NOTE ON PICTURES: One of great things about the pictures in this review is that I’m not a photographer and so the pics aren’t doctored or made to look especially beautiful. It’s like going to a restaurant and seeing realistic pictures of the food on the menu. Also, all pictures are taken with a Z10 to give you an idea of camera quality.

HARDWARE

Overall, the BlackBerry Z10 feels like a nicely balanced device. The weight feels great, as it’s not too light and not too heavy. The iPhone 5 by comparison is about 23 grams lighter than the BlackBerry Z10 and it feels a little too light. The Z10 hardware is also really sturdy. I have dropped the Z10 a handful of times, without a case, and it has never received more than a little scratch on the back cover.

The buttons on the Z10 are helpful and easy to press. The volume keys allow you to change volume levels even when the device is locked, which helps for listening to music. Locking and unlocking the device is a breeze and there’s even a fun swipe feature for waking the device up. More on that feature in the software section. The best part of the hardware is probably the HDMI and Micro-USB connections. It’s so nice to be able to share connectors with people who don’t even use a BlackBerry 10 device. Sharing a charger with someone makes you realize how lame it must be to be an iPhone 5 user.

Specifications are something that everybody loves to chat about but it’s really inconsequential. The primary purpose of specs should be to meet the consumer’s needs and compromise between a quick, snappy experience and prolonged battery life.

The specs that the BlackBerry Z10 apart from the other devices are the following:

• 1280 x 768 resolution, at 356 PPI, 4.2 inch screen
• Removable battery
• 8 megapixel auto-focus camera
• 1080p HD video recording
• 2 megapixel fixed-focus front camera
• 720p HD video recording
• BlackBerry Balance for corporate users
• Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE)
• NFC
• Support for HDMI and Micro-USB

Check out the full specifications for the BlackBerry Z10 at this link.

Every review has a section on call quality and there is never really a point in writing about it because call quality doesn’t vary much between smartphones. The BlackBerry Z10 has a decent phone app with reliable service on both Telus and Rogers (I switched carriers on the device). There was a few times when the call quality seemed like a device bug and the phone app seemed to glitch out a little. More on that in the software section.

DISPLAY

The BlackBerry Z10 has a beautiful screen. With a 1280 x 768 resolution, at 356 PPI and a 4.2 inch screen, the Z10′s resolution is powerful enough to look great on the device and also great when connected to a TV with the HDMI connection. Just take a look at the above screenshot from the game N.O.V.A. 3. It speaks for itself.

CAMERA

The BlackBerry Z10 has a nicely spec’d camera as described above. The photo option also comes with a nice feature called Time Shift which allows you to shift the time of the picture, specifically a face in the photo so you can get the perfect shot.

Here is a video I took with the Z10 which I also edited using the native editing software. I wasn’t able to actually upload the video to YouTube either Over The Air or on WiFi, either from the native app or from YouTube’s site. More on these kind of small bugs in the BlackBerry 10 review.

The quality of the video camera is great but what really sets it apart is the ability to edit videos and create your own montages. Below is an example of a tour of the Quirky offices that I took while in New York and used the BlackBerry Z10 video editing software to make a video montage on the fly (uploading to YouTube worked in this instance).

Here are a few pictures I took to give you an idea of what it’s like taking pics in varying degrees of light (click to enlarge any of them).

BLACKBERRY 10 BY QNX

BlackBerry 10 is a huge improvement over the legacy BlackBerry OS. It’s everything that BlackBerry needs to be in order to be competitive in the smartphone industry. The way it handles apps, multi-tasks and “flows” is such a breath of fresh air compared to the old BlackBerry experience. The User Experience is fast and responsive and overall I’m really pleased with the experience, especially when compared to the legacy devices. The Android player on the device also opens up the app market quite a bit and some of my favorite apps are Android ports.

Currently, my favorite features of BlackBerry 10 are:

• Downloading OS updates over the air.
• The time to reset and boot the device is short.
• Multi-tasking apps is a lot of fun due to the gestures.
• Universal Search
• BlackBerry Hub

One of the downsides of the way BlackBerry 10 handles multiple apps is that everything feels segregated. On legacy BlackBerry devices, everything would connect in this beautiful way that made you feel productive. That’s not the case with BlackBerry 10. A great example of this is dialing contacts in the phone app. The Address Book and the Phone App are two distinctive apps, making for a very aggravating contact management and calling system.

The biggest problem I have with the BlackBerry 10 OS is that it’s 93% complete. It doesn’t feel fully polished and there are bugs that I can, after a month of using the device, duplicate. For example, if you have multiple emails associated with the device, and you try and add a calendar event without specifying the email associated with that event, you crash the calendar app. That’s one of those bugs that makes you realize that maybe US carriers were right to delay the release. It’s also surprising because the QNX OS has been around for so long, not only in the market before the BlackBerry acquisition, but on the PlayBook running a calendar app. To be fair, the bug has been fixed in an update that BlackBerry released on March 1st, 2013, but that’s a full month after launch.

See this Inside BlackBerry blog post for updates that were released during that OS update.

“The biggest problem I have with the BlackBerry 10 OS is that it’s 93% complete.”

To this day, there are still some bugs on BlackBerry 10 that are annoying. For example, the browser crashes once a week on me and if I hit my mobile banking site from the Z10, the browser flashes like it’s trying to give me epileptic seizures. Also, the Hub doesn’t do a good job of managing notifications. Sometimes emails will not show up in the Hub, but will show in that email’s respective section and often times notifications will not go away even after they’ve been marked read.

There are a few other issues that the OS has such as changing the font size can cause letters to overlap and the orientation can be finicky. It’s hard to list all the issues but generally it leaves you with a feeling that the OS needs to “mature” a little.

All of this is not unusual for a new smartphone. It’s really difficult to put every facet of the device through QA considering the millions upon millions of different actions a user can take. Hopefully all these crashes are being logged at BlackBerry somehow and they’re all being tracked. Even though there are issues with the OS and several little bugs, the OS in general is awesome and any smartphone user would appreciate the way the OS has been designed and implemented. It’s just going to take a little longer, probably only until the Q10 is released, for all the kinks to be fully worked out.

KEYBOARD AND MESSAGING

The reason I have been using a BlackBerry for so long is that it does one thing and it does it really well: messaging. The vast majority of my smartphone use is spent messaging, whether it’s email, SMS, twitter or BBM. The problem with the Z10 is that the virtual keyboard doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest. About once per day I make an embarrassing mistake and send an email or a message with a typo that makes me curse the virtual keyboard. The main issue is that it’s really difficult to train your brain to “flick”. Unless you’re flicking, the spell checker will replace your intended word with what it thinks you want to type. Without the flick, you’re constantly working against a virtual keyboard that thinks it’s smarter than you. Check out the video below to see flick in action if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Just to be clear, this is nothing against BlackBerry’s virtual keyboard per se. I don’t like any virtual keyboard. I’m a loyal BlackBerry user because of the physical keyboard. Just look at Eric Shmidt of Google, he still uses a keyboard and probably for the same reason. The typing experience is unparalelled. BlackBerry did a great job improving on the virtual keyboard experience with the “flick” experience, but as someone who loves a keyboard, this isn’t going to convince me to use this device. Personally, I can’t wait until the Q10 comes out because it will be the best of both worlds.

In terms of messaging, BlackBerry Hub is the main selling point with BlackBerry 10 and it’s a great feature. Currently, I have 5 emails, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BBM, SMS, Calls and Notifications all being pushed to the Hub. The BlackBerry Hub generally does an excellent job of managing all those accounts, calendars and contacts and is a constant reminder of why I’m a loyal BlackBerry user.

“The BlackBerry Hub generally does an excellent job of managing all those accounts, calendars and contacts and is a constant reminder of why I’m a loyal BlackBerry user.”

The biggest problem with emails on a BlackBerry Z10? The blue font. Who at BlackBerry thought it would be a good idea to turn my emails blue? It really sucks to broadcast to everyone that you’re sending an email from a mobile device. It could potentially offend your customers. BlackBerry of all companies should know that. Overall, it’s really frustrating and there is no way to turn it off.

PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY LIFE

Performance on the Z10 is magnificent. Apps load quickly and the device boots up in a short period of time. Overall, the device has never frozen, crashed, restarted or had any major performance issues other than the small bugs mentioned above. The BlackBerry 10 OS by QNX definitely seems to be worth its purchase price as it brings BlackBerry into a new era of mobile computing that is versatile and able to exist beyond just smartphones and tablets.

The battery life on the Z10 was particularly bad for the first month of launch but the most recent OS update seems to have really helped. Actually, maybe this point deserves to be in software because it’s quite a big battery that should be able to power the device, but with using the device as a Power User, you’re getting about 4 hours on it before the update and about 6 at this point in time.

To help battery life, I’ve purchased what is arguably the best BlackBerry Z10 accessory on the market: the Z10 Battery Charger Bundle. Not only can you plug the battery bundle straight into the device to save your phone from dying while on a call, but you can swap out the batteries and start fresh. This accessory has been a life saver and it’s a must-have for any Z10 user.

CONCLUSIONS

The first question you need to ask yourself when looking at the Z10 is: am I a touchscreen or QWERTY user? The question can also be answered by asking yourself what you’re going to use your device for most often. Will you be doing a lot of messaging and business? Or will you be playing games and browsing the Internet. If the answer is messaging, I say wait for the Q10. I’ve personally tried the Q10 and the combination of BlackBerry 10 and a QWERTY keyboard is the best of both worlds. If you’re going to be playing games and using your BlackBerry 10 device as a media device, get the Z10. You’ll appreciate the large screen and gesture interface.

In terms of the BlackBerry Z10 as an entry device into the new era of BlackBerry: it’s everything that we wanted from the new BlackBerry. It has a unique value proposition, great gestures, core OS features that differentiate it from the competition, a solid platform for attracting developers, and a slick piece of hardware to hold it all.

Will this device get BlackBerry to the number 3 position? I hope so. It’s so hard to tell these days. It seems insane that only 2 operating systems can dominate the entire mobile OS market, especially because 10 years from now smartphones could easily number in the billions. The BlackBerry Z10 does have everything BlackBerry needs to be a major player, but who knows how the markets will respond. Perhaps a company can make the best product in the world but there are so many other factors that contribute to its success or failure. Intangible elements such as “consumer brand perception” are so difficult to predict. But if I were a gambling man, I would definitely say that this is a device the consumer is going to enjoy, and that would lead me to put some money down on this company. Not only is the BlackBerry Z10 a great smartphone purchase, but the BlackBerry 10 platform is really inspiring.

Huge for Third World

BBM Voice is going to be amazing for those with a prepaid BlackBerry and a BBM Plan. This way, you can save all your voice minutes for emergencies and leverage WiFi to make calls. This is also going to be great for those who make long distance calls often. If you have family abroad with BBM, you can now call them for free.

