RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review

Introduction:

In this day and age, you've got to continuously innovate in a broad spectrum of categories to keep pace with the ever evolving nature of the mobile industry. It's clearly a live fast, die hard atmosphere with yesterday's high-end smartphones passing the torch and legacy to newer devices expected to live up to the expectations of the constant changing needs of consumers. Wherever you look right now, there is no denying the vast amount of devices available at the finger tips of consumers, but it truly takes something quite compelling to get them to side with one specifically more than another. RIM built their empire by attacking the business and enterprise end of the mobile market, however, they weren't as successful in attracting everyday consumers. We've seen them go through two touchscreen offerings, with the second one seen as a vast improvement over the first, but regardless of all of its prowess, the BlackBerry Storm2 still could not firmly grasp itself as a heavy contender.

Enter the BlackBerry Torch 9800 which not only holds RIM's legacy on its back, but it's also showcasing a rebooted platform which is optimistic in grabbing the mind share of the everyday consumer – the demographic they've been unable to consistently attract. Sporting a whole new form factor we haven't seen produced ever by RIM, and with competition encroaching on their usual turf from all sides, will the BlackBerry Torch 9800 be able to keep it at bay, while being able to catapult itself as a worthy and viable competitor in this cut throat industry? Let's find out!

The package contains:

• BlackBerry Torch 9800
• Hands-free stereo headset
• Wall charger
• microUSB cable
• Polishing cloth
• BlackBerry User Tools CD
• Quickstart Guide

Design:

In classic RIM fashion, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 doesn't stray too far from the usual medley of solid feeling hardware crafted by them, but it's their very first one to employ a sliding portrait QWERTY form factor – something that's rare in itself across the board. Chrome plates accent a majority of the front and sides which is then combined with a plastic rear cover that employs a patterned soft touch coating.  The bottom of the handset is curved, which essentially provides for a natural grip in your hand. Overall, there is a discernible similarity between this one and the Bold 9700 – which is quite evident in its outline. Construction feels quite solid, which is something we usually expect out of RIM's handsets. the BlackBerry Torch manages to feel relatively normal sized without crossing the point of being regarded as bulky. However, you can easily notice its weight (5.68 oz) when you hold it in your hand, which can cause some alarm in the event you drop it. Despite radiating a durable exterior, they is no arguing the kind of damage it will incur from a nasty impact – especially more when it utilizes a sliding mechanism. By no means is the Torch something revolutionary from a design aspect, but it clearly embodies some of the best design elements in use with previous devices and combines them. Moreover, traditional BlackBerry users will find it fitting, but when you compare it to some of the fantastic looking industrial designed handsets out there, it doesn't come off as something exciting to drool over.



You can compare the RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Unlike the the SurePress touchscreen found on their last touchscreen model, the Storm2, the Torch 9800 opts to stick with a tried and true stationary touchscreen – minus the gimmicks. Measuring up with a 3.2” HVGA+ (360 x 480 pixels) display, it really didn't radiate something too impressive versus the WVGA and up resolutions employed on some competing smartphones. With slightly less real estate than the Storm2 and retaining the same resolution, detail remains unchanged – granted though, text can be on the smaller and sometimes fuzzier side. We didn't have too much problems trying to view the device outdoors in direct sunlight since it had spot on viewing angles. Instinctively, your first inclination when using the touchscreen is to push down into it just like the Storm2, however, we quickly found ourselves adjusting and enjoyed its accuracy.

At a first glance, one can mistake the buttons below the touchscreen to be touch sensitive ones since they're all flush, but In reality, they're all physical buttons that have a responsive feel to them. Placed fittingly in the middle, you'll find the usual optical trackpad that RIM has decided to stick with – something that actually works pretty well and can come in handy with this model. The left edge is completely barren except for the microUSB port, while the right side houses the 3.5mm headset jack, rubberized volume rocker, and two-level shutter button. To the top, both the lock and mute keys are inconspicuously integrated into the surface with a small cutout in the middle for the speakerphone. In the rear, you'll find the upgraded 5-megapixel camera with flash with the Torch name inscribed into the surface. Removing the flimsy plastic rear cover, it'll provide you access to the SIM card slot, 1300 mAh battery, and microSD card slot.





