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It's not everyday that you see a BlackBerry review on our homepage but it's not like RIM routinely churn out devices like the Storm either. Messaging is still the legendary name but… well… touchscreen is the game. Keeping the business appeal of its siblings, the 9500 Storm sure stands out in the Berry crowd. But it also tries to set itself apart from the other touchscreens by promising a whole new touch experience.

The Canadian manufacturer RIM is walking an unbeaten path by adding unique clickability to the fluid precision of the capacitive touchscreen technology. The award-winning SurePress screen may not be everyone's cup of coffee but we're not talking teacup either, just yet.
Key features:

* 3.25" 65K-color capacitive touchscreen of 360 x 480 pixel resolution
* A new touchscreen experience thanks to SurePress screen
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 2100 MHz 3G with HSDPA support
* 3.15 MP autofocus camera, LED flash
* BlackBerry OS 4.7
* Qualcomm MSM7600 528 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM
* Built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded
* 1 GB internal storage
* Hot-swappable microSD card slot, ships with an 8GB card
* Landscape virtual QWERTY keyboard goes as close to hardware keys as we have seen
* Great build quality
* Solid looks
* 3.5mm standard audio jack
* Bluetooth and USB v2.0
* Really nice web browser
* Document editor
* Excellent audio quality

Main disadvantages:

* No Wi-fi
* No email support without BlackBerry Internet Service account
* Interface not as quick as competitors
* Chubbier than most touchscreen phones
* Mediocre camera
* No FM radio
* No Flash support
* Fingerprint-prone front panel
* No video-call camera

Now, this isn't one of those all-about-email BlackBerry reviews where the 9500 Storm gets only compared to its own kind, for the lack of meaningful competition. We are more than confident that the Storm does its BlackBerry thing just fine, so instead of focusing on it we'll try to give a different view of the device. Our objective is to see how it fares against all those other "regular" touchscreens that have the crowd's attention: Apples, Renoirs, Omnias, Diamonds and the likes.

Inspired by the Sony T-series point-and-shoot digcams with an elegant lens cover, the Sony Ericsson C903 is a compact and attractive cameraphone. The C903 is packed with features you'd expect of a high-end phone and it behaves like one as well. A GPS-enabled 5 MP slider with a nice large display, nifty feature-phone interface and friendly size is a welcome addition to the company portfolio. And yes, we think the Glamour Red version will be a favorite with the ladies.

The C903 official announcement served the humble purpose of warming the crowd up for the Sony Ericsson deployment at this year's MWC. Obviously no match for the Idou and Hikaru, the C903 simply completes the Cyber-shot lineup of the house featuring some welcome upgrades over the C902 like screen size and GPS. There's a distinctive design highlight too and the Sony T-series digicam back styling may as well be a strong selling point.

Key features:

* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band HSDPA/ tri-band HSDPA in US version
* 5 MP AF camera with dual LED flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, active lens cover
* Built-in GPS with A-GPS support, Wayfinder Navigator software, geotagging
* Dedicated camera mode switch and gallery keys
* Scratch resistant 2.4" 256K-color TFT display
* Backlit D-pad shortcuts in camera mode
* Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
* Bluetooth (with A2DP), USB v2.0
* FM radio with RDS and enhanced TrackID, YouTube client
* Threaded conversations in messaging
* Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

* Video recording limited to QVGA resolution at 30fps
* M2 card slot under the battery cover
* Camera key has almost no feedback at full press
* The glossy surface is a fingerprint nightmare
* No cover for the USB port
* No office document viewer
* No video-call camera

Sony Ericsson C903 has its candybar counterpart in the face of the C901. Presented in a joint launch last month, the two handsets are trying to meet a diverse mix of cameraphone demand in the higher-midrange.

Form factor aside, the major differences boil down to GPS and the camera flash solution. We can't help but note that xenon could've been more at home in the T-series-inspired C903. But no sir, Sony Ericsson C903 is GPS-enabled instead while the more conservative C901 bar flaunts the better camera flash.

The lengthy spec sheet of the C903 only omits Wi-Fi support, while everything else is on board: GPS with Wayfinder 7 software, 5 megapixel AF camera with dedicated setup keys, a large 2.4" display and accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate.