105 Blackberry Torch 9800 – App Hardware

Click to watch video on YouTube

Video Transcript: 105 Blackberry Torch - App Hardware

Judging by the thousands of people that have watched our Blackberry Torch preview, this is one phone that got quite some anticipation building around it. You might have seen it in the week’s previous app reviews, but what about the phone itself. Excellent or dreadful? Watch on.

Hardware wise, you’re looking at both a QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen - a better touchscreen than the Storm thanks to the fact it’s not clicky, but a slideout QWERTY keyboard that is fiddlier than you’ll find on a lot of BlackBerry handsets. The bigger excitement though is that it’s the first handset to be released with Blackberry 6, RIM’s new operating system. It’s noticeably slicker than previous versions - from the home screen you can flick to the right to see your favourites, media, downloads and frequently used apps . There’s also a search function always available from the home screen. This not only searches your phone and the web, including emails and search history, but provides options for searching within certain apps, such as YouTube and the location app Poynt.

Web browsing is the best it’s ever been on a Blackberry phone. Web pages are rendered pretty well - you’ll want to use the pinch to zoom function though, as the screen itself isn’t massive. According to Blackberry there’s tabbed browsing, although the absence of any visible tabs makes me think they should have come up with a different name. Instead, tap this button up here and you’ll be able to scroll through your various pages.

Finally, Blackberry 6 brings the Social Feed, which is an idea that’s been touted by everyone from Samsung to Microsoft and involves pulling in feeds from Facebook, Twitter and RSS and integrating them into one list. It’s nice, but it’s not revolutionary. The Torch is a good solid phone, and the new OS means it should appeal to more than your average serious business man. It’s also got enough bells and whistles to be more than just a Blackberry Messenger machine for the kids - in fact, it could be just the phone you’re looking for. Keep an eye out for the best apps to take advantage of it in the next few weeks.