Customer Reviews

BlackBerry 9800 Torch Unlocked Phone with 5 MP Camera, Full QWERTY Keyboard, 4 GB Internal Storage, and Slider Card Slot Up to 32GB - International Version with No Warranty (Black)

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

I have had the pleasure of using a Blackberry device since the first Blackberry was launched. As a long time Blackberry user, I have found that I simply cannot get away from their product, nor do I want to. For a short period I had an iPhone but I could not get used to the keyboard. Every time I needed to write a long email I wanted to hit it with a hammer.

Blackberry is simply the best for a business person or someone who needs to be typing on it all day. The keyboard on the Torch took a day to get used to vs the Curve but that was it. Here are a couple things I like about the Torch:

1. Actual keyboard for those long e-mails.
2. On screen keyboard for those quick texts or silent typing
3. Calendar - always simple, just start typing by the time of day and you're done.
4. Better camera (Not iPhone 4 good, but good)

There are many other additions to the Torch, but the simple fact is its a work horse phone plain and simple. If you want games and such, grab a new iPod. I still have my iPhone and will use it for messing around but I will always go to a Blackberry for work. Blackberry means business and iPhone and Android are there for wasting time (Not all apps of course are time wasters, but who can resist when you have Angry Birds just one click away?)

Grab the new Torch, you wont be disappointed.

The Blackberry Torch is the best all-around business smartphone. It emails better than the iPhone 4 because of the traditional Blackberry qwerty keyboard and it files and sorts emails like Outlook. I can see all my email accounts on one screen and I can see my sent emails in the same screen. This was something the iPhone 4 required going to two separate screens to see. The HTC ARIA was even worse, had to go to each account and then switch from the inbox to sent folder. This was a pain since I have 4 email accounts.

Battery life on the Torch should get you through a full day, unless you are watching movies. For an average day, I talk for an hour or two, email 20 - 30 times, listen to an hour of music and search the web for about 30 mins. The HTC ARIA only lasted until 6pm.

Screen resolution is good but not as nice as the iPhone 4. The camera is pretty good and has custom settings.

One major flaw is the oversensitive screen lock button - can be a pain when using the phone horizontally - inadvertent screen lock sucks.

All in all, the Torch is a great phone.

This phone works flawlessly. The touch screen is easy to use and not overly sensitive. The browser is great. There are many things BlackBerry does so much better than anyone else such as contact management and instant message management, in my opinion. Push email is awesome. I've had BlackBerries and HTC and BlackBerry wins hands down. I have friends with iPhones and while their phone is dead until they get to a place to recharge it all I have to do is pop the battery out and put a fresh one in and I'm still going. Being able to replace the battery on the fly is very important when I am out hiking or camping. One possible drawback to this particular phone is the OS6. It is excellent in and of itself but my carrier doesn't support it and I was unable to get service books for the browser to work. Check with your carrier to see if the phone is compatible and if the OS is compatible. If not, a quick stop at Crackberry.com gave me the fix for that and now it works perfectly. If you are using an unlocked phone not on the original carrier this website has all the answers.

Here goes. I bought this device because I love that it combined the full qwerty keyboard with a touchscreen. I found out that not everything that glitters is gold.

I love:

Full keyboard, camera and display on this device. It has a very smooth track to open the keyboard. It's simply a perfect idea in its conception.

I hate:

It's slow and I mean slow on the processor end. It takes some getting used to in order to delete multiple messages, but the WORST is that when I am on a call, the darn thing intermitently pushes numbers (like if your toddler was trying to get your attention and starting pushing the button on the phone to make them beep). It also has put people on speaker phone while we are talking which is a big no-no for me. Lastly, it hangs up while I'm on a call, which is the worst insult of all. And no, I don't have a fat cheek.

I can't imagine that RIM's engineers and beta testers didn't run into the problem. At least with my IPhone, the screen goes black when you put it up to your ear so this doesn't happen. I say back to the drawing board and I'm sending this back.

I've been through a couple 8220 Flips and a 9550 Storm 2 that I've owned and I've used a few Curves and Bolds and this is by far the best Blackberry, hands down. Trying to compare it to previous BB models is downright unfair as it blows the all out of the water. The touch screen is a huge improvement over the Storm 2 and its nice to see standard gestures like pinch to zoom are supported. The fact that it has the full querty keyboard and trackpad makes it an easy transition from non-touch phones and also makes it more efficient in general as a lot of operations feel more natural doing it the "old-fashioned" way instead of touch-screen.
The camera is much improved and BB OS6 is a huge improvement over previous versions. I love Social Feeds and how tightly the apps integrate with your contacts and the phone sofware in general. The new search feature is great too; just start typing and it brings results from contacts, emails, social feeds, applications, etc.

So basically, as far as Blackberrys are concerned, you can't go wrong!

