BlackBerry Torch 9800

Editor's Review of the Torch 9800

The Blackberry Torch 9800 doesn't look like your typical Blackberry, and that's because it's not. With its ground-breaking new touch and type design, a whole new operating system and bags full of additional features including a fuller, richer web browser, I'm pretty sure that Blackberry lovers will not be disappointed.

Design/Build

There is no doubt that the Blackberry Torch 9800 is a good looking smartphone. Its curved chassis is crafted from plastic, but has been given a fancy chrome edging to make it more solid, and its rubberised back panel makes it sit comfortably within your hand.

This is the first Blackberry handset to provide you with a 3.2 inch touchscreen display alongside a slide out QWERTY keypad. Blackberry users will be happy to see that the optical track-pad remains, although some may find the keyboard quite hard to get used to. As it's a slider phone, the QWERTY had been downsized and can be quite awkward and fiddly to get the hang of. Once you're there however, the sculpted buttons help the Torch to remain a great handset for email sending business users, although maybe not those with large fingers.

OS and Interface

The Blackberry Torch is the first of RIM's smartphones to come equipped with their new platform, Blackberry OS 6. It brings with it a host of welcome changes, which makes using this handset much more enjoyable than its predecessors.

The OS has been optimized for the Torch's all-new touchscreen, and scrolling through applications seems a lot smoother than before. The new platform also adds extra sub menus which makes applications easier to locate, and also allows for more personalization. Other handy features include; better integration of social networking, RSS feeds, and Universal Search.

The screen itself has a 480 x 360 pixel resolution, and we won't lie when we say we would of liked it to be higher. Pictures seem a little watered down, although it's certainly high enough to satisfy most people, and copes well under direct sunlight.

Multimedia & Storage

The 5 megapixel camera on the Blackberry Torch is fairly standard, although its autofocus can only be used when the flash is turned on, which seems a bit of a bad move on RIM's part. Pictures look good, but for those of you looking to produce images of a professional quality using this phone, you will be let down by the cameras lack of vibrancy and poor white balance. You are provided with a geotagging function however, and your pictures can be uploaded easily to both Facebook and emails. The camera is also capable of recording 720p video, but lacks the advanced features of some modern smartphones.

You are also provided with Blackberry's typically enhanced music player, allowing you to view full album art and track listings both horizontally and vertically. The music player also comes with WiFi music sync, a tool allowing you to transfer music between your phone and PC wirelessly. This is compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes, which comes in handy. The speakers are of a good quality too, although lacks some of the advanced features of the Blackberry Bold 9000.

You have plenty of storage on the Blackberry Torch 9800 for storing all of your photos, videos and music. The handset comes equipped with 4GB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 32GB. You are even provided with a 4GB microSD card in the box, which is lovely.

Everything Else

Blackberry OS 6 brings with it an all-new WebKit browser, a much needed addition to the Blackberry smartphone range. Before web browsing was a nightmare, but it has now been made enjoyable, providing you with features such as auto-wrap text zoom, multi-page tab browsing and Flash support. It's nice to see that Blackberry now have Internet access which is reasonably competitive against Android and Apple handsets. Its 3G and WiFi connectivity may not be as fast, but it's certainly a great improvement. One annoying little feature however, is that fact that the keyboard has to be closed to use the built-in accelerometer. It may not bother most people, but we found it a little bit pointless.

Like pretty much all Blackberry handsets, the Torch provides you with a brilliant battery life, and it will only need to be charged once every few days

Conclusion

Some bits are great, some bits not so great. However, I'm pretty sure Blackberry users will be thrilled with this new model, providing an innovative new design and finally allowing users the benefits of both touchscreen and QWERTY. It's a cool little phone, we'd just like to have seen a few additonal tweaks.