Senin, 30 November 2009

JavaScript Performance Rundown




A new JavaScript Engine has hit the pavement running: The new V8 engine (powering the brand-new Google Chrome browser).



There are now a ton of JavaScript engines on the market (even when you only look at the ones being actively used in browsers):



  1. JavaScriptCore: The engine that powers Safari/WebKit (up until Safari 3.1).

  2. SquirrelFish: The engine used by Safari 4.0. Note: The latest WebKit nightly for Windows crashes on Dromaeo, so it's passed for now.

  3. V8 : The engine used by Google Chrome.

  4. SpiderMonkey: The engine that powers Firefox (up to, and including, Firefox 3.0).

  5. TraceMonkey: The engine that will power Firefox 3.1 and newer (currently in nightlies, but disabled by default).

  6. Futhark: The engine used in Opera 9.5 and newer.

  7. IE JScript: The engine that powers Internet Explorer.



There have, already, been a number of performance tests run on the above browsers - and a few of those runs have also included the new Chrome browser. It's important to look at these numbers and try and gain some perspective on what the tests are testing and how those numbers relate to actual web page performance.



We have three test suites that we're going to look at:



  • SunSpider: The popular JavaScript performance test suite released by the WebKit team. Tests only the performance of the JavaScript engine (no rendering or DOM manipulation). Has a wide variety of tests (objects, function calls, math, recursion, etc.)

  • V8 Benchmark: A benchmark built by the V8 team, only tests JavaScript performance - with a heavy emphasis on testing the performance of recursion.

  • Dromaeo: A test suite built by Mozilla, tests JavaScript, DOM, and JavaScript Library performance. Has a wide variety of tests, with the majority of time spent analyzing DOM and JavaScript library performance.





SunSpider



Let's start by taking a look at some results from WebKit's SunSpider test (which covers a wide selection of pure-JavaScript functionality). Here is the break down:













We see a fairly steady curve, heading down to Chrome (ignoring the Internet Explorer outliers). Chrome is definitely the fastest in these results - although the results from the new TraceMonkey engine aren't included.



Brendan Eich pulled together a comparison, last night, of the latest TraceMonkey code against V8.











We already see TraceMonkey (under development for about 2 months) performing better than V8 (under development for about 2 years).



The biggest thing holding TraceMonkey back, at this point, is its recursion tracing. As of this moment no tracing is done across recursive calls (which puts TraceMonkey as being about 10x slower than V8 at recursion). Once recursion tracing lands for Firefox 3.1 I'll be sure to revisit the above results.











Google Chrome Benchmark



The Chrome team released their own benchmark for analyzing JavaScript performance. This includes a few new tests (different from the SunSpider ones) and is very recursion-heavy:











We can see Chrome decimating that other browsers on these tests. Its debatable as to how representative these tests are of real browser performance, considering the hyper-specific focus on minute features within JavaScript.



Note TraceMonkey performing poorly: It's unable to benefit from any of the tracing due to the lack of recursion tracing (as explained above).











Dromaeo with DOM



Finally, let's take a more holistic look at JavaScript performance. I've been working on the Dromaeo test suite, adding in a ton of new DOM and JavaScript library tests. This assortment provides a much stronger look at how browsers might perform under a normal web browsing situation.



Considering that most web pages are being held back by the performance of the DOM (think table sorters and the like) and not, necessarily, the performance of JavaScript (games, graphics) it's important to look at these particular details for extended analysis.



The results of a run against the JavaScript, DOM, and library tests (thanks to Asa Dotzler for helping me run the tests):











(No results for IE were provided as the browser crashes when running the tests, unfortunately - also I had trouble getting the WebKit nightlies, with Squirrelfish, to run on Windows, see bug 20626.)



We see a very different picture here. WebKit-based engines are absolutely ahead - but Chrome is lagging behind the latest release of Safari. And while there is a small speed improvement while using TraceMonkey, over regular Firefox, the full potential won't be unlocked until tracing can be performed over DOM structures (which it is currently incapable of - may not be ready until Firefox 3.2 or so).



One thing is clear, though: The game of JavaScript Performance leapfrog is continuing. With another JavaScript engine in the mix that rapid iteration will only have to increase - which is simply fantastic for end users and application developers.

Info Google Chrome






Google Chrome is an open source browser based on Webkit and powered by Google Gears. It was accidentally announced prematurely on September 1, 2008 and slated for release the following day. It premiers originally on Windows only, with Mac and Linux versions to come later.



Features include:




  • Tabbed browsing where each tab gets its own process, leading to faster and more stable browsing.

  • If one tab crashes, the whole browser doesn’t go down with it

  • A distinct user interface that places tabs on top of the browser window instead of right below the address bar

  • An “incognito” mode that lets you browse the web in complete privacy because it doesn’t record any of your activity

  • A new JavaScript engine built from the ground up for speed

  • Malware and phishing lists that automatically update themselves and warn you of bad websites

  • A default homepage that displays your most commonly used sites and other personalized information



Google chose to introduce Chrome to the media via a comic book written by Scott McLeod.


