BlackBerry Torch 9800 gets official, doesn't surprise

Come here if you're interested in seeing how our Live Coverage went off! Or here, for our hands-on with the Torch!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 has finally been announced, fulfilling the dream of those customers who wanted the best of both worlds – a multi-touch screen and RIM's renown QWERTY keyboard design.

The much-wanted device that has been making systematic appearances in our news column since quite some time (thumbs up for BlackBerry Mr. T!) will feature a 3.2-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 360x480 pixels (not exactly groundbreaking stuff), 624MHz processor, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and quad-band 3G. You also didn't think you'd get away without the optical trackpad, did you? How sweet of RIM to include one, hehe... What?

The design of the BlackBerry Torch seems great for the most part, but equally impressive should be the software that will be employed in the new smartphone. First before most, we should mention the brand new web browser that will support tabs and pinch-to-zoom. In addition, it will shrink text automatically as you zoom in order to match your exact screen width. By the way, the company that RIM bought to develop the new WebKit browser was called Torch Mobile.

RIM's acclaimed messaging/email prowess will of course be present, along with much improved social networking and multimedia capabilities, which will all be part of the new BlackBerry 6operating system that will be powering the Torch. BB OS 6 will actually let you view all your social feeds in one page for a more organized view, and the same goes for your RSS feeds. Otherwise, the interface as a whole seems to have undergone some significant changes, most notably in terms of navigation, but it's still quite reminiscent of what BlackBerry OS used to be.

The RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be available on August 12 for $199.99 with a two-year contract with AT&T. Head this way for a demo of the new stuff that's in the BlackBerry Torch!

So, tell us, smartphone lovers – do you like what you see with the new BlackBerry Torch? Are you excited about it? Are you getting it? Hating it? Sound off in the comments!

RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 Specifications | Hands-on

source: BlackBerry