Smart WiFi-Style Apps

Apps such as Little Brother and Smart WiFi are going to be very complementary to BBM Voice. One of the problems with BBM Voice is that it requires a WiFi connection, but leaving your WiFi on outside of the network can cause battery drain. Applications such as Little Brother by Emacberry, allows you to geofence your WiFi zones, thus saving battery and automatically kicking you onto a WiFi Network.

You can download Little Brother for free in App World at this link.

You can buy Smart WiFi for $2.99 at this App World link.

Voice is Dead

Voice is a boring, outdated way of communicating that, while still popular for certain cases such as conference calls, sales and support, it’s going to be a small percentage of overall communication relative to technologies such as video chat, instant messaging and social networks. BBM Voice is an excellent product but one can’t help but think that it would have been a much better product to launch 2-3 years ago, and that it’s not necessarily the best time to launch a voice product. It’s an especially bad time as RIM is currently facing criticism for not being innovative.

Conclusions

As it stands, I find myself only using BBM Voice as a novelty feature. Many of my BlackBerry Messenger contacts have moved on to other smartphones, making my BBM Contact list pretty sparse. That, combined with both parties having to be on WiFi, means there are few situations where BBM Voice can be activated. It reminds me of the PlayBook video chat in that respect. It’s hard to find a convenient time when the right contact is available on WiFi and you’re both looking to talk to one another. This product seems best for those on prepaid BlackBerrys with a BBM Plan who are looking to save minutes, and therefore I’m just not the target market for the product.

If you’re looking to get on BBM Voice, check it out in the BlackBerry Beta Zone at this link.

So let’s break down the key features of this latest PlayBook version:

• 1.5 GHz Dual Core Processor (faster than its predecessor)
• 4G LTE Connectivity (LTE and HSPA+)
• Bluetooth version 3.1

Other than that, this is the same PlayBook as was previously launched.

Who exactly is the customer base for a 4G LTE PlayBook?

1. Those that don’t have Hotspot access.
2. Anyone that has a long commute and feels Hotspot is too battery draining.
3. Hardcore BlackBerry supporters that want the latest even if there’s not too much new.
4. Someone who uses a lot of data and whose carrier charges a lot for tablet data.

There doesn’t seem to be all that much going for the new PlayBook relative to its predecessor, and considering the price, it’s hard to recommend this version over the non-radio connected version.

If you’re into large data and fast data speeds, Telus’ LTE network is really solid inside the city limits. The major downside to LTE is obviously the coverage isn’t great, especially anywhere rural.

PlayBook 4G LTE Speeds on Telus Network

27.46 Mbps Download, 5.70 Mbps Upload.

Is all this worth the price?

The BlackBerry PlayBook 4 is available through Bell and Rogers for $350 with a three-year contract and on Telus without a contract for $550. Telus allows you to share your data plan with your smartphone and Bell charges an additional $20 per month. Rogers charges $22 per month for its tablet data plans.

Advantages

1. Great data speeds and more storage.
2. No additional cost on Telus.
3. Faster Bluetooth connectivity with version 3.1.

Disadvantages

1. Extra data plan costs with Bell and Rogers.

Why did RIM release this?

The first reason that comes to mind is: every other tablet has a radio version so the PlayBook should have one too. It seems a little like “keeping up with the Joneses”, except RIM had a house that was way better and different than the Joneses. The additional costs if you’re on Rogers or Bell doesn’t seem worth it considering BlackBerry’s Mobile Hotspot and Bridge options make the device really portable. Maybe the end goal of the PlayBook launch was really to show shareholders that progress is being made while everyone waits patiently for the upcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

Click here to read our review of the WiFi-enabled PlayBook by Matt Cameron.

The Bluetooth keyboard for the PlayBook by Next Success comes as a case with a built-in keyboard. The keyboard is charged via Micro USB and pairs to the PlayBook like any other Bluetooth accessory would.

Some of the great things about the Next Success keyboard is that the keys are made from rubber so that when your PlayBook screen rubs against them, your screen won’t get scratched. The case that surrounds the PlayBook also feels like it’s fairly good quality and the stand that props the PlayBook upright is at a nice angle.

The typing experience on the keyboard is pretty solid and the letters register on the screen quickly. There isn’t as much feedback from the keys as you would want though. It feels as though the keys are hollow rubber, and because of this the typing experience takes some getting used to. Compared to the virtual keyboard on the PlayBook, if you have any significant amount of typing to do you’ll love this keyboard. Writing emails, documents and completing forms with the Bluetooth keyboard was significantly faster.

The major criticism I have of the Bluetooth Keyboard is that the case that the PlayBook sits in didn’t take into account the gestures that are used by the PlayBook. The leather cover hides the bezel which is integral to the PlayBook experience. If you’re browsing multiple apps, you will want to swipe from the far right to the center, or from the bottom to the center. This is difficult with the PlayBook case and hurts the user experience a bit.

It should be interesting to see how this Bluetooth Keyboard compares to RIM’s official one that launches in “early 2012″. If you’re someone who is on the road a lot and you’re looking to make your PlayBook a laptop replacement, this is a great solution.

To learn more about the PlayBook Bluetooth keyboard and to purchase, head over to NextSuccess.com. The Bluetooth Keyboard is being sold for $89.95.

Size, Weight and Feel

The Blackberry Torch 9850/9860 has a really sleek design and a refined look. When you first pick it up it immediately feels great in your hands, especially being held horizontally as it has new curved ends for an all new feel for gaming and typing with the full screen keyboard. It’s a very respectable screen size at 3.7” and the solid design make the phone feel like it was well made and not with cheap plastics. The battery door is made of metal and gives it a nice solid feel however, it does add a little to the weight. Weighing in at 4.76oz it weighs 1oz or about 20% less than the Torch 9810.

I’ve put this device in the hands of several people (including my wife who has a Style 9670) and asked them what they thought of the size, weight and feel. I received very positive feedback from them and they all seemed to really like the weight. They commented on the fact that it felt like a really solid phone. Even my wife said that she doesn’t like touchscreen devices but she really enjoys the styling and the placement of the buttons; especially the full lock key on the top of the device.

Compass

It really makes me happy to see that RIM is finally putting useful technology into their phones and listening to what people want. The Torch 9850/9860 comes fully loaded with a digital compass that enables the use of applications like Wikitude’s augmented reality application.

As great as this feature is, I really don’t think that it’s been perfected yet as I found myself getting quite frustrated having to calibrate the compass several times when trying to use it. I found myself flipping and rotating the phone while walking down the street. I was getting very weird looks from people wondering what the heck I was doing to my phone.

Hardware

RIM has finally upgraded the processor family in the new lineup of blackberrys. In the last generation of phones the fastest processor was 624Mhz and now the slowest processor is 800Mhz, while the higher end phones (Torch, Bold) run a beefed up 1.2Ghz chip. They’ve also added more memory to the new phones, actually the Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 come with 8GB of internal memory, however, the Torch 9850 only comes with 4GB of internal memory. I know it supports up to a 32GB card but come on. Why give one of the higher end BlackBerrys only 4GB of internal memory? Especially when recording HD video takes up so much space, this just doesn’t make any sense to me with memory being so cheap these days.

Screen

I’ll be the first to admit that touchscreen devices for RIM haven’t always been great. I’m very confident in saying that the Torch “Touch” 9850 is by far the best full touchscreen device that they’ve ever made. It finally all comes together, having the new 1.2Ghz processor with OS 7 and Liquid Graphics makes this phone a joy to use and the quality is finally up to much higher standards. It has a large, High-Res 3.7” 800×480 WVGA Transmissive TFT LCD display that produces an extremely crisp and clear picture that will make it hard to put this device down. Rocking out 252ppi (pixels per inch) adds a whole new dimension of clarity that really brings this phone up to standards with the current cell phone market. Sliding through menus and pinching & zooming is a very pleasant experience which I really enjoy showing off to my friends and family. Using the Torch 9800 for scrolling through pictures, menus or anything that would require fluidity is almost painful after using this phone. All in all a great screen that is a huge step up from any previous device.

Input (Virtual Keyboard)

RIM said that they’ve improved the touch keyboard for a better experience and more accuracy. I haven’t really experienced this. The keyboard is still really great and I don’t really have a lot of bad things to say about it but I really don’t think it’s that much improved over previous ones. The Torch 9850 being a full screen device the on-screen keyboard is larger and does feel more accurate. Overall, it’s still missing that refined touch. I still find myself making spelling mistakes and auto-correct just isn’t good enough to know what I’m trying to say. Having a bigger on-screen keyboard and larger device that is conformed to your hands for quick to thumb typing is still a better experience than typing on my Torch 9800.

I did have one major issue with the keyboard that I really hope they fix. In the middle of a text message I would get an error that said “device input error, restarting device”. I thought that it was a one time thing however, it happened to me a few times and OS updates never fixed it. I hope in the next version of the OS RIM get this issue resolved.

Battery Door

Keeping with the theme of full touch screen devices having a metal battery door the Torch 9850 doesn’t change things up. The door is made of a strong, but thin metal that really gives the device a nice feel with a coating that almost feels like satin. The metal door is very easy to remove with the simple push of a button and just as easy to replace. Sporting a polished chrome BlackBerry logo on the back, this battery door really does give it a more refined feel and makes it feel more solid. I’m definitely a fan.

Blackberry OS 7

When I first got my Torch 9800 with OS 6 I had really high expectations and was hoping for a really great device with a much needed update to outdated software that was falling behind the pack.

Unfortunately to say, I wasn’t super impressed with OS 6. The dpi on the screen was low, the motions were choppy and loading applications seems to take a lot longer than expected. I’m very happy to say that all of those issues are a thing of the past and OS 7 has really impressed me and given me some insight of great things to come from BlackBerry.

When I tested the new Torch 9860 at the BlackBerry OS 7 release event in downtown Toronto the representative told me that the web browsing experience was about 40% faster compared to OS 6. I disagree. I thought it was about 80-100% faster, depending on what I was loading. Finally a much improved and better experience browsing on a BlackBerry, as this one probably one of the biggest complaints for BB fans. Also, with HTML 5 support you really can’t go wrong.

The icons while similar to the previous ones have been refreshed with a new feel and new design. Full of detail and color they work hand in hand with the high res and high DPI screen to bring a more refined look.

The voice search is a great new feature in OS 7 giving a “hands free” option for fast searching on your device. Press the microphone icon in the search and you’ll be prompted to say a search word or phrase, Only about a second later your results will be on the screen. Testing this several times I must say that I’m actually really impressed. If there’s little to no background noise this feature was 100% accurate and about 90% with medium to high background noise. Very respectable. What’s needed is for RIM to make the voice a little more user friendly and connect actions. See more about this from this article on BlackBerryCool.

