|
|
Research In Motion launched their first ever BlackBerry Torch slider handset last week at an event in New York on the AT&T network, where RIM held a similar event in the UK in which One Mobile Ring attended.
We managed to spend a good deal of time with the BlackBerry Torch 9800 at the launch event, whilst at the same time obtained a detailed briefing from RIM in order to provide a first looks review of the device from our experiences alone.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is a full capacitive touch screen handset, with a physical Qwerty keyboard that slides out vertically in the same way as the Palm Pre Plus also functions. The keyboard has the look and feel of the same one accompanying the latest Bold 9700 handset. It has curved rows of keys and fairly identical size, where the sliding out process to expose the keyboard is very smooth and feels similar to the way the Pre Plus also operates.
The Torch stands 4.37-inches tall or 5.83-inches when opened, where their BlackBerry Storm 2 as a comparison is just 4.43-inches tall. Both devices have the same width of 62mm, where the 9800 is 14.6mm thick and the Storm 2 is slightly thinner at 13.9mm. It’s a comfortable BlackBerry to use, with the width providing a good size for holding and also typing upon with a very similar feel to the Storm 2 only with the physical keyboard of the 9700.
BlackBerry Torch’s 3.2-inch 480×360 capacitive touch screen has the same size display as that Storm 2 handset, where instead of pushing the screen inwards to action a task - the touch screen now operates in the same way as every other touch screen device. We found this is a much more preferable way of operating a phone than the way the Storms work. This venture for RIM could attract more buyers that were put off with the Storm phones and even lure those who didn’t make the leap to its sequel.
The touch screen is very responsive and handles touch requests fairly well, where in the time we used the device we never saw a misinterpreted incident. Its new operating system really takes advantage of the new screen and in a way the previous OS never could, nor could any other RIM platforms. The colours and images on the Torch 9800 are the sharpest we’ve seen on a BlackBerry handset, with one of the highest reported DPI on any of their phones.
The slide-out keyboard does appear to be a fairly exact replica to the one that accompanies the Bold 9700, if compared side by side most people would be hard pushed to tell any differences. Besides the keyboard that’s easy and familiar to use, the call, menu, optical touchpad and end call button have also been brought across from the 9700 and the Curve 8250 which stamps home continuity within the brand and entire range as a whole.
RIM’s Torch runs with 512MB of RAM, where in the past BlackBerry’s have only reached the lofty heights of 256MB. Applications now respond faster as a result, with better multitasking possibilities and switching between the apps. The native storage has also reached new heights as there is now 4GB built into the phone, with a further 4GB microSD card bundled in as part and parcel of the shipping product.
Other notable hardware implementations on the 9800 come from the WIFI 802.11n specification, which has only been seen before in the Pearl 3G where the phone also has Tri-band UMTS and Quad-band GSM connectivity. The camera in the Torch 9800 is of the 5 megapixel variety - the highest MP count in any BlackBerry to date, where other phone manufactures have hit 12MP and are still pushing the boundaries.
At the heart of the new BlackBerry slider phone is the new operating system - the BlackBerry 6 OS. The new user interface is very touch screen centric, where RIM has certainly taken note of Android and other touch screen based operating systems with the way they function. Research In Motion has almost taken the best of those worlds and included them in the new platform, with elements of a traditional BlackBerry UI.
The home screen on the BlackBerry 6 OS has the same initial look to version 5, with a few quick access icons to applications at the base of the screen. Instead of pressing the physical BlackBerry icon menu button to see all the applications - the quick access icon bar can be swiped up the screen, to show all the software on the phone. The screen can then be swiped across to the left, to show the individual category’s of the apps, favourites and weblinks in a similar way to other touch screen handsets. The icon bar at the top of the screen shows notifications, which can be simply touched upon to show all the new messages in a fast, friendly and easy manor. All of which is very unlike the BlackBerry business centric operating systems of the past and much more like Android than anything else.
The new universal search tool is one of the most notable inclusions in the BlackBerry 6 OS. The search tool can be run from anywhere by typing on the keyboard, and not even in a specific application. The search is performed on the fly when typing, then brings back results not only relating to emails, IM’s, text messages, but also music, RSS feeds and even from social networking sites. It’s fast and the results are very thoroughly, where the task we found takes little time in running.
Lastly, the web browser has been greatly improved in this version of the BlackBerry OS. RIM acquired a company called Torch Mobile in 2009, for their webkit web browser technology. Incidentally, it’s where the name of this new BlackBerry handset originates, as it’s their first device to show the fruits of that acquisition. Torch previously developed the Iris browser for Windows Mobile devices, where the switch to BlackBerry handsets have brought in pinch-to-zoon-in abilities and an altogether much better browsing experience on the handset - as compared with past BlackBerrys.
