As expected, RIM today launched the BlackBerry Torch. Also known as the 9800, it’s the first BlackBerry to combine a touchscreen with a hardware QWERTY keyboard and still has an optical trackpad. It is the first phone to use BlackBerry 6, a major overhaul of the mobile OS that brings a fast WebKit browser, integrated social feeds from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and multi-touch input.
The new OS also enables syncing music over Wi-Fi rather than just using the Media Sync app. There is also a new version of BlackBerry Messenger that supports up to 10 simultaneous people and locations. The phone is the first BlackBerry to finally have App World already pre-installed.
It comes with a five-megapixel camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi and 8GB of storage across both built-in memory and a bundled microSD card. The SurePress click-down screen that was criticized has been replaced with a more conventional touchscreen.
Torch is an AT&T exclusive in the USA, which is already taking registrations for it. It should cost $200 on a 2 year contract and will hit stores on August 12th
