Week 2 of the 2009 Smartphone Round Robin sees me take on TiPb’s Public Frenemy #1, the almost-diametrically opposed BlackBerry — or is it? This year in addition to the new flagship BlackBerry Bold 9700, we officially have an actual touch-screen ‘Berry in the ‘Robin — the Storm2. What’s an iPhone blogger to do? Well, first go on the Cell Phone Junkie podcast with Mickey and all the SPE editors to discuss RIM’s platform, that’s a given.

Next, of course, I hit up the world’s foremost BlackBerry lover , CrackBerry Kevin Michaluk himself, and as if that weren’t enough, I enlisted the million-strong CrackBerry Nation to help me out as well!

Remember, every day you post on my CrackBerry Forums thread, you’re entered for a chance to win the BlackBerry of your choice. (And there’s a total of 6 smartphones up for grabs — one per SPE site — so check them all out!)

Now grab your hotdogs, popcorn, and spicy drink, because after the break CrackBerry Kevin gives me a guided tour of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Storm 2, and everything new in hardware and BlackBerry OS 5.0.

[YouTube Video link]

BlackBerry Storm2, RIM’s second bite at Apple’s multi-touch, black slab iPhone form factor, is just about ready for prime time, and as always, our sibling site CrackBerry.com has the complete Storm2 review. Kevin sums it up thusly:

The Storm2 fixes many of the BlackBerry Storm’s outstanding issues and makes a ton of incremental improvements, all of which add up to something that feels noticeably better. In a way that never quite applied to the original Storm, the Storm2 could legitimately be called the flagship BlackBerry.

Sounds fair to us! The Storm too got little-to-no love for RIM, even from RIM, but Storm 2 sounds like it fixes a lot of what went wrong the first time around. The build quality is better and that monstrous single-button screen of carpal tunnel has been replaced by a more sophisticated, and natural-typing friendly multi-press technology.

Sure, it’s still got that trusty, rusty BlackBerry J2ME OS and middling browser (for now) but with App World this time around, and Verizon’s network power (hey, it’s better than their chart-making power!) behind it, those users whose venn-diagram intersects CDMA with BlackBerry with touchscreen might finally have a usable option.

Check out the full review, then let us know if Apple has anything to worry about, berry-wise…

Our good friends over at CrackBerry.com found and posted up this handy chart from Verizon, meant to serve as a point of comparison between the upcoming BlackBerry Storm 2 and competitive devices. The problem? Like cake, the CHART IS A LIE!

The sad part is that the dodgy folks at Verizon are comparing the latest BlackBerry Storm 2 against last year’s iPhone 3G. The really sad part is even if it’s fairer to compare the upcoming Storm to the outgoing iPhone, the chart is STILL A LIE. The iPhone 3G has had OTA 3G/EDGE music downloads since Macworld in January 2009. Likewise, the GPS in the iPhone 3G (and iPhone 3GS) is assisted (aGPS). Swap in an iPhone 3GS and there goes the camera megapixel advantage.

(Never mind the exclusion of important factors like 75,000+ apps, digital compass for augmented reality (Storm 2 has?), app integration with peripherals, a browser that can properly render AJAX, unicorn tears?!)

So what’s left? If the Storm 2 can’t even compete honestly on Verizon’s own chart, they’re in for some trouble. Of course telcos need to give their reps something to answer legitimate consumer questions about how their new devices compare to existing ones. However, Verizon would likely do better with a chart that won’t get the rep laughed out of a sale by any savvy Smartphone Experts reader.

Do you prefer the singular, solid piece of glass that is currently the iPhone screen, the big honking button/piezo electric multi-clicker that powers the BlackBerry Storm and its upcoming second edition, or do you yearn for the ability to customize haptics on your touch screen?

That’s the question our sibling site, CrackBerry.com asked yesterday and the one we’re repeating today. Since you’re reading TiPb, we expect you’re already super-elite when it comes to using the iPhone multitouch screen, so no explanation needed here.

For the first edition BlackBerry Storm, RIM floated a similar screen over a giant button that you had to press down every time you wanted to do something. It allowed separate navigation and execution, but arguably each at the expense of the other. With Storm 2 — well, nobody knows what they’re doing for sure (you can read CrackBerry Kevin’s guesses) but it appears you can click on multiple locations simultaneously, mitigating the linear process of the older model.

Since the BlackBerry Storm 2 has no “clickability” when off, Kevin wonders if users will be able to control how much “clickability” it has when on as well, potentially allowing it to be turn on, turned down, or turned up.

Given each of these options, are you happy with the iPhone screen input method as-is, or does the Storm’s way interest you?

Bla1ze over at CrackBerry.com has posted up a video by Salomondrin that shows off and explains the BlackBerry Storm 2‘s new “piezo electric” screen technology. In a nutshell, when the Storm 2 is off, the screen is hard just like an iPhone. When the Storm 2 is on, however, it becomes like a sponge beneath a screen coating, so a user can “push” into it to register a click, double-click, or multi-clicks.

Looks nifty, and it will likely make the Storm 2 much more palatable than the Storm 1 to die-hard QUERTY CrackBerrians. iPhone users? Well, I like tapping, swiping, pinching, etc. so I’m not click dependent, and at the end of the day, it’s the OS behind the input method(s) that Apple’s nailed oh-so-elegantly for me.

Only time, hands-on, and perhaps this year’s Round Robin will tell!

CrackBerry.com‘s Kevin got his hands (and signature green coffee table) on RIM’s next-generation touchscreen BlackBerry, the Storm 2, aka 9550, aka “Odin”. And his early thoughts?

• the hardware is much nicer
• the click screen is more user-friendly
• the operating system is basically the same

Is 2/3 enough? Says Kevin:

In going hands-on with the 9550, it becomes clear that this next-generation Storm is really an evolution of the original Storm. Yes, it’s better in every respect, but I’m getting the impression it’s sort of like when a new model year of a car comes out – it doesn’t make the old one instantly obsolete.

TiPb was pretty tough on the original Storm, though so were many BlackBerry faithful (it was basically cast as the Vista of Smartphones, after all). Any chance the Storm 2 will turn the touchscreen form factor around for RIM? Anyone see it as a threat to the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0? Or is it still about RIM providing that diversity to people who want the BlackBerry experience, and would never consider another device, touchscreen or no touchscreen? And if it disappoints, will RIM still lay the blame on consumer expectations in a post-iPhone world?

Every spring, the interweb gadgeteratti turn their attention towards rumormongering Apple’s June iPhone release. So what does the BlackBerry world do? Try to wedge in a little next gen Storm chatter.

CrackBerry.com rounds up some rumors from Slashgear and BGR and appears to get confirmation from Tweakers.

The code name just might be “Odin”. The Storm, of course, first leaked as the Apple Killer (AK — yeah, that turned out well…) but was originally code named the Storm, then became branded as the Storm so was re-code named (code re-named?) as Thunder. This time fears that media disdain and user dissatisfaction may have reached levels where the Storm brand itself is radioactive could get it changed again. What’s with Odin? Father of thunder-god Thor (we get the connection!), one-eyed lord of the Aesir, gallows-god…

But what’s the iClone aspect this time? Why trying to tout a long missing feature as a big upgrade, of course! Sure, the little berry has long supported copy/paste and MMS, so no luck there. But — wait for it! — this one may actually have WiFi! (If Verizon doesn’t strip it out as per usual…).

Yeah, that should distract attention away from whatever little device Apple was planning for WWDC…