The Bottom Line
From the outset, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 does appear to be the best of both worlds - a touch screen device and also a handset with an actual physical Qwerty keyboard. It does appear as if the Storm2 and BlackBerry Bold 9700 have visited a chop-shop and the Torch 9800 is the result.
We’re glad RIM has switched from the push-in-screen-to-action-a-task touch screen display of the Storm handsets, as the 9800 now works much better than any of those two previous devices. The Qwerty keyboard is a little on the small side for our liking, although the learning curve and adjustment process was nothing like what was seen with the Storm phones touch screens - we were used to the actual physical keyboard in no time at all.
The OS is a vast improvement over any RIM platform we’ve seen before, with a very consumer friendly feel along with managing to still retain the business elements needed to succeed elsewhere. Over all, we were fairly impressed with the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and we’re keen to see if it wins over BlackBerry keyboard based users and also those who have come from a traditional touch screen environment.
An out-of-this-world mobile phone
Samsung’s Galaxy S is their latest and third Google OS Android handset, with the original i7500 ‘Galaxy’, and I5700 ‘Galaxy Portal’ all coming before hand and all running a vanilla version of the Google mobile OS. This new model arrives with a much larger screen than ever seen before on an Android mobile phone in the UK, with Samsung’s own familiar tweak to the OS.
Just when Apple stops making handsets that look like all their other iPhones, Samsung comes along and picks up where they left off by releasing a decidedly iPhone 3GS looking device with the Galaxy S. Looking head on at the new handset would confuse many by its appearance alone, especially when the seeing the Samsung logo. The overall shape of the phone, down to its outer silver rim all gives off the impression of an iPhone – which is a very cunning way of selling a mobile phone, particularly to those who previous bought the Apple models.
Samsung’s Galaxy S runs from a 1Ghz processor, but not the Qualcomm version that’s in the HTC Desire only this is Samsung’s own mobile chipset that also features in their Wave phone. It’s fast enough for everything the mobile does, from 720p HD video capture to native playback of DivX/XvID AVI files – a first for an Android mobile.
The Galaxy S’ display has the brightest and most vivid screen we’ve seen, with a 4-inch Super AMOLED 800×480 display that is really the handset’s most outstanding feature. The screen actually puts the Desire’s version to shame, with its colours and sharpness that are beyond belief and are not even washed out in bright sunlight, where AMOLED screens usually are.
Samsung has tweaked the 2.1 Android OS, to have a familiar overlay called TouchWiz. This new version of 3.0 also appears on their Wave phone, which has a different OS altogether. This does feel very similar to their other handset overlays, from the Jet to Toco mobiles that all have early versions but this really is just a Samsung theme running on Android and nothing really major.
Besides the outstanding large screen, there are some other notable features in the Galaxy S that are distinct selling points. These range from the on-board storage, which arrives in 16GB or 8GB along with a microSD slot that can be used to increase the storage capacity even more. There is also the ‘Swype’ feature, which is a way of writing messages on the touch screen, without removing a finger to reach each letter – you just swipe from letter to letter instead.
Bottom Line
This surprisingly light 118gram Android handset has a bit of cheap feel to it, where some might assume it’s a budget model due the plastic casing only it’s far from that. In the states, their flagship handset of late is the 4.3-inch HTC Evo phone and now in Blighty, we have the Samsung Galaxy S on an even par in abilities. The Samsung Galaxy S is a fast mobile, with a truly outstanding screen where movie playback, web browsing and writing are exemplary on the large screen with lots of storage capabilities too.
A mobile phone that warrants its name 
HTC’s latest flagship mobile phone arrives carrying the appropriate name of Desire, where the uptake for the device merits its moniker – if sales are anything to go by.
The Desire looks and feels very much like another of the company’s recent handsets, the stateside Google Nexus One. The HTC Desire is running the current version of Google’s Android OS, although version 2.2 on its way very soon. Desire has a very fast 1Ghz processor, with a large 3.7-inch 480×800 AMOLED capacitive touch screen which is very responsive and great to use. Although the AMOLED screen isn’t that great in bright sunshine, where the older LCD TFT screens can show more detail if placed side by side with the Desire – indoors it’s a whole different story.
