With the original BlackBerry Storm making such a big splash when it debuted last year, it’s hard to imagine that its successor, the Storm 2, isn’t creating the same kind of buzz this year. Case and point, Verizon has already launched the BlackBerry Storm 2 without much fanfare and has been available for retail since October 28th. So, what’s the deal here?

Well, after reading Engadget’s hands-on review on the BlackBerry Storm 2, we begin to understand why. The video above gives you a pretty decent tour of the Storm 2, and highlights the shortcomings of its new and improved piezo-laden touchscreen display.

Aside from its revamped touchscreen technology, it also boasts of WiFi and runs on the new BlackBerry OS 5.0 which now features inertial scrolling. It still comes with a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera, and while this may turn-off some, this is actually one of its saving graces as it performs pretty well despite being a bit sluggish when focusing.

Over-all, the BlackBerry Storm 2 isn’t really that bad. It just fails miserably to differentiate it from the original Storm and the enhancements they’ve done to it aren’t as helpful as one would have liked it to be. The inclusion of WiFi alone could probably convince some Storm owners to upgrade to the Storm 2, but as they point out, this clearly isn’t the best touchscreen device in the market and if you truly want a memorable BlackBerry experience, you’re better off getting one of their latest QWERTY-equipped models. That’s why Verizon decided to focus most of their attention on the launch of the Motorola Droid as opposed to this new touchscreen offering from RIM.