RIM launches Torch 9810 in India

After its recent announcement of a slew of new smartphones, of which the Bold-Touch 9900 has been an instant hit with consumers, the company has now come out with an upgrade to the Torch. The upgrade, Torch2 or 9810 comes around a year after the launch of the original Torch.

The design and form-factor of the upgrade is fully on the lines of its predecessor, with the build being just as solid, and as that of the outgoing model. The new 9810 comes with almost the same set of standard features, and consumers who purchased the original Torch, would find the new one little different on the outside.

The slide out QWERTY keypad is as smooth though it could have been just slightly more spread out to better facilitate typing. However, what would make the phone stand apart from the original would be its new colour scheme: shiny silver instead of the gunmetal grey finish.

The phone is somewhat heavy at 161 g and the rubberised sides allow better grip on it. The new colour combination lends a bit of elegance to the phone's overall appearance, with the 3.2-inch screen getting a decent bump in resolution as well, running at 480 x 640 pixels.

The the exteriors have been retained though there are a few very good changes on the inside, the most important of these being the pocessor. The 9810's 1.2GHz CPU, gives it the power to compete with the fastest smartphones  in the market. The change along with OS 7.0 delivers superior browsing and in-app experience. The phone can juggle  tasks effortlessly and browsing especially happens with speeds that can make even the fastest Android phones struggle to keep up. The zippy new browsers offers tabbed browsing for user convenience.

The new phone handles media pretty though some may find the lack of 1080p video playback a negative. XviD and DivX codec are supported and it can play most file formats except FLV and MKV.