Today at an exclusive AT&T/RIM event held in New York City we had the chance to play with the newest device in RIMs arsenal -- the BlackBerry Torch 9800. A mix of touchscreen and familiar QWERTY keyboard, this is the first slider BlackBerry and looks like it could possibly be the best BlackBerry to date. It will also be the first device to have BlackBerry 6, RIMs latest "revamped" OS. The Torch will be officially available for purchase on August 12th for $199 exclusively through AT&T (for now). While you'll have to wait a few weeks to get your hands on one, we had the chance to play around with it and see whats new both with the device itself and the all-new BlackBerry 6 operating system. Read on for our first impressions.
BlackBerry Torch Specifications
- Size (LxWxD) Closed: 4.4" x 2.4" x 0.57" / 111mm x 62mm x 14.6mm
- Open: 5.8" x 2.4" x 0.57" / 148mm x 62mm x 14.6mm
- Weight: 161.59 g / 5.7 oz (includes battery)
- Operating System: BlackBerry 6
- Memory: 512 MB internal flash memory/4GB built-in storage memory
- Expandable Memory: 4GB microSD card included/Supports up to 32GB microSD card
- Battery Life: GSM Talk Time: 5.5 hours; GSM Standby Time: 17 days/MTS Talk Time: 5.8 hours; UMTS Standby Time: 13 days
- Physical keyboard: 35 key backlit QWERTY
- Touchscreen keyboards: portrait/landscape full qwerty, condensed portrait
- Display: High resolution touch screen - Half-VGA+ display (360 x 480 at 188ppi)/3.2" (diagonally measured)
- Navigation - Capacitive traditional touch screen (no SurePress)/Optical trackpad
- Camera: 5.0 MP camera, flash, auto focus, face detection, image stabilization, scene modes, 2X zoom, video recording
- Video Camera: Normal Mode: 640 x 480 pixels
- WiFi: 802.11b/g/n, support for UMA (carrier-dependent)
- Bluetooth v2.1; Mono/Stereo Headset, Hands-free, Serial Port Profile, Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP) and Bluetooth SIM Access Profile supported
