Research In Motion has announced the first phone running the all-new Blackberry OS 6. Called the Blackberry Torch (model 9800), it's the company's first handset to feature a sliding QWERTY keyboard, which it pairs with a full touchscreen display.
Sporting a vertical slider form factor, the new phone measures a respectable 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.57 inches and weighs 5.68 ounces. A world phone, it supports quad-band GSM, quad-band UMTS and tri-band HSPA, with voice service in over 220 countries, data service in more than 195 and 3G connectivity in 125.
Details of the Torch include a 3.2-inch touchscreen (480 x 360 pixels), a 5.0 megapixel camera module with flash, aGPS, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm audio jack, 4GB built-in storage and 4GB preloaded memory card (expandable up to 32GB). Core hardware consists of a 624 Mhz processor and 512MB of RAM. It comes with a 1,300 mAh battery, providing 5.5 hours of talk time and up to 13 days of standby.
Possibly bigger news than the new phone is the new OS, which upgrades the old Blackberry interface into a modern, finger-friendly platform. The company claims a "fresh, approachable and engaging experience" for users, coupled with the robust messaging and business talents that have made RIM's devices a household name. Features include BlackBerry Enterprise Service, BlackBerry Internet Service, a tabbed full HTML browser based on WebKit, social networking integration, universal search and beefed-up multimedia capabilities.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be available beginning August 12th. Price is $199.99 with a two year service agreement and a data plan under AT&T.
[RIM]
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[...] the Torch, this one isn't likely to be running the Blackberry OS 6 (at least, there's no mention of that [...]