RIM BlackBerry Torch 9810 Review

Introduction:

Last year, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 was by far the most touted device out of RIM’s camp mainly due to its new form factor and updated platform experience. It was expected to be a rival of other high-end smartphones at that time, but unfortunately (for RIM), it was unable to establish itself as a phone capable of reeling in new users.

One year older and wiser, RIM unleashes its obvious successor in the face of BlackBerry Torch 9810 for AT&T, which is hopeful in making a bigger splash than its predecessor thanks to its upgraded hardware and OS. Will it be enough to bring back any glint of prominence to this still relatively new BlackBerry line?

The package contains:

• RIM BlackBerry Torch 9810
• Hands-free 3.5mm stereo headset
• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Polishing Cloth
• Quick Start Guide
• Safe and Product Information Booklet

Design:

Not hiding it at the very bit, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 recycles the design of its predecessor in every way except for the new paint job it’s sporting -  which is a black and silver trim this time around.  The Torch 9810 is clearly  not one of RIM’s most iconic devices, utilizing a mostly plastic casingwith some metallic accents. Far from being charming, the Torch 9810 has the same weighty (5.68 oz) feel in the hand – albeit, it doesn’t seem too overbearing in size.


Although it’s not the first time we’ve seen successive devices relying on older designs, it still would have been nice to see some subtle changes to give it the illusion of being a different handset altogether. Recycling the design of the original is actually hurting the Torch 9810 mainly because it’s going to have some difficulty in shedding its predecessor’s missed expectations.


You can compare the RIM BlackBerry Torch 9810 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Turning on the handset, we’re greeted with the first recognizable improvement – its 3.2” display now features higher VGA resolution   (480x640 pixels), which translates to a pixel density of 253 ppi. Naturally, there’s some progress made seeing that details are more sharp looking than before – but still, pixel density is not world's best. It is able to display some luscious looking colors that retain their vividness – though,  fading at extreme angles can be noted. Finally, we’re still left finding ourselves shielding it occasionally while under the presence of the gazing sun.



As we’ve mentioned a few times, the Torch 9810 retains its predecessor’s design – meaning, we find the same set of buttons and ports . One of the more notable items that we continue to find refreshing is the optical trackpad, which appears to be one of the hallmarks of any BlackBerry smartphone. It provides an easier way of positioning the cursor into an exact spot – as opposed to fumbling around touching the display to get it into the correct position.


It’s not to say that we fell in love with the Torch’s keyboard, but we were yet again hoping to see some sort of discrete change with the Torch 9810. So whether you loved or hated it, the same exact keyboard is back with this one. Indeed, it’s not the best one that RIM produced -  buttons are tiny in size and stiff to the touch. With this combination, it definitely impedes our rate of inputting text, but for those with plenty of patience, they’ll find it to be usable for most occasions.



Granted that we find the same 5-megapixel auto-focuscamera with an LED flash in the rear, it’s worth noting that the Torch 9810 can now actually shoot 720p high-definition videos – whereas the original was limited to VGA video capture. Finally, sliding off the flimsy plastic rear cover, we’re given access to its unoccupied microSD card slot, SIM card slot, and its slightly reduced 1,270 mAh battery.

Interface:

Strange to say it now, but this is what RIM should’ve produced from the onset with the original BlackBerry Torch 9800.  Thankfully, the Torch 9810 is packing some remarkably better hardware under the hood in the form of a speedy 1.2GHz  single core processor with 768 MB of RAM. However, it seems rather underpowered in an age where dual-core CPUs are all the rage nowadays  Nonetheless, we’re content with its performance mainly due to the ridiculously more responsive execution that it exhibits.

