[brill]

I got the Torch on the first day of release from AT&T. Initially I was wowed by the new features, and still am to an extent. But once I got over the newness of the device and I settled down to having it as my daily carry phone, I find myself actually using the touchscreen keypad very little. It takes me about four times longer to type anything with the touchscreen and usually I just get frustrated and open up the slider and finally type in my message. This is especially true of my password lock. I almost never get it the first time with the touchscreen. And as far as the actual keypad is concerned, it is recessed due to the slider mechanism so it is not as accessible as the keyboard on my Bold 9700.

Ok, I do like some of the new features of the Torch and I do like the webkit browser, but part of me wishes they just made the improvements, but kept the same form factor as the Bold. I would not miss the touchscreen.

[nindee]

You do realize that this phone was more intended to be a Storm with a keyboard than a Bold with a touchscreen...right?

It's made for people that want a touch screen for quick navigation and/or gaming and want a keyboard for when it comes to typing.

[Dubdub]

Originally Posted by nindee

You do realize that this phone was more intended to be a Storm with a keyboard than a Bold with a touchscreen...right?

It's made for people that want a touch screen for quick navigation and/or gaming and want a keyboard for when it comes to typing.

nindee, just how do you know that?

[brill]

Originally Posted by Dubdub

nindee, just how do you know that?

Actually, some Blackberry wag told me it was their attempt to take a stab at the iPhone. Well, it does have one thing in common with the iPhone-- it does have the same crappy touchscreen keypad. lol

[NJBlackBerry]

The difference is with a flick you can use a real keyboard. It is becoming more and more comfortable every day.

[andriver]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

The difference is with a flick you can use a real keyboard. It is becoming more and more comfortable every day.

Agreed. I am also becoming adept at using the touchscreen to unlock the Torch. The best of both worlds.

[jDMJeRk]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

The difference is with a flick you can use a real keyboard. It is becoming more and more comfortable every day.

I find that keyboard hard to gain access too but like anything in life, if you do it enough it becomes easier.

In the end I think the Torch is going to be a great product once RIM starts releasing OS updates.

New phones take patience :D

[sean76]

Whoever compared the iphone touchscreen to that of the Torch's, you must have never owned an iphone. The touchscreen on the iphone 3Gs, and 4 is the best in the industry. Nothing comes close at all, not Android, the Storm, Torch, or anything RIM puts out. The problem is everything else stinks on the iphone..lol! Honestly, RIM sent us a phone half baked. It'll get better with production, and software updates. But I would have rathered have seen a slightly bigger Bold 9700 form factor, with a touch screen. Palm did it with the Treo line many years ago, surely RIM can do it now, and better.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[Dubdub]

Sean, how much time have you spent using a 9800?

And I agree that it is not an iPhone or an Android device. It is, after all, a BB.

[CoraCora]

Why do we compare everything to the damn iphone its trash imo.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[sean76]

Originally Posted by Dubdub

Sean, how much time have you spent using a 9800?

And I agree that it is not an iPhone or an Android device. It is, after all, a BB.

I've had it since Launch, and I will say it's an ok device. I need a Blackberry for business, so for me it's fine. It may not be a Media giant, but its not supposed to be, like you said...After all it is a Blackberry. For media and music, etc, I have the HTC EVO. However, I'm big on build quality, and I feel RIM could have done better. As I stated, hopefully it'll get better with production.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[cyberjew]

Originally Posted by brill

I got the Torch on the first day of release from AT&T. Initially I was wowed by the new features, and still am to an extent. But once I got over the newness of the device and I settled down to having it as my daily carry phone, I find myself actually using the touchscreen keypad very little. It takes me about four times longer to type anything with the touchscreen and usually I just get frustrated and open up the slider and finally type in my message. This is especially true of my password lock. I almost never get it the first time with the touchscreen. And as far as the actual keypad is concerned, it is recessed due to the slider mechanism so it is not as accessible as the keyboard on my Bold 9700.

Ok, I do like some of the new features of the Torch and I do like the webkit browser, but part of me wishes they just made the improvements, but kept the same form factor as the Bold. I would not miss the touchscreen.

Couldn't agree more! I have given a lot of thought to bringing my Torch back to get a 9700. My fear is that the 9780 will come out right after I do this. Or at least after my 30 days are up.

I know that the 9700 will still get OS 6, but there are a lot of niceties that I will miss in OS 6 by going back and am impatient.