Screenshots





Google Chrome screenshot











Quantcast Source Info


Livegraph





Compete Source Info


Google

Jumat, 27 November 2009

Be a Profesional Blogger

For people who think that blogging is just a hobby during some free time or nothing more than a sideline after regular office hours, they should think again—fast! Consider the advertising income a successful blog can rake in: Google’s online advertising service, AdSense, pay around 1 US cent to $2 per ad click.

It may sound like loose change but add it up daily and people may be surprised that it could amount to a month’s overtime pay or even a small payday cash advance. Not bad for working just a few hours in front of the computer. Other sources are from sponsored ads and content other than Google’s, which with some creativity, resourcefulness, and hard work, could amount to hundreds of dollars in a month.

There are many income sources for professional bloggers, or simply pro-bloggers, like corporate sponsorships and freebies. However, the majority of the revenue comes from advertisements. Some expert bloggers are even offered to write web content for foreign websites. One pro-blogger from the Philippines had this to say, “I quite my day job when my personal blog started making good money. More than anything, going professional on blogging is a lifestyle choice. You become your own boss. It does have its ups and downs, but when more people log on the internet and find your blog interesting and useful, your blog’s potential becomes limitless.”



For people who want to try blogging for a living (and may be pleasantly surprised that they are good at it), here are some good tips to remember.



Obviously, people should first create a blog site. Basic blog sites are available for free on the internet, like Blogger.com and Wordpress.com. For a personalized domain name (or the name of the blog), payments can be as low as $10 a year. Hosting services also offer around $10 a month onwards, depending on the added services. Regular employees could easily apply for a loan online to cover the annual fees and such.



  • When creating a blog site, consider the lifestyle or needs that address the target audience or readers. Would-be bloggers should bear in mind to make their content unique. Although it is easy to copy from other websites, viewers can spot similarities and call the blogger’s attention on it. 

  • Serious bloggers should be consistent in maintaining the quality of the blog. They must be patient and cool when dealing with posters’ comments on their blogs. Some of them have strong opinions on the subjects or products discussed.

  • Blogs can take months, even years, before taking off and starting to make money. It depends on how serious the would-be bloggers work out their blogs. To stay competitive, starting bloggers should be patient and keep on coming up with the best content possible.

Back Links Free For Your Website - Increase Earnings













What is Link ?

Link Market is a human edited link exchange directory that helps you attain links and thereby improve the chances of your website to appear in top search engine rankings. In simple words Link Market is a very big link exchange marketplace where webmasters partner with each other for link exchange.





At Link Market, only those sites are listed that either want to trade links or exchange the same. The website sees to it that the link exchange trade remains fair, proficient and most importantly it benefits the webmasters. There is no waiting period at Link Market link exchange website and therefore the webmasters can immediately start exchanging links, and it can increase the website traffic to a great extent and this can increase the search engine ranking of the website. The links present in the link exchange directory are approved by the editors of this website and therefore you should not be worried about any spam links. Link Market is free, effectual and very easy to use. However, by becoming a full member, you get numerous other benefits too. Read ahead to find out.More the hits and requests from the visitors the better will be the website traffic to your site. With the increase in web traffic to the website you can easily target potential customers and increase the sales and revenue of your business.The major advantage of Link Market is that it allows webmasters to do international link exchange which can drive more traffic from foreign countries as well thus allowing you to target international customers. Register with Link Market and start reaping the benefits as soon as possible.





If you want your website to be popular on the Internet then it simple cannot be isolated. You must find ways to make other websites link back to your website. Lets look at how you can create inbound links to your website. There are many reasons why inbound links matter. First of all, they build your page rank or popularity. Page rank is basically a scale in which your site is ranked which is based on the number of links coming into your website. The more links, the higher the page rank. Higher page rank means your website is that much more popular. Secondly it helps a lot in search engine rankings. The number of websites linking to you will speak of your worth to Internet users. If you see a lot of links coming in that means your website is considered to be worthy on the Internet. If you're truly doing well, you can even land at the top spot of search results, which spells massive traffic and higher conversion rate for your online business.





The question now is this: where and how do you get free inbound links? Here are some easy methods to consider:



1. Participate in forums

You can start looking for message boards and chat rooms that are related to your chosen niche. When you have a good list, you can start signing up. You will notice that these sites actually permit you to build your own profile as well as add your signature, which will appear in all of your posts. You can use these spaces to add the URL of your website or specific pages. As long as your chosen message boards are also performing well in Google, you can expect that you can benefit from their increased page rank. What's more, because you have exposed your links to different webmasters too, you are increasing your chances of being linked by other websites. The goal is to find forums that are popular in the same market that's relevant to your website, join each forum and then make some good, worthy posts at each of them. Do not spam the forums with junk. Make sure that you contribute ethically and be a good member. Each of your posts will include your signature with a link back to your website. Each of those links will count towards your in bound link and thus increase your page rank as well.