Naturally the sliding portrait style QWERTY easily brings the Palm Pre into mind, but thankfully the Torch's opening and closing mechanism feels more solid – requiring a slight nudge to open or close it. As for the QWERTY itself, it clearly resembles the one found on both the Bold 9650 and 9700, however, it's less prominent and more at level with the surrounding surface. If you're used to the Bold keyboard, you'll easily fit in with this one with its sensible feedback. Conversely, individuals with larger fingers will find it a bit cramped since there is no spacing in between buttons. Overall, the QWERTY is quite usable on top of relying on the on-screen options especially with its visible white back-lighting.

Interface:

Remember the feeling you got when you played with a BlackBerry Bold 9000 for the very first time? We surely remember, as it completely showcased a revamped platform that exuded a modern look to it – while retaining all the best elements that people love about BlackBerry. However, BlackBerry OS 6 is not a monumental step over the previous iteration, but rather, it executes that gradual step that bridges the gap between business professionals and the regular user. Visually, OS 6 doesn't substantially change its presentation and appearance since a majority of icons have been retained with the layout of the main menu also intact. Compared to the latest version of Android, BlackBerry OS 6 looks extremely static, but you'll find the same level of personalization carried over from the previous build. Since the Torch 9800 employs a touchscreen, navigating couldn't be any easier with a simple touch of a finger, but you can actually still rely on the trackpad to accomplish the same tasks. Overall, the platform responds fairly well to your touch and doesn't take long to launch applications – that's despite packing a somewhat underpowered 624MHz processor. Still, it doesn't feel up to the level of snappiness found in something like iOS 4 on the iPhone 4 or Android 2.1 on the Samsung Galaxy S.

When you get right into it, you'll first find yourself on a barren homescreen, with your wallpaper of course, but pulling the small arrow towards the bottom will reveal the listing of apps. You can manually display a row of icons by adjusting the tray to specific levels – so you can rearrange icons to quickly launch them without revealing the full main menu. Once you get there, it's broken down to 5 folders, which can be accessed by using left or right swipe gestures – Favorites, Media, Downloads, Frequent, and All. The latter will provide you access to all the apps found on the handset. Not only is it easier to organize your apps, but it will eliminate the hassle of finding specific ones in the event you accidentally place them into a folder and forget their placement.

Directly below the clock in the homescreen, you'll find the notification bar that will display pretty much anything to get your attention – from messages to emails and Facebook posts to new Tweets, you can press it to view them all. Specific icons will be displayed that will better allow you to differentiate them – so you'll know if it's something important or not. To the left of the notification bar is the Profile selection that will allow you to change the sounds and alerts on the device. Finally, clicking the magnifier icon to the right of the notification bar will bring up universal search – the name pretty sums it up. Basically you start typing and it'll begin to populate relevant material such as contacts, apps, Facebook accounts, and the ability to go search for it on Google. Additionally, you can launch universal search by typing something on the QWERTY while on the homescreen. Even though it's not something new, it's definitely nice to see its appearance on the platform. Finally, pressing in the top most portion of the homescreen, where the clock can be found, will present you some of the common services and connections for the handset – such as turning on/off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and the ability to set an alarm.



Phonebook:

If there's one thing that will surprise usual BlackBerry users, it has to be the integration of social networking accounts with your phonebook. There's nothing new with how your contacts are displayed in your address book or creating a new contact since it's basically straightforward like previous devices. However, the platform does a good job of managing your social networking accounts and will automatically figure out which contact to combine them with – so you'll see their Facebook photo and info show up when you click a specific person. In addition, the contacts app is integrated with the various dedicated social networking apps so you can accomplish certain things like sending a Facebook message to someone or writing something on their wall. It's definitely a long time coming, but luckily the feature is finally here.



Organizer:

The RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 with OS 6 has that wealth of depth in organizer functions that is typical to any other BlackBerry, which makes everything robust and complete. When using the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Manager, version 6.0, you'll be able to synchronize your information between your computer – plus you'll even have something like Wi-Fi music sync at your disposal. Other PIM functions remain intact with the Torch 9800 and appointments can even be synced with something like your Gmail Calendar on top of things BlackBerry Enterprise Server or Exchange Server.



