BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review: Keeping RIM's Flame Alive
by Brian Klug on September 1, 2010 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Torch
- BlackBerry
- Mobile
Installed Applications
The rest of the platform is familiar territory. You’ve got BlackBerry App World for installing and purchasing programs, but you can also download install programs directly from links online. I installed a few BB OS 5 applications which worked fine.
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BlackBerry 6 - App World
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A word of caution though. During the first day of playing with the Torch, the browser suddenly stopped rendering all text and graphics. All that would render was formatting like tables, solid images, and CSS elements. It looked like this:
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Oops, no text?
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I reset the Torch numerous times, and eventually had to reset completely to defaults to make it work again. I’m not entirely sure if it’s related, but the browser started doing that just a few minutes after I installed a screenshot application I found online. I’m not certain they’re related, but since resetting to defaults and purchasing another application from the app world for screenshots, the browser hasn’t glitched. Until developers start testing their code on BB 6, stick to things from App World just to be careful.
To be painfully honest, App World still doesn’t feel quite as polished as either the Android Marketplace, WebOS App Catalog, or Apple’s App Store. It has top 25 and categories, as well as sorting by popularity, rating, vendor, and the like. One thing that’s nice is that App World does have more sub categories, something iOS is only now starting to embrace.
Bundled Apps
The Torch comes preloaded with a suite of applications - or does it? With the exception of Social feed applications like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter (which come completely preinstalled on BlackBerry 6) most of the other applications are really shortcuts to the internet where one downloads the real application after agreeing to some licensing and EULA.
AT&T Maps and Navigation, for example, bring you to a browser session and then download OTA to the device. Similarly, other applications like Fandango, Bloomberg, CNN, TWC, ESPN, and the rest also bring you to a web session where you then download the application. AT&T Maps and Navigation works as advertised. I tried the Torch's browser and found it got a fix as quick as I'd expect these days - both in AT&T Maps and Navigation and Google Maps.
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AT&T Maps and Navigation
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One nice thing about this approach is that it arguably makes the Torch one of the most bloatware-free smartphones on the market today - nothing is really installed, and you can hide these unwanted shortcuts. The downside is that if you really want these things, you’ll basically have to install them yourself on first launch. Depending how fast your connection is, that can be frustrating.
Other things like YouTube simply bring you to the mobile version of the website, which is a bit of a cop-out.
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s44 - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - link
RIM's release of this at price parity with the much more advanced Samsung phone indicates that they're more interested in gouging their captive user base than advancing their platform.Sivan - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - link
I don't full agree with the dichotomy of business vs. consumer mapping onto keyboard vs. touch form factors.Even Brian notes how easy it is to use the keyboard and trackpad instead of the touchscreen. A lot of users value this ease of use especially for messaging or interacting with the device efficiently. Those are not necessarily business users. A touchscreen is not a requirement for a fun BlackBerry, I'd argue that just making BlackBerry 6 available on the venerable Bold line would make most BlackBerry users very happy.
That form factor is also much more battery efficient, the smaller screen (no need for touch) as well as more internal space for a battery, and the immediately availability of the keyboard the trackpad are the small details that make the traditional BlackBerry appealing regardless of whether one is a business user or not.
jah1subs - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - link
What are the other devices promised for BB OS 6 upgrades?deputc26 - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - link
I believe the OS version should read 2.2 not 2.1King Krapp - Thursday, September 2, 2010 - link
I spy Hyperbole and a Half in the background... nice.7Enigma - Thursday, September 2, 2010 - link
Suck it Trebek!Makaveli - Thursday, September 2, 2010 - link
Anand,Why didn't you install the Youtube player off the app world.
i'm on a 9700 Bold And I never open youtube links directly in the browser its all done by the app.
Also it would be cool if you could do a browser test with Opera Mini since most people use this over the default browser.
ibex333 - Thursday, September 2, 2010 - link
This new blackberry phone really doesnt sound like much of an improvement over older BB phones...With phones avaialble like the Droid G1 or the Droid X I dont understand why anyone would want to own a Blackberry unless security is the main concern. I got my Bold 9000 because back then, it was one of the very few phones that had such a nice keyboard and looked so professional and pleasing.
Now, Droid phones are so much better in just about every way IMHO. The #1 reason for this, is hacks.... What can possibly beat playing GBA, SEGA, SNES and other older console games on your phone with perfect speed, sound and great controls via a full featured keyboard and WASD buttons? And if that's not enough, you can install thousand of other nifty apps, where the number of these apps will only increase becuase developing for Droid will in the near future be as easy as developing for Linux if it isnt that way already!
Android is every geeks dream, and I cant see Apple or Blackberry RIM even touching this wonderful platform when it comes to sheer fun factor and the multitude of possiblities. Yes, I am an Android fanboy, and iPhone and Blackberry should just go in a quiet dark corner, curl up in a fetal position and just.....die....
wolrah - Thursday, September 2, 2010 - link
You had a complaint about a lack of easy 2G/3G switch on the CDMA Android devices. I don't think this is a real issue due to how CDMA 3G works. It's the same radio in a similar operation mode, so it's not like GSM where there's an entire different radio being fired up when you use 3G. The battery savings are not likely to be notable.strikeback03 - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
In looking for ways to improve the battery life of my HTC Diamond, I found lots of people saying that the constant switching between 3G and 1x is what caused the excessive battery usage. Though in admittedly limited testing I didn't see a difference.I would imagine you can get a widget for Android to lock the device in 2G mode, should you need that functionality.