Disclaimer: This Blackberry Torch 9800 device is provided by Maxis in conjunction of their #Maxis10 Reviewer program. However, I am not getting paid or receiving any kind of thus this review is from my own point of view only.

Been hearing much of Blackberry lately, with the release of iPhone 4, Nokia N8 and a whole bunch of Android machines, RIM didn’t want to be left behind among their competitor.

Can Blackberry Torch with the new OS 6 really win the hearts of BBM-driven girls and dudes? Check out my this review and the next ones =)

The very first thing that you’ll probably notice about Torch is obviously that it looks very much like the current Blackberry devices, besides the fact that it has touchscreen. Yes, touchscreen, not SurePress haptic feedback so called Storm’s “pressscreen”. And also, it slides. But seriously, just put your Torch beside of a Bold 9700, you’ll notice the similarity.

Honestly, I really liked the phone’s design. It’s rather compatible with my hand, and the weight, 161.1 grams, is compact enough that it fits nicely in my jean’s pocket. The mixture of touchscreen and physical QWERTY keyboard gives you enough to enjoy typing and playing some games on the 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen. However, the only disappointment I had with the screen was it was from the previous Storm’s 480×360 low-resolution touchscreen, although the display was clear enough for your to read text, browser some web and viewing videos and images. (Don’t blame me, I’m used to staring at a 800×480 high resolution screens)

Torch’s 4.4″ up and 2.4″ down, when closed are near enough to the dimension of a 9700, and it’s only 0.01″ thicker than the 9700, which makes it 0.57″. You’ll find the normal Blackberry’s shortcut buttons, which is Call, Menu, Back and End button below the screen when closed and the Blackberry’s QWERTY keyboard when open. The right side of the phone is a 3.5mm headphone jack, volume controls and user-assignable convenience key, which by default is the camera key. However, the left side of the device consist only of a Micro USB jack which acts also as a charger.

On the top of the device, you can find the mute and lock button. The only issue I had with the button was that the lock button is easy enough to trigger by mistake. I often find my phone calling some of my friend on my contacts or typing some gibberish when I takes it out of my pocket. On the back of the phone, you can find the 5 mega-pixel camera, the LED flash and the Blackberry emblem.

Overall, I find the design of the phone very Blackberry-ish. Most of my friends can point out that the phone is a Blackberry without knowing the model. The sliding action is smooth, and perfectly balanced for a business user to use it. I really enjoyed it minus the few lack of details and I find the design of the phone can be improved. The optical trackpad is a excellent replacement for the trackball, but I find it redundant because most of the time, I prefer using the touchscreen rather than the trackpad.

That’s all from me about the design and the exterior of the phone. In the next post, I’ll review on the new OS6, Blackberry operating system and few of interior details of the Torch.

If you wish to read more about the Torch from other person’s point of view, you might want to check these list out:
JasonMumbles, Shamhardy, Bryanlyt, JenkinYat, XiangCool, JamieChin, Liyanaa, Raracandyfloss and Eizil

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