Basic navigation on the Storm is controlled by the four physical buttons at the bottom of the screen. They are as shown in Figure 6, from left to right, the Send key which is used to open the phone screen, the Menu key which opens the application menu, the Escape key which closes a menu and/or moves back a screen, and the End/Power key that returns to the Home screen, ends a call, and turns the device on and off.

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Figure 6: Navigation keys.

As shown in Figure 7, the left side of the Storm has a convenience key that opens the welcome voice dialing application, a feature that is not available on the iPhone.  In Figure 6, you can also see the Micro USB port.

The right side of the Strom is shown in Figure 8. On this side the Storm has another convenience key that opens the camera and takes a picture. Next to that are the volume control key and the standard headset jack.

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Figure 7: The left side of the Storm.

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Figure 8: The right side of the Storm.

Although barely noticeable, the top of the Storm (shown in Figure 8) has two areas that are marked by small icons. These are not really keys, just areas you can press. On the left is the place you press to lock and unlock the screen. On the right is the area which you can press to mute the phone.

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Figure 9: Top of the Storm.

The touch screen also works by swiping your finger across the screen to scroll up and down menus and side to side on web pages. Text can be enlarged or reduced by on-screen icons.

While the navigation was fairly intuitive, we had one problem. When using the iPhone, when you hold it to your ear, the screen goes blank and its functionality is canceled. Not so with the Storm. When holding the device to your ear, the screen is still active and we had several times during a conversation when touching the screen with our ear or hand sent an errant signal.

As shown in Figure 10, the back of the storm is has a dull black finish made from a solid piece of brushed aluminum. The camera and flash are seen at the top of the back enclosed by a glossy plastic cover. The back plate can easily be removed to access the battery, SIM card, and SD card, as shown in Figure 11.

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Figure 10: The back of the Storm.

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Figure 11: Inside the back of the Storm.