Research in Motion (RIM) announced the launch of its new and first of a kind BlackBerry smartphone in Mumbai for the Indian market today in the presence of Frenny Bawa, Managing Director RIM India and Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone. The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is the first slider phone from RIM, having both the QWERTY keypad and touchscreen featuring the new BlackBerry 6 operating system and also bundles in the WebKit based browser. The 3G-ready device will be priced at Rs 35,000 and will be available across all Indian telecom operators offering BlackBerry services.
BlackBerry Torch houses a 624 MHz processor and has a 480 x 360 pixel display. The 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen can be slided up to reveal the QWERTY keypad having bevelled buttons. It has a humble 5 MP camera along with flash.
.jpg "BlackBerry Torch 9800 slid out to reveal the QWERTY keypad")
The brand new BlackBerry 6 operating system is the USP of this phone which has an interface which works with the touchscreen and trackpad. Messaging capabilities have been improved with an app called Social Feeds – which integrates all your social networking profiles as well as BlackBerry Messenger on one screen allowing you to simultaneously update your status on one or all the social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook etc.
The device offers support for high-speed 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) networks around the world, includes the latest generation in Wi-Fi (b/g/n) connectivity and features built-in GPS for location-based applications and geo-tagging. The BlackBerry Torch comes with 8 GB memory out-of-the-box and also has a microSD slot which can house upto 32GB.
“With its new high performance browser, powerful touchscreen interface and easy-to-use BlackBerry keyboard the Torch offers an exceptional mobile experience for both consumers and business users in India,” said Frenny Bawa.
First Impressions
After the launch we got to play with the new BlackBerry Torch 9800. After having seen a lot of QWERTY keypad sporting BlackBerry’s it was a welcome change to hold a slide out phone from RIM. It was mildly reminiscent of the Palm Pre. Touch response was decent and the Social Feeds app was impressive allowing you to update all your social networking profiles in one go. The keypad looked brilliant and was a breeze to type on. Web browsing experience was great as well allowing you to open multiple windows. All in all the new operating system has tried to get out of the whole business oriented feel associated with BlackBerry products and looks more multimedia friendly. We also found a few flaws. But we would like to keep our final verdict reserved till we actually get to test the BlackBerry Torch 9800. Watch out this space.