Hands-on – BlackBerry Torch 9800

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is RIM’s first slider, and the first phone to run BlackBerry 6 OS. We got up close and personal…

Unassuming, isn’t it? But there’s that new homepage – you can see the wallpaper peeping through behind the icon layover.

And the obligatory landscape mode… what, no keyboard?

There it is – a nice pokable on-screen keyboard. Still, as the BlackBerry has forged its path in the world as a messaging device, there’s back-up for big jobs…

… in the shape of this slide-out keyboard. Expect the customary BlackBerry easy typing.

Begging to be tapped. The slide action is lovely, too. Very chunky and satisfying.

Here’s a peek a bit deeper into the OS. Nice new menus all over the place. We can’t wait to have a proper go. See you back here in a bit for a more detailed poke.

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– Need to know – BlackBerry Torch 9800

Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home