Here are my initial impressions of the new Blackberry Torch 9810.
This is my 4th blackberry, after the 8700, Curve 8310, and up until this purchase, the Curve 8900. Note that is my first 3G phone, so my experiences may be old to some (probably most!) users here.
There were two primary reasons for getting the phone, i. the old 8900 was starting to become painfully slow, and ii. my Playbook was so slow when tethered to the 8900 it was useless.
I was thinking of getting either the 9900 or the 8910, but I liked the smaller form factor and the larger screen just slightly more.
If I already had a 3G phone, I might’ve waited until QNX, but I couldn’t wait anymore.
After much excited anticipation, I purchased the Torch2 on Friday, August 12th from the Wireless Wave in Costco (Richmond, BC) location.
Here are my thoughts:
SCREEN PROTECTOR
The first accessory I purchased was a ZAGG Invisishield. I wouldn’t normally buy one these things as I like the ‘naked’ feel, but I might sell it if the QNX phones are that much better (I certainly would not put one of these things on my Playbook). I bought one at the ZAGG kiosk at the mall, and let an experienced person put one of those things on. I have the dexterity of a 5 year old and probably wouldn’t have any luck in installing this product properly. Not sure if I like it. Better to be protected than sorry I guess.
I also ordered the AGF Endo GRT case from Crackberry. Hopefully, it’s not going to add too too much bulk to the device.
EXPERIENCE IN TRANSFERRING DATA FROM CURVE8900 TO TORCH 8910
Walk in the park. Seriously.
Previously, I simply synced my BB with MS Outlook, but manually had to transfer my ringtones, graphics, etc. to the phone. This time, I made a backup of my old BB, and restored the data to my new device. I also moved my 8GB memory card to the 9810. Seamless! Contacts, graphics, ringtones, messages- all on my new device! Things couldn’t get more simple than that.
NAVIGATING THE BB INTERACE
As expected, compared to my 8900, the 9810 is twenty million times faster. Well, maybe not that much, but you get my point.
The Touch Screen certainly makes the navigation of the BB UI EXTREMELY easy. It is great that you can access an application from the home screen by pressing on only one or two icons. I especially like the fact that you can still continue to navigate using the trackpad.
The tactile keyboard of the BB, while much better than the touchpad of any device I’ve used, doesn’t hold a candle to any of the keyboards that I’ve used in my previous Blackberries. I have to say that the 9900 keyboard is probably one of the keyboards I’ve ever used.
Another thing that I’m going to miss is being able to access applications quickly via keyboard shortcuts. I used to hit L, and the calendar would appear. C- I can quickly compose a message. K will lock my keyboard. And I can call any of 25 unique contacts by simply pressing and holding one of the keys. For me, sliding out that keyboard is way too much effort for something as simple as dialing a number! It’s now at least two keystrokes. Call button, and I can assign 9 speed dials on the number button. Life will be tough if you have more than 9 friends!
BROWSING THE WEB
Unsurprisingly, browsing the web is certainly much nicer experience on the Torch2 compared to my older Curves. Compared to my iPod Touch though, I don’t think the experience on the Torch2 is as good as my iPod. If I needed to surf for longer periods of time, I’d use my Playbook!
PLAYBOOK
OK, this is one of the biggest reasons as to why I bought a new phone. I was hoping that the speed of my browser would be good enough such that I have ‘internet on the go’. On the way home from work today, I pulled into a residential neighbor, and tethered my Playbook to my 9810. I must say that I am EXTREMELY pleased by the performance! (note that it probably doesn’t take much too impress someone with a non 3G phone after all of these years). I loaded a few of my favorite webpages (including crackberry), and the pages loaded in a decent amount of time.
I fired up speedtest.net on my Playbook, and got the following results:
Ping: 199
Download Speed: 1.16Mbps
Upload Speed: 0.54 Mbps
Doesn’t sound like much. But for all intents and purposes, it looks like I can surf the net well on my Playbook away from home/work.
I’ve also noticed that my Playbook no longer drops the connection (or at least it didn’t in the 20 minutes that I was testing out the internet connection).
One thing that I have noticed when tethered is that I can’t seem to access App World. The other apps have no problems accessing the internet.
ANNOYING THINGS / ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED
The most annoying thing is that I can’t get my 9810 to connect to UMA/TalkSpot/Wi-Fi calling. I use this feature frequently (my cell phone is my only phone). I hope Rogers addresses this soon as I don’t like relying on Skype.
I’ve also noticed that when I click on some hyperlinks using the touch screen, they do not open. Curiously, I’m able to open them when I either use the trackpad, or click on hold on the hyperlink, then click OPEN.
CONCLUSION
36 hours later, I’m giving the Blackberry Torch 9810 9 stars out of 10. I’m loving this thing!
Hope this helps!