It’s the battle of the BlackBerrys as the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Torch lock horns in our extensive head-to-head test. The Torch made big waves when it was released last year, but it faces stiff competition from the brand-new Bold 9900. The prowess of both phones’ keyboard isn’t in question, but which of RIM’s phones is worth your cash? We’re here to tell you.
Screen
Like so many of its brethren, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 sports a landscape screen rather than a portrait one – this is because RIM has had to cram a full QWERTY keyboard onto the phone’s front, and that only leaves so much room for other elements.
The 2.8-inch display may not be massive but it has a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, which means the image is pin-sharp.
The BlackBerry Torch is a slightly different beast however as it has a portrait screen and a sliding keyboard, a clear move by RIM to win over the iPhone and Android loving masses. Unfortunately, it’s a botch job. The 3.2-inch screen is comprehensively outclassed by the likes of the HTC Desire HD and Samsung Galaxy S 2, and the muddy resolution of 480×360 is only going to gain hoots of derision from other mobile users.
Operating System
The BlackBerry Torch isn’t a new device so it’s not entirely shocking to learn that it’s running an older version of the BlackBerry OS when compared to the newer BlackBerry Bold 9900. BlackBerry OS 6 will be instantly familiar to those of you that have dabbled with RIM’s phones previously, but it’s something of a mess if you’re coming from a touch-screen handset.
Touch controls are included, but they feel tacked-on and the interface isn’t intuitive. It’s also bogged down by some truly dire apps – BlackBerry Maps is so slow that it has to be seen to be believed.
The Bold 9900 benefits from BlackBerry OS 7, and offers a surfeit of improvements. Everything is streamlined and the excellent universal voice search wisely takes a leaf out of Google’s book. While it’s still not quite where we’d want it to be when compared to the rapidly-evolving competition, RIM’s mobile operating system is at least moving in the right direction.
Under the hood
RIM’s phones have never been sold on their raw processing power, so if you’re expecting an epic clash of the titans with these two handsets then you’re going to be more than an optimistic movie critic sitting down to watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The aging BlackBerry Torch has a paltry 624 MHz processor – almost laughable in this era of dual-core phones. Its sibling the Bold 9900 fares better. It comes with a 1.2GHz CPU, but it’s a single-core variant.
Although you can upgrade the amount of storage on each of these phones using MicroSD cards, they also come with built-in memory. The Torch gives you 4GB to use, while the Bold 9900 has a more impressive 8GB.
Camera
Both the Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Torch are furnished with 5 megapixel cameras. The quality isn’t stunning on either, but it’s passable for a mobile device. The Torch is only capable of recording video in standard definition, while the Bold 9900 does a little better by offering 720p HD capture. With many Android phones offering full HD 1080p recording, you have to wonder why BlackBerry’s new flagship phone is lagging behind in this regard.
BlackBerry torch 9800 video recording sample:
Verdict
The BlackBerry Torch may have promised a revolution with its slide-out keyboard and portrait display, but it has failed to unseat the iPhone and the flood of Android-powered smartphones. To be brutally honest it’s an old device now, and unless you’re able to pick it up cheaply then we’d advise you leave it on the shelf.
If you really have to scratch that qwerty itch, then the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the better proposition. It’s newer, faster and has the latest version of the BlackBerry OS. It’s also the thinnest BlackBerry to date, with a thickness of just 10.5mm. Stay tuned for a full review of it in due course.
