So, speculation about the BlackBerry Storm 2 began last May, but those rumors are slowly trickling into a river of facts; we have photos, videos of hands-on experiences, some specs, nomenclature, and possible release dates. We are, however, hearing a lot less buzz about the BlackBerry Storm 2 (which some have branded Odin) than its predecessor – probably due to the deluge of negative reviews of the first installment. See, there was so much expectation that the BlackBerry Storm would be RIM’s answer to the iPhone, that when it failed to deliver, proving to suffer from performance incompetency’s and a number of debilitating bugs, users and reviewers banded together to give the Storm more bad press than The Love Guru and the Chevy Volt combined. Yet, the Storm was among Verizon’s least-returned items. Current expectations aren’t so lofty, but there is hope that RIM fixed the problems and the BlackBerry faithful that held on to their Storms are likely hoping for a generous trade-in option. Should those crazy Canucks at RIM take a look at the Cash-for-Clunkers bill? Probably.

Early reports indicate that one feature that has been fixed is the SurePress click, which apparently has no give when the BlackBerry Storm 2 is powered off, but when it’s on SurePress is restored. However, other reports say that SurePress has been replaced by a different and better touchscreen technology. Another major improvement is the inclusion of Wi-Fi; why any smartphone would come without it is beyond me.

Undressing the BlackBerry Storm 2

What else is known (speculatively) about the BlackBerry Storm 2? I mentioned nomenclature earlier, and that is 9520 for the UK model and 9559 for the U.S. model. The UK Vodafone BlackBerry 2 will likely drop in October, while the Verizon version in the U.S. will come out during Christmas shopping’s high season in November. (Note to self: This will make an excellent gift to me.) The operating system on the BlackBerry Storm 2 is 5.0.0.138 and the running platform is 4.3.0.28. There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera, the touchscreen is 360 x 480 and capacitive, there’s UMTS/HSDPA (2100MHz), and quadband GSM and CDMA 1xRTT/EVDO Rev. A.

At this point in time, there’s no information regarding pricing. But rest assured that when more details on the BlackBerry Storm 2 are released we’ll let you know on Craveonline.com.