We can cry about the single-core CPU on this one, but we’re more concerned with the platform performance. And rightfully so, OS 7 with RIM’s so-called Liquid Graphics Technology is able to provide a sensual experience that’s not only responsive, but far more improved in handling the needs of power users. Come to think of it, we’re impressed the most by its adaptive response, which is even supplemented by its extremely tight execution. Still, there are things that leave us desiring for more with BlackBerry OS 7. On the surface, it hasn’t changed much over the previous version seeing that the homescreen is laid out in the same manner. At its core, OS 7 continues to exude the fundamental characteristics of previous versions of BlackBerry OS with its layered, menu driven, and sometimes clunky feel. In the end, it’s not innovating at the rapid rate we want to see it at, but more importantly, we’re just about ready to move on ahead and eagerly awaiting to accept QNX as the premier BlackBerry OS .



Functionality:

Slow and steady is the way to go when using the Torch 9810’s physical keyboard, but as an alternative, you can always resort to using its on-screen options. Sporting a new layout that offers a little bit more space between its rectangular sized keys, we’re content with the overall experience – but we’re not kidding when we say space is undoubtedly a luxury with this one. Besides the compact layout, we dig its responsive action when speed typing. Luckily, the Torch 9810 does an okay job with auto-correction, but equally as appreciated, we like that misspelled words are underlined to inform us of our mistakes – thus, offering suggestions when they’re selected. In addition to the full QWERTY layout, other options include the reduced (multi-tap) and SureType keyboards.



What can we say about email on the Torch 9810? For starters, it’s what you’d expect out of any BlackBerry, which is a fantastic experience that caters to the needs to power users with push email support. As much as we adore its intuitive and straightforward nature, we’d still like to see some features like threaded conversations to organize things just a bit more.

Launching any of the Torch 9810 organizer apps, there are no major changes with any of them. With the Calendar app, we’re able to synchronize things from our Gmail and Facebook accounts, which are actually color-coded to better distinguish appointments. Besides being able to set alarms from within the Clock app, we’re also given access to other secondary apps like the stopwatch and timer. Additionally, there is an option to enable bedside mode, which allows the clock to be displayed while preventing incoming calls or messages from popping up. Some of the other organizer apps on board with the handset include the Calculator, MemoPad, Tasks, and Voice Notes Recorder.

Camera:

Well what do you know? There’s nothing different with the camera interface of the Torch 9810! Naturally, most of the layout is reserved for the viewfinder – with some finger-friendly sized buttons lining the bottom edge. Aside from the healthy amount of scene modes available, there is nothing else that’ll entice photo buffs.


So how’s the quality with the 5-megapixel shooter? To tell you the truth, it’s average  Details are on the soft side with outdoor shots, but thankfully they’re passable enough since they don’t appear to be too muddy for our taste. And even though it tends to appear over-exposed at times, we have to applaud it for the distinctive colors it’s able to produce. However, things sour when shooting in areas of low lighting because it’s seriously riddled by some graininess and digital noise. The LED flash is illuminating the environment, but details are lost in the process due to the over-exposed results.

Call it a long time coming, but 720p video capture is seemingly a nice change in scenery with most of RIM’s smartphones. Outdoors, we’re happy to see some nice looking visuals that are captured at the smooth rate of 30 frames per second, but equally as important, continuous auto-focus allows us to shoot without the worry of things being blurred. However, we consistently find that same over-exposed look to our videos. Conversely, there’s a ton of noise found with in videos taken in areas of low lighting. We’re happy to find audio recording crystal clear in every situation either way.

RIM BlackBerry Torch 9810 Sample Video:



RIM BlackBerry Torch 9810 Indoor Sample Video:



Multimedia:

At this point in the review, we’re getting a feel that very little has been done visually to OS 7 because the music player is unchanged as well. We do like its smoot looking coverflow-esque presentation, however, it would’ve been intricately useful to find some sort of mini-player, so we do not have to  run the music player to execute any functions. Audio quality through the speaker is decent  with its average volume output.



Victory at last, but the BlackBerry Torch 9810 is able to play up to 720p high definition videos this time around – rather than the diminutive VGA ones from before. Loading videos encoded in MPEG-4, DivX, and XviD 1280 x 720 resolution, it’s able to play them back smoothly without any fluff.


