A new Berry in the market

It is official - the AT&T BlackBerry Torch 9800 with OS6 has been released on to the market. This happened in New York City, as had been speculated in the media. This is the latest BlackBerry to be released. This new device has features like a 3.2 inch touch screen for on screen navigation, with a 480 x 360 pixel resolution. Upon its release, the gadget was made available through the US based AT&T, with effect from August 12 2010. AT&T will be the first to offer the T-Mobile BlackBerry all over the world. The launch date in the UK is yet to be set.

It has a QWERTY keyboard, a cordless 802.11b/g/n link plus Bluetooth 2.1. No other BlackBerry phone before it has been made with both the touch screen and the slide out keyboard. It has a camera with a built in flash capable of capturing images at five megapixels. Tabbed browsing which allows you to access multiple web pages simultaneously is one of the new features available in the AT&T BlackBerry Torch 9800 with OS6. You can also access social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. The Torch 9800 has a 1300mAh battery. For its memory it is equipped with flash storage capacity of 4GB, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of storage. The microSD card slot has a 4GB card installed.

According to a high ranking AT&T official during the launch, the Torch 9800 was the best BlackBerry ever launched by RIM and AT&T. The Torch 9800 will be the first of the RIM gadgets to run the new BlackBerry OS6. Images of the phone and its support systems had been in circulation on the internet in the weeks preceding the launch. Even the official launch was not a surprise, as invitations had been sent out to selected media houses hinting at the event. Before the Torch, in November 2008 RIM had released its first BlackBerry touch screen phone, the Storm 9500/9530. The Storm however didn’t have the traditional QWERTY keyboard.

In terms of units shipped out, RIM is ranked fourth globally. The Torch’s launch comes at a time when the manufacturer is facing stiff competition from brands like iPhone from Apple and Android OS from Google. Critics such as the New York Times are predicting a rough time ahead for RIM. They argue that the manufacturer’s fate in future will be determined by the success of the Torch 9800 and the BlackBerry 6 OS.