Lets start with a little unknown fact: before I had an iPhone, I had a BlackBerry. BlackBerry Pearl to be exact. So, when I was presented the opportunity to review one of the new breed from RIM; the BlackBerry Torch, or the BlackBerry Torch 9800, I of course was like YES! YES! YES! but opted to send a nice, professional reply email, stating that I would enjoy the opportunity. (Have to keep appearances people!)
So, if you’ve read my previous reviews, you know I don’t take the typical road like other tech sites. My stance on this is that you can find the mechanical and technical specs of the phone on practically any site (or you can scroll to the bottom of this review for a “stat sheet”). The phone runs on AT&T’s network, which I have not shied away from ripping on in my area due to an overwhelming lack of 3G, which they’re starting to correct, so besides a short blurb on how the phone itself works on the network, I won’t cover that aspect, mostly because you know how your network works for you where you’re at, you don’t need me to tell you too much about it. You can assume that wireless service is going to be uniformed for everyone, that’s just crazy talk! What I offer, is a straight out opinion and review of the phone, from a normal guy, that has 3 kids, that’s a tech by day, and deals with both 3G and EDGE daily. So ready? Set? Here we go!
THE PHONE’S PHYSICAL NATURE
So upfront, I’ll ruin all anticipation. Is this in any way an iPhone killer for me? No. Is this the mecca of all Blackberry phones? No. If you’re a current BlackBerry user, will you like this phone? I would say yes. And finally, would I suggest this phone to someone? Yes, without question. This phone is definitely for a certain brand of smartphone user, and if I had massive amounts of extra money and was so important that I required a secondary phone for business, I’d be hard pressed not to use this one. I hated to send it back to be honest.
Now with that said, lets talk about the actual phone. The physical aspects. First off, simply by sight, you can tell that this is a BlackBerry. RIM doesn’t seem to shy away from what is their standard design model, which I have no problem with. People can tell an iPhone is an iPhone by site, I think it helps RIM to have devices that are as easily recognizable to a general public. Remember, not everyone is super tech savvy, so something familiar isn’t exactly a bad thing. The phone is slightly thicker then an iPhone, a bit shorter without the keyboard out, and is slightly heavier, but honestly, I like that. I’m the type of person that likes to have a little weight, helps reassure me that it’s a sturdy item. Another example, and totally off subject, I enjoy heavier pens. I can’t stand an extremely light-weight pen, and this same feeling is followed with other items such as phones. The phone feels solid, like it could handle that inevitable 3 foot drop from your hand to the ground, that has been known to shatter iPhones.
However, I do have a few small hang-ups when it comes to the physical design of the phone, and this could very well be a personal thing. I’m not a fan of the slide out keyboard, for one particular reason. I used to have a Sony Ericsson phone that had a swivel, and after some use, that joint became loose and felt unstable. I’ve had hang-ups with phones that slide or swivel since. Don’t get me wrong, I love the keyboard itself, love the feel and the function of it, it feels solid and doesn’t feel like the structure of the phone is weakened any by having the keyboard out, it’s just the whole sliding aspect makes me weary at times. Another thing that I’m not cheering for is the screen resolution. With sporting only a 480×360 screen, it’s not hard to say this pales in comparison to other smartphones out there like the Droid and iPhone 4 where the makers and bragging about resolution sizes and retina displays. It’s obvious that RIM wasn’t that concerned with the resolution of their screen, but honestly I’m not the type that is going to want to try to watch a HD movie on my phone, so I’m not as hung up on this as others would be. The final aspect I’ll point out is the shiny, metallic face of the phone around the touchscreen. I didn’t experience this with the model I had, but I have a friend with the same exact phone. She’s extremely particular about how her phone looks. A lot of scratches or scuffs drive her crazy. Unfortunately, at one point she dropped her phone (amazingly enough I haven’t been blamed for this, because I think she was texting me at the time) and not only scratched and scuffed up the metallic ring around the touchscreen, but the metallic aspects began to flake off. She has since put a case to cover this, but seeing this made me leery regarding that aspect of the design. Again though, its more cosmetic aspects that I’m particular about, doesn’t mean you will be, and this things I “don’t” like truly don’t negatively affect the functions of the phone itself ,they’re just more of a preference type thing.
