Look and feel
If this were a heavyweight shoot out based on weight alone, the result would be a draw with the Storm weighing in slightly heavier at 155g to the Touch HD’s 147g. But a phone cannot be judged on weight alone. So we won’t do that.

The newest BlackBerry on the block doesn’t look like an alien compared to its siblings, but its full-on touchscreen, click action and lack of keyboard makes it stand out. The HTC Touch HD looks not too dissimilar from the design boasted by the likes of the iPhone and other touchscreen advocates.

While the Storm’s screen is no shrinking violet at 3.25 inches, the Touch HD overshadows the former's 480x360 display with a whopping 3.8 inches and a 480x800 pixel resolution.

Both handsets are aesthetically pleasing in their own way, but as we all know, looks don’t always come hand in hand with brains and both handsets have a few irksome issuettes tagging along behind their beauty.

Take the cool tilting screen on the Storm. While it’s innovative and cool – if not a little weird at first – the gap that it creates between where the screen ends and the casing begins is likely to become a haven for biscuit crumbs, dead skin and whatever else happens to fall down there. Not a pleasant thought whatsoever.

The Touch HD is unlikely to suffer from the crumb attraction syndrome, plus it's more seamless build-wise with a smooth and classy finish.

Usability
In terms of usability, both the Storm and Touch HD excel where others have failed. The Storm’s touchscreen, for example, responds easily without being too responsive and resulting in mis-clicks. The whole press down rather than just tap malarkey does take a bit of getting used to, but we think it saves time in the end. And time is something we all need more of after all.

With a nifty accelerometer action, the Storm offers you a few keyboard types to choose from. Although, given the need to touch and then press a letter to get a response you’re not going to break any world records for speed texting or composing emails.

The Touch HD also gets in on the accelerometer action and relies on a brushing motion for scrolling. It suffers from keyboard issues too but in a different way. The virtual keyboard offered up for browsing and the like skimps on space, meaning while it’s ideal for those with ridiculously long finger nails, it’s not exactly good for the rest of us. Thankfully, the side-mounted stylus can save the day here. Hooray!

Windows 6.1 Professional may be disguised by HTC’s TouchFLO 3D skin, but the canny amongst you will still be able to see through it’s shiny veneer to the less-than-favourite OS that lurks beneath. Those not put off by Windows Mobile will look beyond this niggle and those that are may find the Storm’s Bold-esque UI a bit easier on the palette.

Back of the net
Before we discuss what surfing the web is like on both handsets, it’s important for us to get something off our chest. The fact that the Touch HD boasts Wi-Fi and the more recently introduced Storm does not is a both a major puzzler and disappointment as far as we’re concerned.

Wi-Fi inclusion and omission aside, HSPDA connectivity is on the menu for both devices and GPS makes an appearance too, which is nice.

Keyboard frustrations for both devices put on the back burner, web browsing is a pretty damn fine experience on both the Storm and the Touch HD.

The latter comes bundled with Opera, which is a pleasure to use for both hardened Opera fans and previous non-believers alike. And the accelerometer and zoom functionality makes viewing web pages a much nicer experience than some handsets we’ve had the displeasure of reviewing.

Snap unhappy?
We all know that a good camera is about more than just megapixels and that you often have to sacrifice some features at the expense of others. However, when the HTC Touch HD can offer up 5MP where the Storm serves us a comparatively lack lustre 3.2MP something doesn’t seem quite right.

Granted, the Storm’s snaps are still good quality and the Touch HD isn’t going to have the big DSLR and compact guys quaking in their boots just yet, but the latter wins the camera aspect of our head to head.

Verdict
We really wanted the BlackBerry Storm to come out on top here as it is certainly a looker and is breaking the mould both in terms of look and UI. But the lack of Wi-Fi and paltry 3.2MP camera are, quite frankly, unforgivable. And, for those reasons alone, the HTC Touch HD races – by a nose - to victory.