The BlackBerry Torch 9800 gives me a weird feeling of travelling back in time, after a period of intense testing only touch smartphones, with their short battery life that doesn’t last more than just one day. Being able to use a phone whose 1300 mAh battery strongly endures a day of hard usage is really bringing some unexpected joy.
Key features
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• 3G with HSPA support
• 3.2" 16M-color multi-touch capacitive touchscreen of 360 x 480 pixel resolution
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and VGA video recording
• BlackBerry OS 6
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Built-in GPS with BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 4 GB internal storage and a hot-swappable microSD card slot
• Nice design and build quality
• 3.5mm standard audio jack
• Accelerometer sensor for screen auto-rotate
• Bluetooth v2.1 and microUSB v2.0
• Document viewer
• Optical trackpad
• Good audio quality
• DivX and XviD support
Full specs here.
In its box, you’ll find the charger, micro USB cable, headset, a 4GB memory card, and, instead of a leather case, a polishing cloth.
The phone comes loaded with the BlackBerry OS 6, which is clearly improved, looks quite nice and works just fine when multitasking. We also have a 624 MHz CPU Marwell, 512 RAM memory, 512 ROM and 4GB internal storage.
Measuring 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm with a weight of 161g, the Torch 9800 is a well-built smartphone, smaller than the majority of high-end models on the market, but only a little thicker. On the other side, it may seem quite big when the QWERTY keyboard is slided. The good part is that it can be easily used with one hand.
Without opening the keyboard, BB Torch 9800 looks even better: a flat surface with rounded edges on the front and no level differences between the display and case. I really appreciate the fact that the glass catching is done very well and the joint tracks are invisible.
The touch buttons for menu, back and receiving and rejecting calls are bordering the track pad, which is also touch. The lateral border is made of a well finished metal, which contributes to the elegance of the BlackBerry Torch 9800.
On the left side, we have the micro USB connector and on the right, the volume buttons, audio jack and camera button – they’re made of a rubberized-plastic material that offers a good adherence.
On the front we have the speaker and near it, a control LED which indicates the occurrence of events: new messages, missed calls, alarms.
Almost all of the back-side is covered by the battery cover (made of rubber) At the top are the camera (5MP) and the flash.
The usage of the QWERTY keyboard in optimal conditions is favored by the fact that the buttons have a small area of separation and the resistance to oppression is enough to not bear too much effort.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 has a 3.2-inch touchscreen with a non-standard resolution of 480 x 360 pixels. The image on screen is seen almost the same from different angles, regardless of how you keep your smartphone. It has an accelerometer and automatically detects movement, properly orienting the screen image.
The touch is working pretty well on this phone, which you can use almost exclusively with the touch functions - only a few times (in the browser) I had to resort to the track pad for precise control. The brightness level doesn’t excel, thus the sunlight legibility is not so great.
The call quality is very good, the voices are loud and clear for both parties. Reception is fine too. The device provides speed and voice dialing.
As you probably know, the BlackBerry phones are masters when it comes to messaging, so, the Torch 9800 will be your best friend when using it for email, texting, instant messaging and all that.
Let’s talk about connectivity. The phone provides 3G with HSPA for great speed, Bluetooth with A2DP, Wi-Fi and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE.
You’ll surely enjoy browsing the web with this phone, as it uses the WebKit engine. The pages are loaded very quickly, but, unfortunately, you don’t get any Flash support.
The device features a 5MP camera with LED flash and autofocus. Takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 2592х1944 pixels. The image quality is pretty fine, if you ask me.
The video recording is made at 640 x 480 with 24fps. I was a little disappointed.
When it comes to media, the phone does a great job. The music player has a nicer interface, if you compare it to the older ones; you have support for equalizers, audio boost, album art and formats like MP3, WMA, eAAC+,FlAC, OGG. The audio quality is exquisite.
The phone provides video support for DivX, XviD, MP4, WMV, H.263/H.264.Watching videos is also a nice experience.
BlackBerry Torch provides support for GPS, with A-GPS. For navigation, it has BlackBerry maps preinstalled.
For opening Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, you have everything you need preinstalled.
Feel free to socialize or talk all you want, for you’ll also find applications like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, MSN, AOL, BlackBerry Messenger.
If you’re searching for the perfect device for emailing, texting and telephony, good news. The BlackBerry 9800 is the best option when it comes to these things and it’s also loaded with a decent camera, very good audio player and we mustn’t forget about the battery: that little fellow will hang in there for you even if you’re the phone-abusing type.
You can get one here, on a monthly contract deal.
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