Specifications:
- Service Provider: AT&T
- Operating System: BlackBerry OS
- Screen Size: 3.2 inches
- Screen Details: 360x480, 16-million-color TFT LCD capacitive touch screen
- Camera: Yes
- Network: GSM, UMTS
- Bands: 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100
- High-Speed Data: EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
- Processor Speed: 624 MHz
This is a more subtle benefit of the flame, too. Our other top AT & T phones tend to have a flashy, media-oriented brilliance that may not appeal to business customers. They also lack the QWERTY keyboard. The torch gives you a touch screen and excellent media, but with the keyboard and the BlackBerry takes serious attitude that can make it more welcome in the workplace.
BlackBerry phones still want the high-end hardware, and the flame is not an exception. The 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches (DRC), 5.7 oz torch is black and silver with a soft-touch back and a reassuring heft. The phone is plastic, although plastic is prime, I could have a little more metal. Closed, the phone fits perfectly in your hand. The screen slides up with a strong, flexible movement, according to a BlackBerry Bold-like keyboard. Just below the screen, there is now a standard BlackBerry trackpad that works as easily as ever.
There is a note a little off. The keyboard feels unusually flat. It is always a good keyboard (much easier to use the keyboard with one hand many of Android), but not the depth, separation of keys and launch BlackBerry Curve 8330 star () on the keyboard, or even make Full-click BlackBerry 9700 ($ 199.99) on the keyboard. RIM had to do this low-profile keyboard to go under the knife.
Now, about that touchscreen. 3.2-inch torch, 360 x 480 screen is a modern and sensible, a capacitive touch screen. This is not a "click-screen," as the series BlackBerry Storm. It is a touch screen that works exactly the way you expect touch screens to work. The phone is equipped with wireless connections, but are not the state of the art. The flame works on AT & T 2G and 3G foreigners. The phone also has Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n. Internet HSPA get 3.6 instead of 7.2 HSPA, meaning that Internet connections are limited to about 1.5 megabits / sec down, especially when viewed when using the torch as a modem for your PC.
The torch has a good phone voice for some strange audio characteristics. The reception was average. Headphones and speakers are both pretty hard. But repression is not a microphone, my voice came through clearly on the other side of the call, but so did all the hustle and bustle of the streets around me. And I found a half-tone telephone, a voice that goes through the headset trying to stop yelling is very small, very noticeable buzz. Well our home phone Aliph Jawbone Icon (99.95 $,), Bluetooth headset, how to start a voice call.
Time to talk for 4 hours 36 minutes, there was a great 3G phone. But like other Blackberry, I found the torch is no longer "lifetime" of the other top smartphone, I could go on for at least one and a half days without recharging.
The torch is the first device to run the new BlackBerry OS 6, which offers many new features, including desktop synchronization software. For more information on BlackBerry 6, check out our BlackBerry Revue 6.
I wanted to call an unusual feature here, but why did not RIM. RIM told me that the torch compresses all data, except to transfer the video over the airwaves to AT & T. This means that you may be able to get more web pages and messages in AT & T's $ 15/month 200 MB of data you can transfer agreement with other phones that do not compress the data.
The new operating system offers a good balance between the keyboard, trackpad, and touch screen input. You can do almost everything a couple of ways, making it the best of AT & T phone for the most comfortable to type on a keyboard so hard on a touch screen.
RIM new WebKit based web browser is a big part of the experience, and there is good news and bad news about it. The good news: There are Web sites faster and more desktop. I found the new browser 25 percent faster to pages that the browser on the BlackBerry Bold 9650 ($ 199.99), which has the same screen resolution and processor. The new browser has scored more than 10 times faster at JavaScript benchmarks. For the first time RIM has a solid browser built in.
The bad news: the browser can be a huge jump in the browser history of RIM, but is still slower than the iPhone IPhone 4 four had two or three times faster, so do the pages and the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark.
Part of the difference is clearly based on the processor and graphics: the flame using the same 624 MHz ARM11 processor class, such as bold, while 4 and Top iPhone Android phone is using a 800 MHz or GHz, Cortex-A8 processor class are twice as fast or faster. Stick to the base platform Gras helps keep the flame compatible with third-party software, however. I downloaded the BlackBerry App World applications usually worked, unless it was back in the browser (as Viigo (free), no.) Some applications do not use the touch interface, but it worked very well with the trackpad and keyboard. That said, the BlackBerry is still behind other platforms in the delivery of a wide range of applications. Although I thought the game applications, business and entertainment in the world of the application, it is not fair and much less if the Android Market or the iTunes Store.
