Hands On: Blackberry Torch 9800

8. BlackBerry's Last Chance Against iPhone?

Can the BlackBerry Torch 9800 light RIM’s way to success? A touchscreen QWERTY slider with BlackBerry 6 software goes for search and social skills.

Despite the antenna issues, iPhone 4 has been a huge success for Apple and it’s easy to see the BlackBerry Torch as an attempt to catch up. But while the fashion is to say that RIM has fallen behind, the BlackBerry continues to be the number one supplier in the US smartphone market (and worldwide, RIM is second only to Nokia in smartphone sales). Both Apple and RIM have lost market share to Android this year but with almost a third of the market for Q2 this year (32.1% according to new figures from analysts Canalys this week), BlackBerry is still well ahead of iPhone’s fifth of the market (21.7%). Comscore’s figures detailing which smartphones are in use in the US gave RIM even more of a lead in May, before iPhone 4 shipped; there were almost twice as many BlackBerry devices (41.7%) as iPhones (24.4%).  

If you look at who is gaining and losing share, it’s less iPhone that RIM has to worry about and more Google. Android’s impressive growth rate (886% since last year) reflects low sales in early 2009 as well as good sales in 2010, but HTC alone now has nearly 15% market share in the US so it’s certainly a threat to RIM, but BlackBerry has a lot of advantages.

BlackBerry is getting much more flexible; touch screen and keyboard, a home screen full of icons or just a few – you get to choose.

The BlackBerry Torch will have a huge appeal for existing BlackBerry users because it really is the best of both worlds; a bigger screen, a touchscreen with gestures that are clear and simple (rather than the novel and unpredictable touch gestures of the original Storm) and a real BlackBerry keyboard. Bold and Curve users who want a larger screen and the option of touch without losing their beloved keyboard will like it, and Storm users will gain a real keyboard (in a device that’s only a trifle thicker and heavier; 0.57” thick rather than 0.55” and 5.68 ounces rather than 5.64). For new users, it means BlackBerry is available in all the form factors you could want.

BlackBerry 6 is a big improvement over BlackBerry 5, for the interface and the touch-screen gestures, for the WebKit browser (which will work with Flash, probably later this fall) and for extra features like push notifications, location services and being able to charge apps and content subscriptions to your mobile bill. The multi-tasking isn’t new but it’s even more seamless, especially for social networking, and it doesn’t come at the cost of battery life either. With the new interface, the new media features and the bright and colorful touch screen, BlackBerry has a chance to shake off its ‘just for business’ perception for good.