Hi Tech

BlackBerry is set to release the new Torch in the latter days of the summer – some suggest around the middle of August. So how does the new device fare in a hand on test?

For anyone that has ever held the original Torch, or have even imagined what it would be like to hold a Bold and a half together – they will have a fair idea of how the new Torch 2 feels. It is a sturdy and slightly thick device that has a nice and sturdy magnetic slider. The curve feels nice in the hand and all the buttons have a certain feel of quality when you press them.

Looking down at the screen, it seems large enough to browse in comfort at 3.2inches. The quality of the display is quite good also and the devices upgrade to 640×480p display is quite visible upon using applications or when we engaged in browsing.

The phone also feels nice to touch and there is a notable difference in the quality of the touch screen for touching. The improvements in the capacitive abilities are very evident. The device itself is quick to respond and even the heaviest task or the most strenuous application form the limited catalogue available on the BlackBerry app store are no problem for the phone. This is all to do with the 1.2GHz graphically accelerated phone. The device also has 768MB of RAM and so is quite pace filled in use.

We thoroughly enjoyed using the apps, the Docs2Go and other applications were nice on the phone and the QWERTY keyboard is really a strong point and one no touch screen phone can match when it comes to typing emails – sorry Apple. The phones browsing experience is also quite nice and the fact it can support HTML5and so HTML video is a plus

The devices camera was also good for shooting – especially so in autofocus mode. It can shoot and display 720p video and 5mp stills – which were good in most lights due to the decent single LED light. The phone also comes with NFC, which we were assured will be the next big thing and is increasingly being released on other devices.

The Torch 2 is a really nice device and one that made us appreciate BlackBerry – the first time we did so in a long time. Perhaps this is the return of the Canadian company to the fore of the phone world? Watch this space! Or check out the BlackBerry phone deals on offer from best-mobile-contracts.co.uk.