[CanadianThomas]

hi all. i own and love a playbook and currently own a BB 9860. im not a fan of the touch keyboard on it in landscape or portrait mode and am currently offering to trade my 9860 for a 9900 hopeing to find someone who wants the full touch screen. well, no takers yet but i have been offered a mint 9810. i only paid 200 for my 9860 so value is not the point here, functionality is. is the keyboard in the 9810 good enough or does its smaller size make it a pain u live with? im prepaired to wait till i get a 9900 but do you think someone like me who is not liking the touch keyboard will find the 9810 good enough. im really considering it as i came from the iphone world and i do like having as big a screen as i can have, making me think i might like the 9810 a bit more overall.

any thoughts?

[ddlax22]

hi, i have the 9800 which is the same exact thing minus the upgraded processors. the keyboard is significantly smaller than that of the 9900's. the 9900 is huge keyboard speaking and theres no comparison. i text a lot and i have absolutely no issues with the keyboard size of the 98xx. i love having the big touchscreen, physical keyboard and trackpad. the torch is a great overall phone and the keyboard, honestly, isn't as bad as people may make it out to be. i type very fast on it.

btw~ sorry for typing errors, on my pb and of course, no autocorrect

[jafobabe]

I have the 9810 for the physical and vertual keyboard and more screen, along with the auto focus camera.
I do type with my fingernails, on all my stuff including the PC, so it doesn't bother me.

I did look into the 9900 but it was too big for my hands, but would be a best choice for others, since now the 9900 has wi-fi hotspot too!

The only thing lacking in the 9900 is the auto focus camera, and in the 9810 is the hotspot..... choices choices....
But I think you would be more happy with the 9900. JMHO

[CanadianThomas]

is the camera on the 9810 that much better than the 9900? i have a 4 year old and this might be the deal breaker. better keyboard vs better camera and bigger screen. hmmm

[Chaddface]

I went from a 9000 to the 9800. An impulse buy at the time. The smaller keyboard took a few days to get used to but now it's second nature. I hardly ever use the on screen keyboard. You can set the two keyboards independently. For instance I have atuo complete on the virtual but nothing on the hard keyboard. With the larger touch screen I still can't decide if I want the 9810 or 9900. I like it. You should stop by a cell store and get one in your hands. See how it feels.

[jafobabe]

I debated between the 9810, 9850/60 too, but I need my physical keyboard.
The camera on the 9810 does have auto focus... don't know if it is actually better than the 9900 otherwise.

I agree with Chaddface, you will have to go down and get it in your hands to see what feels best for you..

[ALToronto]

I have a 9810, and I love it. Unless you have huge hands, you should have no problems with the smaller keyboard. The camera is top-notch, and the large screen is great. I never use the on-screen keyboard, and I have the phone set up so that as soon as I slide out the keyboard, I type in my password, no extra keystrokes.

I also have the option to slide out the keyboard to answer a phonecall, and then if I have to look up some information during the call, I don't risk messing it up (like hitting mute, or turning off the speaker mode) because I use the physical keyboard to look up the info.

The only person I know who had trouble with the keyboard was a friend who loves her artificial fingernails, and gets them done so they stick out 1/4" past her fingertips.

[HybridGT]

It all comes down to personal preference

[jamesharmeling]

Go down to your local cell shop and play with one. Hands in is the only true test. (I could explain what a steak taste like, BUT......)

[jafobabe]

Well looks like the count is in.....

yer just gonna haveta get out of your jammies and put on street clothes, and go down to the store!!! LOL

[sushistew]

i love my torch, gotta have a keyboard.

[ErnM]

It all comes down to personal preference

Yup personal preference. i went from the 9700 to the 9800 so the keyboards exactly the same with the virtual keyboard as a bonus for the 98xx. Like me i'm sometimes lazy to slide the screen to access the keyboard. But i usually make more mistakes with the virtual keys since their a bit on the small side.

[sleepngbear]

I have a month-old 9810 that is currently sitting idle because I made the mistake of test-driving a 9900 at the toy phone store. I also had a 9800 for a year before that. In my opinion, the 9900 keyboard blows the Torch's away. If you do more texting, emailing or other messaging, 9900 is the way to go, especially if you'll be using the PlayBook with it. That's the combo I've got and I couldn't be happier with it. But the 9810 is a great phone as well, and if you really prefer the larger display, you probably won't be disappointed with that, either.

[Jeovex]

My family, we all upgraded to a BB family plan at the same time, so I have a 9900 and a 9810 in my household. I own the 9810 and it is amazing. It is the perfect balance for a BlackBerry. It has a decent keyboard and a rather large screen for a BlackBerry.

I decided not to go with the full touch screen as I find when using a virtual keyboard, I am not very accurate (though I have gotten better). I think my thumbs are quite large so it may be that. But I like that I have the option of interface, if its a short 2 word text or reply of some sorts, I can keep the keyboard in its place and use the onscreen one, like if I'm on the crowded bus, or its cold (winter is coming) and such situations.

However if I need to be productive and write sentences for longer texts and emails (or ESPECIALLY for password entry, the stupid onscreen keyboard is a nightmare for that) I just pop out the physical keyboard and voila!

Also if I'm going to use a touchscreen, I'd rather have a large one.

One more thing:
I feel like the shape of the torch just makes it amazing at 2 things:
-Taking pictures (you hold it sideways like a real Camera and use the God-blessed convenience key to snap the pic.
-Playing media (the volume up/down, next/previous song, pause/play button placement makes listening to media (especially music) a joy and you can relax on the ride without having to unlock your screen and such.

Well these are most of the reasons I chose the 9810 over the 9900 when it was my turn to choose, but I will say the 9900 has the best keyboard ever. Once you get used to the 9810's, its pretty good too.

[azrin640]

Go with the Torch, easy to type even with big fingers, you'll be used to it in no time, autofocus camera with big screen, portable hotspot . Looks nice too.

Also, if I'm not mistaken for pb 2.0 you can use Torch keyboard to type to pb via bluetooth.

[Jeovex]

Also, if I'm not mistaken for pb 2.0 you can use Torch keyboard to type to pb via bluetooth.

If so, February just got cooler

[CanadianThomas]

i posted this on another thread i have but it belongs here as well. i typed it on the new phone, so cool, and used bridge to copy paste from notes on my playbook. lol. too cool.

Well. I finally made the decision and bought a Torch 9810. I do find the keyboard a bit of a compromise when compared to the 9900 but on its own its great, not amazing but very, very good. But what sold me on the 9810 vs 9900 is the bigger screen and the better camera. The camera is a smaller point but it is one, the real issue was the screen.

My first comparisons were all keyboard vs keyboard and the 9900 won each time. But when I compared the two phones on all levels I found the 9810 won all areas except the keyboard, and it was close. I found the screen on the 9810 way better especially when closed and in portrait mode. And being able to slide and have the real keys is great. Camera is better with the real auto focus. Its not too big a deal but its a good thing for a dad like me.

I found it came down to me needing more touch screen then the 9900 offered while still having a proper keyboard, unlike the 9860, a phone I did not like. I was never the biggest fan of the touch screen keyboards on my iphones but the blackberry one is real bad.

So in the end I have the best set up for me. A touch phone with real keys and a killer playbook to make it compete. Man I love my blackberry's.

Side note. Adding a big mico sd card helps. Now, all I need is a dash mount for the playbook, fill my big memory card with tunes and life will be complete.

[jafobabe]

WTG!!! I'm so happy that you finally have the phone for you!! the 9810 is an awesome machine and it continues to amaze me daily. I also have the biggest SD card that it will hold.. never gonna be a worry for me that it gets full LOL

Well done