[cbfan123]

I had some free time today and decided to go the AT&T store to play with the OS7 devices: Torch (white and silver), Bold, and just for grins, Curve. My upgrade isn't until March, and I haven't decided whether I'll go for the Bold or Torch, so I wanted to see how they felt in the hand. Anyway, I'll just cut right to the Opera Mini shootout.

Both the Bold and Torch (silver) were on HSPA with all apps closed except for the default ones. I typed in crackberry.com and press enter on both devices. The Torch loaded the website at "normal" speeds while the Bold really lagged. I thought it was a fluke and tried it again. Same result. I also tried CB's sister site, iMore, and the results were the same.

The issue didn't seem to be the connection speed but rather Opera itself on the Bold. I don't know what other settings were in place with each phone, so I don't know what other factors contributed to the difference in one device loading the page much faster.

I did the same with white Torch and did a similar test, and much like the Bold, it was also very slow in loading Crackberry as compared to the silver Torch. I was very much confused with the results. Just to add to it, the Curve loaded Crackberry just fine. It did not sputter like the Bold or the white Torch.

A question for the Bold and white Torch owners: does Opera run slow on your device?

Other observations not related to the shootout.

* keyboard on the white Torch is mushy like the 9700 not clicky like the silver Torch. However, the 4 action keys (call, BB, back, end call) on the white Torch didn't seem quite as easy to press compared to the silver.

* the touchscreen on the Torches seem more sensitive than the Bold. "Clicking" on the touchscreen for the Bold needed a slightly firmer press.

Mods, I apparently double posted, please delete this thread.