Publications
Partners
New York - Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) on Tuesday announced a new BlackBerry smartphone device with a touchscreen and slide-out qwerty keyboard. The Torch 9800 is the first device on the market to run the new BlackBerry 6 operating system.
Speaking at the launch event in New York, president and joint CEO of Research In Motion, Mike Lazaridis said, "BlackBerry 6 is the outcome of RIM's ongoing passion to deliver a powerful, simplified and optimised user experience for both touch screen and keyboard fans."
"Following extensive research and development to address consumer needs and wants, we are delivering a communications, browsing and multimedia experience that we think users will love, and we are thrilled to debut BlackBerry 6 on the amazing new BlackBerry Torch smartphone."
BlackBerry 6 sports a new WebKit-based internet web browser with reading mode that Lazaridis says will make it easier to read text on websites.
It also includes the Social Feeds application that he explained will simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds with integration for BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter and other services.
Wi-Fi Music Sync is another new addition that enables users to view their entire iTunes or Windows Media Player music libraries from their BlackBerry. When in range of their home WiFi network music files are transferred to or from the device.
The BlackBerry Torch is being released through network partner AT&T in the USA and local RIM representatives could not confirm when it will be available in South Africa but said that it is definitely coming. AT&T has also launched an on-demand television service for the BlackBerry Torch in the USA.
The BlackBerry 6 system will be released for the existing BlackBerry Bold 9700 and BlackBerry Pearl 3G too.
- Fin24.com