Compared to other smartphones and mainly the iPhone4 you can tell that the touchscreen still has a ways to go before it reaches the same maturity as the others who've been doing this for longer. Also, as far as apps go, its definitely lacking. There are very few good free apps and games and the games are just downright terrible compared to the amazing stuff that's coming out for iPhone. That said, gaming probably isn't a big priority if you want a Blackberry.

All in all, I'm very satisfied! I've been wanting this phone for over 6 months and watched tons of reviews and hyped the thing up so much and despite all of that I still managed to get surprised with this phone. It's awesome!

Pros
----
+ Real touchscreen with all gestures
+ Trackpad and QWERTY Keyboard = best of both worlds
+ BB OS6 is great
+ 5MP camera

Cons
----
- Touch is a little awkward at times
- Freezes/chokes for a few seconds occasionally
- Lacking in app department
- Crappy games

I bought the phone to be used in India and so far it has been a good phone and works as expected. Below are pros and cons in my opinion

Pros
1. Good looking and sturdy feel.
2. It has the most recent blackberry OS which is a bit more user friendly and intuitive than the previous version
3. The touchscreen interface is similar to iPhone and much better than the BB storm

Cons
1. The touch keyboard is not as reponsive as the iPhone. It may get better with more practice but atleast initially it feels a bit clumsier and tad too sensitive. The physical keyboard is good.
2. The OS is still not as user friendly as the iPhone's iOS.
3. The BB appworld is a joke compared to Apple. Also the fact there are multiple sources for downloading the apps takes some getting used to. Some of the apps such as Vonage and Skype are not available for blackberry torch. I hope this gets resolved soon.

Overall, not a bad phone.

I really like the features of the touchscreen Blackberry Torch, but for me and all of my friends that own it the software FREEZES ALL THE TIME. Non stop, I have to reboot the phone quite often.

I replaced my old Iphone with this Blackberry solely given that 90% of my friends are on BBM (Blackberry Messanger), which is a great tool , btw. However, the software that RIM was able to pull together is way worse than Apple's iphone.

Several times I cannot send an email because the screen freezes and the only way of exiting the screen is by turning the phone off! And I lose all the message that I have written. Bottom line: I'm using my new Ipad to send emails nowadays.

RIM please fix this issue soon.

I needed an unlocked cell phone to use overseas. I realized from past experiences that many people that deal in cell phones apart from the major cell phone companies are difficult at best to deal with. Many are unscrupulous and even dishonest in their dealings and their service and can not be trusted to back up what they sell or even deliver what they promise.

For this reason I decided to deal through Amazon who over the years I have found to give excellent service and to be honest in their transactions.

I bought my unlocked cell phone from ABE a vender with Amazon. The delivery was made within, actually before, the promised delivery date.

At first I had a minor problem with the phone mainly because I did not understand how to use some of the functions I needed overseas.

I sent a request to ABE to switch the phone out for another phone. I expected to be met with a disagreeable situation and an argument. Instead I was immediately contacted by ABE through Amazon by email. ABE sent me an email to ask for my phone number and called me. Within 3 days ABE sent me a new phone and told me how use the function I needed. I returned the first phone. The day of the delivery of the new phone ABE sent me an email asking if everything was ok and if the new phone was doing what I wanted it to do, It was, their service was great, and appreciated.

I heartedly recommend both Amazon and their cell phone vender ABE. The transaction was easy, polite, and quick. ABE is a pleasure to do business with.They are a bright light in a often shady business.

Don S
Atlanta, GA USA

I had this phone for over a month now, and here are just some thoughts about it.

I enjoy reading online novels, and having this phone I am allow to sit in my car reading something while just chilling or waiting for someone.
It works perfectly fine with some short stories. But when it goes to loading huge amount of texts (300,000 and up), it takes quite some time(maybe 3 or 4 minutes or even more) to just finish downloading the page, and then it will take another 2 minutes to adjust the format as you zoom in. And if you are not careful enough holding the device up tight and so happen to flip it just a bit (or maybe just taking a sip of a drink or a call), it will automatically change its viewing from straight to side and here goes another extra 2 minutes again.
I don't know if iphone or android have the same problem; yet I am actually fine with waiting the initial 3 minutes of the loading part.
But honestly, I think it should have some sort of applications to lock the viewing as you are surfing the internet.

And sometimes, it doesn't happen very often, while you are surfing the internet, the page somehow freezes and the back of the device starts heating up. And within 1 or 2 minutes period, the battery life suddently drops about 30%. I kinda worry if this is goning to damage the device.

The actual keyboard is awesome, but the touch screen keyboard is just retarded. You often typed in the letter below the one you actually typed.

The camera doesn't have a tiny mirror next to it, so it's really hard for you to take a picture of yourself.

The back cover became a bit lose after I accidently dropped it six inches height to the desk, but it is probably my own fault (however I still haven't found the part that makes the cover lose).

I think it's an ok device, and if rim fixes the touch screen keyboard and make some adjustments to the internet surfing, I'd rate it as 4 stars.

Really the first 2 weeks using the phone has been a very nice experience. For formers iphone users, as I am; this device is a delight and very easy to use.
Very recommended