Our Verdict
RIM has stepped up its smartphone game by introducing theBlackBerry Torch 9800($200 with a two - year contract from AT&T ) , the company ’s very first touchscreen / strong-arm - keyboard speech sound sporting the steel - newBlackBerry 6 o . But can the Torch ( and future BlackBerry 6 o machine ) compete with the ever - grow Android army ?
A little compact than some of the other top - linesmartphonesout aright now , the Torch measure 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches and consider a manageable 5.68 snow leopard . Unlike with the BlackBerry Storm and theBlackBerry Storm 2 , here RIM has successfully added a touch screen while retaining the look and find of the phone familiar to BlackBerry users . The front grimace of the telephone has the four typical buttons : Talk , Menu , Back , and Power / closing . The buttons flank the square ocular touchpad , which you’re able to use for sailing in plus to the touchscreen .
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Torch is its touchscreen display . Not only did I find it slenderly lackluster , but it could also be a snatch wobbly in its responsiveness . gratefully , it does n’t use RIM ’s awkward SurePress technology , which we see on the tempest model . The 3.2 - inch 360 - by-480 capacitive touch display is little and a low resolution than the screen of competing speech sound such as the Samsung Vibrant or the Motorola Droid X. Though it is fine for graze the connection , the colors , school text , and detail looked slenderly flat . The display also come fit out with multitouch ( for zooming in and out ) , which the web browser app and photo gallery both support .
Like the Palm Pre , the Torch has a vertical slide - out hardware keyboard . The yellow-bellied terrapin chemical mechanism sense sturdy , and the keyboard skid smoothly and easily . The Torch ’s keyboard is thinner than those on other BlackBerry models , but I found it quite comfortable to type on . The keys are sculpt and nicely sized , and include a smattering of utilitarian cutoff buttons . The Torch also has a software system keyboard that you could use in portrayal and landscape mode , but both variations feel pretty cramped .
BlackBerry 6 group O may have a more modern , spruced - up user port , but BlackBerry possessor will feel right at home . Though the icons and text edition come along sharper and smoother , the overall look is ultimately BlackBerry . For more on BlackBerry 6 OS and all of its new features , see my in - depthhands - onlook .
E - mail is where RIM really shines , and BlackBerry 6 OS add together some features that solidify the company as the master of message . you’re able to of form sync with your company ’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server with support for Exchange , Lotus Domino , or Groupwise for real - time e - mail delivery . With BlackBerry Internet Service , you could get at up to ten personal or business organization POP3 or IMAP4 tocopherol - postal service account .
Here ’s where things get confusing : Essentially you have to make out with two freestanding inboxes for managing your subject matter . First you have the worldwide Messages inbox , which contains your SMS particular , e - mail message , and BlackBerry Messenger . Then you have your dedicate your e - mail ( in my case , Gmail ) inbox . In the consecrated Gmail inbox , you get archiving , string conversation , labeling , and starring – an arrangement that ’s just about as close to the desktop Gmail frame-up as potential . In the catch - all inbox , however , you do n’t have approach to any of these feature film . This is a bizarre supervising on RIM ’s part .
Social medium aggregators are a spicy point in competing smartphones , so it comes as no surprisal that RIM has created its own . I ’m not a huge sports fan of societal aggregators ; I find them a bit messy , and I prefer to read my feeds in separate places . I do n’t have a use for them , and I care smartphone manufacturing business would stop insisting that dump all of your social mesh into one property increases your productiveness .
Perhaps the most exciting update in 6 O is the addition of a WebKit - based browser app . Until now , the BlackBerry platform ’s heavy booby trap was its deceptive Web browser app . The Modern internet browser is n’t perfect ( more on that later on ) , but it is clean years ahead of the elderly one . BlackBerry OS has ultimately enchant up with the other players : You get jot - to - rapid climb multitouch support , tabbed browse , and automobile - wrap textual matter zoom ( when you zoom in to a block of text , the baptismal font mechanically wraps in a pillar so that none of it is cut off ) .
Pinch - to - zoom was n’t the smoothest experience , but it worked just fine in my hands - on psychometric test . car - wrap text edition functioned well , too . I liked take a pointer while browsing so that I could easily copy text and voyage as I would in a screen background browser app . The tabbed browsing interface is especially nice and easy to navigate . Opening a new tab ask clicking an icon in the top - right corner of the display . Clicking this icon also show all of your open web browser app windows in thumbnails . you could then flip through the miniature page to pilot .
Full Flash Player 10 backup unluckily is n’t quick yet for BlackBerry , thoughRIM is still mould with Adobeto deliver the multimedia system platform to future telephone . to boot , since the oxygen has no HTML5 backing , you ’re pretty much stuck with YouTube for World Wide Web video .
I can inhabit without Flash support for now , but I ca n’t deal with a torpid internet browser . This is probably more of a hardware issue on the BlackBerry Torch 9800 , but I found the internet browser slow to load , particularly with medium - heavy Websites . The Torch ’s 624MHz processor just ca n’t seem to handle the new web web browser technology . scroll through text- and picture - weighed down Thomas Nelson Page was n’t as smooth as I ’ve come to expect with faster , 1GHz - central processing unit sound . I actually wangle to break apart the web web browser a few times , too , which was frustrative .
Call quality over the AT&T internet in San Francisco was good overall . interpreter on the other end of the line sounded loud and clear , with no electrostatic or vocalisation distortion . A few callers sounded slightly tinny , but it was n’t distracting . Callers on the other end listen background noise while I was stand on a in use metropolis street corner , but reported that it was n’t loud enough to interfere with the call .
RIM has finally caught up with the rest of the smartphone world in term of television camera megapixel tally . The Torch sports a 5 - megapixel tv camera with autofocus , 2X zoom , and an LED flash . The phone also has some fancy newfangled shooting features , such as scene modes and face detection , and it presents everything within a clean , well-heeled - to - manipulation port .
The image calibre was definitely better than what I ’ve seen from older BlackBerry model ’ photographic camera , but my photos were a little washed out . play around with the panorama mode was fun , though , and I was able to fascinate some great shots . Unfortunately the photographic camera shoots only VGA telecasting ; no high - def footage here .
Can a BlackBerry phone be an entertainment twist ? brim is certainly trying to change the perception of the BlackBerry as strictly line of work . gratefully , the upgrades in 6 OS definitely avail . The music thespian receives a much necessitate case - lift , bring in a CoverFlow - like interface that nicely showcases your euphony collection ’s album art . You simply function your finger over the album art to sail through your collection .
You ’ll also discover a trade name - new YouTube covering with a fairly straight interface , as well as a BlackBerry Podcast app for manage your video and audio podcasts .
The Torch successfully melds a touch screen with the touch BlackBerry keyboard , resulting in a design that is both innovative and conversant to BlackBerry drug user . Unfortunately , the Torch ’s performance and spec are n’t quite on a equivalence with those of competing smartphones such as the HTC Droid Incredible or the Samsung Vibrant . Additionally , the software , while a big betterment from premature versions , feels outdated . If you ’re a BlackBerry stalwart , you ’ll be quite proud of with the Torch , but rival Android gimmick have much more collection .
[ Ginny Mies is an associate editor program for PCWorld . ]