There are also a few apps that I would like to have access to that are not available for the Torch today (Xobni and LinkedIn for example).

Not sure what I'm doing yet.....

[rontiu]

I went ahead and got my Torch yesterday, migrated from a wonderful fully functioning 9700 to the 9800.

I cannot say I am fully in love or totally overwhelmed by joy plus in total agreement with the marketing hype RIM has put out. Moving from a very recent device to the latest has been somewhat a difficult transition.

-Virtual keyboard is annoying, if one is used to typing on a 9700, it will be a downgrade in my opinion to type on the physical keyboard on the the 9800. I am not getting it, to type on the virtual keyboard, it is so highly inaccurate for my typing, I have already problems to type with accuracy my passwords. If I had a stylus, maybe it is going to be more accurate? I also wish that the virtual keyboard can be permanently hidden with a setting, rather for the thing to constantly appear. I rather want the opportunity to let's say click on an icon if I wish to type on the virtual.

For now, if i want to type, I definitely prefer to type on the real keyboard.


-Browser - I had high hopes somehow, but I cannot see the value at this point of having this webkit browser, because I feel that it requires from my end more key strokes to start reading something when the browser opens. Granted, some websites are better, but somehow, I feel that I constantly zoom, move and trying to pinpoint on the webpage to an area where I can start read. Again, not all website, but I miss my column page setting as a defaul reading view. Is there one? It is usable and I don't find that the browser to be "beta"...but I am somehow not getting the hype, as I am not detecting anything earth shattering, at least from my user experience.

-Speed - I was concerned, by all means, reading all the information that has been posted, I was embracing myself for one slow phone, but I have to say, I am pleasantly surprised, the speed dilemma some folks have raised, didn't bother me...it was a smooth transition from the 9700, and I am certain, with some additional software device updates, the minor lag that some folks experience will get only better. It took like 6mos for my 9700 to function beautifully, why should the 9800 be different?
I am also sure that some of the software apps we use as a third party download are not near being optimized for this device, so I can only imagine that updates on the third party apps to be certified for sure to run on the 9800, can only make the experience better.

-Apps that run on 9800, my oh my, what a rude awakening. I was stunned to realized that Viigo was not working, how could this happen, considering it was purchased by RIM, right? Viigo was my favorite all time app, in fact it made me stay with Blackberry. How di the Viigo engineering migrated to OS6 and the Torch 9800, beats me. I have imported all my feeds into the social feed app, but for my life I cannot get the efficiency of getting through all my reading materials that I was able to do so with Viigo. When I click on an article in the social feed and I don't want to read the full article, I couldn't find a "Next" button, icon, option or anythign that allows me to browse through all my articles with efficiency, but instead i have to get out, and go through the inbox and into the next article. Am I missing something? I read the Blackberry Docs for this, and no other menu options/shortcuts were listed when reading a feed. Other apps, like worldmate, beejive, etc., all experience some problems in getting it to truly work on the 9800 the way it suppose to. Again, all signs that there are some work ahead for the apps to be re-written, assuming that they will be re-written. I can live with all that, however, I don't understand why Social Feed was included as such an underwhelming app, considering the Viigo intelligence was brought inhouse by purchasing the company. If doing nothing was the aim to save cost, at least bring the Viigo app working as part of the launch of the 9800 and give the user a choice.

-Cases - I am using a case mate which is being pushed by ATT and by case mate as an exclusive, the barely there case...well, it will be very hard to remove, that's for sure once it is out, so be aware, no easy way to remove battery and memory card so easily, in fact so difficult, my fingers (and nails) still hurt from requiring to swap out my memory card once!

-Screen resolution - a slight little upgrade would have been nice, but truthfully, it doesn't bother me, because my videos, pictures and all that good stuff looks fine to me, identical to my 9700 which never bothered me. Purely from a functional standpoint, I find everything to appear nicely on screen, and I assume it helps with the power consumption..I do enjoy the bigger screen overall. And yes, compared to the other super smartphones, my 9800 is the underdog...

-Batterylife - definitely, hoping for some software updates to get to the same level of power consumption like my 9700. I do not get near the power savings I was enjoying with my 9700, just some simple trying out my phone before going to bed (fully charged) and waking up in the AM shows drain on my phone which my "old" phone didn't...there is definitely improvement required, however, if you are constantly charging the phone, like I do, I guess the gap currently can be overcome. However, anyone who is on the go and can only sporadically charge, I think there is a learning curver here.