HTC runs its own UI on top of Android called HTC Sense, which first appeared on the Hero handset and now battles with Motorola’s MotoBlur and Sony Ericsson’s User Experience on features. Sense has a much more easy-on-the-eye user interface than the basic Android OS, with seven customisable home screens as opposed to the standard three. It’s a decent overlay to Android, but those other mobile manufactures offer more functionality than HTC, where after a year not much really has changed since the Hero’s version.
Sense comes with HTC Friend Stream, which rolls up all the Twitter and Facebook updates into one column. The Motorola MotoBlur with its Happenings and TimeScape by Sony Ericsson has the same social networking abilities, only they are much better worked into Android and therefore come across much more thoroughly integrated. The Desire does have the multi-touch ‘pinch-to-zoom-to-in’ feature, also it has the natively ability to view Flash content which isn’t on many mobile phones around today, such as the Apples’ iPhones.
The address book on the HTC Desire is one of its better features, as it pulls in all the contact information automatically from the likes of Facebook, Gmail, Hotmail and Twitter then thoroughly integrates them all together in an intelligent way. This is thanks to both Android and HTC Sense, working in partnership to achieve the integration that works really well.
Battery life isn’t the strongest feature of the Desire, where the phone doesn’t really make it through a normal 8 hour day with all the social networking features enabled. HTC has used a 1400mAh battery instead of a 1500mAh version, which isn’t expected on the larger flagship handsets where you will see the red battery warning level appear more frequently than not.
Bottom line
The HTC Desire is a name-worthy mobile phone with a very responsive touch screen that is both large and bright, although viewing in direct sunlight lets it down. Also letting it down is that HTC Sense overlay is now looking a little dated, as compared to MotoBlur and the battery life can be bothersome too – although you can limit the features, allowing the phone to last to the end of the day. The new Android 2.2 version is arriving on the phone soon, which hopefully could bring better features to HTC Sense.
When you first switch on the F107, there is an ominous sense of familiarity about the menu items and the structure of the device. Those of you who remember the early Nokia phones like the 5110 will be able to reflect on ‘warmer’ times, when selecting menu items was more instantaneous, buttons few and social networking sites a mere classroom daydream.
The first thing to notice is a quick start-up time, and within a few seconds of the Front screen becoming visible, a proverbial soft key directs you to a ‘no nonsense’ menu screen that anyone from ages 8-80 years should find easy to negotiate.
The 2.o mp camera is as basic as you can imagine, but still allows you to trim brightness, contrast and some elementary colour effects. The digital zoom is, like most features on the device, responsive and flatteringly academic to use.
Those of us accustomed to touch screen functionality can enjoy a moment of tranquillity whilst composing a text message ‘the old-fashioned way’ on this phone. Again, like the earlier phones, you can send a message rapidly and without aggravation, thanks to somewhat antiquated text input keys and an almost intimidating word prediction feature which appears frighteningly precise.
After using the media section of the phone for just a few moments, one is left feeling hollow and uninspired. The functionality fails in every department here except for thwarting the user. This is because you cannot simply view a picture from your memory card or ringtone from the phone memory by selecting them, but instead observe a list of your files, unaware that you need to visit the media player to import them as if it is come kind of construct from ‘The Matrix’.
Consumers who crave impressive visuals and startlingly clarity will feel instantly dejected by the ZTE’s ‘honest’ looks both on & off the screen. The shape of the phone is undoubtedly conducive to a lifetime of pocket-dwelling, but will struggle to catch the eye in a marketplace consumed by cosmetic connotation. Unfortunately this styling continues into the phones’ structure and inevitably makes for quite a dull and unfulfilling experience. When browsing the web, it is very hard to see anything in detail and is probably best reserved for football scores if anything.
I would have to recommend this handset as a great ‘1st phone’ for all ages. Not least because of its ease of use but also the lack of meaningless applications on the front screen, allowing the user to perform day to day functions with minimum of fuss or distractions.
In conclusion, I still think this little ZTE retains enough charm to see it through the intense scrutiny of the school playground. I do, however, see it only in two realistic scenarios: either as a young child’s first phone or an emergency point of contact for Grandpa on his travels due to its reliability and ease of use.
At first glance, it’s not hard to see why the Samsung i5700 can be so easily compared with the HTC Hero. Both handsets are Android devices and are fairly similar in terms of size, weight and specification. However, this is where the similarity ends, as the phone does not have to spend long in your possession before it feels rather like a cheap imitation, or even a ‘poor man’s Hero’.
