A Closer Look At The Keyboard And Touchscreen On The Blackberry Torch

This particular device is different from the majority of its stablemates in the fact that it sports the combination of a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen. Let’s take a look at how this handset offers the best of both, and how this benefits users during day to day use of the device.

By including the touchscreen and keyboard along with an optical trackpad, there is no right or wrong way to use the Blackberry Torch; rather all the options are provided to suit the individual’s preference. For example, if you are a previous user of a Blackberry such as Bold or Curve model with its iconic QWERTY keyboard, then using the Blackberry torch remains exactly the same. You can also navigate with the optical trackpad as you did with these devices, so there is nothing new to learn in order to use the handset effectively. If you are more of a touchscreen fan, then of course, the Blackberry Torch also delivers in this aspect.

The Keyboard:

The keyboard itself is great; 4 rows of nicely spaced out keys offer an efficient and speedy means to write SMS messages, emails, search the web, or even edit MS Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. The addition of this keyboard makes the Blackberry Torch one of the more appealing options to people who use their phone for business use, or those who send a lot of texts and emails in general. With either one or two hands entering text is easy and comes naturally to anyone used to the QWERTY setup. Another nice thing about the keyboard is the size of the keys; whilst many handsets offer a physical QWERTY keyboard, all too often the keys are small and require real concentration to use effectively, and this essentially defeats the purpose of having such a feature. With the Blackberry Torch however, the keys are amply proportioned and requires little concentration to get it right every time.

Now a look at the touchscreen:

The screen on the Blackberry Torch measures up at a generous 3.2 inches and boasts an impressive spec list in its own right, with the ability to display some 16 million colours within its pixel resolution of 360x 480. Features such as inch to zoom are also included, meaning that zooming into websites on the full HTML browser is a breeze. An accelerometer sensor is also included as part of the package. This automatically rotates certain aspects of the user interface for a widescreen, landscape view. This is a particularly handy feature for using the onscreen QWERTY keyboard, meaning that it can be used with two hands in a similar fashion to its slide out counterpart. The touchscreen makes navigating and using the Blackberry 6.0 operating system easy, and indeed enjoyable.

Is the Blackberry Torch right for me?

If you are an existing fan of RIM’s devices, the Blackberry Torch has many of the features you know and love with a new and improved Blackberry 6.0 OS. By combining the slide out keyboard, touchscreen and optical trackpad, you really get a comprehensive package. It also makes the device ideal for those looking to make the transition from touchscreen to QWERTY or vice versa, without sacrificing functionality and features.