Though BlackBerry continue to be extremely popular, it's no secret that RIM needed to step up its game and really work on improving and advancing its operating system. And over the past few months, the company has given us previews of a refreshed OS. The RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 is the first device to ship running BlackBerry OS 6 and will be available starting August 12 for US$199.99 with a two-year contract. The slider phone--a first for RIM--brings together a touchscreen and physical keyboard into a solid, compact design. The new OS brings some much-needed and welcome additions, including a better browser, an enhanced multimedia experience, and improved user interface. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, none of this is new but at least it puts RIM back on track. So we thought it might be a good idea to compare BlackBerry Torch 9800 with the iPhone 4G to find out, which one is a better smartphone. In this article, we have compared some of the key features available on the new BlackBerry smartphone with Apple's iPhone 4G.
Operating System
The Blackberry Torch comes installed with the all-new Blackberry OS 6 that is touch-enabled and seamlessly integrates the old email message interface, contextual menus and contacts with a more modern UI. The new OS also comes with a universal search feature that makes it extremely simple to access all the contents on the handset including the messages, contacts and UI themes from the home screen. While these enhancements definitely make the new Blackberry Torch the best among Blackberry phones, we are not sure if the OS is actually better than iOS 4 on iPhone 4G. As you already know, Apple has introduced close to 100 new features on the latest iOS that still retains the minimalist look and feel of the older versions.
Display:
Though the 3.2" display size of the Blackberry Torch is only marginally lower than the 3.5" screen on iPhone 4, the real difference lies in the screen resolution. The iPhone 4G is equipped with a 960x480 pixel retina display. On the other hand, the Blackberry Torch display is only packed with 360x480 pixels that is not only lower than the iPhone 4G display, but is also significantly lower than the display resolution of most smartphones that have been launched in recent times.
Hardware:
Users who are uncomfortable with the iPhone's virtual keyboard must find the sliding physical QWERTY keyboard on the Blackberry Torch a relief. However, the phone fails to appeal on few other counts. For instance, the Torch is powered by a 624MHz processor that is considerably slower than the 1GHz A4 processors that powers the iPhone 4G. Both the phones offer a 512MB internal memory. Torch comes with only 4GB of onboard storage compared to iPhone 4G's maximum storage capacity of 32GB, but Torch has a microSD memory slot to extend the memory available.
Camera and Multimedia
Both the phones come with a 5-Megapixel camera with flash. Also, unlike the new iPhone, the Torch does not offer the HD video recording functionality. It also doesn't have a front-facing camera to allow users to video chat.
With its’ build-in powerful multimedia player, iPhone 4G supports lots of audio and video formats. Such as: audio formats: AAC, HE-AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV. And video formats: H.264, .M4V, .MP4, .MOV, MPEG-4, and. AVI file format. While, Blackberry installs WMV/Real Video /MP4 Video player and MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ music player. Does it only support these litter formats? I find good software to enhance blackberry’s multimedia function.
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So which phone is the better one? That is a difficult question to answer. Blackberry OS 6 is very impressive and was truly built from the ground up with touchscreen support. Also, Sure Press technology does not appear on the Torch 9800, which is surely a relief to those who hated the Storm series. At the same time however, if you are okay with using a bumper case with the iPhone 4G to prevent any signal issues, the sharp screen and HD video ability is a major plus. Both of these phones will do what you need to. The one you prefer will probably just have to come down to which manufacturer you like more, if you need video calling, and if you prefer a physical keyboard.
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