RIM unleashed BlackBerry 6 this year and we thought it was about time here at Electricpig to take a closer look at the two top dogs in the BlackBerry line up. What’s the best smartphone for your buck? The flip out QWERTY beauty of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 or the classic BlackBerry, updated, the BlackBerry Bold 9780? Click through for our full stat clash!
Size and weight When it’s folded up the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm. It weighs 161g, which is a touch more than the 137g iPhone. When its full flip keyboard is out, the height of the BackBerry Torch 9800 is bumped up to 148mm. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is a more familiar-looking BlackBerry and has a QWERTY mounted on the front of the device. It is 114 x 66 x 15 mm, and weighs less than the BlackBerry Torch 9800 at 136g, due to the fact that it doesn’t need the extra mechanics the flip out keyboard the Torch does.
Keyboard The BlackBerry Torch 9800 has a slide out QWERTY keyboard which is largely great, in cpmarison to other QWERTY contributions from other smartphone manufacturers, but we said: “The buttons below the screen suffer from the same problem as those on the original 2008 Storm: they’re bloody hard to push down.” Because of the classic design on the BlackBerry Bold 9780 though, we had no such trouble.
Screen Both the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and the BlackBerry Bol 9780 have 480 x 360 pixel resolution screens. The Torch though has the extra screen size packed into its shiny chrome body, with a full 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen. The same pixel density on a bigger screen though, means that the Torch suffered from graininess that meant we could see rough edges on typefaces in emails, which, for a phone who’s main selling point is the emails, is not a great feature.
Camera and video capabilities
The BlackBerry Bold has a 5MP camera, with 2x digital zoom, VGA video recording and flash. The BlackBerry Torch has a 5MP camera too, but we found the pixels just didn’t pull their weight, and the SD video came out poor quality. BlackBerry’s camera and video have rarely been anything except disappointing, and these two are a case in point. If you want really good video or photos from your mobile, then turn away from BlackBerry. Check out our video samples from the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and the BlackBerry Bold 9780 below.
Body and build The BlackBerry Bold 9780 sports the same flaws as the 9700: the tacky faux-leather back, 3.5mm audio port on the side of the phone rather than the top, and the side key that’s too hard to trigger. Although it also means the BlackBerry Bold 9780 can take a heavy beating, and has an optical trackpad that never fails.
The BlackBerry Torch on the other hand, has a bizarre ribbed back, and the 3.5mm audio port is also on the side. It’s a chunky phone, made chunkier feeling by the fact that RIM has decided to squeeze two BlackBerry logos on the phone above the screen. Despite its chunkiness, we found it to feel flimsy and not quite as sturdy as the BlackBerry Bold 9800.
Verdict:
If it’s fast accurate typing you’re after, then the BlackBerry Bold has to be the RIM device for you. When we reviewed the Bold we said: We’ve tried many, many other phones with all sorts of keyboards: every type of onscreen QWERTY keyboard out there, and none of them have ever come close to the accurate speed you can hit on this. If you’re going to buy the BlackBerry Bold 9780, it should be for this reason and above all else.”
If you’re lusting after a capacitive touchscreen but don’t want to move outside of your BlackBerry comfort zone, then head in the direction of the BlackBerry Torch.
RIM unleashed BlackBerry 6 this year and we thought it was about time here at Electricpig to take a closer look at the two top dogs in the BlackBerry line up. What’s the best smartphone for your buck? The flip out QWERTY beauty of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 or the classic BlackBerry, updated, the BlackBerry Bold 9780? Click through for our full stat clash!
