The Verizon BlackBerry Storm2 9550 is now officially available on Verizon’s website.  It is $179.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a 2-year contract.

If you are looking to get a solid BlackBerry device with a touch screen and you don’t already own the Storm, get the BlackBerry Storm2.  You won’t feel screwed like many consumers did when they bought the original  Storm with the initial FUBARed to the tenth power OS that it shipped with.

If you already have a Storm, I strongly recommend that you upgrade it to OS 5.0.0.328, play with it for a while, and seriously debate on whether or not your really need Wi-Fi.  Yes, the BlackBerry Storm2 has better build quality than its predecessor.  Yes the BlackBerry Storm2 has more memory than it’s predecessor.  Yes, there are undoubtedly other things the the BlackBerry Storm2 does better than it’s predecessor.  At the end of the day, however, the really big difference, in my opinion, is Wi-Fi.

I doubt that we will see any more BlackBerry devices that don’t include Wi-Fi.  I would recommend to anyone buying a new BlackBerry get a device with Wi-Fi.  That being said, Wi-Fi in the BlackBerry Storm2 is not a compelling enough enhancement for me to recommend that existing BlackBerry Storm users move to the BlackBerry Storm2.  This isn’t and indictment on the Wi-Fi or the BlackBerry Storm2.  It is an indictment on the BlackBerry OS and the BlackBerry Browser.  That, however, is a topic for another post…