Internal Specifications

Screen/Sensors

TFT capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors
480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches (252 ppi)
Optical trackpad
Multi-touch input method
Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Magetometer (Digital Compass)

Communication

CDMA 800 / 1900 / CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / HSDPA 2100 (EDGE ONLY in Canada)
v2.1 with A2DP + EDR
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz)
Full GPS + A-GPS

Media

5 MP, 2592?1944 pixels, autofocus
Geo-tagging, continuous auto-focus, image stabilization, face detection
720p HD Video recording

Battery

Li-Ion 1230 mAh
Talk Time – up to 6 h 50 min
Music playback – up to 50 hours

Memory

4GB of Storage (This should be 8GB like other OS7 Devices)
768MB of RAM
Up to 32GB with microSD card

Processor

1.2GHz processor, Qualcomm MSM8655 Snapdragon

Media

This device is truly a media powerhouse with an upgraded 5mp camera with autofocus, HD 720p video recording and a refreshed music player. It has all of the bells and whistles to keep you entertained for hours. I’ll start with the camera. The Torch 9800 took good pictures however the 9850 takes better pictures. I find the lighting better and the pictures are just slightly better quality all together.

When I heard that the new OS7 devices were going to have 720p HD video I was very excited because the standard 640 x 480 video was sort of terrible. The video quality is finally clear and smooth along with decent sound getting slightly distorted when what you’re recording is very loud, like at at a concert. For an HD camera built into a cell phone you really can’t go wrong.

The built in music player has also been refreshed and has a much more fluid feel and is incredibly smooth when scrolling through music. Loading up the album covers still takes a second to load initially but once it’s up its good to go. One thing I really like is fact that when you are listening to a song you can scroll through the album covers while still listening to your first song. If you like what you see more than what’s playing just click on it then it begins to play. A new feature in the music player that I found is when your playing a song the artist name and album are now clickable buttons. When you click on artist it shows all songs by that artist, same with the album, it brings up all of the songs you have in that particular album. I find this makes searching for your favorite songs much easier.

General use

Phone quality is very good. I think this is the first phone I’ve had that people don’t complain about not hearing me clearly or asking me to repeat myself several times (which I hate). The speakerphone is quite good as well. I’ve noticed that there is some type of sound amplification that kicks in after the first ring and I’ll have to turn the volume down or it gets distorted and sounds terrible.

SMS and MMS are still very easy to use, which I believe is why a lot of people use BlackBerry. Big buttons on the bottom of the texting screen allow you to add attachment easily, view contact info or even move on to the next unread item in your SMS inbox. BBM 6 is very cool with OS 7 and with Wikitude, you now you can see your BBM contacts that are in your vicinity.

BlackBerry is trying very hard to integrate BBM more into people’s lives, and with the recent release of apps like BBM Music, it’s proof that they are going in the right direction. One massive thing that was fixed with BBM 6 is scrolling in your contact list when it’s expanded used to be incredibly choppy and laggy. I’m happy to say that this has been 100% resolved with the new version of BBM, Liquid Graphics and the new hardware.

Conclusions

Pros:

New design, great feel
OS 7 + New hardware = All around better experience
HD Video recording
Auto focus camera
Digital compass

Cons:

Only 512MB Storage, other OS7 phones have 768MB
No NFC
Digital Compass need calibrating constantly
Battery life – Lower capacity battery than previous phones
Only runs EDGE on GSM Mode (9850 Only)
Tiny mute button

Final thoughts

All in all this is a great addition to the OS 7 line up. Though there are a few things that could be improved upon before the BBX phones come out. I think they could have a better quality chrome bezel around the phone as mine started to peel up within a couple of weeks with regular use.

Launching applications on the Torch 9850 is much better than any previous BlackBerry. The lag between clicking the icon and the launch of the app is now a fraction of a second. RIM is still catching up with the Android / iPhone competition in this department. Until BBX comes out, we’re still stuck with J2ME-based phones that don’t handle the whole app experience very well.

RIM has been judged pretty harshly since the release of these phones and people claim to be let down by RIM. I disagree. I think this is a small leap forward into what we will see from RIM in the near future: a great device with a solid OS. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the best full touchscreen device that RIM has released and I’m excited to see the next generation BlackBerrys.

Fine tuning with the new technology will be key if RIM ever wants people actually using these features. I eventually gave up on having to calibrate the compass and it was very frustrating. I still see the hour glass every now and again, and I still need to pull the battery about every 4-5 days. App World bogs down the device, and there is minor checkerboarding in the web browser. I’ve learned to accept these quirks as I really love the whole BlackBerry experience. These are all things that I hope RIM has solved in the new, highly anticipated BBX platform.

I would definitely recommend this device to anyone looking for a little more touchscreen experience from their current Torch 9800.

The Bold 9790 is exactly what we love about RIM and BlackBerry. It combines the fast, super-efficient qualities of a QWERTY BlackBerry, and provides a touchscreen experience that comes in handy when navigating apps and menu structures. The fact that this powerful device will also come at a lower price point means that even those on a budget will be able to afford it.

There isn’t much to say about this BlackBerry without going into a full review. A brief experience with the keyboard was very pleasant and while it had a bit of a different feel to it than the Bold 9900 (more of a Curve experience reminiscent of the chicklit keys), it was still awesome.

The fact that you get a Bold 9900-style experience in a smaller form factor at a cheaper price point is incredible. Developers and some industry analysts may complain that it’s continually fragmenting the market, but from a consumer standpoint that doesn’t matter if developers are porting their apps. BlackBerry OS 7 will still have a significant lifespan regardless of BBX, and we expect most developers to make their apps compatible. Many OS 6 apps work just fine in OS 7 and require no extra development work. In the end, the Bold Touch 9790 will surely be a hit in Asian markets, as well as in North America where consumers want a great BlackBerry experience at a lower price point.

NOTE: We claim that the price will be lower but nothing has been announced. We’re simply making the assumption based on the fact that RIM has said during our hands-on that it expects them to be cheaper, but in the end it’s up to the carriers.

What sticks out most about a touchscreen BlackBerry is the fact that RIM is making a device that does not have a keyboard, something that is a core advantage of BlackBerry devices. One would think that a company that specializes in keyboards would be an industry leader when it comes to virtual keyboards, but this hasn’t been the case. The first Storm had a frustrating screen that wouldn’t let you type as fast as you wanted. The Storm2 tried to improve on the device by having multiple contact points, but it didn’t really help. Now, with the Storm3 and Curve Touch, RIM has an all touch device with nothing that really differentiates it from the competition. It’s almost as though RIM has given up on the virtual keyboard experience but its simply making all touch devices because market research dictates they should. This doesn’t seem like a good way to run a company.

The virtual keyboard experience on the Curve Touch and all modern BlackBerry virtual keyboards simply isn’t good enough for anyone that is serious about being fast and efficient with their device. The experience feels much slower for someone that is used to leveraging the power of the keyboard to get things done faster. Here are some simple ways a virtual keyboard makes the BlackBerry slower:

You can’t use Universal Search without first pressing the Search icon. With a physical keyboard, you simply start typing from the homescreen. This isn’t the case with a touchscreen and searching in general is much slower with the keyboard.

When you’re inside an app, you can’t navigate as fast. To navigate 200 BBM contacts, you have to be able to just press the first letter of their name. In Twitter, you may find yourself pressing ‘t’ to get to the top of the stream. You can’t do this with a touch device without first accessing the keyboard in the menu. Even then, it’s slower.

For someone who does a lot of typing on their device, my brief experience with the Curve Touch was really disappointing. There are constant headaches such as the fact that the virtual keyboard doesn’t change based on what fields you are filling out. The keyboard should know you’re in an email field and put the @ symbol front and center; but it doesn’t. That being said, if you don’t use the keyboard then the added screen real estate is wonderful. This is probably the target market of the device but as someone who is clearly not the target market, it’s hard for my first impressions to be anything but negative. If I could somehow just look at this device from the perspective of someone who purely consumes content, I would probably be really happy with the layout and design.

The one positive thing I can say about the virtual keyboard software is that RIM gives you the option to enter text in either full keyboard, reduced keyboard (think Pearl) or T9 (double tap). This is helpful as a reduced keyboard is pretty good for entering common text. The problem is when you try and type something like “Narnia” in reduced text, it’s nearly impossible and you have to switch to full keyboard. This shouldn’t happen.

We’ll have a full review eventually, but until then, my first impressions of the device have less to do with the Curve Touch itself, but more to do with a beef with RIM’s disappointing virtual keyboards. The company has been working on virtual keyboard technology since the launch of the first Storm over 3 years ago. RIM seems to have not made enough progress in the virtual keyboard software department.

The game follows all the great battle sequences from the movie, with your heroes battling wave after wave of progressively harder to beat opponents. In this tower defense style game, the enemies don’t fire back but could lead to your failure if too many of them make it past your fighting force.

Place troops, block paths, position heroes, and upgrade them so they do the most damage to the enemy waves. The enemies start off easy and you earn gold and lumber by surviving waves. Use your resources to bolster your forces and add some in-path defenses.

The waves of enemies come in diverse waves; some are weak to melee attacks while others are susceptible to magic assaults from elven archers. There are also waves of hardened orcs, which must be first be weakened by melee then finished off with the ranged magic attacks. If you don’t end up putting them in the right order, your orcish enemies will have time to rapidly heal and slip by your barricade. There are also flying units, which bypass the walking path and can only be hit by your hopefully well-placed ranged units.

I found the gameplay very challenging and engaging as all the battle sequences had some nostalgic elements to them and are based on the battles that the fellowship of the ring had to fight throught the LOTR series of films. The game features 12 levels and 5 maps that you must defend. There is also an endless mode for those hoping to really test their tower defense meddle.

I found the art was a little lacking and went the direction of a photo-realistic game trying to properly emulate the actors who played the characters. For mobile I prefer the clarity of well-designed simpler graphics but with this dark photo-realistic style, I found that I couldn’t tell too much of a difference between enemy units.

I enjoyed how difficult the game was with correct placement being the difference of life and death. This tower defense game really delivers a challenge, I give this game 3 stars out of a possible 5.

Buy Lord of the Rings: Middle Earth Defence for BlackBerry, on sale now for $5.99, that’s 15% off.

Before going into a review of the PlayBook, it’s worth taking some time to talk about the tablet market in general. For some reason, we all need tablets now. There’s been a lot of hype surrounding tablets since the launch of the iPad and whether or not you need a tablet is something you should really figure out for yourself. There’s a few key things that a tablet is better for than a smartphone or a laptop. For example, tablets are great for consuming content but if you’re going to be coding, you should definitely be sticking to a laptop.

The synergy between tablets and smartphones is clear: phone screens are tiny and the mobile experience can be dramatically improved with a bigger screen coupled with more powerful architecture. The marketers see it differently; they feel that tablets are laptop killers and that people should do work on them. This seems like a bit of a stretch.

Tablets for “Professionals”

I’ve kept my PlayBook within arms’ reach of my laptop and BlackBerry since the day I got it. What I discovered is that my tablet “work” was limited to checking email and browsing the web. Where marketers are getting this whole “it’ll make you more productive” angle I’ll never know. I guess it’s a clever way to turn a want into a need.

