Blackberry Reviews: Blackberry Torch 9800 Honest Review

Since the official release date of the (August 12th USA) new Blackberry Torch 9800 many people have wondered how this phone would do. Blackberry's rival Apple also released a new phone this year the new iPhone 4 and have seen similar success. Blackberry took the concept of a touch screen and incorporated their famous Blackberry keyboard conbimed to create the Blackberry Torch. This new phone runs on the new Blackberry 6 operating system with a 624 mhz cpu speed for optimal performance. Read Rob's Blackberry Torch Review here.

Next we will cover the Blackberry Torch 9800's dimensions and specs.

Size (LxWxD):

Closed: 4.4″ x 2.4″ x 0.57″  /  111mm x 62mm x 14.6mm
Open: 5.8″ x 2.4″ x 0.57″ / 148mm  x 62mm x 14.6mm

Weight:

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 memory

Expandable Memory:

- 4GB microSD card included
- Supports up to 32GB microSD card

Battery:

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 hrs

Keyboard:

Physical keyboard: 35 key backlit QWERTY
Touchscreen keyboards: portrait/landscape full qwerty, condensed portrait

Display:

High resolution touch scree
Half-VGA+ display (360 x 480 at 188ppi)
3.2″ (diagonally measured)

Navigation:

Capacitive traditional touch screen (no SurePress)
- Optical trackpad

Camera:

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 pixels

Voice Input/Output:

Integrated speaker and microphone, hands-free headset
capable, Bluetooth headset capable, integrated hands-free speakerphone

GPS:

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, WAV

WiFi:

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

As a resident of Canada I had to wait until mid October to purchase my Blackberry Torch, but it was well worth it. My phone uses the Rogers 3g network. Over the last 2+ years I had the iPhone 3g and I was started to get a little annoyed with the darn thing. I started seeing ads on TV for the new Blackberry Torch and instantley I knew this was the phone for me. Since then I have really started to love this phone a lot. Blackberry messenger or BBM for short has become one of my favourite application on the phone for sure. As an email junkie I needed a phone that I could easily setup multiple emails with ease and at the same time manage them all too. The Blackberry Torch in my opinion is the King of just that. Something my old iPhone had difficulties accomplishing to my standards.

Here is a brief list of some of the pros and cons I have noticed:

Pros:

1. Email setup and management
2. Messenging (BBM)
3. New web browser
4. Contact organizer
5. Touch keyboard/Classic keyboard combo

Cons:

1. Lack of games (compared to iPhone)
2. App world
3. Screen size
4. Lock button/key

Thank you for reading my review, please leave your comments below and share your experience with the new Blackberry Torch.