PHONE (fōn) n. A telephone
The call quality of the phone itself was crystal clear anytime I used it. It was so clear and crisp, that when I first used it, I asked people if it sounded funny to them. I’ve grown accustomed to the sound of my iPhone, which is a beaten up 3G, and until I used this phone, truly didn’t realize how bad just the sound was with it compared to a new phone. I actually thought it was echoing at first until I realized I was actually speaking somewhat loud into the phone. So in terms of the quality of the actual phone usage (if you still do those types of crazy things), it was top-notch anytime I used it, both in 3G and EDGE areas. No issues connecting, and never had any dropped calls while I used it.
ITS BB 6.0 BABY!
The BlackBerry Torch sports the new BlackBerry 6 OS. I will admit it took a little getting used to, but after I did, I really liked it. It was smooth, quick, in all the use I had out of it, I never had an app crash. I liked the feel of the main screen, where I could scroll horizontal or vertical. I liked how I had all the notifications on the one bar under the time. For someone who does a lot of business with email, and incorporates sites such as Twitter and Facebook into their daily lives, this phone really captures what you would need. Email, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, Messenger (BlackBerry or other) RSS feeds, all of it shows up on this bar, tucked neatly away, letting you pick when you want to view the items, rather than have them pop up in your face. This aspect gives it a feel of almost a mobile, social media office. This is one of the top things for me, and one of the things I’ll really miss having to give the phone back, along with:
THE POWER WITHIN
One thing I have missed about my old BlackBerry was the battery life. I always loved the battery life on that phone. Well it was nice to see this pattern continue with this one. For my normal daily use, which goes between moderate to heavy, determined by the goings on of the day, the phone performed how I would hope. I never have to worry if the phone would last all day, as it always did. I’m the type that plugs my phone up at night, so if a phone can go 12-18 hours off charge, I’m sold. The Torch however went longer, there were a few days where I wouldn’t charge it for a day or so, and this was with moderate use. Another little note, that is a personal thing that I used to do. One aspect of the BlackBerry is that you can remove the battery. You read that sentence and probably think “so”, but consider this. With the ability to remove the battery, you can potentially have a 2nd battery, fully charged and ready to go, eliminating the need for car chargers and other such devices. This was a practice I have followed in the past with other phones, and in strange ways, something I’ve missed at times with the iPhone.
THE ‘OTHERS’
The rest of the functions of the phone itself are fairly standard with any smartphones anymore. WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth. All function how you would expect them too. I had a little bump in the road getting the phone to connect to my wireless initially, but after that it was smooth sailing. The GPS feature didn’t really seem to have too much of a problem even working well when I was in EDGE rather than 3G. So if any of these features are something you look for and take in high regard, have no worries. WiFi connected and worked smooth after the initial bump, GPS worked well and seemed somewhat more reliable than other phones I’ve worked with, and I had no issues connecting my Bluetooth headset to the phone.
On top of that, one thing that the phone sports that I do enjoy is the expandable memory. The phone comes out of the box with 3GB of build-in storage, along with a 4GB microSD card. That’s 8GB for those of you that haven’t loaded up your calculator app yet. Not enough for ya? Well like I said, it has expandable memory. If you feel you need a bigger boost, you can switch out the 4GB for anything up to a 32GB microSD card and beyond. There is no limitation on the size. So all you picture and video hounds that have your phone out more for capturing moments in time than communication, this is a pretty sweet feature for you. Oh, and speaking of that….
THE CAMERA
The camera on the phone worked great for me. For being able to capture some of those special, rare moments you hope to grab with having a camera with you at all times, this camera delivers. I’ll admit, the flash sometimes went off when I wished it hadn’t, washing out some pictures, but I’ll write this off as simply learning to use the camera that comes on this phone, just like any other camera. Short of that, I can’t complain about the camera at all, a terrific camera to have in your back pocket. Made me wish some of my favorite apps like Camera+ or Instagram were on it. The camera itself is a five megapixel camera that also sports autofocus, face detection and geotagging, which in the scheme of things, are nice features to have. Especially considering how rarely I backup pictures I’ve taken on my phone. Any pictures I took with the camera, I came out happy with. The video recording however leaves something to be desired with recording at only 640 x 480. It would be nice to have HD recording on here, especially considering how well I felt that still camera works, but we can’t always have everything can we? Which leads me to my biggest hang-up on the phone, and why I couldn’t switch from my iPhone to a BlackBerry.
