One of the biggest players in the smartphone industry, Blackberry has been given a reality check due to the massive popularity of the iPhone and the continued and growing success of the Android operating systems bringing a whole new range of competition to the smart phone market. The company is at a pivotal point where it needs to either evolve or be left behind by the other players, and the Torch is Blackberry's newest attempt to prove that it's trying hard to stay in the game and provide a feature rich and powerful smartphone experience.
Style and Design
The Blackberry design is iconic and obvious, and it's something that let's you recognise a Blackberry phone instantly. However, the Torch has done something dramatic with the design for the first time in a long while, opting for a slide phone design.
The slide design on the Torch gives the screen more room to breath, allows for easier touch control and generally makes the phone look more like other smart phones created in the last few years, while still maintaining that all important element of every Blackberry phone - the keyboard.
The keyboard hasn't suffered from the slide design, thankfully, and its still just as easy to type on and responsive as it has been in older Blackberry models.
Features and Software
A newly revamped operating system means that while the Torch doesn't have much in the way of new ideas or a single exciting standout feature, it's new version of the Blackberry OS has meant that a huge amount of effort has gone into making the standard smart phone features work that little bit faster, are accessed that little bit easier and that the overall experience is more pleasurable.
Amongst the more exciting changes are an easier to use app store and a much more user friendly media player, but the biggest change for the Torch and new OS is the browser, which has finally been brought into modern times. Previously the weak link on blackberry phones, using the internet on the Blackberry Torch 3G Orange is simple, easy and intuitive, thanks to the removal of the old browser and the addition of a brand new webkit version.
The camera on the torch is 5 MP offering that takes good but not amazing pictures. It's another thing that benefits from the upgrade on the software side and it's a 'good enough' camera in its own right, but if you were expecting Blackberry to capitalise on the poor quality of the iPhone camera by offering a stunning substitute, you'll be underwhelmed by the photo and video capabilities of the camera this time around.
Despite that, the Torch is a great phone. The design changes to accommodate a bigger touch screen have made sense, the keyboard is still a joy to use and the new software updates make the overall experience with the phone simpler and faster and proves that Blackberry are still very much committed to staying right up with the top players in the smartphone market.