The messages, of course, is the highlight of the phone. The official Twitter app is attractive and versatile. Twitter, MySpace and Facebook messages and IMS appears in both your inbox and a universal "social feeds" app and you can send items from the browser your camera or on Facebook or Twitter. Contacts Network Social included in your address book with a story about your communication with them. There is no easy way to merge duplicate contacts, though. And RIM devices have problems with synchronization with Microsoft accounts Exchange if you do not have a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which I discuss in the BlackBerry Revue 6.
The torch has GPS, which locks as quickly geotag photos and Twitter messages. It comes with the little annoying AT & T Maps app, but the BlackBerry Maps is available for free download. AT & T Navigator provides turn-by-turn directions for $ 10/month.
There are some other AT & T bloatware here. You can not delete, but is hidden, including AT & T Yellow Pages and hateful when applied location-based advertising apps And yes, there is a new touch-enabled version of Brick Breaker.
Multimedia and Camera Performance
For a description of BlackBerry 6's new music and video players, check out our BlackBerry 6 review. Here, we'll talk about performance on the Torch.
The Torch offers lots of media options. The device has 4GB of on-board storage and comes with an additional 4GB MicroSD card; our 16GB Kingston card also worked fine. You can sync and store your own music and videos using BlackBerry Desktop, which syncs with Windows Media Player and iTunes. You can download podcasts using the built-in client, buy music using AT&T Music, watch TV on MobiTV or PrimeTime2Go, or listen to Slacker Radio. A "Web Video Search" icon searches across several different streaming Web sites, including YouTube and ifilm.
Videos formatted using BlackBerry's desktop software or saved in QuickTime using iPhone settings looked great and played in full screen. YouTube videos, irritatingly, tended to have to buffer in the middle. Videos downloaded through PrimeTime2Go or streamed over MobiTV played smoothly over the phone's speaker, a wired headset, and a Plantronics BackBeat 903 Bluetooth headset. Face it, though: a 3.2-inch, 360-by-480 screen just doesn't give you the same cinematic experience as the larger displays on competing smartphones.
The 5-megapixel camera is a good example of the form. It's quick and responsive, though it every once in a while just forgot to focus; a software update in the middle of my testing period dramatically improved its performance, so I think the problem will be entirely fixed soon. Still images were sharp with good color, though occasionally slightly hazy. A "face detection" mode forces the autofocus to look for faces. VGA-quality videos were smooth at 24 frames per second; let's note, though, that competing phones such as the iPhone 4 can capture videos at 30 frames per second. One very neat touch: the camera added locations to filenames, such as "Queens-20100725-00043.jpg." That made filenames a little more readable than on most digital cameras.
Multimedia and camera performance
The higher the BlackBerry six new music and video players, please refer to the BlackBerry 6. Here we are talking about the performance of the torch.
Flame offers many multimedia options. The device has 4 GB of storage and comes with a 4GB microSD card added our 16GB Kingston card also worked fine. You can synchronize and store your own music videos with the BlackBerry Desktop software that syncs with Windows Media Player and iTunes. You can download podcasts using the built-in client buy music through AT & T Music, MobiTV for watching TV or PrimeTime2Go, or listen to Slacker Radio. A "Web Video Search" icon in the investigation several streaming websites like YouTube and iFilm.
Videos formatted using a BlackBerry desktop software or saved in QuickTime with the parameters of the iPhone was beautiful and play full screen. YouTube videos, irritating, tend to have a buffer in the middle. PrimeTime2Go or downloaded videos played on MobiTV to play smoothly on the speakerphone, a wired headset and Plantronics 903 Bluetooth BackBeat. Let's face it, if: a 3.2-inch, 360 x 480 screen does not give the same experience as the film shown on smartphone competitors.
The 5 megapixel camera is a good example of the form. It is fast and responsive, but sometimes forget to focus just a software update in the middle of my trial period significantly improved its performance, so I think the problem will be completely fixed soon. Still images were sharp good color, but sometimes a bit fuzzy. A "face detection" mode forces the auto-focus, looking for faces. As were smooth VGA video at 24 frames per second, but note that competing phones like the iPhone 4 can record video at 30 frames per second. A nice touch: the location of the cameras added to file names such as "Queens-20100725-00043.jpg." He did a few names more readable than most digital cameras.
Posted in: BlackBerry
