RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 review: First look

Another highlight of BlackBerry OS 6 is the customisable homescreen. There’s a bar at the bottom of the screen that allows you to swipe left and right to view your apps in five categories. These categories are pre-set to All, Favorites, Media, Downloads, and Frequent. Tap on any of these to view the apps in each category and then tap on the app icon to open the application. In Favourites, you can also add shortcuts to websites and contacts.

At the top of the homescreen, there’s a Universal Search tool – similar, but more functional than Spotlight Search on iPhone. Type in any text and the Torch will try to predict what you’re typing. The results list shows all of the contacts, messages, calendar, music, and pictures that match your search criteria, in addition to online content such as YouTube videos, apps for download from App World and Google search results.

Apparently, we can expect richer applications with the release of new APIs. Existing BlackBerry apps will be compatible with OS 6, although this is something we’ll have to confirm when we get the BlackBerry Torch in for fuller testing.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 may not have as powerful a processor as the ones found in the iPhone 4, HTC Desire or Samsung Galaxy S, but it does have the most powerful processor on a BlackBerry to date. We’ve never struggled with speed issues on previous BlackBerrys though and the Torch 9800 speeds through every function. Although we weren’t able to fully test its speed capabilities in our limited time with the phone, it seemed pretty good at handling multiple operations with its 624MHz processor.

A 4GB microSD card comes with the smartphone, but you can replace it with cards as large as 32GB if you need more storage. Battery life has also always been a main benefit of RIM’s handsets and this doesn’t look to change with the BlackBerry Torch, although we didn’t have enough time to test this at RIM's London launch event.

There’s no denying that the BlackBerry Torch 9800 could add some competition to the touchscreen smartphone race. The new OS and UI is stunning, the screen is responsive and BlackBerrys have always excelled for business users, with RIM’s BIS, BES and now BESX experience.