2. Create your own blog

Develop your own blog. More and more people discover and enjoy reading blogs. This is because bloggers are very generous with their information. They reveal some personal insights and past experiences that can help you in your business and/or personal affairs. Blogs, from the SEO point of view, provide a major advantage as they get indexed by Google a lot easier than a normal site. That alone provides you with a big advantage. Moreover, if you leave a link to your blog by making comments on other people's blogs, you're actually providing yourself an incoming link. Developing your Blogroll is also very important - this means exchanging links with other bloggers witch will benefit both parties.There are more and more people who are getting interested in reading blogs. This is because bloggers are very generous with their information. Besides, they get to know some personal insights, which can help them too in their business or in their personal affairs. Blogs, at the SEO standpoint, get indexed easily by Google. That alone is already good news for you. Moreover, if you leave a link to your blog in other people's blogs, you're actually providing yourself an inbound link. You can also obtain links going into your website and allowing other blogs to link to you and vice versa. A list of linked websites is known as the Blog Roll.



3. Write keyword rich articles and send them to as many article directories as possible

Content is without a doubt the king of the World Wide Web. You should add links in the body of your article, which will bring quality targeted traffic to your site, not just incoming links. Also, remember to write a compelling resource box, one that will make the reader want to find out more of what your site has to offer.



4. Take part in forum discussions

You should begin searching for related message boards and chat rooms. After developing a good list, you should start signing up. You will discover that these forums actually let you to build your own profile as well as add your signature, which should contain links to your sites which will of course appear in every single post you make. As long as your chosen discussion boards have a good Google Page Rank, you can look to benefit from their increased page rank. Even more, webmasters could find your site useful to their readers and link back to you from their site thus sending you quality traffic.



Make sure you have a well defined title, and description that has keywords that are relevant to your products and services.



Very important make sure you have a valid link page listed on Link Market. Without a valid link page your link partners will not consider you a serious member without this information.



On your website make sure you can easily find and navigate to your link page. There should be clearly visible link from you home page or from your site map to your link page.



The link page should have the same look and feel as the rest of your site. This will do two things for you:



It will make your site look more professional



It will give your users an easy way to navigate back to your products/services



Now you are to ready start trading links on the large scale and in order to do this you need a Full Membership. Without it, you are limited in a number of links you can send out and how high you are sorted in the Link Exchange Directory. At the same time we have heard from numerous members that they do not send link request out to free members since they are less likely to respond to the link request.



Finally, why do all the work? Let Link Market get links for you! With Sponsored Listings you get link requests from active members that are eager and ready to add your link. You will get a lot more exposure and therefore more link partners. The best part is that you do not need to wait for the link partner to respond to your link request. The link request was sent to you which means you are a step closer to higher link popularity and better rankings.



With these 7 simple changes you will increase your members on your site at a much faster rate and you will really see the results that a lot of our members have.



In today’s online world of cut-throat competition, it is important that your website ranks well in search engines. Search engines lists websites on search engine result pages after evaluating them against their pre-defined parameters. Number of links pointing to a website is one such very significant parameter apart from getting your website optimized.









Kamis, 26 November 2009

Nicolas Cage bought nine (nine!) Rolls-Royce Phantoms... and an island











Nicolas Cage is suing his former manager Samuel Levin for $20 million for gross negligence of his finances and for lining his own pockets at the actor's expense. Cage is moving to sue the former manager due to the actor's sudden cash crunch, which includes a boat load of debt and over $7 million in back taxes. But Levin has a story of his own to tell, and it involves excess on a scale that we can hardly imagine. According to Levin, the actor purchased a scad of really expensive stuff. Like a $7.5 million island in the Bahamas, 15 mansions, four yachts, a Gulfstream, 47 pieces of art and even nine Rolls-Royce Phantoms.

Now we can understand owning nine exotics, or even collecting hundreds of rare cars and storing them at the Burbank airport, but nine Phantoms? At least Reilly purchased a Ferrari with his National Treasure money. We're guessing Cage likes to have a Phantom just about everywhere he is, and since he owns an island and a bunch of mansions he probably has one parked in nine different garages. Regardless, we're having a hard time feeling too sorry for Cage, even if Levin is exaggerating. The actor makes about $20 million a film, so while all that excess sounds like a ton of money, we're guessing the actor can pay his tab with a couple more movie deals. Gone in 60 seconds part two, anyone?

Blog Awards 2009







The IT Blog Awards 2009 ceremony, in association with IBM, was held at Shoreditch house in London.