There are a few other professional ways you can use your PlayBook including:

Accessing your phone’s info while talking on the phone

BlackBerry Bridge haters eat your heart out. I was having business-talk on the phone the other day and I never had to say “hold on, let me check my phone for a minute”. I looked up and added things to my calendar, contacts, searched through emails, added to-dos and started a collaborative Google document. It’s a bit like a second screen for my BlackBerry but the effect that it had on my conversation was that I had all this info off the top of my head.

Showcasing

The PlayBook is built to showcase. If you’ve got a presentation to make, especially a 1 on 1 pitch you need a PlayBook. The speakers on the front of the PlayBook are loud enough to hear a demo video even if you’re pitching something in a noisy conference hall. Videos look superb and you can concurrently load your other docs and web pages. They’ll know you’re in top form when you answer a question of theirs with something waiting in the PlayBook’s multitasking wings.

Flexible control surface

At the core of a tablet’s design is the ultimate control surface. I used to figuratively drool all over the Optimus Maximus Keyboard. Each key has a mini-display on it and the whole thing can be customized to suit your input needs.

Tablets are the ultimate button panel and soon enough we’ll use them to control nearly everything electronic. Already there are universal remote apps, a Netflix queue manager, a Boxee remote app and even control apps for your PC and Mac. As far as professional grade control apps go, I really would like to see some MIDI and OSC apps for PlayBook.

Documents To Go

The PlayBook includes a full version of the BlackBerry office suite: Documents To Go. This is great for viewing and making minor edits to documents that come through via email. Adding some info in Sheet To Go is made easy by their intuitive control scheme. Selecting the cells or a group of cells involves adjusting the position on two small control markers.

I find that working on docs on this for anything but a short period of time demands a laptop, but the PlayBook’s portable viewing and editing abilities are straightforward and uncluttered.

A use case that didn’t make the cut is note-taking during meetings. I still feel that we’re in an era in which fiddling away on a smartphone or a tablet during a meeting is rude while taking notes with pen and paper doesn’t share that stigma.

Design

Form Factor

The PlayBook feels like it’s got a satisfying weight to it. It’s the perfect size for holding with two hands but one-handed operation will put a bit of strain on your hand and wrist after a couple of minutes. The PlayBook has a non-slip and velvety rubberized texture, great for propping up against other items on a table because the bottom edge won’t slip out from under it. I find that the outer case feels so solid that I don’t bother with protective skins or cases. I even leave the neoprene slip-on cover that it came with in my drawer full of unwanted USB cables.

The idea that it can “fit in your pocket” is a half-truth. It can fit in your pocket if you shop in a Big and Tall store. It can fit in a large jacket pocket but feels awkward as it fills out the pocket completely. Think of the feeling of putting 3 blackberry devices in a single pants pocket. It’s possible, just not even close to being practical. I feel the PlayBook design is solid enough to throw it into any part of my luggage that doesn’t contain keys.

The PlayBook is the ideal size for a purse, messenger bag or briefcase. Even if you’ve got a laptop, adding the PlayBook to your briefcase is more of a question of “do I want to bring my PlayBook?” rather than “do I have room to bring my PlayBook?” Larger tablets are about as big as a laptop’s screen making them less purse or bag friendly.

Multitasking

The PlayBook’s multitasking abilities are quite robust. It won’t let you run every installed app at once but it will run around 5 to 10 apps reliably. When you reach the limits of what it can run it won’t let you open a new app.

As good as the PlayBook’s browser is, it won’t allow you to overlap the audio from two different browser sources. This kills the PlayBook’s potential as a party music jukebox unless you and your friends only listen to the same 20 or so albums (all pre-loaded on to the PlayBook of course) and don’t like new music at all.

The ideal for me would be to allow the last two browser windows’ audio through. This way you can fade between two sources like you can on the most basic of netbooks.

Battery

The Battery lasts a long time in comparison to laptops. You’re able to choose the rate of power consumption by fine-tuning network connections and screen brightness just like you do now on your phone.

The PlayBook requires a high-powered micro USB in order to charge and comes with a high-capacity wall charger. For even faster charging, you’ll either have to buy the charging pod that gives you a great desktop viewing angle, or the rapid travel charger that will also give you access to the HDMI out. Why the charging pod doesn’t have an HDMI-through port is weird because it seems better suited towards desktop operation.

Setup

In terms of setup the PlayBook hits the ground running. There are fewer hoops to jump through than setting up a BlackBerry for the first time. This is partly because you’ve already set up a BlackBerry to be paired with it so all the PlayBook needs is your desired language, Wi-Fi setup, time, BlackBerry Bridge and desktop syncing. There’s also a brief tutorial that teaches you the bezel navigation basics.

The way the tablet uses your BlackBerry’s connection means you won’t have to bother your CTO when you get a PlayBook. “Risks of loss or theft of hardware” is a top CTO concern. The Bridge’s data philosophy solves these issues by not keeping any of your data when your phone is out of range.

Apps

Serious developers need a critical mass of customers to insure a return on their investment. As a result, App World is flooded with small developers’ simple apps. While RIM’s program of giving away free tablets to developers have led to a respectable number of apps on early in the PlayBook’s life, these apps are usually just focusing on providing a single feature or service and lack a high degree of quality.

When I ask PlayBook users what their favorite PlayBook apps are, their answers are always leaning towards first party apps. Surprising amounts of people simply answer “the browser”. This only highlights my point that there is not a healthy list of premium 3rd party apps for the PlayBook.

It should be noted that we see this all changing significantly. With the ability to support Android apps, as well as apps written in the Native SDK, Java, Flash and HTML, RIM has carved a great strategy of openness.

Another step towards going paperless

The vision of a paperless office has been around ever since the idea got hatched at Xerox’s famed Palo Alto Research Center. When the good folks at PARC were busy inventing the building blocks of the modern PC, they stumbled upon a glorious vision of a seamless and paperless workgroup. PARC innovations such as easy networking, the mouse, windows, icons and WYSIWYG document editing all came together to form a radical idea: typewriters and paper are a thing of the past.

Over the past 30 years the lessons learned in the early days of PARC have blossomed into a full-fledged computing revolution. Now everyone sees the wisdom in computers that are networked and easier to use, documents that can be modified and saved instead of laborious drafting and re-typing.

We still use paper documents everywhere. At BlackBerry World, there were several companies boasting the wireless printing solutions that their software offered. I can see how it this will change how people view documents and messages while away from their PC.

Video

Watching video is a pleasure on the PlayBook; the widescreen nature of the display’s 1024×600 resolution is perfect for movies. The video chips that handle the resizing of video do a great job. The resizing of the video is fantastic with no moiré or video artifacts on the main display or the HDMI output.

The PlayBook can play back most formats such as divx, avi, h.264, mpeg4 and more. The only format that I found it wouldn’t accept is mkv files which is too bad because most 1080p videos tend to be stored in this format.

The video camera function on the Playbook is okay. It can shoot up to 1080p and offers 3 simple video setting keeping settings like aperture, white balance, and shutter speed far away from the user. Holding the PlayBook to shoot video is mixed because as big as the preview screen is, the tablet’s weight isn’t balanced for holding at head level. Shooting a 5-minute video without leaning your arms on something would become uncomfortable and feels awkward.

The idea that a user would use the camera and video functions as a collaborative tool is eclipsed by the ease of use of the BlackBerry. It’s a bit of a convoluted process to take a pic or a video on the Playbook and email it or transfer it to where it has to go. To do this you’ve got to do it from within the messages app. Meanwhile on the smartphone side of things, you can send it somewhere right after you’ve taken the pic or video.

Camera

Similar to the video operation, the camera has 3 simplified shooting modes: auto, sports and whiteboard. The delay between pressing the shutter button and the picture being taken is so significant that it reminds me of the earliest of camera phones. It feels like a 2 second delay and I prefer taking pictures on my BlackBerry instead.

Video Conferencing

This can only be done with other Playbooks and only under the correct network conditions. I would really like to see something actually useful take advantage of video conferencing like a Skype client. It seems every gadget has a forward-facing camera but companies all want to use their own system. Until then this’ll be a feature that they can write on the side of the box, but will basically never be used.

Click here to read more about our thoughts on the PlayBook video conferencing app.

Not a Standalone Tablet

At present, the tablet is almost completely useless without an accompanying BlackBerry smartphone. Once they have an option to migrate all the BlackBerry Bridge apps’ functionality into native PlayBook apps, then you could get a PlayBook for use with another brand of phone. Until then, the PlayBook is for BlackBerry users only.

Browser

The browser is the PlayBook’s killer app. RIM built and finely-tuned it so that all the other apps would be elevated by it’s utility. I don’t even have to wait for companies to make a PlayBook version of their app because for the most part, their web clients work just fine.

I was wondering when my favorite note-taking app Evernote would be making it to the PlayBook as their iPad software looked great. Doing some poking around in forums led me to a post that simply read: “use the web client, it works great!”
I wish there was a “reopen all windows in Bridge Browser” and “reopen all windows in WiFi browser” because having them separated by connectivity stunts the ease of portability. Why the browsers are separated by connectivity has got to be an engineering choice that the users now have to cope with.

Entertainment

The PlayBook is the master of web-based entertainment. The flash-enabled browser allows you to watch almost every format of steaming video and audio from the web. Web content is easy to manage with lots of choices for podcasting apps, internet radio, RSS feeds and news reader apps.

Entertainment is a pretty large topic to cover, I would simply suggest trying out your favorite media outlets and try not to act too surprised when the PlayBook can handle it.

One small problem I have with watching videos with ads that you’re meant to close to get a clearer view. Most of the time it will load the ad as if you had clicked on it rather than close the ad so you can remove the clutter around your video. I find that my 16GB PlayBook has ample storage being that most of my content is stored on my PC and loaded when I need it. Splurge on a 64GB PlayBook only if you’re planning on making your PlayBook the device that manages your music and videos.

A Hint of What’s to Come: the QNX BlackBerry

I can’t wait for the QNX-designed BlackBerry smartphone. Since the popularization of loading third party apps on the BlackBerry, users have had to deal with a number of growing pains like constant battery pulls, apps freezing and system slow-downs after a certain amount of apps get installed.

If the Playbook’s performance is any hint as to what the QNX BlackBerry can do, I think that competing smartphone platforms will be hard pressed to match BlackBerry’s muscle. They’ll have superior multitasking and integration of features across apps.

One of my biggest daydreams of the union between tablet and phone is a deeper integration of apps across the platforms. Imagine copy and pasting something from the Playbook’s web browser into one of your BlackBerry apps. Or updating someone’s contact photo or custom ringtone with content brought in from the PlayBook. I also envision e-readers, music playlists, podcasts and RSS apps that are aware of where you left so you can find your place even if you’re switching between tablet and phone.

Should I buy a BlackBerry Playbook?

To properly answer this question I think you should ask yourself “do you love your BlackBerry”? If yes, then you need a BlackBerry PlayBook. You should also stay tuned for the big PlayBook update. With native PIM features, a redesigned OS, and BBM, you don’t have to own a BlackBerry to buy a PlayBook. We’ll have another review coming when this happens so stay tuned.

