BlackBerry Torch 9850
Phone Scoop Review
Sep 7, 2011 by Eric M. Zeman
Research In Motion's newest touch phone might be the BlackBerry that RIM's fanatics have been waiting for. Can the Torch 9850 fan the flames of desire in the CrackBerry faithful? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Perfect Touchscreen Business Device
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So why did I give this a high rating? Because it is the perfect device for ME.
I own a small business and I need to stay connected to the world. My priorities are reliable email and messaging, decent battery life, ability to customize it to my liking, and a phone that actually works. Yes, Androids and iPhones do all this too...
BUT...Blackberries allow me to communicate better and with less fuss than any other smartphone out there.
Pros:
-push email and messaging just plain work better. LED lights alert you and you have 1 touch access to email inboxes unlike the iPhone for example. This phone is a communication powerhouse 1st, Toy 2nd.
-Call quality and speakerphone are loud and clear
-love the trackpad. Especially useful when web browsing
-Fast, smooth!
-Extra screen real estate is appreciated
-can get through a day of good use without a charger
-Most polished BB OS yet. Icons look nothing like the cave art line drawings of the BB5 OS.
-Camera is far improved over the Storms. Less blurry shots indoors, and HD vid added
Cons:
-Surepress is gone. I loved it and will miss it. Now I make more mistakes.
-lock button is now located top center which is then covered by my holster?
-If you like themes, there aren't any for BB7 yet
-Higher learning curve than iPhones, the reward for mastering it is that you can customize it far more though.
undecided:
-Plastic scratch resistant screen? Have a screen protector and case. Hope it holds up over time
-BBX Superphones due in 2012. Did I waste an upgrade for this. Will I like QNX? unknown at this point.
Conclusion:
If your priorities are 4G to stream your video, the biggest screen out there, OLED displays, dual processors, or 1 billion apps to choose from look elsewhere because if you got this phone you screwed up and didn't do your homework looking for the best phone out there for you.
If you value a great communication device with good battery life get a Blackberry. Need the large touchscreen. This is the device for you!
From a BB user!
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After the storm1 and storm2 and every other BB I have used, RIM has finally stepped it up! This phone works great, I have absolutely no issues going on, no battery pulls, etc. Great camera and video recorder and extras to go along with the best push email in the business. This phone mixes entertainment with business and does it well! More memory, fast processor and I love being able to use it in one had, feels great.
Awesome Phone!
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This phone is lightening fast. It is a major upgrade from the Curve. It does have flash and it works well. It has great touch sensitivity and is easy to operate. It isn't fair comparing this phone to an iPhone or the Evo. If you want one of those get them. If you want a fast Blackberry with a great display, this is your phone. If your fingers are too small for a Blackberry keyboard then this is definitely your phone! This phone is like having an Android phone, yet still having the Blackberry feel and screens. Nicely built and solid!
Pros: Huge display, touch interface (don't have to push screen in like the old Verizon Storms), Battery life is great, especially considering the size of the display.
Cons: Not sure I like the buttons on the bottom of the phone. Wish they were the capacitive buttons. (hard to get used to using touch integration then having to physically push one of the menu buttons in). It's a stretch but I wanted to put something under cons.
VERY NICE!
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PROS:
Breathtaking Graphics
Fantastic email setup/pushed messages
Very Responsive OS 7
Pinch and Zoom works well on websites/pictures
Excellent sounding media players with fantastic controls and features
International capability
CONS:
Still lacks flash.
Battery life is fair at best
Screen is smaller than iphone and HTC Touch
Screen portrait to landscape is slightly buggy
Should have been 8 mpx camera instead of 5
Coming from an all QWERTY keyboard Blackberry user, this is a major step to an all touch screen and may not be practical for daily heavy typing. Having said that, this is a great phone and will be very popular with young people and a few business owners like me with a young heart but I think most corporate users will opt for the Blackberry Bold or the iphone.
Big Improvement and Great Phone
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I had been considering a switch to the iphone or droid but after testing them out decided to give this phone a shot first. I'm glad I did.
Pros:
-Much faster than previous gen BB and faster than most quality phones.
-Comparable with most of the higher end phones in performance
-Very well built...feels solid.
-Touch screen is well done and resolution is fantastic! Screen feels sticky at first however after using it for a day it is very smooth.
-Camera works well enough and have taken some good pics for a phone in various light conditions.
-GPS locks on in seconds and is very accurate
-messaging is second to none
-good UI with options customizing
-Call quality is better than previous BB but not as good as some phones. Even so, it is still above average and signal strength is very good so far.
-best feeling phone on the market when held in landscape.
Undecided: the buttons at the bottom are strange to use in combination with the touch screen however I think I am beginning to get used to them and actually may like them especially in low light conditions.
Cons:
-Battery life is good but not great. I can make it through a day of moderate use but the battery is 10% at end of day. It is average to slightly above average for a touch screen phone.
-Lack of apps...should get better since OS7 was just released.
-typing in portrait is tough if you have large hands.
Best Touch Screen BB Yet!
