BlackBerry Torch 9810

My contract ended exactly on my birthday last year, 22nd Dec 2011. But the stock for the phone I wanted, Sony Ericsson's Xperia Mini Pro, are long gone. So I was at a lost at what phone to buy. Two of my important criteria were:

1. Physical QWERTY keyboard
2. Front Facing Camera

But there were not many in the market with BOTH of the criterion. Its either 1 or 2 or OUT OF STOCK. GRRRRRR

On an impulse, I went to buy this Blackberry Torch 9810 when I passed by Starhub shop one lunch time. I tried it for a couple of weeks but decided couldn't get used to it. I'm going to sell it away or in exchange for an iPhone 4 or 4S.

Anyways, let me list down what I like about the BB:

1. The keyboard is indeed very good. I LOVE IT.
2. Even though the sliding mechanism seems fragile, I actually had a good grip of the phone, ergonomically speaking!
3. The SOUND and alerts were very good. I hated iPhone's sound profile just up and down the volume. BB has sound profile for "Shhhh" "Vibrate only" to "LOUD" or whatever. and the LOUD was VERY loud, ideal for when you are outdoors and the silent is very discreet for when we are in the office. iPhone? in office, the softest is still too loud, the loudest not loud enough. GRRR
4. I LOVE the option of HIDING ICONS and arranging in folders. You must know that I try to  be very organised when I have the time. I don't like a cluttered Desktop. Same goes to phone.
5. The Youtube application is different from iPhone. There are also pros and cons to this difference. The Pro being that it is exactly like how you see in on the computer - ie you can search by USERname which u can't on iPhone.

I did not get around to syncing my phone but i heard it is very hassle free.

Basically the reason why I can't get used to BB is the Applications. People have warned me about it being a business phone and therefore not many games. I didn't really mind that part, so long as the standard FB, Twitter, whatsapp and youtube are available I'm good to go.

1. What I didn't expect was that the applications also LOOK business-like. There was not much room for customization.
2. I had problems with the social feeds... it was not loading? even after restarting bla bla bla... I even downloaded a 2nd twitter app but to no avail.
3. I didn't like the email application doesn't allow me to view emails already stored in folders. Don't even get me started on the MESSAGES folder. It's like a notification window but it's like a duplicate all over the place! Eg: I already checked and deleted my email, but its not reflected in this Messages folder and I had to delete it again. Not efficient, is what I think. Ironic.
4. I had a problem with the favourites and History of the Youtube application. Because it runs like a true browser, there's no thumbnail or even a description of your favourites and History... instead just the first few characters of the URL. How the hell do i differentiate them??
5. And helloooo... is there really just ONE ALARM timing for the whole phone???

Maybe I'm wrong because I did not get to explore the phone much. But from the other reviews I read, seem like you need to get a lot of Applications to customize... say the notification light and whatever else..

Right now, my 2 year old iphone 3GS is dying... the battery can only last 3-4 hours with much use... if nobody wants to buy my BB i guess i'll just hafta make do with it.... =(