RIM and AT&T announce the BlackBerry Torch 9800 slider

Today BlackBerry announced their third touch-operated and very first slider handset. The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is also the first device to be running the BlackBerry OS 6, which is said to be the next big thing in the corporate world.

BlackBerry Torch brings in a full QWERTY keyboard and a 3.2" HVGA+ (480 x 360 pixels) display in an acceptably thick 14.6mm body. The tri-band 3G handset packs Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth and GPS, making up for an excellent all-round connectivity.

BlackBerry Torch 9800

The 5 megapixel autofocus snapper on the BlackBerry Torch 9800 back is capable of recording videos up to VGA resolution. There is 512 MB of operating memory on board, while the storage capacity is 4GB, expandable by up to 32GB through the microSD card slot. There will also be a 4GB card included in every retail package.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 will be offered exclusively (at least in the US) to AT&T customers, starting from 12 August. It will cost a cent short of 200 bucks after a two-year contract.

RIM also brought some good news for the owners of some of their older handsets. The BlackBerry Bold 9700, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G will all get BlackBerry OS 6 updates. It's good to know that someone still thinks about your handset even a couple of years after its release.

Meanwhile RIM announced the availability of the BlackBerry Storm2 in South Korea. It was a pretty long wait, the handset taking almost a year to reach those shores, but SK Telecom subscribers can now walk into one of the carrier's authorized shops and grab one.

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