Being shipped a new device that looked nearly identical to my current Torch 9800 only worsened my fears. The body of the phone seems to be cut from the same mold. It’s such a mirror image of the Torch 9800 that only Torch owners will know you even got a new device. If you’re one of those people who feels the need to show off your new phone you’ll probably feel unfulfilled with the new Torch.

For those who care more about actual performance, this is the device for you. The new Torch is nearly twice the phone that the old Torch was. This has to be the most significant update with the smallest jump in model number I have ever seen. After a week of using the new Torch, I found myself eating my words because my faith in team BlackBerry had been restored.

Better processor: more multitasking

I was a big fan of the Torch 9800 but I found it a little underwhelming when it came to battery life and multitasking. The processor on the Torch 2 runs quite a bit faster than the old Torch 9800’s. Clocking in at 1.2GHz, it’s almost double the rate of the Torch 9800’s 624MHz processor while maintaining some pretty decent battery life. Counting Megahertz is somewhat futile when comparing smartphones; one chip’s 624MHz can potentially outperform another’s 800 MHz. It’s more about how the chip works in conjunction with all the other engineering elements.

I’m not sure if I’m able to say that the new Torch is twice as fast but I am willing to put myself on the line for saying that it’s at least 50% faster than it’s predecessor.

Keep in mind that the Torch 9810 is still new and has yet to be fully optimized. When I first got the 9800, there was an OS update that came a month after launch that optimized battery, cut boot times in half and made navigation a bit smoother and more responsive. Right now my Torch 9810 has what seems to be a 3-minute boot time that I hope will be cured in the first update.

Liquid Graphics: OS lag reduced to acceptable levels

My biggest criticism of the Torch 9800 was that the extra flair put into the animated navigation was laggy. Users could really tell that they were causing a delay because actions were carried out about a second after you made them. I noticed the delay most when I wanted to mark my messages as read, I would have to wait for the OS animation to complete or the message will still be marked unread after exiting back into the messages list. Small stuff I know, but waiting for a computer for the sole reason of “seeing a pretty fade” is just bad design.

I know that all this OS glitter is something that consumers apparently demand. Why bother animate a smooth transition between two screens if you can just cut there? If I could turn off all the swipes and fades in favor of a less resource-intense cut, I would.

All this to say that Liquid Graphics has corrected the noticeable lag between OS transitions, and improved response time for swipe-based navigation, as well as pinch to zoom navigation.

Design: exactly the same as the Torch 9800

I’m very pleased that they didn’t change the design. The upside is all the advantages of the old Torch remain: a well-balanced, large touch-screened, keyboard-driven super-phone. Your old Torch 9800’s cases, skins, battery doors, Micro SD cards, batteries, data cables and chargers are all compatible with the Torch 9810.

A couple of things they have improved are the lightweight metallic body and the new and improved slider hinge. The new Torch is now a bit lighter, more rigid and it takes a lot less coordination to open.

The white space represents the Torch 9800 screen resolution

Display: 3.2 inch diagonal touch screen display with more pixel density

The New torch has a 640×480 display, up from the 9800’s 480×360 display. The display is about as bright and you probably won’t be able to tell too much of a difference between the two models until you realize that your font is a couple of points bigger than what is was on the old Torch.

If you love tiny fonts and packing as much detail as you can on to a mobile screen, you’ll be thrilled about the new Torch’s increased pixel density. There are close to 80 percent more pixels on the 9810 and I didn’t consider the 9800 to be lacking in this department at all.

Optical trackpad: still awesome

There is nothing to report here except for that since the dawn of smartphones, RIM has continually developed some of the best controls schemes designed specifically for mobile. Some users still feel nostalgia for the old scroll wheel, and I think everyone can agree that the new trackpad was an incredible upgrade to the sometimes-temperamental multi-directional scroll ball.

More app memory and more on-board storage

The Torch 9800 had 512MB of application ROM while the Torch 9810 boasts 768MB. With 50% more installed app memory, you can install a few more apps and games before noticing those extra-long boot times. The on-board drive space has been doubled too with 8GB for photos, music and other files. The Torch 9810 has a MicroSD slot that can accept a big 32GB card, bringing the total storage up to 40GB. While this is an improvement, it seems like storage is fast becoming a cloud-based service and we’re no longer concerned with RIM’s choice of SD Cards.

New: Magnetometer

A new addition the Torch 9810’s swiss army knife of features is the magnetometer. This new hardware will pave the way for Augmented Reality apps as well as better navigation apps. The two apps of note are the first party Compass app and the Wikitude augmented reality suite. It seems the software that powers the magnetometer needs a lot of work as I find that it asks me to recalibrate the compass every time I start a magnetometer-app, and several times while using the app too.

Camera and Video

While the old and new Torch both sport a 5 megapixel camera, the new Torch has some under the hood upgrades. Face detection allows the autofocus to choose faces to focus on rather than a distant light bulb that you unintentionally centered.
Also the video recording got a significant boost. The Torch 9810 can record in 720p (1280×720), up from VGA (640×480).

The camera sensor uses a CMOS sensor. CMOS is a great sensor with the exception of taking pictures or shooting video with a lot of motion. When there’s a lot of motion, the top part of the photo gets recorded before the bottom part and your image gets skewed. Same thing happens for video too, a round ball will turn oval when traveling quickly. This isn’t criticism so much as the limitations of CMOS in general. This type of distortion is called Rolling Shutter Distortion.

I love the new 720p video recording. The “send to” menu item is also a nice touch. Directly sending a 720p video to your YouTube account is a feature that is sure to see a lot of use.

Click here for a larger image.

Navigation nirvana: Universal Search

Universal Search has changed the way I access my BlackBerry. Introduced in BlackBerry OS 6, Universal Search allows a user to simply type in a word or two and your BlackBerry will present you with a screen full of highly-contextual options.
Begin typing a person’s name and the BlackBerry will show you the communications, social networking posts, calendar events and all the emails you’ve exchanged with them separated by accounts.

The big improvement OS 7 has made in this regard is how it lets developers tap into Universal Search by using something called Extend Search. This allows users to specifically search using any search engine they please, or specifically search within any app. The extended searches appear right below the universal search results and works wonders for reducing the time it takes to access the information you need.

RIM has also introduced Voice Activated Search that takes a sample of your voice and sends it to a RIM server to decipher it and turn it into text. It takes about 2 or 3 seconds for it to do it’s thing, definitely faster than typing on your BlackBerry with one hand.

These features are not unique to the 9810 but rather come with BlackBerry 7. For more about cool features of BlackBerry 7, check out this link.

App World: available apps

With every new device there is always a two-month period in which very few apps have been ported. As of the writing of this article (August 2011) there are 13402 apps, 1308 games and 7083 themes available for the Torch 9800. Compare that to The Torch 9810’s 1990 apps, 169 games, and zero themes.

I’m not sure what RIM can do to have more apps ready for new devices when they launch but it wouldn’t hurt to try something like making the emulators available for developers earlier.

Faster network: better browsing

So the Torch Webkit browser now supports HTML 5 sites as well as JIT (just in time) javascript acceleration. I really noticed the HTML 5 content right away because embedded YouTube videos would load on-page as opposed to taking me into the YouTube viewer. I also noticed that the faster network connection meant no buffering when accessing multimedia content.

The documentation says that BlackBerry 7 gets up to 30% faster browsing than speeds than BlackBerry 6 and up to twice as fast as OS 5. I didn’t really notice any speed difference whatsoever between BlackBerry 6 and BlackBerry 7. Maybe it’s the rendering of the page that’s bit faster but the act of waiting for stuff to request then load is still as slow as dial-up.

The Torch 9810 has an HSPA+ radio, which is a small leap ahead of the 9800’s 3G radio. For me, this has breathed new life in to my BlackBerry Playbook’s Bridge Browser. I noticed lower access times, actually watchable online videos and tolerable wait times while loading web sites. As a result I’m packing the Playbook with me now instead of leaving it on my desk or coffee table.

Full version of Docs to go comes standard

RIM has included a full version of Docs to go on the Torch 9810. Right out of the box editing and viewing of office documents re-affirms BlackBerry’s business edge. I think that this is the first usable version of Docs To Go because of the new screen size. I’ll have no problem emailing myself a document or spreadsheet and working on it as I travel.

Should I upgrade?

If you use your phone to show off your sense of gadget style, are hoping to upgrade to BlackBerry OS 8 or buy a phone every second year, this is probably a model that you can skip.

If you spend more than 20 minutes per day on your BlackBerry, buy a new phone every year, are owed a device upgrade from your carrier, are a fan of the Torch 9800, or own a BlackBerry Playbook, you should without hesitation get the new Torch. It performs so you can outperform.

The BBM Music Service is a media app built on top of BBM using the BBM Social APIs. The app features a pretty stellar music catalog that current has around 10 million songs from the big four music labels: Universal, Time Warner, EMI and Sony. Before you write-off those labels as being too mainstream, recognize that many of the indie labels you love are actually owned by the big four but operate under a different name so you still think they’re cool. I’ll go into the catalog more later in the review.

Read the announcement post for the basics on what the BBM Music Service is all about.

Social Experience

The cornerstone of the BBM Music Service is the social experience around music that’s augmented by BBM. Adding friends to the BBM Music Service is incredible easy. When you initiate the friend adding process, you get a list of friends who have BBM 6 and the Music Service installed, making it easy to grab friends right out of your contacts. The downside to all of this is that you’re very limited by your own contacts and the technical requirements. When RIM says they can leverage the 40+ million BBM users, what they don’t say is that a very small portion of those users have the latest BBM 6 and an even smaller portion will end up buying into the BBM Music Service.

It’s awesome to see your song list jump when you add friends, but it should be noted that when one of those users backs out of the service or doesn’t continue after the free trial, you lose those songs.

After using the app for a couple hours, I was able to amass 7 friends (4 pending – WTF guys!?) and 126 songs. That’s not too bad considering the app is in extremely limited beta. The only downside to adding people is your library can get filled very quickly with a lot of junk you don’t like. There is an “ignore song” feature but adding friends does quickly mess up your music vibe. Also, it looks like adding friends’ music to your library also messes with the recommendation engine. This is something that should be fixed in the beta. Don’t recommend me songs based on what other people like, recommend based on what I like.

The Cloud

The fact that the BBM Music Service is a cloud app makes it really handy for changing devices. Migrating from a BlackBerry OS 6 device to a BlackBerry 7 device kept all my songs and everything was in place. When you migrate, it says “would you like to swap the device” and you only have 5 of these. This probably has to do with protecting the music from sharing accounts, but it’s important to know that you only can do this 5 times.

There seems to be a lot of negative reaction from the media to the 50 song limit. The limit isn’t actually bad at all considering you can delete songs and continually curate your lists. Also, there’s nothing stopping you from collaborating with your BBM Music Service friends so there’s no duplication and you all get access to more songs in total.