Here are the names of the winners according to categories :





- CIO/IT director

   Winner                         : Capgemini – CTO Blog

   Runner up                    : CIO Blog – Peter Birley



- IT consultant and Analyst

   Winner                         : ITP Report – Alim Ozcan report

   Runner up                   : The IT Skeptic




- Individual IT Professional male

   Winner                         : Steve Clayton - Geek in disguise

   Runner up                   : TechHead




- Individual IT Professional female


   Winner                        : Flynny’s blog - EMC Consulting

   Runner up                  : A girl’s guide to Project Management

   


- Company/Corporate : Large Enterprise

   Winner                        : Technology blog - Capgemini

   Runner up                  : TechCrunch





- Company/corporate: SMEs

   Winner                        : Girls’n’Gadgets

   Runner up                  : The Symbian blog



- Project management (including methodologies, e.g. Agile)

   Winner                       : A girl’s guide to Project management

   Runner up                 : ZDNet – IT project failures – Michael Krigsman





- Sustainable and green IT

   Winner                       : Greenbang

   Runner up                 : Kate Craig-Wood – Kate’s Comment



- IT security

   Winner                       : Graham Cluley’s Blog Sophos

   Runner up                 : Countermeasures




- Open Source in Business

   Winner                       : BrianTeeman.net

   Runner up                 : ComputerWorld UK – Open Enterprise



- IT Twitter User of the Year

   Winner                       : @gcluley

   Runners up                : @stephenfry and @rickmans




Best of the Best 2009

Winner : Graham Cluley’s Blog Sophos





Source Data : http://www.computerweekly.com

Selasa, 24 November 2009

Suicide of Football Player



Robert Enke

There is an important lesson through the death of German goalkeeper Robert Enke, some time ago. Popularity was no guarantee of happiness. Life issues continue to beat. Because no bear the burden, he chose suicide. Enke was not the only character from the football team lost their lives tragically. There are many other names that do these stupid acts. Following perpetrators.







Justin Fashanu

In 1998, Justin Fashanu hanging dri dead. Former Manchester City player of the 1990s era were determined to do because he was not strong with a negative opinion of him. Before dying, Fashanu accused of rape 17-year-old child. It did after drinking liquor in apartemennnya. The accusation was getting stronger as more news emerged about the joining in Fashanu homosexual community.







Sergio Lopez Segu

Sergio Lopez Segu died tragically. November 4, 2006, he crashed into a train that runs fast.Flying his life instantly. He died at the age of 39 years. The former Barcelona midfielder 1990s are desperate to do because it can not take the trials of her life. The player who successfully led Barcelona win the 1989 Cup Winners Cup was an early retirement because of a knee injury. This made him depressed. Plus her marriage failed.







Paul Vaessen

August 2001, English football with the death of Paul dihebohkan Vaessen, Arsenal had committed suicide in the bathtub with a way to take heroin over dose. Previously he had handled by psychiatrists, but failed. Travel kaier goalscorer goal victory to Arsenal Juventus in 1980 Cup Winners Cup semi-final it was pathetic. In his first season, he was charming. However, in subsequent seasons he was injury prone.

Vaessen and then retired. Had cultivated Beberaap job. Starting from the postman to a construction worker. Vaessen seem unable to accept the reality and stress. Because of frustration, drugs and made the run to end his life.







Asgotino In Bartolomei

AS Roma legend's death, Agostino on Bartolomei, too sad. On May 30, 1994, he shot himself right in the heart. Allegedly, Bartolomei suicide because of depression. Suspected causes of depression vary. It is estimated that he was not strong with the economic bebam pinching. There is also a suspect he was not ready when he retired from football.

His life ended horribly. During active as a player, football exploits Bartolomei is assured. He has a big contribution of Rome led to the 1983 scudetto win. But, after that his career faded and a series of personal problems kept bothering him.







Sandor Kocsis 

Sandor Kocsis is a great striker Barcelona in the period 1958-1965. On July 22, 1979, at the age of 49 years, he died. Until now, many believe he died of suicide by dropping himself from the fourth floor in a hospital. However, there is also a pure accident preach.

Toward the end of his life, Kocsis's health declined rapidly. The striker who got the nickname Golden Head was suffering from stomach cancer, leukemia dab. Allegedly, because the two diseases difficult to cure it, Kocsis stress and committed suicide.







Juan Gamper

Juan Gamper is an important actor behind the birth of Barcelona. Swiss-born man was also the first president of the Spanish club. During the presidency, brought Barcelona won several titles, including 11 Championnat de Catalunya and six Copa del Rey. Gamper was supported Catalan nationalism. As a result, the man who is also the founder of Swiss club FC Zurich was also expelled from Spain keuar. Because no treatment is strong, committed suicide Gamper.







Matthias Sindelar 

Matthias Sindelar was one of the great players who had been born in Austria in 1930's era. But his tragic journey. His death is still controversial. Some say suicide, but there is also a mention killed "smooth". On January 23, 1939, Matthias Sindelar with his girlfriend, Camilla Castagnola was found dead in an apartment in Vienna, Austria. His death was allegedly due to carbon monoxide poisoning from a leaky heater. Other allegations, the Nazi regime was involved because it represents Sindelar refused to play Germany.



Minggu, 22 November 2009

Top Ten Website To Download Free E-Book


Sony PRS-505 Portable Digital e-Reader System (Silver)Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, U.S. Wireless)Kindle: Amazon's Original Wireless Reading Device (1st generation)


ebooks1




Countless freebies can be downloaded over the Internet anytime, depending upon a user’s experience and skillfulness in browsing the web. Most people are interested in free e-books for providing themselves with different types of knowledge. Despite those e-books are shared free of charge among readers around the world, some of them are even qualified for academic reference. Free e-book reader application software downloads are also available in most of them. The following list of websites will be useful for the ones who are eager to look for free e-books.







