End User: Cell, Cell Cell: Cloudy Forecast for BlackBerry Storm

Tomorrow's the big day for the iPhone Killer to beat all iPhone Killers: the Blackberry Storm. This long-awaited touchscreen behemoth is officially released via Verizon tomorrow, but the bigwhigs in the gadgetosphere have already received their samples and reviews are starting to filter out. And they're not great. IntoMobile has a good round-up of opinion that spans the spectrum from good (including Walt Mossberg) to bad (including Gizmodo and Laptop Magazine). One of the biggest complaints is typing on the touchscreen, which Anita Hamilton at Time Magazine details with comparisons to the iPhone and T-Mobile G1:

The trouble with having to push down on the entire 3.2-inch screen every time you type a letter or confirm a menu choice is that it slows you down. The idea behind the clickable screen is that it will minimize errors by getting you to think before you press. Instead, it took much of the fun out of using the device. While some people complain that the iPhone's touchscreen is a little too slick and imprecise — of the three devices, I tend to make the most typos with the iPhone — at least it's fast. And while the G1's mini, Chiclet-size keys seem designed for Lilliputians, they are accurate and respond even when pressed with the edge of a fingernail. The Storm's click screen, on the other hand, demands the strength of your entire thumb.

To see the typing in action, check out this soundless demo shot by the folks at CrackBerry.com. You can see that when the Storm is in landscape mode, you get a full QWERTY keyboard. But when the phone turns upright to portrait mode, you get an onscreen version of the BlackBerry Pearl SureType hybrid keyboard (complete with auto-completion). For more hands-on videos, take a visit to CNet and Gearlog.

[UPDATE: The Storm is now available at Amazon; also check out Jason O'Grady's photo gallery of the STorm's UI.]

In other cell news:

Touchscreens continue to be all the rage, with recent releases including the Samsung Eternity on AT&T, the Samsung Behold (the Eternity's sibling on T-Mobile), and the hybrid slide-out QWERTY/touchscreen HTC Fuze (AT&T's version of HTC's Touch Pro).
If you're still not ready to go to the touchscreen for your smartphone communications, but want an alternative to BlackBerry, the Symbian-based, physically keyboarded Nokia E71 has been garnering loads of positive reviews, including receiving a top 9-out-of-10 rating from Wired's Test 2008 issue and praise from Sascha Segan in PC Magazine's year-ending Best of Tech issue. It's not available from any domestic carrier, but Amazon is offering it as an unlocked phone. However, it looks like it might be coming to AT&T in the near future.
However, just when the E71 seems ready for its coming out party, Nokia announces that its replacement--the E63--will be debuting in Europe by the end of the year. The E63 looks to have the same design of the E71, but replaces the E71's metal body with a plastic one to shave costs (via MobileMentalism).
BlackBerry users can now sync contacts and calendar items with their Google account (via MobileBurn).
LG plans to unleash 125 unique mobile phones globally for the 2009 calendar year (via Boy Genius Report).
And finally, here's an example of hybrid phone design run amok: the triple flip IcePhone (seen at right), which includes a touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, and a game controller-like panel. Originally created for medical professionals (it gets its name from ICE--in case of emergency), it's loaded with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, 3-megapixel camera, GPS, Windows Mobile 6, and a very complete first aid software package (via SlashGear and PhoneMag.