Review: BlackBerry Torch

The Torch is Research In Motion's (RIM) first smartphone with a sliding keyboard form factor. With most phones running the same software, the company's focus is on giving users the choice of a handset that ticks all the right boxes, while the software experience remains universal.

Less chance for things to go wrong, you see. Plus, switching phones doesn't mean reading a whole new manual.

On paper, the Torch is the best BlackBerry by far. The sliding form factor is really handy, especially since the phone can be used with the keyboard, both extended or retracted. An on-screen qwerty keyboard shows up and has all the same functions previous BlackBerry phones do. One annoyance is the text-correction and -prediction.

The hardware keyboard lets you type what you want, but the software version attempts to make up for touch-screen shortcomings and corrects certain words to something you didn't mean to type.

Thankfully, like most things in the BlackBerry OS, this can be turned off or reconfigured.

Still on the hardware, this is the first phone I've used where there are three separate input mechanisms. The optical trackpad can still be used to navigate menus and select items, and the hardware keyboard does its thing.

What's cool is that the capacitive touch screen can double up for either of these inputs, and switching between them isn't function-specific. Simply do what's natural.

Other than that, it'll be very familiar to those who've used the bigger BlackBerry devices before. One very noticeable thing is its size. The Torch is quite chunky. Coincidentally, it has a barely larger footprint than the Bold 9700, but it's definitely thicker and weighs more, too.

But the biggest changes are in the software. When it was unveiled, RIM made a huge fuss about the next version of its mobile OS, BlackBerry 6. Torch is the first phone to run it, with a software update releasing for some of the other BlackBerry devices later this year.

On the Torch's larger display, 'OS 6' really gets to shine. Certain parts of the OS were definitely designed for touch-screen navigation, but using the trackpad works just as well.

Compared to the look and feel of OS 5, this is definitely a step forward. There is no doubt in my mind that this is aimed at making the BlackBerry platform more accessible to normal consumers.

Business users will still be familiar with everything, though. It's all where you last left it, just with a new coat of paint and some more intuitive prompts or labels.

Initial e-mail set-up is easier, but if you're coming from an old BlackBerry, this will automatically pick up your settings - magical network syncing and BlackBerry Internet Service to thank for this.

Besides the visual changes, OS 6 has some much-needed new features and revisions. The biggest change is the Web browser.

Fun fact: the Torch is named after Torch Mobile, a company RIM acquired for its work on a WebKit-based browser. Those who've used, or are using, the BlackBerry Web browser know that it is terrible for anything beyond emergency use.

The new Web browser is fully HTML5-compliant, boasts tabbed browsing and touch-screen gestures such as pinch/stretch zooming. Using the little magnifying glass to zoom into text is the best, since it will dynamically resize text, and no longer requires you to scroll from side-to-side just to read a long sentence.

This new browser is a huge improvement and can actually be used, but it's a long way from being as good as (I hate to say it) the browser on the iPhone.

One of the new additions is 'social feeds'. This is an app that brings together all updates and messages from Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging services and RSS feeds.

What is really puzzling is how this, in a way, provides the same functionality as the unified messages mailbox. Some of the features overlap and while Social Feeds can be configured to integrate with Messages, there is no consistency between the two. It almost feels as if the two are competing for screen-time.

BlackBerry 6 also moves away from the context menu for most actions, at least on the Torch. Going into text messaging presents the user with icons along the bottom of the screen for quickly composing, deleting or replying to messages.

Previously this was hidden in the context menu but having it immediately available on the touch screen makes obvious sense for the Torch.

Stupidly, these quick icons aren't selectable using the trackpad: this does not bode well for non-touch screen phones. Please, BlackBerry, don't make us rely on context menus. We want fewer clicks to perform functions.

The best feature - without any reservations at all - is Universal Search. From the home screen, simply start typing on the keyboard. Whatever is typed will form a search query. Searching for 'Trevor' will update as you enter each letter, and present entries from contact list, e-mails, text messages and calendar entries.

Results are immediately selectable, and the phone also gives options to search for the phrase on Google or YouTube. It's the most natural and intuitive implementation of a search function I've ever used - and that goes for desktops, too.

Finally, there is a degree of customisation for the home screen. The row of icons that used to line the bottom of the display are now categorised as 'frequently used', 'favourites', 'downloads', 'media' and all. This presents five shortcut panels that can be customised with which icons they display and it lends a bit of iPhone-like navigation from the home screen.

It may be the best BlackBerry I've used - so much so, I bought one of my own - but there are some foibles. It uses the same processor as the Bold 9700, a 624MHz Marvell chip. This shows when you start doing demanding things on the phone, like zooming in on Web pages and panning around.

There are delays in these actions and even scrolling up and down through menus is slower and clunkier than many modern touch screen devices.

The display is big and clear, but has a lower resolution than all of the current high-end smartphones. I suspect this may have been a limitation introduced by the processor. A higher resolution might have slowed things down too much.

BlackBerry 6 also has a few inconsistencies and some really annoying habits. For example, is it really necessary in 2010 for my phone to require a reboot when installing or uninstalling software? During testing, I had one software freeze that required a battery-remove reboot, and more than once was I witness to a crash that automatically rebooted the system.

In my opinion, the hardware is capable enough, but we need to see some updates and fixes in OS 6. Hopefully, BlackBerry engineers remember to pay attention to the phones rather than focussing on the recently-announced PlayBook, which has a completely different operating system core.

If you love BlackBerry devices, you will love the Torch, even if just for the slick integration of the touch screen, trackpad and keyboard. Everything is shiny and new, Web browsing is great and the Universal Search is really something that will change the way you use your phone.

Newcomers to 'Berries will like the sheen and finish, but might be annoyed by some of the things longtime BlackBerry users have become used to and started ignoring.

This is the best BlackBerry yet, but it's not the best of the smartphone bunch.