BlackBerry Torch Review - RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review

RIM's first serious shot at the touchscreen smartphone market, the BlackBerry Storm, was met with a lukewarm response. Neither BlackBerry loyalists nor new users took to the idea of a screen that clicks when you touch it. Touchscreen issues aside, the Storm was a mediocre handset and had nothing special about it to compete with established rivals such as the iPhone. Even the updates version that came out this year had no major improvements, and although RIM refined the touchscreen mechanism it still was a bit awkward to use.

For their next touchscreen device though, RIM chose to take a different, a more traditional route. Physical QWERTY keypads have been a forte of BlackBerry devices and so they decided to integrate them in their latest touchscreen phone. And thus the BlackBerry Torch was born. It's a marriage of the traditional physical keypad with a modern touchscreen in a stylish slider form-factor, which is a first for this Canadian company. But hardware design aside, the BlackBerry Torch also brings something new on the software front from the company. It's their first device to run the new BlackBerry OS 6.0. But will this be enough to take on the competition that has grown immensely strong over the years? Is the Torch good enough to take on the iPhones and Androids of the world? We decided to find out.

Technical Considerations

Blackberry Bold 9700	BlackBerry Torch 9800
480×360, 2.44″ display	360×480 3.2″ touch display
Physical Qwerty Keyboard	Physical Qwerty Keyboard
256MB of storage + MicroSD	4GB Storage + 4GB MicroSD (included)
256MB RAM	512MB RAM
WIFI b/g, UMA (if carrier supported)	WIFI b/g/n, UMA (if carrier supported)
3.5 Megapixel Camera	5 Megapixel Camera with Image Stabilization
3G UMTS	3G HSPA
BlackBerry OS 5.x	BlackBerry OS 6.x
624Mhz CPU	624 Mhz CPU
1300mAh battery	1500mAh battery
3.5mm audio jack	3.5mm audio jack
109 x 60 x 14mm, 122g (4.3oz)	111 x 62 x 14.6mm, 161g (5.67)
	Full specifications