14 DAY TRIAL // Blackberry Torch 9800, the first smartphone running Blackberry 6.0 OS, was launched in the U.S. by AT&T.
The carrier has recently cut the device's price to $99 with a new two-year contract, which is half of its original price.
Launched in August 2010, Torch 9800 considerably boosted RIM's sales in the U.S. and helped the company retain the third place with 24.2% of the market share. AT&T started to offer the Torch 9800 in two additional colors, red and white earlier this week.
Blackberry Torch 9800 is powered by a 624 MHz processor and runs on the Blackberry 6.0 platform, which introduces a new touch interface, full web browser and Universal Search.
The slider offers users an enhanced multimedia experience thanks to its 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colors and 360 x 480 pixels resolution.
Advanced messaging is another area where the Torch 9800 excels thanks to its full QWERTY keyboard and BlackBerry Push technology.
Other key features of the smartphone include: optical trackpad, multi-touch input method, proximity sensor for auto turn-off, 3.5 mm audio jack, HSDPA and HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support, 4 GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB, 4GB card included).
Users can take decent pictures, as the smartphone sports a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, continuous auto-focus, image stabilization and video capabilities (VGA@24fps).
The phone is packed with AT&T services such as AT&T Maps, Ypmobile, AT&T Social Net, Instant Messaging, AT&T FamilyMap, Loopt, WHERE, AllSport GPS, AT&T Music, Mobile Video, Mobile Banking, Preloaded Games.
Blackberry Torch 9800 measures 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm and weighs 161g (battery included). The phone drains its power from a Li-Ion 1300 mAh battery rated by the manufacturer for up to 432 hours standby (up to 336 hours for 3G) or 5 hours 30 minutes talk time (up 5 hours 40 minutes for 3G).