In summary, I am trying to come to an understanding why I upgraded to the 9800, and I honestly cannot find a compelling reason at this point -yet- that made it such a overwhelming yes for my previous upgrades for the latest.. (e.g. 8800 to 8820, 8820 to 9000, 9000 to 9700). 9700 to 9800 is definitely a different animal for me personally, and
I hope it will grow on me

Those are my thoughts..

[snowmangoh]

Originally Posted by rontiu

Those are my thoughts..

Thanks! That was a pretty good read.

[GoHawks63]

I'm in day two with my 9800 so it's still relatively new to me.

Touch Screen - My wife had the original 3g and has just upgraded to the iPhone 4, and I have an iTouch. I agree that the touch screens on the Apple devices set the standard for the industry. The first Storm was a crude (and I'm being kind) attempt by RIM to put a touch screen on a device. I think the 9800 does a nice job of closing that gap.

Virtual keypad - I personally don't think you're ever going to get a virtual keypad that can compete with a physical one for all the reasons that have been discussed before (feel, feedback, etc.). You just have to accept that. The 9800 is no different and that's why you have a physical keyboard as well. I personally would rarely use the virtual keyboard for anything that requires serious typing.

Physical keyboard - I'm one of those who will always feel that a physical keyboard is a necessity for anything that requires serious typing. I miss the keyboard on my old school Bold 9000. THat has to be the best keyboard RIM has ever put on a device. The 9800 feels like a step down to me, but I recognize it's comparable to the most recent keyboards on devices like the 9700.

Screen resolution - I too don't think it's a big deal. Yes it may not be as advanced as the newest devices, but as many said, "it's a Blackberry". If I was looking for a rich multimedia experience, I would've gone elsewhere.

Speed - No issues so far, but admittedly it's early.

Call quality - on par with my old 9000. For people who like to compare with the iPhone, you just need to talk to my wife. She's hating her new iPhone with the noted reception issues. She doesn't care how beautiful the HD like screen is, if she's dropping calls, the device is worthless to her.

In summary, it's still early and with every new device there's a period of familiarity. I do like that there's multiple ways of accessing features and completing tasks (i.e. trackpad, keyboard, touch screen). That's been a criticism in some reviews as confusing, but I think as you become familiar with the device you'll figure out "YOUR" way, and that's all good in my opinion. Some people of course want more structure. As a result, I'm beginning to believe that if I had to give up the touch screen and go back to just a trackpad/ball and keyboard, I would miss the flexibility the touch screen provides.

[dbltap]

I'll just add... 6.0.0.214 has REALLY improved my battery life. I can go almost 48 hours now.

[Rick57]

Well all I can say is I test devices all the time from RIM and after 1 week with the Torch, it is back in the box. I went back to my bold. I think everyone here seems to agree the touch screen is a little "too" touchy for me. After several tries to enter my pw to unlick it "while watching the CORRECT" characters being typed in it never unlocks, so like many have said I just opted for the keyboard. I do think it has many neat features but the problems I had using it made it useless for me.

[knottyrope]

I am rocking the torch on Latest OS, woot.
It is a bit smoother and I also removed all older apps that were sucking up CPU time killing the battery.

Not it has default apps and I am testing new ones on day at a time.

So far Pandora and Poynt are working well on it.

[GoHawks63]

Originally Posted by Rick57

Well all I can say is I test devices all the time from RIM and after 1 week with the Torch, it is back in the box. I went back to my bold. I think everyone here seems to agree the touch screen is a little "too" touchy for me. After several tries to enter my pw to unlick it "while watching the CORRECT" characters being typed in it never unlocks, so like many have said I just opted for the keyboard. I do think it has many neat features but the problems I had using it made it useless for me.

I think that's the point though. The touchiness of the virtual keyboard is not a fault of the Torch's touch screen, it's a symptom of virtual keyboards in general. The Torch tries to compromise by provideing a physical keyboard as well.

I will vouch that the virtual keyboard on the iPhone/iTouch is no better.

[jDMJeRk]

Personally I've found the torch to be a little laggy at times (which is extremely annoying compared to my 9000) the only real reason I switch was because I was due for an upgrade.

I'm not a fan of the virtual keyboard yet either but I do enjoy the fact that you can use both options together which allows me to navigate throughout the phone easier
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