilst RIM quotes six. As we know, the iPhone can barely go a full day of heavy use, but anecdotally, RIM hope heavy users will get at least a day.
Winner: Storm

Camera
The 3.2 megapixels on the Storm trumps the iPhone's paltry 2 megapixel. There's also video recording at 30fps on the Storm - something this iPhone's completely unable to do.
Winner: Storm

Storage
The iPhone is primarily a media player, so the 16GB is well suited to storing loads of music and movies. The Storm, in contrast, has 1GB internal and a microSD card slot for expansion. This means, conceivably, it could top the iPhone at 17GB combined (but not without a £50-odd card). And with memory expanding all the time, this could increase.
Winner: The Storm, kind of.

Input
The iPhone's touchscreen has previously been best in class, but RIM has put a lot of thought into their ClickThrough input. This places the touchscreen a fraction of a millimetre above the body of the phone, so you can physically feel a click when you select something. This separates the navigation from the selecting process, which seem to work extremely well in the short time I had to play with it.

Having said that, the web page navigation lacks the multi-touch of the iPhone, which was noticeable.

The iPhone just features a QWERTY keyboard. In contrast, holding the Storm in portrait activates RIM's SureType keyboard, which is a favourite with Pearl users.
Winner: Storm, although full conclusions will be drawn when we've had a bit more time with it.

Media playback
This the iPhone's raison d'etre, and it's evident in the way it handles your music and videos. Having said that, Blackberry has come up with a way to skip tracks using the external volume controls, and crucially, has integrated A2DP Bluetooth - something the iPhone lacks.
Winner: Tough one. I'm not calling it.

Applications
The iPhone has a genius app store, there's no doubt about it. It's difficult to predict how successful RIM's applications will be. There's already lots out there (Facebook, Twitter et al) and they're releasing the SDK to developers today.
Winner: Currently the iPhone, but we'll reserve judgement.

Cool stuff
The Storm has cut and paste - something Apple has resolutely refused to add - and it's something anyone who uses mobile email a lot will greatly appreciate. There's also some cool email tricks, like holding down the name of a contact in an email and the phone automatically searching for all emails from that contact.

The Storm also works as an HSPA modem, which is pretty sweet.

In contrast, the iPhone has better handling of the web, and neat functions like being able to save down pictures from web pages straight to your phone. And, at the end of the day, it's slicker. Sorry, but it is. It's a phone that really comes into its own when you personalise it with your own apps. Until we see the Blackberry App Store populated, it's difficult to judge.
Winner: Too early to call

Price
They're comparable. At first glance, the Storm seems to be cheaper, as it's predicted to be free on a £35 contract, whilst the iPhone 16GB costs £159 on the same contract. However, O2 tie you in for 18 months, but Vodafone expect to bag you for a full two years.
Winner: iPhone

And the winner is...
On paper, it looks like the Storm has pipped the iPhone to the post.

But wait, fanboys and girls, could it be that there's room for all of us in the world? The iPhone is a great media phone, and super stylish to boot. In contrast, the Blackberry Storm is a little more grown up, with better handling of essential office functions like email. It's still got the fun element, but it's better suited as a cross-work-life phone.

O2 iPhone
Vodafone Blackberry Storm pre-order