(1) www.free-ebooks.net





In this website, one can find varieties of links to the information needed. Anyone can join this website and sign up for free. To get started a category can be selected or browsed by the title of the book.






(2) FreeBookSpot




FreeBookSpot is an online source of free e-books download .There are 4485 free e-books in 96 categories which storage is up to 71,97 GB. Search and download is available to get free books in various categories like scientific, engineering, programming, fiction and many other books. No registration is required to download free e-books.






(3) www.gutenberg.org




There are nearly 30000 free books in the Project Gutenberg which is named after German printing pioneer, Gutenberg. Not only common readers but also researchers and scholars can depend upon the reference source available in this website.






(4) www.e-book.com.au/freebooks




The Internet Public Library provides over 20000 free books available online. Another link to this website is www.ipl.org. Even daily newspapers or weekly and monthly magazines around the world also can be read free.






(5) www.getfreeebooks.com



Getfreeebooks.com is a free e-books site where free books can be downloaded totally free. The e-books which one can find within this site are collected from all around the globe. There are a lot of fiction and non-fiction e-books for every reader’s choice.





6) www.ebookdirectory.com




This website provides readers with different useful links. Downloadable amount covers 20000 free e-books which include computer, self-improvement, literature, business, publishing, children and more. Every free e-book seeker should not miss directory contents available there.






(7) OnlineFreeEBooks




OnlineFreeEBooks provides links to various e-books (mostly in PDF) spanning in 9 big categories which are: Automotive E-books, Business E-books, Engineering E-books, Gadget E-books, Hardware E-books, Health & Medical E-books, Hobbies E-books, Programming & Technology E-books, Sport & Martial Art E-books.






(8) EBookLobby




Free e-books in eBookLobby are divided into different categories which range from business, art, computing , technology education and so on. Any appropriate category of e-books can be searched and downloaded according to need.






(9) OnlineComputerBooks




OnlineComputerBooks contains details about free computer books, free e-books, free online books and sample chapters related to Information Technology, Computer Science, Internet, Business, Marketing, Math, Physics and Science which are provided by publishers or authors.








(10) FreeTechBooks




FreeTechBooks lists free online computer science, engineering and programming books, textbooks and lecture notes, all of which are legally and freely available over the Internet. Throughout FreeTechBooks, other terms are used to refer to a book, such as e-book, text, document, monogram or notes.




Favorite Gadget









By now most of us have heard this story in one fashion or another : when Steve Jobs and Apple were in the planning stages of the iPhone, the first carrier they brought the device to was America's largest network, Verizon.



Even if you haven't heard how the tale ends -- Verizon refused and Jobs took his multi-billion dollar ball to AT&T -- you surely know the outcome. The iPhone has soared to become the ultimate smartphone, the must-have accessory that everyone from celebrities to your mom wants -- nay, needs -- to have in their pocket. It's changed the landscape of modern cellphones, put a serious dent in the sales of competing devices (just recently overtaking the venerable RAZR as the best-selling domestic handset), and unquestionably raised the bar when it comes to expectations for features in new handsets.


It may seem unfair to open up the review of RIM's latest BlackBerry -- the Storm -- with a history lesson on the iPhone, but if you understand the market which Verizon and RIM hope to capture, then you understand the Storm, and it helps put this critique in perspective. The Storm, a widescreen, touchscreen device boasts many of the same features as the iPhone, but adds innovations like a clickable display, and comes packed with RIM's legendary email and messaging services. Mainlined into the biggest (and some say best) network in the States, the Storm is an almost deafening blast to the competition at first glance, but does it hold up on closer inspection? Read on to find out.







BlackBerry Storm in pictures















Industrial Design



The Storm is a striking device. From the second you lay eyes on it, it's clear that a lot of time and care went into crafting this phone. The majority of the front panel is display, a large 3.25-inch (480 x 360) touchscreen sitting just shy of flush with a silver bezel that runs around the sides, top, and bottom of the device. The bands seem to be plastic, not metal, and trace the outline of the moderately thick (0.55-inch) phone, looping around the back, while the rest of the surface is a high gloss, piano black plastic. Below the screen are four familiar BlackBerry keys (phone, menu, back, and end / power), along the left is a convenience key and a micro USB port (RIM has eschewed the more common mini USB slot for the lower profile of the newer variation, though that seems to be the way the industry is headed), and on the right side is another convenience key, volume rocker, and (yay!) 3.5mm headphone jack. Around back, the battery cover is made from solid piece of brushed aluminum, and the camera and flash sit atop the plate, covered by a glossy plastic strip. Along the top of the phone there's a single LED to the right, and lock and mute keys incorporated into either side of the casing like soft rockers -- a nice touch. Generally, the construction of the hardware and components used seem higher in quality than previous devices from the company, with buttons that click tightly and a heft that tries (and succeeds) to communicate an understated class.