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Let me start by letting everyone know that this review is based on my experiences with the 9850, as well as the 9550 and 9530 (Storm 2 and Storm respectively) This phone is exactly where BB needed to go to keep themselves afloat, while it's not anything ground breaking, it's keeping up with the times. As I write this review the BB 10 has been released in the US for only a few days and I certainly plan on buying that up at my next upgrade. What prompted me to write this review after owning this phone for over a year now is that I finally killed it! Not that I was trying too by any means, but in that year my friends have gone through several iPhones and HTC devices (which to me seem to be made to break) But never my Blackberry! I've dropped it in the sand, flooded it with beer, dropped it in a big spill of mustard ( I'm a restaurant manager), flew off the roof of my car, dropped face down in degreasing floor cleaner, you name it. What finally killed it was being slammed in the trunk (in between the rubber weather stripping and the actual lid of the trunk) taken a good 10 miles down the highway and then drove through the car wash. It was covered in bubbles and water (smelled great) it worked for the rest of that night and in the morning only the front buttons were dead! This might not be the coolest phone out there, but it's definitely the "Nokia" of modern day smart phones. As long as BB keeps up their build quality like this I will continue to buy their products for life!
Goodbye Driod, HELLO BB!!
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First, let me preface this review by stating that this is not a work phone for me, I don't use it for my business, and I don't know if I ever will (probably not since I work in healthcare), but even though I don't use it how the majority of BB owners use theirs, I can't get over how much easier my life has become since owning this phone. This phone makes communication easy, and communication should be easy; it's a phone for goodness sake, and lately I have not had the pleasure of owning something so well thought out and easy to use. Android phones and iPhones are great, don't get me wrong, but I find them to be a stressful way to stay organized and communicate with people. The Torch is exactly what people should by if they don't mind the touch screen instead of the keyboard. That would be the only "complaint" for me is that sometimes touch screens are a bit frustrating, but I just love this phone.
excellent bb choice
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Picked up this phone on launch day. Was sad to see some of my fav apps not available. Themes, as well as many useful apps are now available since os 7 has been out for a while now.
con:
Miss the blackberry keyboard. This is my only regret about this phone. I loved the blackberry keyboards and was able to type very fast without looking at phone.
not 4g, but not really a problem since Sprints data is very reliable and speedy for me.
pros: large screen, great battery life (a full day of heavy use), led notifications (bebuzz too), alarms/ calendar/ tasks that bb phones are notorious for-- extremely productive phone. I have a single click ram optimizer app, takes great photos. In the many months Ive had this, only a few were blurry. Lots of cool cases: incipio, amzer, RIM, etc.
Ive heard many people complain about the plastic screen as well as physical buttons. I love both. I put a screen protector on day 1, as well as a case. Ive thrown this phone around, had it drop a few times, and no issues whatsoever. Ive seen a ton of shattered iphone and android glass screens, so I am not sure why anyone is complaining about a plastic screen. no scratches on mine and I put it in my pocket everyday.
Other than that, it has all the regular bb notifications, organizational, productive features you would expect. I can toggle wifi extremely fast with 2 clicks from the home screen, beweather on homescreen, calendar on homescreen, etc.
One main advantage over ios-- all messages are grouped in message inbox. That includes bbm, facebook, sms, email, touch, etc.
Universal search from homescreen or via vlingo, and you can then select what service to search (inbox, facebook, youtube, google, googlemaps, contacts, and so on).
Great phone that I can really do a lot with. I stream pandora on this everyday for 2-4 hours no worries. Put in a 32gb card and havent had any issues with low memory.
In my next bb I'd like: 4g, actual keyboard.
A Miss from Blackberry
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This phone was usable for about 2 days before I had to swap back to a different smartphone. It isn't horrible for a BBerry, but it is fair to compare it to other phones since A. you can only use one at a time and B. everything else has better functions. To anyone testing the phone, just try rearranging icons on the screen, it is absolutely mind boggling how difficult they make what should be an easy process.
Pros:
Good screen
Thin
Ok battery life
Cons:
-Archaic OS not designed for touchscreen.
-Email was not superior to Android or Windows
-No app support
-Notifications: I can see that i have them on every screen, but I can only get to them from the main screen. Why???
-Camera is not impressive
-Poor maps support
Summary: The phone is certainly usable, but why would anyone buy this? And if the response is "battery life and email," I highly suggest you check out Windows Phone 7, which definitely is now superior to Blackberry.
This Torch is Hot.
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Nice work RIM. Nice to see you back.
Overall this device is similiar to the original Torch, just with a big 3.7 inch screen and a faster processor.
I like the all touch and I like the fact that RIM kept with the Torch name. I'd they only could have released this device in 08, then RIM would still have a giant market share and retain awesome revenue.
The device is fast. Real fast. Screen clarity is ridiculously brilliant and hd video recording is top notch. If you are a heavy emailer and don't need an option of 150,000 apps and think that your choice of 15,000 apps can cover it, then hands down, this is the device for you.
Phone clarity is great and speaker is office quality.
Overall, there just is no replacement for email than a BlackBerry. Droid and iOS are great devices but they can't match the robust and efficient email client of the BlackBerry.