Discovery

In terms of music discovery, the BBM Music Service was actually really good. I consider myself outside the mainstream when it comes to music tastes and I was able to find somewhat obscure artists on the service such as Paramore, Kreayshawn, Boys Noize and Ninjasonik. There were even a lot of remixes in the catalog. Now, it’s not perfect and there were a few relatively mainstream artists such as Justice and Two Door Cinema Club that returned nothing, but as far as discovery goes the BBM Music Service was really impressive. I guess we don’t give The Big Four enough credit.

The fact that you have to go into the options and select “Show Explicit Content” and set a password was so lame it’s hard to imagine that somebody actually insisted that feature exists. Did a team of moms make this app or is this RIM legal’s doing?

The BBM Social APIs

It’s good to see RIM using their own BBM Social Platform and it doesn’t seem like they’re using any hidden APIs or functionality. This is really important because it’s inspiring to other developers. If you use hidden APIs that developers don’t have access to, you send the message that only RIM can make a successful app. When RIM “eats its own dog food”, it tells developers that they can do it too.

The problem with RIM using its own BBM Social APIs is that the platform isn’t great when it comes to user experience. There’s a lot of waiting as the app verifies, grabs permissions and generally just hangs while it talks to a server. We have talked about this before but RIM really needs to be less paranoid when it comes to the BBM Social Platform. The BBM Music Service is a great example of how this paranoia with the BBM Social APIs creates a negative user experience.

Where The App Should Go

Integration with Vevo and YouTube – The app has some integration with Amazon which is cool because it lets you buy the music to transfer it to your desktop. What’s needed is more integration such as the ability to watch the music video or grab the lyrics to the song.

Featured DJs – The Staff Picks are pretty lame and considering all the work BlackBerry and Diplo have been doing, it would be great to see someone like him take over the Staff Picks section.

Rewards - It would be cool if I could be rewarded for curating a popular list of songs or inviting lots of users to the service. Many storage services for example will offer you larger online storage accounts for inviting friends to the service. If my invitations result in someone paying $5 per month, I should be able to have another 5 songs at my disposal.

Self promotion – There should be some way of linking to your BBM Music Service profile. Many BBM users like to leave their PINs for others to add them on BBM (take a look at our Facebook page), so why can’t we have something similar for the BBM Music Service. Being able to promote your account with a QR code or link would increase the number of songs you have access to and would make it a more social experience.

Final Thoughts

The BBM Music Service app is a lot of fun but I can’t help but think it could have been bigger. We live in an age where software sells hardware and the best thing RIM can do is to create more platform services that developers can use to make apps and build businesses. Rather than spend all this time creating an app with their own APIs, perhaps RIM should have figured out a way to build music into the current BBM Social APIs where all developers could have used music to augment their applications. If RIM had negotiated a music deal with the Big Four and offered developers a way to hook into the music service, it could have resulted in far more music apps being developed than just the BBM Music Service. The service is a great start but I’m reminded of what Zappos Co-Founder Tony Hsieh once said: “Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger”.

The new BlackBerry 7 devices are out in the wild and being tested and there are reviews starting to pop up today as RIM’s review embargo is lifted. What really makes these devices is a combination of hardware and software and while the hardware review will be up shortly, here is a glimpse at some features that you’ll appreciate from the software side of things. There were a few features that we’ve left out of this Top 10 list because they were hardware dependent. Features such as HD video recording are really awesome, but it may be more hardware than software at work.

Here are some fun features of BlackBerry 7 in no particular order:

Manage Panels

One thing we liked about BlackBerry 6 was the introduction of panels, but there was a lot of redundancy. For example, many of your Favorite apps would also appear in your Frequent apps. In BlackBerry 7, you can customize which panels are visible.

To use custom panels, go to:

Homescreen > Options > Manage Panels

Add to Existing Contacts

One of the more frustrating elements of adding contacts with your BlackBerry is there was no “add to existing contacts” field and you would have to either create a new contact or navigate to the contact and copy and paste. Now the feature is baked right in.

Custom Search Engines

It’s great to see that custom search engines are built into BlackBerry 7. One of the downsides is that it isn’t all that easy to add custom search engines and it would be nice if it were as easy as Firefox. We’ll have a tutorial coming on how to add a variety of search engines for those not sure how to enter the search fields properly.

Device Switch

The device switch options located in the Setup app, has some really helpful features for backing up and restoring your device. The app allows you to backup and restore using the SD Card which helps if you’re not big on using data. Another great backup tool is BlackBerry Protect which is preloaded on the device (more on that later).

To access the Device Switch app, head to:

Setup > Device Switch

Voice Activated Universal Search

Voice activated universal search is a fun feature if you’re on the move and don’t feel like looking down at your device and tapping away. Now, it can also be a pretty embarrassing feature if you’re searching for something you don’t want others listening to. This feature is also available in the Google Mobile app but now you also get the added benefits of searching your device.

To use the Voice Activated Universal Search app:

Tap Search then tap the mic icon

Liquid Graphics

Liquid graphics is a somewhat vague term but it’s pretty clear that RIM needed something to describe the fact that the latest devices use a combination of increased processor power and OpenGL 2 to create a fluid and lightning fast homescreen. This is also the reason that BlackBerry 7 isn’t backwards compatible – because the BlackBerry 6 devices didn’t have the OpenGL 2 support. When you pick up a BlackBerry 7 device, you can really feel the difference.

HTML 5 Video Support

HTML 5 is fast becoming a great new standard for the web and many sites are specifically adopting HTML 5 video. Popular video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion and others have either already implemented HTML 5 video or have a beta player available to the public. We’ve taken the browser to some great HTML 5 video sites including the above at videojs.com and the browser performed tremendously.

BlackBerry ID Integration

One of the more frustrating elements of BlackBerry 6 was having to constantly re-enter your BBID. Now, the BBID is baked into the BlackBerry experience and apps can access it. We’ve also experienced App World has had a huge improvement with this new feature as you don’t have to constantly enter your BBID each time you download an app.

Great Suite of Preloaded Apps

BlackBerry 7 comes with a host of awesome apps that make the overall BlackBerry experience more enjoyable. These apps include:

Social Feeds 2.0
BlackBerry Messenger 6
Wikitude
Docs to Go Premium
BlackBerry Protect
BlackBerry Balance (for BES users)

Browser Speed Improved by 40%

Last and CERTAINLY not least is the fact that the Browser in BlackBerry 7 is now 40% faster than it was in BlackBerry 6 and 100% faster than it was in OS 5 (official percentages from RIM). The new browser may not be faster than the iPhone 4′s, but it certainly is fast enough to make browsing a pleasant experience. Remember on OS 5 devices when you didn’t even bother using the browser? Those days are completely gone.

BlackBerry App World 3.0 has launched and is up in Beta Zone. The latest version, according to RIM, makes “discovering and downloading apps, games, and themes easier than ever.” We’ve tried the new App World on both a well-established device, the Torch 9800, and a brand new device, the Bold 9930. There are some major pros and cons about this latest version and we thought we’d put together a beta review since App World has become such an important part of the BlackBerry experience. To recap, App World 3.0 features:

Sleek New Design – The BlackBerry App World experience has been enhanced to help you discover the latest and greatest apps and content, starting right on the BlackBerry App World home screen where rotating spotlight banners show off all that’s new and exciting.
New Channels – Apps, Games, and Themes now have their own channels so you can get to what you want even faster. Each channel offers up a whole range of Categories, Top Lists (for Paid, Free, Rated, New Arrivals) and a Search Bar.
Introduction of My Account – My Account makes managing your BBID and payment options easy with direct access to all of your account information from the home screen.
New My World Features – My World gives you a streamlined view of all your apps and their status, and now at a glance, in addition to seeing which apps are installed and uninstalled, you can manage your subscription content and services. When new updates or subscription renewals are available for your apps, you’ll be notified using push technology.
App Social Sharing – When you find an app you can’t live without, share it with your contacts directly from the app details screen through BBM, Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS.
Evolved App Details Screen – At a glance, you can get a quick summary, check out reviews and star ratings, take a look at screen shots, and more.
More Search Options - Quickly find apps with a Search Bar now appearing on the storefront home screen and search results are presented across Channels as well as My World. Search Bars are also within each Channel and users have the ability to filter by App Name, Price, Rating, Newest, Best Match, or Popular.

Both developers and consumers are crucial end users of this product so it’s important to review App World 3.0 from both perspectives. Click through for more about how App World 3.0 may impact both of these user types.

From a user perspective:

The new App World makes discovering content much easier and the first thing you notice is the search field. Searching for apps used to be a bit of a pain but now you get search in a BlackBerry 6 style. BlackBerry 6′s Universal Search style is now in App World and when you enter a search term, App World lets you know where that term appears in Apps, Themes, Games, etc.. There are also more ways to refine your search including Free, Trial, Paid, and 3+ Stars. Again, like Universal Search, App World lets you know how many instances of the keyword appear under each filter. Overall, app search in 3.0 is greatly improved and makes finding apps much easier.

One thing that seems to be gone is an overall “Top Free”, “Top Paid” and “Top 25″. Now, the Top categories exist only within categories such as games, apps and themes. This approach does make some sense because it adds more discovery within the categories, but there are many users that will probably miss having an overview of the entire app market and see what is the top regardless of category.

As a general note on the look of App World 3.0: it could use some work. The previous version of App World actually looked much better with a unified color scheme and consistent branding. The new icons are all over the place in terms of colors and the background has a somewhat amateur horizon effect. It’s great that App World has become more visual, and the use of icons over lists is a cool change, but it would be better if the icons weren’t so “kindgergarten”. One gets the impression they’re using an app made by Zeebu and not browsing a RIM app.

From a developer perspective:

Something that is really disconcerting about the new App World is the lack of featured items in the carousel, and the addition of “featured categories”. When you load App World on the 9930, there are 15 spots for featured apps and currently, 5 of them are taken by category features. On the Torch 9800, there are 21 featured items and 5 featured categories. It’s important to realize that this is a beta review and the number of featured apps could be easily changed when it releases, but the fact that we’re now seeing featured categories makes us think it’s highly likely the number of primary features will decrease. When we say “primary features”, we mean featured apps in the carousel that aren’t a click away. Anyone who has worked in tech knows the value and drop-off rates for single clicks is significant, and while your app may be featured in a category, the chances of a user clicking through are greatly dimished. The previous version of App World currently has 35 spots for app features and all of these are less than a click away and there were no featured categories.

App World has also changed the way the featured carousel works by increasing the amount of space dedicated to buttons and the allowing the carousel to become hidden if the user scrolls down. This homepage strategy seems to put a greater emphasis on search rather than on carousel discovery. This in a sense makes App World a more even playing field for all apps in the system, but takes strength away from a feature.

Something else to note about App Categories is that there is no mention of them when you submit your app, so it seems like it’s a manual process on RIM’s behalf to add your app to that category. This is troubling because it’s possible that your app may end up in the wrong category, or it won’t get featured because it was misinterpreted by RIM as not a good fit for the category.

