BlackBerry Torch to take on iPhone with touchscreen, slide-out keyboard

Research In Motion has unveiled the first BlackBerry to come with both a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800, introduced today (August 3), will also be the first RIM smartphone to ship with BlackBerry 6, the Ontario-based company’s new operating system.

According to a RIM press release, the Torch also features a trackpad and offers “integrated access” to BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and instant-messaging applications.

Its browser has tabs for accessing multiple sites and allows for pinching to zoom, like on the iPhone.

Boasting a 3.2-inch, 360-by-480-pixel display and full QWERTY keyboard, the Torch weighs 5.68 ounces.

The smartphone is powered by a 624-megahertz processor with 512 megabytes of Flash memory.

It has four gigabytes of built-in storage, as well as a slot for microSD and SDHD memory cards.

The Torch is equipped with a five-megapixel camera, which has flash, continuous auto focus, image stabilization, geotagging, and zoom, and can record video up to a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels.

BlackBerry App World will come preinstalled on the Torch, which also features visual voicemail and multimedia apps that will allow users to upload videos to YouTube and subscribe to podcasts.

The smartphone has Wi-Fi capability and uses a removable, rechargeable battery that RIM says is good for 5.8 hours of talk time.

The Torch will debut in the U.S. on August 12 on the AT&T network.

According to CBC News, Bell, Rogers, and Telus plan to make the Torch available in Canada this year.

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