THE GEEKASM COMMENTARY
I’ll come out and say, I truly enjoyed working with this phone and having it for the period of time I did. In another time, if the scheme of my life was a little different, this would likely be the phone I’d go with. However, for me, at this point, he app selection and the apps I use are not there. Doesn’t mean they won’t be there later, and I really think that BlackBerry 6.0 could be a springboard to push for more apps. I know many people who love their BlackBerry over any phone they’ve ever had. I know people who have switched to the Torch and are in love with it. The person who I mentioned before, switched from her iPhone to the BlackBerry Torch, has never looked back and says she’ll probably not go back to the iPhone. I know another person that turned down an iPhone and an Android based phone, because she was determined to have a BlackBerry again, and she’s someone I would consider a tech-minded person. I’m not going to sit here and say which type of phone wins which battles, that’s not what I want to do, like I’ve said, that’s something you can find anywhere else online. I’m saying, if you’re debating on getting the BlackBerry Torch, and you’re more in line with communication: texting, email, social media, phone calls even, then you won’t be disappointed with this phone in any way. I had no problems with it, in 3G or EDGE, it worked smoothly and exactly how I wanted it to. I am absolutely confident in suggesting this phone to anyone and everyone.
Geekasm’s BlackBerry Torch 9800 Stat Sheet
Pros
- Built tough. Solid
- The Keyboard
- Camera
- Battery Life
Cons
- App selection
- Screen resolution
- App selections
- Video Recording
Specifications
Size - Closed: 4.4" x 2.4" x 0.57" / 111mm x 62mm x14.6
- Open: 5.8" x 2.4" x 0.57" / 148mm x 62mm x 14.6Weight -161.59 g / 5.7 oz (includes battery) Operating System - BlackBerry 6 CPU Speed - 624 MHz Memory - 512 MB internal flash memory
- 4GB built-in storage memoryExpandable Memory - 4GB microSD card included
- Supports up to 32GB microSD cardBattery - 1270 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell Battery Life - GSM Talk Time: 5.5 hours; GSM Standby Time: 17 days
- UMTS Talk Time: 5.8 hours; UMTS Standby Time: 13 days
- Audio Playback: 29.8 hrs
- Video Playback: 6 hrsKeyboard - Physical keyboard: 35 key backlit QWERTY
- Touchscreen keyboards: portrait/landscape full qwerty, condensed portraitDisplay - High resolution touch scree
- Half-VGA+ display (360 x 480 at 188ppi)
- 3.2" (diagonally measured)Navigation - Capacitive traditional touch screen (no SurePress)
- Optical trackpadCamera - 5.0 MP camera, flash, auto focus, face detection, image stabilization, scene modes, 2X zoom, video recording Video Camera - Normal Mode: 640 x 480 pixels
- MMS Mode: 176 x 144 pixelsVoice Input/Output - Integrated speaker and microphone, hands-free headset
capable, Bluetooth headset capable, integrated hands-free speakerphoneGPS - Integrated GPS with A-GPS (assisted GPS) ready Media Player - Video format support: MPEG4, H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile H.264, WMV
- Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, FLAC, OGG
- Ringtone format support: 32 polyphonic – MIDI, SP-MDI, MP3, WAVWiFi - Wi-Fi Band: 802.11b/g/n, support for UMA (carrier-dependent) Bluetooth - Bluetooth v2.1; Mono/Stereo Headset, Hands-free, Serial Port Profile, Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP) and Bluetooth SIM Access Profile supported Headset - 3.5mm stereo headset capable Network SKU1 UMTS: 2100/1900/850/800 MHz (Bands 1,2,5/6)
SKU2 UMTS: 2100/1900/900 MHz (Bands 1,2,8)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
I give it a 4 out of 5
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