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RIM has stepped up its smartphone game by introducing the BlackBerry Torch 9800 ($200 with a two-year contract from AT&T), the company's very first touchscreen/physical-keyboard phone sporting the brand-new BlackBerry 6 OS. But can the Torch (and future BlackBerry 6 OS devices) compete with the ever-growing Android army?

Design

A little thicker than some of the other top-line smartphones out right now, the Torch measures 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches and weighs a manageable 5.68 ounces. Unlike with the BlackBerry Storm and the BlackBerry Storm 2, here RIM has successfully added a touchscreen while retaining the look and feel of the phone familiar to BlackBerry users. The front face of the phone has the four typical buttons: Talk, Menu, Back, and Power/End. The buttons flank the square optical touchpad, which you can use for navigation in addition to the touchscreen.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Torch is its touchscreen display. Not only did I find it slightly lackluster, but it could also be a bit wonky in its responsiveness. Thankfully, it doesn't use RIM's awkward SurePress technology, which we saw on the Storm models. The 3.2-inch 360-by-480 capacitive touch display is smaller and a lower resolution than the screens of competing phones such as the Samsung Vibrant or the Motorola Droid X. Though it is fine for browsing the Web, the colors, text, and detail looked slightly flat. The display also comes equipped with multitouch (for zooming in and out), which the browser and photo gallery both support.

Like the Palm Pre, the Torch has a vertical slide-out hardware keyboard. The slider mechanism feels sturdy, and the keyboard slides smoothly and easily. The Torch's keyboard is thinner than those on other BlackBerry models, but I found it quite comfortable to type on. The keys are sculpted and nicely sized, and include a handful of useful shortcut buttons. The Torch also has a software keyboard that you can use in portrait and landscape mode, but both variations feel pretty cramped.

PC World has the review HERE!