With BlackBerry facing tough competition from other smartphone manufacturers, the company is trying to come out with models to lure consumers. BlackBerry, the pioneer in smartphones has come with its first touch screen mobile handset, BlackBerry Torch 9860. With a host of touch screen smartphones available in the market, the road for Torch 9860 is not going to be easy. However, RIM is not going to go down without a fight. Its latest operating system 7 and the touch screen feature will play an important role for Torch to carve a niche for itself.  With better specs can Torch 9860 find a place among consumers. Check out our exclusive BlackBerry Torch 9860 review to know more about the phone.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Looks And Design

The phone looks bigger than most of its 3.7 inches competitor. With Torch 9860′s dimensions measuring 120 x 62 x 11.5 mm, the phone is one of the most compact devices you will find in the market. The phone easily slips into the pocket and weighs 135 grams, which lends rigidity to the device. There is a nice amalgam of premium rear and plain plastic front of the device. When you look at the device, you will immediately feel that business look was not the agenda of RIM while designing Torch 9860. The phone feels really solid on being gripped and we were impressed by the design and looks of the phone.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Display

The 3.7 inches WVGA screen of the phone is capable of displaying 16M colors of resolution measuring 480 x 800 pixels. The colors displayed were sharp and vibrant and the screen boasts of very good brightness. The display is very crisp and the contrast is excellent. Earlier we were a bit apprehensive about the sunlight legibility of the screen, but we surprised to discover the great sunlight legibility of the phone. The response of the touch screen was great but we did not find any hepatic feedback. Below the display, we found the combination of call keys, menu and back buttons. The earpiece and the LED are above the display and in the middle you will find the track pad. On the left side of the phone you get a microUSB port, while the 3.5mm audio jack is on the right.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Features

One of the great features of Torch 9860 is its operating system. The phone runs on the latest BlackBerry OS 7 which brings several new features in the phone such as HD video. Apart from it, another great feature of the phone is its processor. The 1.2 GHz processor is competent enough in handling high end graphics. The phone is integrated with several applications such as document viewer (Word/Excel/Powerpoint). You can enjoy several in-built games in your BlackBerry Torch 9860 and you can turn the keypad of the phone into a gaming console while playing 3D games.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Specs

Here are some of the technical specifications of this smartphone

• Dimensions: 120 x 62 x 11.5 mm
• Weight: 135grams
• OS: BlackBerry OS 7
• CPU: 1.2GHz Processor
• Internal Memory: 2.5 GB
• Card Slot: microSD up to 32 GB
• Browser: HTML

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Keypad

The phone lacks a physical QWERTY keypad. Users get a virtual QWERTY keypad which is a bit uncomfortable to use in portrait mode. However in landscape mode the keboard of BlackBerry Torch 9860 worked very well. We found typing messages and mails much easier in landscape mode.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Camera

The phone sports a 5MP auto-focus camera which is the highest you can find in a RIM smartphone. The camera is capable of clicking pictures of resolution measuring 2592×1944 pixels. We were disappointed to find that the interface of the camera is not that attractive and has relatively low number of customizable settings. The camera however is equipped with advanced features such as geo-tagging, auto focus, image stabilization etc. The qualities of the photos are quite good and the colors displayed are vibrant and sharp. Contrast of the photographs is good and the noise levels are above average.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Video

Video recording of the phone is quite impressive as Torch 9860 belongs to the new generation of HD enabled phone by RIM. The phone is capable of recording 1280×720 pixels at 30fps and you can use the LED as video light. The video quality is very good and so is the frame rate. The noise levels are tolerable and overall we were very impressed by the overall video quality of the phone.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Connectivity

The phone is equipped with a broad range of connectivity options. The phone supports both 2G and 3G networks. It also supports GPRS, EDGE, and Wi-Fi. It also has a standard microUSB port and has a BlackBerry Desktop software which allows you to sync iTunes. We were disappointed to find that the phone is not NFC enabled. The web browser of the phone is fast and responsive supporting multi-touch zooming, mouse cursor etc. The only thing lacking in the browser is the support for Flash.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Multimedia

The icons of the music player of Torch 9860 have been refreshed and you can quickly search tracks and sorting by artist, album and genre. Video playing capabilities of the phone is also very nice. Though the interface might not be that impressive, but you can get a lot of functionality. The video player is capable of playing videos of various formats.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Accessories

During unboxing of BlackBerry Torch 9860 we found the phone to be equipped with the following accessories

• USB cable
• Charger
• A Set of Headphone
• 4GB MicroSD Card
• User Manual

Torch 9860 user manual will help you to better utilize your phone.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Release Date

BlackBerry Torch 9860 release has taken place sometimes during September 2011.

BlackBerry Torch 9860 Price

BlackBerry Torch 9860 price in the USA is approximately $ 285 while Torch 9860 price in India is approximately Rs 13,000. Torch 9860 is one of the first touchs creen handset from RIM and it has done a decent job. If you are a BlackBerry lover and want a touch screen experience, you can go for Torch 9860.