Ben Borg Cardona
Today a phone is no longer a phone, though the phone part is only a phone. Today, in a package not much bigger than a packet of cigarettes, you have a camera (still and video), access to the Internet, an email and text function, a games console, a diary, an address book, a GPS and pretty much anything else you can think of that goes “beep” or does something digital.
As anyone who owns a smartphone knows, making and receiving calls is pretty much the least frequently used function. Either because it’s quicker or because actually making a call is impossible (you’re in a meeting or in the theatre) texting or smssing, I read somewhere, is used more often than voice-calling, though perhaps you should be careful to avoid falling into a fountain like that woman in the YouTube clip that went viral about a month ago.
Generally speaking, as far as I am concerned, smartphones will compete on two or three levels: ease of use, access to services and visibility of the screen.
The Blackberry Torch, available from all Vodafone outlets, goes head to head with “the other phone” on ease of use. It combines the excellent Blackberry keyboard, which can be used, at a pinch, with one hand, though not while driving (especially not a motor-bike) with a touchscreen that is almost-but-not-quite as good as its direct competitor. Having now used both, I have to say that the physical keyboard on the Torch is a sight better to use than the virtual one you get on the screen, and the touchscreen element of the Torch is a bit tricky, though the time it takes to get used to it is not much more than marginal, really. When it comes to access to services, mainly the Internet, the Torch has the relevant apps already on board, and set up is easy and quick. Facebook and Twitter live on the home screen and work seamlessly and the Operating System is as good as any other on the market, though I suppose a properly calibrated speed-test, which I didn’t carry out mainly because I don’t have the equipment to do it, might give you a slower or quicker response time. Frankly, so much depends on the “line quality”, that is which mobile service you’re actually getting, that comparisons are pretty redundant. On wi-fi, where I gave it a good workout, the speed was very acceptable and the Victor Borge video I streamed from You Tube ran perfectly: you need a good pair of headphones to get a good sound, of course.
The screen itself, the other half of the interface between you and the phone, is bright and visible and you can use it in most lights. Since you’re not going to use the Torch as a substitute for your laptop, its long-term usability is hardly going to be a factor, but for having a browse between work assignments or checking your email while waiting for the interminable press conference to end, it’s more than fine.
All the other bells and whistles live on the phone as well, and they’re well up to scratch - the camera is a 5MP auto-focus job that does its job. I wouldn’t use it as my work-camera, but to upload pix to Twitter and Facebook or to the readers’ photos pages of the online papers it works very well, and 5MP is enough to take pretty good pictures anyway. There are only two games on board out of the box, so this is hardly a unique selling point, but downloading games is a snap. The screen is big enough and bright enough to accommodate most games for this format and amusement is guaranteed.
Is this the phone for you? Well, only you can answer that one, but if you have business needs, that is you need to email quickly and accurately, the keyboard and the RIM system in general that Blackberry have perfected are hard to beat. All the other bits and bobs are optional extras, in a sense, and all I can suggest is, try to get your hands on a Torch and have a play with it. You should be quite satisfied with the overall result and it feels good in your hand.
The Blackberry Torch was supplied by Vodafone and is available from all their outlets. Appropriate data plans can also be agreed, making this machine an extremely valid business and leisure partner.