It would be unfair not to appreciate the large 3.2” screen which allows for a visually impressive browsing experience. The clarity and brightness of the display are both unquestionably refined, and as such provide an impressive canvas for the customers’ perusal of web content. It is, therefore, a great shame that the touch-screen interface feels both un-responsive and tiresomely inaccurate. For instance, when scrolling through the main menu it is almost impossible to find an area on the screen where you feel completely in control. My frustration soon turned to anger when I found myself constantly opening unwanted apps or selecting the wrong menu items.
Of course, you could solve this problem by opting to use the directional Keypad and Select button. The internal 800 MHz CPU ensures that navigating through the handset in this way is extremely quick, but I would have much rather have seen this feature work properly, as other phones have proved with seemingly minimal effort.
The phone also features an adequate 3.2 mp auto focus camera with video recording, but astonishingly provides no adjustment settings whatsoever. Consequently, the process of actually taking a picture is quite literally a ‘point & click’ affair, certainly not what we’ve come to expect from modern camera phones, especially from such a reputable manufacturer. The image quality is distinctly average, whilst the ‘Camera’ button remains painfully unresponsive; this requires that you keep a steady hand just to increase the chances that a photo is worth keeping.
Encouragingly, DivX and xvid video support could be a major advantage for people who can’t or don’t have time to convert video formats. With much regret, I could not test this feature but if it works effectively then it certainly gives us food for thought when comparing it to other handsets with similar compatibility.
Whilst the Android Market Place provides a marvellous library, where one can find an App for almost anything, the featured list on the device is somewhat disappointing. I expected far more web-based content to be pre-installed and ready to use.
I would surmise that the Samsung i5700 is a great way to experience Android for those of us with low to mid range budget. The handset will inevitably appeal to those who have experienced products from Samsung before. However, I fear that most customers will come away with a sense of resentment, as a lack of basic camera functions and smooth operation detract from the instantly congenial prettiness and sleek design which has become synonymous with Samsung.
Value Android in vanilla flavour
 Samsung’s Galaxy Portal, Spica or I5700 is little brother to the I7500 Galaxy. It’s a basic Android 1.5 touchscreen smartphone, with the punch of a respectable 800MHz processor. Cosmetically a bit chunky and weighing 124 grams, the bottom of the unit sports large and easy to use control buttons.
The 3.2 inch capacitive screen is bright and clear displaying 320×480 pixels. The camera snaps at 3.2 MP with autofocus but no manual settings, ideal novices but not for serious users. Other features include assisted GPS, a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD support, up to16GB.
High-speed 3.5G internet is present and other networking options include Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth.
Google Marketplace is a main attraction of Android phones. As an example the Layar augmented reality app is pre loaded. Use the camera and GPS outdoors to have useful information like the nearest pub or rail station displayed as an overlay. Or jump into the market and find all the apps you want for social networking.
So much work has been done in the last year to give Android an improved UI, seeing it in the raw again on the Portal was a bit of a shock. Like re-watching a cherished TV show from childhood, it’s nostalgic, but you might have outgrown it. If you’re new to Android, and want access to apps through the Marketplace this is a great and cost-effective beginning. I had an identical UI experience with my HTC Magic 18-months ago and loved it. However, experienced users may now want more.
Update: Samsung have promised an update to a newer version of Android will be available via download soon.
Mid-to-high end entertainment phone
Cosmetically the X6 has an elegant candy bar design, medium-thin for a touchscreen-only entertainment phone. Billed by as competition for the iPhone, the X6 (16GB version) is launching in the UK with a multi-million pound integrated advertising push via TV, print and digital media, plus a viral campaign through social networking sites.
The X6 is Nokia’s first move to capacitive touchscreen technology (yippee!), essential for finger control. The 3.2" screen display is a delight, displaying 360×640 in clear and vivid colour. Up to 20 shortcuts fit on the homescreen, allowing one-touch access to all your favourite social sites. The typing experience is ok in landscape mode, those already converted to touch will have no problems.
Featuring Symbian S60 5th edition, the X6 has virtually the same UI as the hugely popular 5800. It’s easy to use, but at times you do realise S60 was developed on keyboard devices. It’s not yet quite as good as either iPhone OS or Android for pure touch browsing, but overall it gives a comfortable user experience.
Technically aimed to entertain the affluent late teens and up, the X6 has a difficult journey ahead to beat iPhone. Being equipped with GPS and free satnav from Ovi Maps will help, plus a reasonable app store offering and 16GB of storage is pretty good. The addition of a Dual-LED flash 5MP Carl Zeiss camera will woo a few more customers.
For posting quality video to YouTube, pictures to Facebook, or watching widescreen, the X6 is a contender. Battery life can also be up to a week of pretty heavy use. For other features? Well, that ad campaign better be VERY good.
|
