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Hands-on with the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9930, Torch 9810, and Torch 9850

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  • RIM is rolling out their newest BlackBerry OS 7 smartphones and I had the chance to take the three form factors for a whirl over the last week with the Bold 9930, Torch 9850, and Torch 9810.

    Check out my full ZDNet Smartphones & Cell Phones blog post for detailed thoughts on the devices and a video walk through of all three.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Bold 9930, Torch 9850, and Torch 9810 are shown in front of their retail boxes.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Here you can see all three devices lined up for size comparison.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Each device has a unique back with one having a plastic carbon fiber one, the other having soft touch, and the 9810 having silver textured plastic.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The back cover of the Bold 9930 is a plastic piece with a carbon fiber look. The battery and microSD are found under the cover with a SIM card slot for world GSM use.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The SIM card slot is centered at the top of the battery compartment. You need to remove the battery before taking out the card.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The back cover houses the NFC components.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • There is a 5 megapixel camera on the back with a flash. The camera has an EDoF lens so photos up close are blurry in many cases.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The 3.5mm headset jack and microUSB port are found on the left side of the Bold 9930.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The camera capture button is on the lower right side of the Bold 9930.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • There volume and mute buttons are on the upper left of the Bold 9930.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The lock button is centered on the top of the Bold 9930.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Bold 9930 feels great in your hand and is smaller than the original Bold.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The QWERTY keyboard on the Bold 9930 is simply fantastic.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The optical trackpad is accurate and lets you navigate quickly around the device.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Here you can see the left side of the QWERTY keyboard.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The keyboard has great spacing, a cool angled design, and excellent feedback.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9810 is an upgrade to the 9800 with a dual use form factor. As you can see here it is in full touchscreen mode.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Here the Torch 9810 is shown in QWERTY keyboard mode like a traditional BlackBerry.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9810 keyboard is well designed, but also compact so it fits well in the width of the device.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The left side of the keyboard is shown here in this photo.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The 9810 has four buttons that are found with an optical trackpad in the center.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The volume buttons are small protrusions on the right side of the 9810.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • There is a camera button on the lower right side of the Torch 9810.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The 3.5mm headphone jack is found on the upper right of the Torch 9810.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Lock and mute buttons are located at the top of the Torch 9810, similar to what we see on current BlackBerry devices.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • A microUSB is found on the lower left and is used to sync and charge the device.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The back of the Torch 9810 is a shiny silver plastic back with grid design.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • A 5 megapixel camera and flash light are found near the top of the back.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The BlackBerry logo is stamped on the back in shiny silver.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9810 fits well in your hand, even when in the keyboard open mode.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9810 is a bit thick, but still fits well in your hand.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9850 is an all touch device with a fabulously well constructed design.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9850 is an all touch device, but it does have hardware buttons and an optical trackpad for easy navigation and application launching.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The send and BlackBerry menu button are on the left side of the optical trackpad.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The back of the Torch 9850 is very well designed with soft touch back and curves that make it feel excellent in the hand. It is actually one of the best feeling devices I have ever held.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • A 5 megapixel camera and flash are found on the back of the Torch 9850.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • There is a microUSB port on the middle of the left side.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The headphone jack is found on the upper right side of the Torch 9850.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The buttons are small humps on the left side of the device.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • You can press in on the top of the Torch 9850 to lock or unlock the display.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9850 feels great in your hand and the width helps give it more of a phone feel.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • This photo shows the three new devices stacked on each other.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • This photo shows the devices stacked up with the ends in view.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • This picture shows the two QWERTY keyboards side-by-side.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The slide down notifications on the new BB OS 7 devices are similar to what you see on the Android platform.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The setup area of the new BB OS 7 devices is much better than they were in the past and once you have things setup a green check appears on the display.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Similar to other platforms, icons of your applications appear on the All panel of the BB OS 7 devices.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • You can add all of your best apps to the Favorites panel on your device.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Twitter is integrated in BB OS 7 and works well, even with the support for slide down to refresh.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Facebook has a new interface too and works very well.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The calendar application works well in BB OS 7.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The web browser is very good in BB OS 7 and as you can see my website works and looks well on the bold 9930.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • You can zoom in to read text in the web browser too.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Bing works well on the Bold 9930 and is an attractive application.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The music player has Amazon MP3 integration so you can buy music right from your Bold 9930.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • This photo show EDoF on the Bold 9930 in the yard.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Here we move in closer and the photo is still clear with extended depth of focus.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The EDoF camera loses it when you get close to objects and as you can see the label is blurry here.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9810 has an autofocus camera.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9810 takes decent photos.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The autofocus camera looks sharp in close-up mode.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9850 takes decent photos outside too.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Moving closer with the Torch 9850

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • The Torch 9850 takes excellent close up photos.

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • BlackBerry Bold Torch gallery 1

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  •  

    BlackBerry Bold Torch gallery 2

     

    Caption by: Matthew Miller

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The web browser is very good in BB OS 7 and as you can see my website works and looks well on the bold 9930.

Caption by: Matthew Miller

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