The Blackberry Bold 9700 & Blackberry 9000 Review

Blackberry Torch Release Date Rogers Canada

Photoshopped for Fun

Rogers has now officially announced they will be carrying the flagship device “Blackberry Torch” in a post on their blog. They state the words “In the next coming weeks” as their timeline, but sources say August 14th is the official date of release.

This will be a shining moment for RIM history. It’s certainly not the competitor the company needs to remain in the hearts and hands of consumers against threats like the iPhone or the Android platforms but it’s the very next best thing.

Blackberry devices were not really designed to be entertainment devices and so they’ve never shined in that space. This device doesn’t change any of that for a moment as It’s strengths are still in business mobile and business communications.

The glaring differences between this smartphone and other smartphones in the competing markets are the lack of support for 3d gaming, the lower resolution screen and the lack of HD capable features. The Blackberry Torch has a screen incapable of doing any kind of HD video and it’s processor and graphics are also incapable of these things.

All those things considered, Blackberry is still a far better business mobile device than an iPhone or Android phone. While you *CAN* Conduct business on an Android or iPhone, you’d find yourself quickly becoming frustrated over the pure convenience of a Blackberry with push email, enterprise calendar and such.

The Torch adds in some of the features we’ve loved about iPhone and Android that you miss when joining the Blackberry team. Things like Pinch Zoom, a Webkit browser, more integrated social features and an on screen keyboard. This odd device sports both a Blackberry physical QWERTY keyboard as well as a touch interface. It also has the famous trackpad.

Crackberry and other sites are already showing the shock of just how fast this device really is at doing all it promises. What surprised me was the Video Crackberry released where they show the CPU use of the device running several programs and not wavering. Something’s been done to optimize that 624Mhz ARM chip that Research In Motion is so famous for using over the years.

This device was a real chance for them to move into higher end processors and yet they’re showing without a doubt that this chip and this platform certainly still have a ton of life left in them.

Update: I talked to some Official Rogers representatives yesterday and they confirmed a September launch is more likely… 12-14th range.. first week or two. <sigh>

~Sonic~