Oct 22, 2010 11:41 GMT  ·  By

Recently, Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion announced the upcoming availability of its BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone at two wireless carriers in Australia, namely Telstra and VHA. Following the release of this smartphone on Optus's airwaves in Australia, RIM plans on making it available via Telstra and VHA too in the coming months.

The new mobile phone arrives on the Australian market with a touchscreen display complemented by a QWERTY keyboard, while running under the Blackberry 6 OS.

“The BlackBerry Torch has been highly anticipated here in Australia and we are very proud to be launching this innovative new smartphone with our carrier partners,” said Adele Beachley, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Research In Motion.

“The new BlackBerry Torch smartphone builds on the familiar and powerful capabilities of the BlackBerry platform to provide the features that are ideal for socially connected consumers while also providing the tools that business customers' trust.”

According to the leading mobile phone maker, the new device should offer users great capabilities, especially since it includes both a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard.

At the same time, the handset comes with support for high-speed 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) networks, as well as with Wi-Fi (b/g/n) and Bluetooth capabilities.

Built-in GPS is also there for location-based applications and geo-tagging, along with a 5-megapixel photo snapper, 4 GB of internal memory, and the possibility to add up to 32GB more storage space via microSD cards.

The handset runs under Blackberry 6, which delivers a new Internet browser, updated visuals, and a series of other new features.

“One of the new features of BlackBerry 6 that I particularly like is Universal Search,” Adele Beachley also stated.

“It is easily accessible and allows users to search through everything on their handset – email, messages, contacts, music, videos and more – as well as extend their search to the Internet or to discover applications on BlackBerry App World.”