The fact that App World is moving so quick is great but what we need to see from RIM is also some development on the web portal side of App World. For some reason the App World app has been trucking along to version 3 while the developer portal seems stuck in version 1.1, even though it says version 3.0.1.4. The vendor portal in App World still needs better analytics tools, more visual user interface, less legal jargon and if they really wanted to impress, a native app version of the portal.

Final Thoughts:

There are some positive changes to App World in terms of user interface but there isn’t much in the way of new features. Users are really going to appreciate the fact that finding apps is a much easier process and the whole experience is more in-line with Universal Search. If RIM improves on the look and color-scheme (minor but still important), users will really love the new App World. Other than that, App World 3.0 could have done with at least 1 new killer feature such as implementation of Gift Cards. We’re pretty sure PayPal has a way of allowing for the purchase of Gift Cards without any code work required by RIM. Perhaps we have to wait for Dev Con for any major announcements around App World.

From what we see about the changes to the carousel and increased emphasis on search, we’re predicting that developers will see a greater number of downloads while not being featured and a smaller number of downloads while being featured. Hopefully the fact that app sharing is more front and center should help downloads too. It’s hard to say what the net effect will be, but we’ll be keeping tabs on certain apps and developers to see what difference App World 3.0 makes.

Are you a developer? Let us know what you think of the changes.

BlackBerry user? What do you think of the new App World?

Grab your copy of the new App World 3.0 from the Beta Zone.

UPDATE: Something not mentioned in this review because it’s a beta product and there’s sure to be issues but the app downloading process is really buggy. When you download an app it doesn’t take you to your My World section like previous App World versions did and we’re seeing a lot of bugs when it comes to displaying the apps. Again, it’s a beta product so we tried to stick to things that will likely not change when it becomes official.

This screen would look much cleaner if the font size wasn’t set so high.

When we announced the BBM Hackathon winner for BlackBerryCool was Smarter Apps, we didn’t mention what the app actually was. Well the app was hacked together at the hackathon and will be going live in App World soon. The app is called Who’s Around and the concept is really awesome and simple. The app duplicates the BBM experience but uses the BBM Social APIs on top of location to make BBM location aware. This is just like what Wikitude does for Augmented Reality but instead of needing OS 7 and Augmented Reality, you get a similar experience on a wide range of devices.

Once you have downloaded the app and connected it to BBM (make sure you have BBM 6), you can now set your name, avatar and preferences. Everything about the app is intuitive because it’s made to look just like BBM. The major difference in your profile settings is that you can tell the app what you’re interested in, whether it’s sports, business, investment, dating, drinks, movies etc. You can select from a list of preset preferences or customize it with your own interests. The app will then let you search for other BBM users that have the same interests. This is going to be especially cool when we start to see the overlap with BBM and Twitter and connecting users by hashtags. Are you at a conference with the hashtag “network2011″? Then set that as your profile preference and you can search for others at the conference on BBM.

There are a number of ways this app can be used including:

Hooking up: anyone who has the app at a nightclub will be able to see each other and begin to chat. If you enjoy the chat, you can add each other to BBM.
Networking: The app allows you to network at a conference over BBM and add them to your permanent contact list.
LocalMind or Quora situations: Is someone at a bar and you want to know the vibe? Have they just seen a movie you’re interested in? You could use this app to ask them questions over BBM.
Marketing: If you have a product or service you would like to advertise, you could use this app to search for preferences and message people who may be interested in your company.

The only problem we’ve really experience with Who’s Around so far is that sometimes the cell tower locations throw off the experience. If the app cannot get a GPS location, then it will grab the location of the nearest cell tower, which means someone could be right beside you but the app says they’re 50M away. Also, RIM has made the whole BBM Social experience a little too permissions-heavy. It would be nice if you didn’t have to constantly request everything and you could just message anyone.

In future versions, we’d really love to see integration with BlackBerry or Google Maps so that we could see BBM users in a map view and add from there. Also, in relation to the LocalMind situation above, it would be interesting to see Foursquare and venue integration, so that regardless of what the cell tower or GPS says, I could specify what venue I am currently at.

Stay tuned from Smarter Apps because the company will be releasing this app to App World very shortly.

More pictures from the event available from PhotoJunkie.ca.

First of all, can you believe these model numbers? RIM couldn’t have made them more confusing. I have been writing about BlackBerry for years and I simply cannot remember what device they’re talking about when they say 9850, 9860 or 9810. The 98xx doesn’t even represent the same device anymore. You used to be able to write 97XX and you knew the 9700 and 9780 both looked the same, but not anymore. From now on, we’re going to refer to the devices by name only. The following seem most appropriate:

Bold 9900 = Bold Touch
Torch 9810 = Torch 2
Torch 9850/9860 = Storm 3

Recently, we attended the BlackBerry 7 Fan Night in Toronto and we had an opportunity to get some quality time with RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry 7 devices. There are a lot of things to say about these devices with some Pros and Cons for each of them. Generally, these devices are everything we saw last year but turned up around 40%. The user experience is faster, with homescreen switching and app launching all happening much faster (Liquid Graphics), and the web browsing experience is also much faster. The Torch 9850 and 9860, aka the Storm 3, seems to be RIM bringing back the all-touch experience (with trackpad), and it’s probably the most risky of the BlackBerry 7 devices.

Before we go into why you should or should not get these devices, we should make a mention of why you should or should not care about BlackBerry 7. BlackBerry 7 is the stepping stone between BlackBerry 6 and QNX. It’s an awkward transition (most are), as BlackBerry 7 does not support BlackBerry 6 and will not be upgradable to QNX. If you get a BlackBerry 7 device, hopefully you have the cash to upgrade to QNX in Q1 of next year.

BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860

The Storm 3 is the riskiest of the three devices that were recently announced by RIM. The Bold is the flagship and will do great in terms of sales and the Torch 2 will be able to ride on the success of the first Torch. The Storm 3 is the wild card in terms of success and the device being shown at the BlackBerry 7 Fan Night had some decent hardware but it’s the software that makes the device and this isn’t clear yet. Everything that will make the Storm 3 awesome isn’t out yet and probably won’t be out for some time. Sure, the initial preloaded apps are great, but if there aren’t any developers taking advantage of the Augmented Reality APIs or the BBM Social Platform, the Storm 3 won’t reach its full potential.

Why you should buy:

• Feels great in your hand.
• Screen resolution is great and rich media looks awesome.
• Magnetometer will make navigation, games and apps much better.
• New virtual keyboard design makes typing much easier.
• Video records at 720p HD.
• 5MP, zero-shutter lag camera.

Why you shouldn’t buy:

BlackBerry Torch 9810

The Torch 2 is a decent upgrade for those who either own a Torch and want the same form factor, or those who wanted a Torch 1 and can afford the upgraded version. The Torch is a great form factor as it truly combines business and pleasure. The touchscreen and full QWERTY allow you to experience rich media and type out important emails all from the same device. It also embodies a core advantage of BlackBerrys which is choice. With the Torch you have the choice between a touchscreen and keyboard device, making it an easy sell for a wide range of users.

Why you should buy:

• 4G speeds on AT&T
• 5 megapixel camera with HD 720p video recording
• 8 gigabytes of onboard storage
• Slightly improved keyboard over the Torch 1 (a little more ergonomic)
• Magnetometer will make navigation, games and apps much better.

Why you shouldn’t buy:

• Still a fairly bulky device.
• Not too much differentiating it from the Torch 1
• No NFC

BlackBerry Bold 9900

We believe the Bold Touch is definitely the best device out of all three. The Bold line is the flagship device at RIM and while we would have loved all three devices to have NFC, it turns out the Bold Touch is the only one with NFC support. This is sort of like how OpenGL was only enabled in a few CDMA devices which made it not viable to develop games using the OpenGL standards. NFC will be featured on other platforms so it’s not completely the same, but it definitely takes some of the fun out of NFC to know that only one BlackBerry supports it, even though RIM committed to NFC. The Bold Touch’s real advantage is what made the Bold 9000 the best – the keyboard. The form factor of the Bold Touch is reminiscent of the 9000 but brings a modern feel to it. The device is extremely lightweight and beautifully designed. The touchscreen is great too as it gives you another input method to browse the web and scroll. This device is everything we love about BlackBerry and we hope that when the QNX devices launch, we’ll see a big upgrade to the Bold line. RIM – can we have the scroll wheel back? That would be the ultimate in nostalgia.

Why you should buy:

• NFC support
• Thin and lightweight – making it the slickest BlackBerry ever
• Iconic in every sense – keyboard, screen and form factor.
• Touchscreen gives a great browsing and navigating experience.
• Superior build quality.
• Magnetometer will make navigation, games and apps much better.

Why you shouldn’t buy:

• If you can wait for QNX then do it.
• If you’re looking for a bigger screen you may prefer Torch 2 or Storm 3.
• If you have big fingers then the touchscreen may be awkward.

Final Notes:

It seems like the 2011 devices are the end of an era in a sense. They will all ship with BlackBerry 7 and which will not be upgradable to the QNX platform so whether you pick up these devices seems dependent on your purchasing cycle and whether you can afford to wait until Q1 2012. If you buy a smartphone every year, then these devices are definitely good enough to hold off until QNX, but if you buy a smartphone only once every two years, we recommend you wait. The QNX platform, assuming it will be like the PlayBook, just has so much cool stuff that’s possible for it such as OS emulation on your smartphone. Even though we don’t know for sure yet, we imagine the QNX smartphone being the first smartphone to run every app on the market. Consumers who love their BlackBerrys will appreciate the new toys and functionality that these devices bring and will definitely keep you entertained and productive until QNX arrives.

BlackBerry 7 looks just like OS 6 but the software performance is tweaked and the overall experience is much faster. When you’re browsing the homescreen and switching between screens, the device performs really well. One of the downsides of OS 6 was the lag you experienced when perusing the apps; but this is gone now. BlackBerry 7 also brings with it the new APIs that will help developers make more engaging apps such as Augmented Reality apps. Another major advantage in BlackBerry 7 is the updated web browser. Browsing on a BlackBerry 7 device is much faster and the browser is around 40% better than the browser with BlackBerry 6.

The real downside to all of this is that there are still a few major issues we have with the BlackBerry Platform and its user experience that are simply not addressed in the latest OS. For example, the devices still take a long time to boot up and downloading apps still makes your device nearly unusable. Alsop, while it’s great to see new APIs being released for BlackBerry 7, there doesn’t seem to be any news around improving the developer tools. BlackBerry developers are still stuck with some major frustrations such as having to use the awful simulators.

Click through for a few reasons why you should or should not care about BlackBerry 7.

Why you should care:

• If your device can upgrade, you should be able get the benefits of better performance.
• The web browser is much better with BlackBerry 7. The checkerboarding is almost completely gone.
• Augmented Reality APIs and Wikitude make for a really fun BBM experience.

Why you shouldn’t care:

• It’s not QNX and it’s still feels a lot like OS 6.
• BlackBerry 7 devices will not be able to upgrade to QNX.
• Performance still negatively impacted when downloading apps.
• Apps still require a reboot after installation.
• BlackBerry Maps didn’t seem any better. It was hard to test because the maps didn’t even load (could have been a network issue).
• The device still takes too long to boot.

