Introduction

The Torch is Research in Motion's attempt at silencing its critics. A whole new operating system, BlackBerry OS 6.0, is combined with a whole new sliding form factor. It's BlackBerry's answer to Google's Android and Apple's near-ubiquitous iPhone.

How does the Torch stack up? Can it withstand the considerable competition in the mobile marketplace? Read on to find out.

Design

The Torch is, simply, a thing of beauty. It is almost completely black, with dark gray metal on the front edges. The back of the Torch is rubberized, which makes for a very easy yet strong grip. With the front touch screen off, the phone looks almost like a smooth river stone -- and this is a good thing.

The new device also represents a departure for RIM from form factor. It features a slide-up screen that reveals a hardware keyboard beneath. In the past, BlackBerrys have been either standard "candy bar" style -- keyboard right on the front of the phone, with a screen above -- or "touch" style, with no physical keyboard at all, and a large touch screen to serve as the keyboard. The latter style is more like an iPhone, while the former style -- pioneered by RIM -- is all but dead.

Its slide mechanism feels well-crafted, solid, and fluid. There don't seem to be any springs or moving parts involved, and there isn't a "catch" or latch. This design makes me feel like the Torch's screen slides on air. I liked the slider very much, and hope that RIM expands this feature to other phones. As far as phone input goes, the Torch allows the best of both worlds: a physical keyboard when you need it and a sizeable touch screen when you don't.

How about that physical keyboard? It looks and acts exactly like its relatives on other BlackBerry phones, such as the Bold or Curve. The keys are easily distinguishable from one another, and they are big enough for a standard-sized thumb to press. Larger thumbs will probably have issues here.

The other BlackBerry-standard feature is the optical trackpad. This isn't a moving part, but a solid square that helps with navigation around the software. It worked well in our experience, but the speed of the scrolling was sometimes unpredictable. After some time, we began to ignore the trackpad and just use the touch screen for "getting around" the OS.

The bottom of the front face has the now-standard BlackBerry button layout: green "Call" button, BlackBerry key, optical touchpad, back button, and red "End Call" button. Any existing user of a BlackBerry will be at home there, and there is a negligible learning curve for new users.

The top of the phone has a very well-designed feature. It acts as a large smooth metal rocker, with the left side serving as a screen-lock button and the right side as a mute button. The effect here is impressive: RIM has managed to squeeze quite a few physical keys onto a relatively small phone without sacrificing build quality. This is a stark contrast to Apple's approach, where physical buttons are eschewed for aesthetic reasons. RIM gets high marks here for originality.

The standard micro-USB port is the only opening on the left spine, while a headphone port, volume rocker and "convenience" button round out the right spine (in that order, from top to bottom).

Out of the box, the RIM BlackBerry Torch comes with a standard battery, AC adapter, USB cable, 3.5mm stereo headset, 4-gigabyte microSD card and a polishing cloth.

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