BlackBerry Torch 9800 review

RIM struggled earlier to make a good start to the touchscreen market with the BlackBerry Storm and Storm 2. Both had an awful clicky screen that was nowhere near as responsive as a capacitive screen and typing was a chore, although this did improve with the Storm 2.

Now comes the new BlackBerry 9800 Torch, which is a bulky device, but the best so far from the Canadian manufacturer.

The device comes equipped with a  3.2 inch screen which looks larger than its competitors because it's square rather than long and thin. At 360 x 480 pixels, it may not be the highest resolution, but this hardly means much - after all, it's what the display looks like rather than numbers, isn't it?

With 16 million colours, it's vibrant and bright. The best thing about that screen though is that it's hugely responsive, reacting to every slight touch. This is a massive improvement over the Storm 2 with its clicky SurePress technology. Thankfully, this has been scrapped and we're now very impressed.

The screen has also affected the typing interface, too. Of course you can opt to use the hardware keyboard, but the virtual interface has been tweaked too. Slide the hardware QWERTY in and the phone will switch to the virtual QWERTY mode.

You can either type in portrait or landscape - switch between these by turning the device on its side. The accelerometer will instantly kick in and change the keyboard, making the keys larger and easier to use.

There's a text prediction tool that doesn't change words automatically like the iPhone does. It'll give you a list of words to choose from. If you don't want to change the word, just tap space. To zoom in on a letter, press and hold the sentence. A slider will appear, allowing you to scroll through the text. One letter at a time is highlighted, making it very easy to make changes.

The hardware QWERTY keyboard is a welcome addition and will make the Torch more attractive to existing BlackBerry users. The keys aren't as textured as on hardware-only devices, meaning they're not as easy to use, but still respond well.

The usual issue of the top row being slightly too close to the top section is unfortunately present, making it tricky to type fast if you have large digits.

Now, onto the biggest change: BlackBerry OS 6.0.

As everyday BlackBerry Bold 9700 users, we're massive fans of the BlackBerry OS, although it is a little glitchy on the BlackBerry Bold. BlackBerry OS 6.0 however, runs seamlessly. There's no lag when you're switching between applications or scrolling through the homescreens.

The homescreen has been completely re-mastered. There are five you can scroll through by swiping through them and they're organised into favourites, all, media, downloads and frequent. We did find the screen to be a little too sensitive when scrolling through these - sometimes an app would unexpectedly open.

The homescreen apps can be hidden by tapping on the top of the pop up box. Tap once on the bottom toolbar to access the top row of apps, or once again to view everything on that homescreen.

There are also toolbars along the top of the homescreen. The top toolbar that shows your network, signal strength and battery remaining becomes the connections control screen where you can quickly turn all connections on or off by tapping on it.

The secondary toolbar shows your notifications and expanding this will show information about alerts such as text messages and missed calls. These all feel a little Android-like, but it also means everything is easy to see and control from one place. We like it.

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