Messaging:

Sure you can always resort to using the physical keyboard for all your messaging needs, but you'll also be presented with a mix of on-screen options – these include a full QWERTY keyboard, SureType, and alphabetical numpad. Depending on your taste, any of them might suit your needs since we found the experience to be much better than what we experienced on the Storm2. When using either the portrait or landscape style full keyboard, we found it to be responsive to the touch and casually typed with few mistakes. Although, it's worth noting that it can be cramped for people with larger sized fingers –  especially with the portrait one. Regardless, we didn't experience any slowdown or lack of responsiveness when typing up a message – making the experience pretty satisfactory.


Setting up email could not be anymore simple than doing it on a BlackBerry – and the Torch 9800 doesn't disappoint with its simple setup process. Popular clients only required a simple email address and password to correctly set up, but custom ones like our own PhoneArena account are set up in the same fashion. Icons for each specific email account will be displayed in the main menu, but similar to other handsets, there is a Messages icon that combines everything.

In addition to email, you can also access any of the instant messaging clients available on the Torch to instantly get in touch with a specific person. Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger and BlackBerry Messenger are all there at your disposal, but we like the fact that the “social feeds” app will combine your social networking accounts in addition to all of the IM clients minus BBM – so you'll have a centralized hub to see everything at once.



Connectivity & Data:

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 won't disappoint world travelers since it's a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and UMTS (850/900/1900/2100MHz) device – meaning it'll work in plenty of locations, but unfortunately there's no CDMA love. If you happen to find yourself in a sticky predicament where you're at a loss with connectivity, the Torch also features Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, and aGPS... if that would help.

Finally, we weren't rushing ourselves to hopefully find a version of either Opera Mini or the Bolt browser to install on the Torch since it now sports a usable WebKit based browser. Pages loaded in a reasonable amount of time and presented us initially with a zoomed out view. Double tapping a specific area will automatically re-size the text to fit the length of the display, however, we did notice some anomalies in certain pages – such as a single line would only consist of a few words; making it look inconsistent throughout a passage. Multi-touch gestures are also enabled to allow you to specify the zoom level, but unfortunately text won't automatically adjust. Scrolling is decent once a page is fully loaded, but we did experience instances when images and text required a period of time to render. Overall, the web browsing experience has improved over the previous incarnation and the Torch is needless to say the best RIM device for that. Conversely, it only manages to skim the tip of the water in this category when you compare it to something like the Motorola DROID X or Apple iPhone 4.

Camera:

From a quick glance, we easily noticed that RIM didn't do too much renovating with the camera interface on the Torch 9800 – especially when it mirrors the one on the Storm2. Images produced by the 5-megapixel shooter were slightly above average and could have been even better if it weren't for the overcast looking tones it produced. Although it was able to meticulously capture some detail in our shots, they all looked darker – even when lighting provided the most optimal conditions. The LED flash is a nice amenity on the handset which particularly did a good job in illuminating shots taken in low light, however, it tended to produce a bit over-exposed images taken in complete darkness. Unfortunately it cannot handle closeup or macro images since the camera failed to focus in on an object that's close. In the end, the decent looking images captured on the Torch should be more than satisfying for the quick point and shooters out there.




When 720p video recording is fast becoming the standard of most premier smartphones, it's a little bit of a letdown to see a latest-generation BlackBerry sport VGA video capture. With anti-shake enabled, videos recorded had a decent amount of detail, but also looked less choppy thanks to its 24fps capture rate. On the other hand, you'll easily see the difference when it's off and it drops the rate to 23fps. Unfortunately, it's no high definition video recording, but at least the performance is more desirable over any other BlackBerry handset out there.

RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 sample video with anti-shake at 640x480 pixels resolution.
RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 sample video without anti-shake at 640x480 pixels resolution.