It's not completely rainbows and unicorns, however. We noticed backlight leaking in through the sides of the screen, which partially killed the continuity of the design (and had us raise eyebrows at build quality), and the screen sort of slides around when it's pressed down and held (more on that later). No deal breakers, but certainly a couple minor niggles we wish we hadn't seen.

















Touchscreen


The touchscreen is where most of the attention on this phone will be focused, and rightfully so. Unlike similarly stacked competitors (the iPhone and Instinct come to mind) the Storm doesn't just boast a capacitive touch display, it also utilizes a completely unique "click" technology called SurePress which actually allows you to click the screen down like a mouse button. The purpose of this technology, ostensibly, is to provide two aspects to touch screens which are currently lacking in most devices: the ability to "hover" without selecting or moving an on-screen element, and the physical sensation of "clicking" when you type or navigate. The Storm's screen certainly provides those two things in spades, but our question is whether or not they actually improve the experience of using this sort of device -- and in our opinion, they do not.










Before we plunge into why we feel the hardware doesn't work here, we need to preface it with some information about the software. You can't really talk about one without the other.

What you first should know is that the operating system used on this phone is almost identical to previous BlackBerry OSs -- notably 4.6, as seen on the Bold. The main reason for stating that is because you must understand the basis for the UI design. All modern BlackBerrys use a QWERTY or SureType keypad coupled with a trackball for navigation, in addition to heavy emphasis on a pop-up menu accessible by the "menu" key from pretty much every section of the OS. The difference in 4.7 is not a paradigmatic shift away from this approach, rather, the company has added touch and multitouch functionality to take the place of trackball movements. What this means is that unlike the iPhone, which is most certainly the closest competitor on the market to this phone, the Storm's UI is not custom built for touch navigation -- touch navigation is added after the fact. Things which flow naturally on an iPhone -- flicking through lists, scrolling for a contact, moving around in a webpage or looking through photos -- feel inelegant and uncomfortable on the Storm. There's no inertia to movement, no assurance that your finger is the lynchpin to control of the device. The screen is sensitive enough, surely, but how its software reacts to those touches makes all the difference, and here the feeling is that you're never completely in charge of the phone.











BlackBerrys have garnered an almost mythic stature as the phone for email and messaging. One of the components of RIM's success for that model has been the inclusion of QWERTY keypads (and more recently the halved QWERTY SureType keyboards) on their phones. As any email addict will tell you, very few devices can compete. The slant from RIM's PR on the Storm is that the new clickable touchscreen delivers another high caliber typist's dream to their roster -- but that couldn't be further from the truth. Rather than the click making things easier, it actually makes them more difficult. As you press down to engage a "key," you're required to release before moving to another, which means that you can only type so quickly. In our tests, we were constantly frustrated by the staggering, laggy movement when trying to type with any speed. You have to let the click depress before you can strike another character, and that makes for a stuttery input process. Additionally, hovering over characters is represented by a blue glow, which looks nice when moving around, but in practice doesn't do a very good job of letting you know what key you're touching. We had spelling errors aplenty. All of this would be helped greatly by an intelligent software component that guessed what you meant to type -- much like the iPhone's predictive element. Unfortunately, what RIM provides is more of a glorified T9, which means if you type "fo," it doesn't know you meant to type "do." Ultimately we found ourselves slowly and carefully pecking out messages that should have taken less time to put together, clicking screen or not.











Otherwise, there are a few great implementations of the screen -- copying and pasting, which is the norm on RIM phones, is fully represented here with elegant multitouch functionality. You just grab the beginning and end of a section of text you want to snag with two fingers, and a menu pops up along the bottom for copy / paste duties. In the browser, you can hover above a link with your finger before clicking it (a big help on crowded pages), and you can double tap (not click) to zoom into pages, though there's no way to back out other than hitting the minus magnifying glass. We don't think the technology used for the screen is a dead-end by any measure, but it has a long way to go before it's honestly competing with the iPhone for virtual keyboard domination. Right now it's a nice idea with less in the way of usability than we need. If speed isn't a concern, you'll probably find it manageable, but for BlackBerry addicts and those accustomed to typing on the iPhone, this will be a disappointment.



Besides the new technology behind the display, the screen itself is fairly tremendous. Colors are rich, and contrast is solid. The brightness isn't quite as eye-searing as the iPhone at full tilt, and doesn't even approach the supernova 8830 we've got here, but frankly, how bright do you need it? Everything looked sharp and clear, though we've gotten a little spoiled by the Bold's incredible pixel density, and now other phones seem to pale in comparison.









Software




As we said, 4.7 isn't a huge step up over 4.6, but there are a number of improvements worth mentioning. Navigating through menus and the home screen is still very much a typical BlackBerry experience though. The phone has two levels of "application" screens, the initial landing screen, which gives you eight app icons of your choosing, and a deeper level which displays all of your folders and programs. You can use the touchscreen to hover (or select) each of the icons, giving it that blue glow, but we found it annoying that you couldn't drag your finger across the selections and have the glow follow you (as it does when typing). It gets stuck on the first thing you touch, and you have to re-press to move to another icon -- it seems like it would be more convenient to have the selection follow your movements, but the phone doesn't seem to know the difference between a quick flick up or down and a selection. You click down on the screen to launch an app or make a selection in a list, and you can swipe up and down to move through the list of apps, though it's not nearly as smooth as it should be. BlackBerry fans used to a real keyboard and shortcuts might find themselves a bit lost here when trying to get around quickly -- you can set one of the convenience keys to pop open the virtual keyboard, but it doesn't seem to recognize long presses, shortcuts, or find-as-you-type contact searches like traditional RIM devices (typing on the Storm just takes you to the dialer, why we don't know).









Most components of the UI which require scrolling don't seem drastically changed, but you can now jump through lists by up-down gestures. Again, we found that the lack of inertia made this seem stiffer than expected, though it worked well enough when moving around the phone. RIM has added a few visual tweaks to the OS on the Storm, like crossfades and sideways swipes of pages which admittedly give it a bit more polish, although they seem largely superfluous (don't worry, we feel the same way about the iPhone's zooms and scrolls). Overall, transitions between screens and inside of apps do seem a bit more sluggish than the performance on the Bold, but whether this is due to those new effects or a higher CPU load given the touch recognition and screen size, we can't say. We did find ourselves missing the speedy response of a traditional BlackBerry, and also felt like responses lagged behind our movements enough to be annoying. There seemed to be a few noticeable bugs floating around, and at least one that ground the phone to almost a halt -- when quitting the browser on a page that was still loading, it turned the navigation on the home screen to molasses. Another flaw we had crop up was accelerometer related, an irksome bug that rendered the portrait-to-landscape switching (and vice versa) non-existent. We can't say if that was hardware or software related, but the details count, and those little snags take points away.







Thankfully the browser has been considerably updated. If you have any experience with RIM's last attempt at mobile browsers (the Bold), then you know what manna from heaven any fixes would be. 4.6's browser is, in a word, unusable. Load times are painful, rendering is only sometimes accurate, and mostly it's just a tortuous mess to get around in. We can honestly say that the Storm's implementation is leaps and bounds beyond what the company has previously offered. Pages load quickly and are generally formatted correctly, navigation is much snappier (zooms don't take hours to redraw), and scrolling is tolerable, if not as buttery smooth as we prefer. And ultimately, that's a point that must be made -- while the browser is much better than earlier versions, and is an admirable attempt, it's still a bit behind Mobile Safari and the G1's Webkit-based "Chrome light," lacking support for more advanced features like multiple tabs. Why RIM doesn't build something from scratch (or buy a license from Opera) is a question for the ages -- we can't imagine anyone has any real affection for this experience. Still, for casual tasks and most browsing, you could certainly do worse, and it's nice to know that a lot of energy went into this update.









On the messaging and email front, very little has changed here from earlier RIM phones, save for some of that visual flair. Particularly when it comes to email, the use of screen real estate and selection of fonts seems dated when compared with the iPhone. We won't complain about the email service itself, delivery of messages was rock solid (of course), but a quick glance at the iPhone versus a quick glance at the Storm provides a strong juxtaposition of design languages. Reading email on the BlackBerry was an inconsistent experience, and highlighted the feeling that not too much trouble had been taken to freshen up this UI and format it for the bigger screen. Under the hood, we found account management simple enough, but those looking for solid Gmail integration (like, say, all the people Verizon and RIM hope to lure away from Apple's camp) will be seriously let down. There doesn't seem to be any decent alternative for getting Gmail the way you're used to, save for Google's own app (which is remarkably good save for a few issues).












On that note, third-party software is still a bit weak for the platform, and essentially non-existent for the Storm itself. It doesn't look like using this phone will break any (or most) of the software already out for BlackBerry devices, but there's also not much taking advantage of the new format and screen real estate. In particular, something like the Facebook application -- which Verizon and RIM are pushing hard with the launch of the Storm -- is a poor stand-in for the iPhone offering, sporting exactly the same functionality it does on an older RIM device. Reps from the company assured us that their version of the App Store was coming, and they do have a tidy application manager on the phone already, so we're hoping that third parties really step up their game with the introduction of the Storm.



Because the phone is being marketed as a convergence device, it's got an extra emphasis on media functions. In truth, the media players / browsers are almost identical to 4.6's options, though again there's some nice visual flair added. The bigger screen allows for larger artwork to be shown off, and it's a match made in heaven for video playback. Management of media is still pretty standard -- we copied files back and forth between the microSD card (8GB is included with the phone), but there's no flashy Cover Flow or anything. In fact, we noticed a slight graphic glitch when moving from portrait to landscape, which might be nothing, or may be due to the fact the phone has no hardware acceleration for graphics.

















All in all, the software feature-set the phone ships with is incredibly strong. There's a broad selection of applications, including the "To Go" suite that allow you to view and edit Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents. Average (and even not so average) users will be hard pressed to find something that's missing, and RIM makes it easy enough to grab key software if someone wants it. You have to hand it to them, they cover pretty much all the bases... save for one nasty omission.



