Media takeout
Unlike iOS and Windows Phone 7, transferring files onto the 9860 doesn’t involve getting up close and personal with any bespoke desktop software. Just hook it up to your computer as USB mass storage and away you go. Once loaded the Torch 9860 makes for a very fine media player with MP4, WMV and DivX/Xvid files all supported up to 720p along with MP3, AAC, WMA, Flac and Ogg Vorbis audio.
Video player
The 5Mp camera is the best I’ve encountered on a RIM handset. OK, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement but the end results are better than you will get from a mid-range 5Mp Android shooter like the Sony Xperia Play. Video can be shot at a maximum resolution of 720p/30fps with rather impressive results.
To finish with the essentials the Torch 9860 demonstrated top notch call quality both in and out-bound and it has very powerful little speaker. The large screen does have an impact on battery life but a full charge should still see you through two full days, which is more than you will get from many an Android handset. At around £380 unlocked the 9860 isn’t cheap, but with most handsets bought on contract in the UK I can’t see that hampering adoption.
An impressive battery performance keeps the Torch alight longer than most rival touchscreen handsets
Verdict
Is the BlackBerry Torch 9860 good enough to arrest RIM’s decline? On balance I'd say, yes. It’s fast, well made and mercifully free of dependency on the likes of Zune or iTunes. The UI may not be the last word in cool but it works well enough and media file support is impressive. The lack of third party apps and the absence of Flash are enough to ensure BB7 won’t lure me away from Android but it no longer feels like switching would be an excessive compromise to gain access to BlackBerry messaging services. ®
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RIM BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone
COMMENTS
BB Missing The Point?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this, but aren't RIM missing their USP here? They make good handsets with good keyboards and that's what differentiates them - only the Nokia qwerty range ever seemed to come close to the BB keyboards.
They lose the keyboard and go touchscreen....what do they have? My Android (and my old iPhone) all do email just as well (for consumers, anyway) as BB ever did. They have a wider range of (cheaper and better) apps, and with things like MSN and LiveProfile, who really needs BBM now (except kids who want it to work when they have run out of credit).
BB cannot catch-up with iOS/Android in the app market, so they must concentrate on what they do better than anyone else. And that ISN'T making touchscreen phones with no redeeming qualities.
"The large screen does have an impact on battery life but a full charge should still see you through two full days, which is more than you will get from many an Android handset"
"I can’t get too bent out of shape about the lack of text reflow and Flash support"
"because you don’t get either with iOS 5 or WinPho 7.5"
And you do on Android and Symbian. What are we aiming for here, the lowest common denominator?
Nice phone poor battery life
I have had one of these phones for the past weeek.
The phone itself is very nice to use and it is very responsive and the call quality is excellent. Having the big screen is brilliant it makes looking at the internet much easier.
The down sides I found were:
1. The signal strength is nowhere near as good as my 9700, in places where the 9700 would get a low signal but still connect ok this phone was losing the network or just not connecting at all, I took the initial phone I got back and got a replacement and a replacement sim card thinking it was faulty but it made no difference. In the end I had to get the Vodafone Sure Signal box to get a reliable connection at home.
2. The battery life. With the 9700 I can get 2 maybe 3 days if I needed too, but I recharge every night anyway so as long as I get at least 1 day then I wouldnt have been a problem. The best I got with this phone was 7 - 8 hours and that was been very very careful not to use it too much and I installed an app to switch off anything (such as wifi) off when I am not using it, prior to installing this app I got a lot less than this.
This morning I returned the phone and I have gone back to the 9700.
If battery life isnt an issue and you use the phone in areas with a good signal then this phone is excellent, unfortunatly for me it is an issue. I also realise that all big screen phones use up the battery faster than the smaller screens, but I also have an HTC wildfire and that can give me battery life into the 2 -3 days range so I think they need to think about putting a bigger battery into any future large screen phones they release and if they do then I would be very interested in trying it but as it stands having a nice phone that you cant use incase the battery goes flat is no good to me.
Browser
What's up with that browser screen?
Why are the GUI elements so big? Why on the social screen do you only see what looks like half the post in that huge ugly font?
Swing and a miss RIM... swing and a miss...