Multimedia:

Such a refreshing sight to see, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 manages to present a reasonably good looking music player that provides a subtle graphical improvement in its presentation. Although it may  be a simplistic looking interface with common items like the album cover, artist, track title, and on-screen controls being displayed, you can quickly jump to playing a track by scrolling to the appropriate album cover a la Coverflow. The effect when moving about different albums looks pretty smooth with few instances of slowdown – making the whole process seem fine in execution. With the audio boost option enabled, sound from the speaker was powerful enough to be distinguished, but you can easily get a feel for the somewhat strained tones when high-pitched sounds are played.


The video watching experience is your typical one as the BlackBerry Torch will play  continuously with no evidence of choppiness or lag for videos that tally in resolution close to the display. We were able to load a video encoded in MPEG-4 480 x 320 resolution with no problems at all, however, playing the same one in 640 x 480 resolution was a totally different experience. The handset struggled to keep pace with the video since it was clear that the audio from the clip did not sync up to what was on screen – plus, there was some noticeable choppy performance.


For those media heavy users out there, RIM includes a 4GB microSD card for all your needs, but it easily pales in comparison to the minimum 8GB offerings from its rivals – however, it definitely beats relying on its 4096MB internal storage.

Software:

Out of the box, we were really impressed to see a handful of icons for various apps on the handset. However, our mood quickly changed when we began to find that they're simply links to their downloads – so they are technically NOT preloaded on the handset. Luckily the Torch plays to the strength of social networking individuals since it packs dedicated apps for Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter – all of which were quite proficient.. As we mentioned earlier in the review, there is also a “Social Feeds” app which aggregates all your social networking accounts in addition to the IM clients – which is the place where you're taken when you click on a notification.


Location based apps such as AT&T Maps, AT&T Navigator, and Where are available to you – but keep in mind that they are not pre-installed on the phone as well. As always, any BlackBerry user will find the BrickBreaker game ready for some record attempts. All in all, you can download additional ones from App World, but just remember that not all apps developed for OS 5 will run on the Torch – you'll just have to sit back and wait until developers come around to upgrade them.

Performance:

On our caller's end, they stated that our voice was rather mute in tone with no evidence of static noise in the background, but still distinguishable enough to make out words. However, we were happy to hear normal sounding voices on our end that weren't muddied with any distortion. Sadly, the volume emitted by the earpiece was clearly on the weak side – even when setting the volume to the loudest setting. In addition, it made conversing in noisy environment rather difficult. When switching over to the speakerphone, tones were stronger but muffled sounding. All in all, the calling performance on the Torch was average at best.

During our testing, the handset performed admirably in maintaining a solid connection with no evidence of extreme fluctuations in signal strength in the greater Philadelphia region.

Without a doubt, BlackBerry smartphones in general are known for their supreme battery life – especially when RIM maintains and diverts data so well in the back end. The BlackBerry Torch doesn't disappoint as we were able to easily use the handset for a solid one day on heavy usage – with some juice left over to start the next day. We'd imagine we could have optimized our time by manually setting the brightness level to the lowest setting and closing down any unused apps.

Conclusion: 

First things first, traditional BlackBerry users will find the Torch 9800 as a worthy device to continue RIM's legacy as it easily maintains all the aspects about BlackBerry with a dash of some new features. RIM's attempt in attracting new users might prove difficult despite boasting a prized form factor and revamped platform that play to the strengths of the everyday consumer. When comparing the Torch 9800 to some of the big guns in the mobile world right now, such as the HTC EVO 4G, iPhone 4, Motorola DROID 2, it is difficult to fathom for someone to jump with the Torch – even more when all are priced accordingly at $199.99 on-contract. From a hardware perspective, it painfully cringes in the presence of some high-powered devices sporting 1GHz processors, high-resolution displays, and industrial designs that exhibit quality form. But digging around deeper into BlackBerry OS 6 also doesn't boast a level of confidence in attracting non-BlackBerry users since opposing platforms substantially place a lot of emphasis on presentation and integration. Sure there is finally social networking integration with the platform, but it's only getting into that space right now. In closing, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is able to keep that fire going for RIM, but until they get serious about getting the platform into the same league as its competitors, that fire might someday become extinguished.

RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 Video Review: