MUMBAI: Vodafone Essar and Research In Motion (RIM) have launched the BlackBerry Storm in India. The first ever touch-screen BlackBerry smartphone designed for Vodafone, will be available exclusively for Vodafone customers in India from 15 January 2009 
 
The BlackBerry Storm smartphone combines the communication features, global connectivity and personal productivity advantages of the BlackBerry platform with a touch-screen technology that enhances the touch interface and enables easy and precise typing. The world's first clickable touch-screen responds much like a physical keyboard and also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient application navigation.

The SurePress touch-screen depresses ever so slightly to aid in typing and navigation and to give users an experience they can actually feel, the company said. It also features a built-in accelerometer, which automatically switches the display for use in landscape and portrait as the user rotates the handset.

Whether shopping for a gift online, editing important documents or reading a map, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone brings images to life through its 3.25-inch, high resolution (480x360-pixels at 184 ppi), colour display.

With a variety of powerful applications that were custom-built for the BlackBerry platform, the BlackBerry Storm from Vodafone enables the user to simply and easily keep Web community pages current, continue instant message chats or even add pictures directly to Flickr.

These applications include: Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones; Windows Live Messenger for BlackBerry smartphones; Google Talk for BlackBerry smartphones; Yahoo Messenger for BlackBerry smartphones; and Flickr Photo Uploader for BlackBerry smartphones.

Speaking at the launch, Harit Nagpal, director, marketing and new business, Vodafone Essar, said, The BlackBerry Storm offers our customers easy access to voice and e-mail, a range of social media applications, multimedia content, satellite navigation and many other services on the move in a single device....

As an added benefit when using such applications, the BlackBerry Storm supports multitasking so that users are not forced to constantly open and close applications. Other features and functions include: BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server support; Preloaded DataViz Documents to Go allowing users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset; 3.2 megapixel camera, with variable zoom, auto focus, and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video; and 1 GB of on board memory storage and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB of additional storage per card.

The BlackBerry Storm also features Media player that can play movies in full screen mode, display pictures and slideshows quickly and manage an entire music collection; playlists that can be created directly on the handset and there's an equalizer with 11 preset filters for customised audio ranges when using wired headphones or external speakers; a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP) and dedicated volume controls; and removable and rechargeable 1400 mAhr battery that provides approximately six hours of talk time on 3G networks and 15 days of standby time.

Priced at Rs 27,990, the smartphone will be available across select Vodafone Stores nationally from 15 January 2009. Vodafone will create more than 150 �experience zones' across the country in Vodafone Stores and Modern Trade Outlets to encourage customers to experience the BlackBerry Storm.