Still want to know:

• Will themes be any better on BlackBerry 7?
• Also not sure if performance is any better when handling many apps.

What else do you want to know?

How many apps do you have on your device? Turns out I have 50. I thought I would go through each one of them with a very quick, one sentence review of each. If you go through the list and know an app that’s better than the one I have, please recommend in the comments. I wouldn’t recommend this many apps as I find the device a little on the sluggish side. If you want your Torch running at full speed, it’s probably best to keep it to a minimal number of apps that you use on a constant basis. Click through for a quick review of 50 apps for the Torch:

Accelerometer by Softatics – I used this once for shelves in my apartment and they came out crooked.
Angry Farm by Smarter Apps – This game is incredibly fun but I can’t beat the 18th level.
Bell Media by StreamTheWorld – Great app for listening to my favorite AM talk radio station.
BlackBerry Bridge by RIM – A necessary evil. Not a fan but it’s needed for my PlayBook.
BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing by RIM – Used a couple times and was surprised at how seamless and “behind the scenes” it is.
BlackBerry Podcast by RIM – Stopped using this as the Podcasts are hard to search and needs more content.
BlackBerry Protect by RIM – Great app for backups but I’ve yet to be able to retrieve a device with it. One time it was needed it didn’t help.
BlackBerry Travel by RIM – Never used this while travelling. The email itinerary to calendar thing is great though and plan to use it.
BrickBreaker by RIM – Stopped playing this when real games for BlackBerry came out.
Camera Plus by WickidApps – Good app for taking multiple pics at once and sending them. (disclosure: I’m a co-founder at wickidapps)
CaptureIT by TechMogul Industries – Solid screencap app I used before Fixmo.
Clock MBLWare – I think this was the BlackBook app but I never used it. It seemed cool but was hard to use.
Code Muncher by Motek – Very decent QR code reader but sometimes doesn’t work with small codes.
Contacts Cleaner by Beaver Creek – This did an amazing job the first go around and waiting on an update to fully clean 100%.
Cribbage by Magmic – Tried this but remembered I don’t like Cribbage.
Documents to Go by DataViz – Came in handy when I had to edit a few docs on the fly.
Drome by Taste My City – Tried this over Poynt for a while and wasn’t impressed.
Evernote by Evernote – Great for taking notes but the iPhone app is just so much better. Needs an update.
Facebook by RIM – Decent but I’m so sick of the Facebook server errors it keeps giving me.
FileScout by Emacberry – The best file explorer app for BlackBerry.
Fixmo Tools by Fixmo Inc. – Great battery notification and it has stopped me from sending a few emails I made mistakes on.
Foursquare by Foursquare – Still not really convinced of the whole checkin thing but recent updates are amazing.
Google Maps by Google – Better than BlackBerry Maps and always reliable.
Google Mobile by Google – Used it a few times but I find OS 6 does a good “quick search”.
Google Sync by Google – Still not sure if this is actually working for me.
Hootsuite by Hootsuite – Sort of stopped using it as the UI was really poor.
Ka-Glom by Magmic – Fun Tetris-style game I will still play every now and then.
LinkedIn by LinkedIn – Decent app and does the basics but it’s so buggy and desperately needs an update.
News Feeds by RIM – Great way to catch up on some news feeds. Needs Google Reader sync support.
Ninja Fruit Bash by Pepper.pk – Recently downloaded and played a few times. Good but a few bugs and better UX needed.
Nomad Analytics by GRIT2003 – Great app for checking your site analytics on the go.
NXNE 2011 by The Mobile Cartel – Awesome app used at NXNE 2011. Still need to delete as festival is over.
Password Keeper by RIM – I have never once used this.
Player for YouTube by Smarter Apps – Awesome YouTube player that beats out RIM’s.
Poynt by Poynt – The best local search and discovery app available across all platforms.
QR Code Scanner by The Jared Company – Decent QR code reader. Not sure why I have two.
Rubik’s Cube by Magmic – Played this once and it was way too hard.
Shazam by Shazam – This is a really fun party trick and awesome app to use at a bar. One of the most innovative mobile apps ever.
Slacker by Slacker – Great app but the playlists can be really lame. I have yet to discover one I can listen to for more than 2 songs.
Solitaire Legends by Magmic – I enjoy Golf Legends because it’s easy but Solitaire is so….lonely.
TD (Canada) by TD Bank Group – Great app for checking balances. Needs an update to be native and not web based.
Tether by Tether – Used this a couple times but found it a little unstable. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
Texas Hold’em King Live by Magmic – Great poker game but I suck at poker.
The Weather Channel by The Weather Channel – Decent weather app. Just the basics but that’s all I need.
Tourality by Creative Workline – Always wanted to play this but nobody in my area has the app.
UberSocial by UberMedia – Replaced Twitter for BlackBerry because it supports more media and multiple accounts.
Unsubscribe by Unsubscribe Inc. – Simply amazing application that has made my inbox much more manageable.
Vayyoo by Vayyoo – Very talented developers with an awesome platform app. The company is constantly pivoting and I like to keep tabs.
Wireless Merchant by AGS Advanced Software – Demo app of AGS’ merchant app. Really cool and like to demo it to friends.
Xobni by Xobni – Great new address book app. They’re the company RIM should have acquired.

The problem with saying “the first theme to…” is that there are so many themes out there and it’s hard to keep track of them all. We’re going to start the conversation with saying this is “possibly the first…” because we haven’t come across anything like this at BlackBerryCool. Pachacuti’s Gold is a BlackBerry theme with a fully integrated game.

The theme includes a hidden object game and you go through the various levels unlocking a new wallpaper with each level successfully completed. There are four levels and your goal is to find for yourself to find the long lost Inca gold of Pachacuti. Decipher the captain’s notes to find the items you need to progress through 4 treacherous levels. Overall, this theme is incredibly innovative and brings the customization of themes together with the fun of casual gaming.

UPDATE: It looks like Pachacuti’s Gold was taken off Bplay a couple days ago. It’s still a very innovative theme and hopefully they bring it back.

The major downside to this theme is that it’s only available for Storm series devices. Grab your copy at this link for $1.99.

The PlayBook hardware rules but the software still needs work. The Video Chat app is a perfect example of this. The hardware is all there, with a front and back HD camera, but the app itself lacks the features needed for it to really be useful. There are five main features that need to be implemented in order for the PlayBook Video Chat app to actually work like you need it to. Here they are:

1. See when contacts are online/offline: A tablet isn’t something that’s “always on”. In fact, the tablet is off a lot of the time. Especially because it requires a WiFi connection. Since you never know when your contacts are online or offline, calling your contacts is really hit or miss. There must be a way for RIM to implement an “Online/Offline” mode for contacts, so that I won’t waste my time calling people who aren’t there.

2. Adding contacts needs to be easier: Currently, you have to add someone by their BlackBerry ID. The problem is, getting that BlackBerry ID is a pain and especially for new users, it’s not easy for them to figure it out to tell people. When someone calls you, you can add them from the “Recent” tab but it’s not automatic. Generally, the friend discovery process should be based on BBM, Facebook and Twitter. It should search for all instances where you might have a friend with a PlayBook and allow you to send them a friend request. Also, it should pull in their avatars. There’s no reason why I should be hunting for a picture of my contact’s face.

3. More consistency – The recent PlayBook update has done a lot for making the experience more consistent but sometimes you still get disconnected or an error. It would be great if there were settings that could help you optimize the experience based on the available connections. For example, if your WiFi is strong, you can do high quality but if it’s shoddy, it should bump you to a low quality. Perhaps it already does this but it could still use a bit of performance tweaking.

4. More reasons to use it – Ok, so video chat is cool, but what’s the point? I find with all my contacts so far, I’ve done the usual “WHOA HEY THIS IS COOL!” and that’s it. We never did video chat again. What we need are some features that would give the Video Chat app some purpose. For example, being able to bring other windows into the discussion would really empower the users. It would be like you’re both working on the same computer screen. There are probably a lot of other things you could do, but generally, there needs to be a better value prop for Video Chat.

5. Video Voicemail - I would say 99% of the time I try to cold call someone with the Video Chat app they don’t answer. Why not let me leave a video voicemail (or videomail)? I’m usually calling because I have something funny to show them, like the can of coke that exploded in the freezer, so why not let me leave them that in their Video Chat Voicemail box? Also, Video VoiceMail aka VideoMail is patent patending as of 30 seconds ago. Huge cash buyout from RIM is a possibility but they will have to compete with Skype/Microsoft.

The PlayBook is coming along nicely. Lately, we’ve seen an upgrade to the Facebook application, as well as support for in-app purchases and charging improvements. The major updates that the general public are waiting for, such as local PIM applications, should be coming sometime this summer, and we think it’s really going to improve the overall PlayBook experience. As cool as the Bridge idea is, it’s sort of a pain to constantly connect your BlackBerry, and the Bridge Browser is pretty shoddy. For those of you who have a PlayBook, here are some apps we think you must have on your tablet (in no particular order):

1. Blaq – If you’re looking for a solid Twitter client for the PlayBook, we recommend Blaq. The app is a fun tablet experience because it’s a full featured Twitter client that takes advantage of the larger screen. Instead of having to click links and head to the browser, you can preview link content from within the Blaq application. Blaq also comes at a more than reasonable price of $1.99. Grab your copy of Blaq from App World.

2. GeeReader – While the BlackBerry News app is a great app, the fact that it doesn’t come with Google Reader sync makes it a dead-in-the-water product. Avid online readers have spent years cultivating their Google Reader feeds and it’s great to see a free app that syncs with your Reader account. The GeeReader app is fast, easy to setup, and will import hundreds of feeds nearly instantly. Grab GeeReader for FREE in App World.

3. Fourplay – We’ve heard from sources at Foursquare that the Fourplay app has been so popular that the company is looking at the app as an example of how to implement a good tablet app. With the Fourplay app, you get the full Foursquare experience on a tablet. We’re hoping that Foursquare just acquires these guys because they’ve done such a good job and it would be a quick way for them to enter the market. Grab the Fourplay app for FREE here.

4. Tungle.me – Tungle is a really cool company that we’ve been covering here on BlackBerryCool for a long time. Recently, Tungle was acquired by RIM, and their PlayBook app makes scheduling meetings really easy. Once you’ve scheduled with Tungle, it synchronizes with the leading online calendar systems including BlackBerry, Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Entourage for Mac, Lotus Notes, Yahoo! and Windows Live. Grab the free Tungle app from App World.

5. Poynt – There is simply no better way to find what you want locally than Poynt. Whether you’re going to a restaurant, seeing a movie, or just looking for a local business, Poynt is the fastest and easiest way to access the information when you need it most. The Poynt app for the PlayBook gives you a bigger screen and hooks directly to your phone so you can initiate calls to the restaurant from within the app. Movie previewing is also great on the PlayBook. Grab the Poynt app free in App World.

Want to recommend any other cool PlayBook apps? Leave a comment and let us know.