BlackBerry Torch 9810 Hands-On and First Impressions

After having RIM's Andrew Bocking walk us through the BlackBerry Torch 9850 / 9860 at BlackBerry 7 Fan Night, I fired up the CrackBerry camera again to get a better hands-on look at the BlackBerry Torch 9810. The Torch 9810 is the straight-up successor to the original BlackBerry Torch 9800. Untrained eyes might not even notice the difference between the Torch 9800 and Torch 9810, as from a hardware design perspective the overall form factor is basically the same. The 9810 gets a re-freshed silver look with matching silver battery door which I'm not a huge fan of (though I'm sure we'll see a white version too which I'll no doubt love) and features a higher resolution display, but otherwise the enhancements are under the hood. 

BlackBerry Torch 9810 First Impressions

• FINALLY! - The 9810 really addresses all of the gripes I had with the original Torch 9800. The 1.2GHz processor is snappy and gets rid of the Torch 9800's lag, it has HD video recording and Open GL support for 3D gaming and more internal memory for apps. Oh, and BlackBerry 7 allows me to customize the homescreen views so you if you don't want to be doing any accidental scrolling, you won't be. Add those up and it's the device I really wished the Torch 9800 would have been.
• LIQUIDY SMOOTH - As with all the new BlackBerry 7 devices, having a dedicated GPU to power the RIM-branded "liquid graphics" really makes the whole BlackBerry experience feel more updated and modern. If you're a long time BlackBerry user, you'll notice the difference.

All in all, the Torch 9810 is the original Torch, but way better. If you like the sliding form factor of the 9800, you're simply going to love the 9810. I'm a little sad it doesn't get the same light-up Trackpad that is on the 9850/9860 and Bold 9900/9930, but it's something we'll have to cope with (I've got a theory on why it's not there - will save that for the full review). In the meantime, check out the video above!