BlackBerry Torch 9810

The basics

The BlackBerry Torch 9810 is the latest addition to RIM's smartphone range, and combines both a touchscreen display and RIM's outstanding QWERTY keypad. It may well be the perfect smartphone for text and email fanatics – join us after the break to find out if it delivers on its promise.

The good

With both a touchscreen and a large hardware keyboard, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 offers the best of both worlds.

The 3.2-inch display may not be the largest on the market - compare it to devices like the Samsung Galaxy S II and it actually feels quite small - but it's incredibly sharp, and offers brilliant colour reproduction.

It's also responsive, and a great panel for browsing the internet on - something that's not usually said for BlackBerrys.

As usual, the keyboard is the feature at the heart of this device, and it's nearly as good as we were hoping. The keys are asymmetric, and the shape makes it easy to type quickly and for long periods of time, without making mistakes.

The 8GB of onboard storage is reasonable, and it's also possible to add 32GB via microSD card (with the ability to swap out cards on the move without switching off the handset).

On the surface, the BlackBerry Torch 9810's OS 7 operating system looks good, with a more modern feel than previous handsets. It's also fast, thanks to a 1.2GHz processor.

The bad

Delve a little deeper into the OS and you may be slightly disappointed, however. It's not as coherent or consistent as we were hoping, and lacks the intuitive feel of iOS or Android.

The keyboard also frustrates when it comes to characters. We wouldn't mind secondary punctuation appearing as minor functions, but it's safe to say that full stops and commas will get used a lot on a business handset, so needing to press the 'alt' button before they'll register is incredibly annoying.

The bottom line

Overall, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 is unlikely to excite. It's a good handset, but it could have been better. That said, if you're looking for a BlackBerry, and want the advantage of a decent web browser and big screen to view it on, it's worth a second look.