AT&T BlackBerry Torch
By: RIM
The BlackBerry Torch is by no means a revolutionary smart phone, however in terms of the BlackBerry line itself; the Torch is a step up on the other models. As you probably already heard, the Torch’s combines a 3.2 inch touch screen with a keyboard that is conveniently hidden until you slide the phone open. Another thing that has changed is the phone runs BlackBerry OS 6, BlackBerry’s newest operating system which is currently only available on the Torch. It is currently available in black, red, or white and is only 99.99 with a 2 year contract from at&t.
The Torch’s design is similar in size to the BlackBerry Bold 9700. It is only .1 inch longer when closed and is .01 inches thicker than the Bold. The screen was relatively easy to look at, although the resolution wasn’t as good as some of the other smart phones such as the iPhone and Droid. The touch mechanism on the phone was friendly also. Unlike the Storm which required a “press”, the Torch only needs a simple touch in order to access apps, browse the web, or type a message. When closed, the only buttons exposed on the face of the phone are the call, end/power, BlackBerry button, back, and the optical track pad. If using the touch screen to type a message starts to become too tedious, simply slide up the screen and you gain access to a full keyboard making typing simple.
The operating system included on the Torch is a step up from older versions. In addition to having your home screen with the notification bar near the top, which is similar to other BlackBerry operating systems, you also can customize a favorites page which can include apps, contacts, and webpages that you frequently use. The other pages are Media, Downloads, Frequent, and Everything. They also developed a universal search bar for the first time. The phone will search everything on the phone for whatever you type in the field. This was extremely helpful in finding almost anything on your phone quickly and easily. Apps, music, settings, and contacts call all be easily located with a few button pushes.
Web browsing on the Torch has also become easier and faster. In the new version, you can easily bookmark pages and go back and forth between different tabs. It also makes reading text on web pages easier with text reflow. A simple double touch on the text you want to read and the device will automatically zoom in and resize the text so you don’t have to scroll to the left and right while reading, only have to scroll up and down. You can also manually zoom by using their pinch to zoom feature which was made zooming in and out quick and easy. The browser was also faster than the former versions, but still not quite as quick as the browsers on the iPhone or Droid.
The Torch has also brought a new look on social messaging threads. You can view feeds either categorized based on site or filtered and compiled from your social networks such as Facebook and Twitter along with updates from your instant messaging accounts such as Google Talk, AIM, and BBM all on one page. This helps to organize many different accounts all in one place to view. The email on BlackBerry is still relatively unchanged. You can link it with your accounts such as Yahoo Mail and Gmail as well as your business’ BlackBerry Enterprise Server. All these options worked well with getting mail to your phone.
The camera on the phone is 5 megapixles and has a flash. You can use the different picture taking settings to match your surroundings such as action shots or low light shots. These helped a lot to boost picture quality on the camera. The Torch records videos in 640 x 480, which come out fairly well, however I was upset that it couldn’t record in HD like some other phones currently on the market.
My experience with the Torch was good overall. RIM was definitely able to raise the bar with the new BlackBerry model. It wasn’t without its faults however. Its processor is only 624 MHz which is low compared to the 1 GHz on the Droid X and the iPhone 4. This was occasionally noticible when using the phone. There were times when the phone would freeze up for a few seconds while it tried to catch up. This was mildly inconvenient because it never got bad enough to completely freeze up and require a reboot. Also it is only available with at&t as of now so if you have a different carrier and want to get the Torch you will have to switch over. The BlackBerry is still made to suit the business world. It remains a good device to manage email and browse the internet on the go. However it may not meet the needs of pleasure users who end up using it more for internet use than email use.
Specifications
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
Grab your Own:
Amazon.com: $.00
At&t (With 2-yr contract): 99.00
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