Editor’s Note: Molly Wood is an executive editor and on-camera personality at CNETTV.com. An absolute tech whiz, Wood uses her expertise and passion for ruthless industry analysis in the weekly Buzz Report video blog, a sort of "Daily Show" for tech news. In addition, Molly also co-hosts CNET’s hysterical Buzz Out Loud podcast, while her "Gadgettes" podcast definitely proves that girls can be geeks too. And we mean that as a compliment. As if that’s not enough, Molly’s a frequently requested technology expert and has appearances on the "Today Show," CNBC’s "Power Lunch" and "On the Money," "Regis & Kelly" and countless other programs throughout the country. That said, we’re very pleased to announce that Molly will be sharing her nuggets of tech wisdom with you on a regular basis, here at wowOwow.

Looking for a new cell phone? It might be time to move beyond the free flip-style phone you got when you signed your telephonic contract, or even the aging BlackBerry you got from work. The so-called "smart phone" is coming into its own, and these e-mail-sending, Web-browsing, photo-taking, music-playing, do-it-all phones are getting easier to use, more attractive and far more fun all the time. And contrary to what the commercials might suggest, the iPhone is not the only game in town.

This week saw the release, finally, of the BlackBerry Storm, which is BlackBerry’s first-ever touch-screen phone, and presents major competition for Apple’s iPhone 3G. BlackBerry fans have been waiting anxiously for this phone for a couple of reasons: First, it’s a huge change for BlackBerry. If you’ve been using an older model that’s functional but, frankly, kind of ugly and a little over-complicated to use, the Storm is pretty exciting. And second, like the iPhone, it has no physical keyboard. Its interface is all screen, and that screen is a little over three inches diagonally, so the icons and text are plenty big and readable. What are the advantages of the touch screen? Like I said, it allows for bigger icons, so the BlackBerry OS is easier to navigate. You can fit more text on the screen, so you get an e-mail experience that’s closer to the one you get at work or home. And anytime you have fewer buttons, there are fewer things to go wrong — like keys getting jammed or popping off, or accidental dialing from your purse.

Another reason to be excited about the Storm is that it’s available on Verizon Wireless. The iPhone only works on AT&T, so if you’ve been stuck on a Verizon contract and hoping for a cool new phone to come out, this could be a good option. The Storm also works on Verizon’s 3G data network, which means it can get information, like Web pages or new e-mail, faster. Think of your older phones as using dialup to connect to the Internet; jumping to 3G is like switching to DSL or cable.

In terms of features, the Storm is loaded. It’s got a 3.2 megapixel camera that also takes video. Most iPhone owners like myself end up using the phone as their primary camera — and the iPhone camera is just two megapixels and can’t do video, so the Storm beats it hands-down on that playing field. It plays music, it lets you edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents, it works all over the world, and it has that great, full-featured BlackBerry e-mail support. Plus, it’s priced like the iPhone, at $199 with a two-year contract. Sold? Hold on just a second.

On the flip side, not everyone likes typing on a virtual keyboard. It’s definitely slower than using a physical keyboard on a phone, but it’s faster than trying to send messages using a numeric keypad! BlackBerry has tried to make typing feel more natural on the Storm by making the touch-screen "clickable." You actually push down when you’re typing and feel a physical click response from the screen. It’s a little unusual, and not everyone will love it. (If you really want a BlackBerry but have to have a physical keyboard, we love the BlackBerry Bold).

In addition to the screen drawbacks, our early tests of the Storm showed it to be rather slow. The screen and operating system weren’t super responsive, and it was sluggish at switching between applications (say, from e-mail back to the home screen or Internet browser). This could get fixed in future software updates, but right now it’s kind of disappointing. And unlike the iPhone, the BlackBerry Storm doesn’t have built-in WiFi, so you won’t be able to switch to wireless Internet access at home, at the office or in coffee shops. That’s not a big deal if Verizon has good cell service where you are, but WiFi is a nice perk in places with weak coverage, and places where you might not have good 3G reception.