We were a bit stunned to find out that we couldn't sync the Storm with our Mac out of the box. We don't mean "hey we couldn't sync with iTunes" (we're not insane), we mean, "hey, we can't sync this, at all, in any way." For the few Mac users that also happen to dig BlackBerrys, there's a piece of software RIM offers free of charge called PocketMac, which does a half decent job of at least throwing your contacts, calendars, and other assorted must-haves onto your device -- but you're out of luck if you buy a Storm. Apparently, the software needs an update badly, and if you expect to enjoy the same service it provides to something like a Bold, you'll be surprised and annoyed (as we were) to find this doesn't let you sync your data. For that, right now, you're going to have to go download (and pay for) something like Missing Sync. It's pretty outrageous to us that in crafting a device so obviously aimed at the iPhone's marketshare no one thought to make it accessible to Apple users even a little. Look, we know it's not a huge segment of the market, but it's there, and if history has taught us anything, it's a segment to be reckoned with.





Phone / Data



When it comes to sound quality and reception for making actual phone calls, you can't beat this combination. RIM phones generally have loud and clear earpieces and speakerphones, and Verizon -- love it or hate it -- has a great network. Those two facts are certainly apparent when it comes to the Storm. We found the earpiece to be plenty loud, and the speakerphone equally booming. If we had a complaint, we'd say the mid-range was a bit shrill on the phone. The Bold, by comparison, has a much warmer, well-rounded output. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint, and if you're looking for sheer network-clutching goodness, this is a pretty damn good choice. In addition to Verizon's CDMA, EV-DO, Rev. A madness, the Storm sports a GSM radio (a number of them), so you can grab HSPA in the rest of the world, and truck on some sweet, sweet EDGE here in the States.

Speaking of that EV-DO, the download speeds and network stability of the Storm seem pretty tight. Although the phone omits WiFi, as long as you stay inside decent Verizon coverage areas, you won't feel that sting too badly.








Camera / GPS / Battery life

In general, picture quality was excellent on the camera, which offers a healthy 3.2-megapixel resolution. The only problem we had -- and it was a big one -- was the fact that it took ages to focus and snap a shot. There were numerous times when trying to photograph something that we lost the shot because of the length of time it took the camera to kick in. In broad daylight, things fared a slight bit better, but when using the flash, it was pretty hard to get good results. This seems like something that could take a simple software tweak to fix -- we know the camera looks nice, we just need it to take photos faster. A lot faster.











One of the nice things about the Storm is that it's not just capable of doing still photos, but can shoot video as well. Results are mediocre, allowing capture up to 320 x 240, with quite a bit of heavy artifacting. Still, knowing that you can pull this out to grab something reminds us -- yet again -- that this is a necessary basic for modern cellphones.





Using the device for navigation garnered excellent results in terms of signal reception and tracking, but having to slug through the abysmal Verizon Navigator software isn't exactly joyous (dudes, that intro animation is the worst thing we've ever seen). It would be nice to see some third party options on the device for PND duties, though at least Verizon tries to throw a lot of content into the mix (movie times, traffic, local search), no matter how heavy handed it feels (real, real heavy handed).





Since we had a very, very limited time to test the phone, we can't really give you solid figures on battery life. In casual use, however, the Storm seems to be going strong even after a heavy workload: browsing, media player, and phone calls. We've had the phone on and chugging all day, and it's only seeing about about a 30 percent drop in life so far. If this keeps up, you can color us officially impressed with the juice you can pull out of this thing.





Wrap-up

It's clear from the device itself and the massive promotional push that both RIM and Verizon are giving the Storm that they view this as a proper threat to the iPhone's dominance in the smartphone market. Over the last few weeks we've been bombarded with commercials, leaks, press releases, and special events all celebrating the arrival of the Storm, both here and abroad. So it seems fairly obvious that yes, the companies believe they have a real contender on their hands -- and in many ways they do. The selling points are easy: the phone is gorgeous to look at and hold, it's designed and backed by RIM (now almost a household name thanks to their prevalence in the business and entertainment markets), and it's packed with features that, at first glance, make it seem not only as good as the iPhone, but better. The only hitch in this plan is a major one: it's not as easy, enjoyable, or consistent to use as the iPhone, and the one place where everyone is sure they have an upper hand -- that wow-inducing clickable screen -- just isn't all that great. For casual users, the learning curve and complexity of this phone will feel like an instant turn off, and for power users, the lack of a decent typing option and considerable lagginess in software will give them pause. RIM tried to strike some middle ground between form and function, and unfortunately came up short on both.





Going into this review, we really wanted to love this phone. On paper it sounds like the perfect antidote to our gripes about the iPhone, and in some ways it lives up to those promises -- but more often than not while using the Storm, we felt let down or frustrated. Ultimately, this could be a great platform with a little more time in the oven, but right now, it feels undercooked -- and that's not enough for us.