Torch Is Best BlackBerry Yet (but Still No iPhone)

RIM unveiled its new BlackBerry Torch 9800 today, complete with both a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard, as well as a faster browser. It's out Aug. 12 for $200 with a 2-year AT&T contract. Some early opinions:

• Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired: "From what we saw, the BlackBerry Torch justifies AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega’s claim that this is 'the best BlackBerry to date.' But I am not sure it can attract those who already have an iPhone or Android in mind–-and, crucially, the app developers that could draw them."
• Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo: The Torch and new OS "take what BlackBerry's already doing and move it forward slightly—they're not reinventing, overturning, or blowing up things. ... Existing BlackBerry users who just want the same thing will probably love this. But is that enough anymore? Here's the question: Do people simply want a better BlackBerry or do they want something else, something completely new that also happens to be good at all the things BlackBerry is good at? I suppose we'll find out."

• Boy Genius Report: "Mixed emotions. On one hand, OS 6 is a much better (user interface) leap from OS 5 than OS 5 was to OS 4, but it still feels a bit not thought out. On the other hand, the device seems like it will continue to excel at specific functions, mainly email, any sort of text-based messaging, etc."
  
• John Timmer, Ars Technica: Some nice features, but many of them "served to emphasize how far behind the competition it had gotten. A fast, standards-compliant browser, a podcast app, and the ability to select multiple pictures through a gesture should have shipped with the company's first generation of touchscreen phones."

(More RIM stories.)