So here’s one of the gripes we have with this “modernized” BlackBerry – it still lacks in the multimedia sharing front! Meaning, it doesn’t offer any sort of DLNA functionality out of the box, but at the same time, it misses out on having any physical connection in the form of a microHDMI port. Sadly, these are some common items that are increasingly becoming typical amongst its rivals – so it’s rather depressing to see the BlackBerry Torch 9810 still missing out on all the fun.

Rather than supplying a microSD card of some size, RIM decided to grace the Torch 9810 with 8GB of internal storage this time – while leaving its microSD card slot unoccupied. Without a doubt, you can supplement it with cards up to 32GB in capacity.

Internet and Connectivity:

Sheesh! Call it a long time in the making, but RIM is finally making some headway in the web browsing department with its new generation handsets. With its predecessor, it finally brought aboard a useable WebKit based web browser, but the experience was marred by some inconsistencies with the reflowing of text and rendering pages when zooming. Of all things, the most recognizable improvement we see is the wickedly responsive navigational controls. Actually, it boasts one of the smoothest experiences we’ve seen on a smartphone thus far with its fluid kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming. Unfortunately, it still lacks Flash support.



There’s no arguing about it, but global travelers will take a liking to the BlackBerry Torch 9810 seeing that it’ll work in just about any location across the globe. It’s the  first BlackBerry  on AT&T’s lineup to offer  14.4 Mbit/s HSPA connectivity.  Additionally, it sports the usual set of complementary connectivity items like aGPS, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi.

Software:

Without a doubt, business and enterprise users will be entertained by the notable features on the Torch 9810, but we find the availability of Document To Go to be especially useful seeing that it offers the ability to create and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. On the other end of the spectrum, other users will adore its continued open embracement of social networking with apps like Facebook and Twitter available – plus, the Social Feeds app adds support to other things like RSS feeds. Moreover, being the AT&T branded device it is, we find the carrier’s presence with apps like AT&T FamilyMap, myAT&T, AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T Navigator, and AT&T Maps. Lastly, it crams quite a few different third party apps that are preloaded as well – such as YPmobile, Fandango, The Weather Channel, and Wikitude.

Performance:

Listening to our callers through the earpiece, we’re glad to say that voices have a neutral, yet distinctive tone to them with its accompanying ample volume. However, our callers can’t say the same thing since voices have a robotic tone on their end of the line. Moreover, we’re not convinced with the sounds produced by the handset’s speakerphone - we’re able to comprehend most words that are uttered but voices are more muffled in tone .
Signal strength appears to be solid with the BlackBerry Torch 9810 since it’s able to put up a healthy set of bars in high coverage areas within the greater Philadelphia region during our testing.

Not surprisingly, BlackBerry smartphones are heavily known far and wide for offering stellar battery life thanks to their optimization and push support. And rightfully so, the Torch 9810 continues the streak with its better than average results. In our testing, we got 8.3 hours of continuous talk time out of a full charge, which is better than the 5.9 hours rated by the manufacturer. Furthermore, we’re pleased with its everyday performance seeing that it’s able to last a solid one day of heavy usage that consists of plenty of web surfing, emailing, texting, and the occasional phone call.

Conclusion:

In all honesty, this is exactly what the original model should’ve been like from the beginning.
In an age of dual-cores, the 1.2GHz single-core CPU of the Torch 9810 isn’t quite as captivating, and combining the fact that it recycles the original’s design in every way, it lacks any WOW factor. Besides the faster performance of OS 7 that we’re seeing, there’s nothing dramatically different or new to warrant existing Torch 9800 owners to make the jump. Unfortunately, BlackBerry Torch 9810 is a device that’s already behind the curve from day one.

Software version of the reviewed unit:
BlackBerry OS version:  v7.0.0.261

RIM BlackBerry Torch 9810 Review: