Mega review of the RIM BlackBerry Torch goes live

As you probably know by now RIM announced the BlackBerry Torch this week with availability from AT&T starting late next week. I am hoping it eventually comes to T-Mobile so I can try one out for myself, but in the meantime I found the most in-depth, extensive review ever over on CrackBerry.com and highly recommend you check it out if you are at all interested in the latest from RIM. The table of contents for the review alone is longer than some first impressions articles I have been reading. Inside this mega review you will find thoughts on the hardware, why AT&T wants a slider, BlackBerry 6 features, and more.

The review contains six helpful videos, several product hardware photos, and several screenshots so you really get a good feel for the device. After reading this review, I could probably skip taking a look at one myself too. It looks like overall it may be the best BlackBerry device ever, but there are a couple of areas where it does fall short in comparison to the current smartphone competition.

I have been reading online that many people think this device and BlackBerry 6 get RIM close to parity with iOS and Android, but that they do not set the bar above either of these. I am not sure RIM really needed to come out with an OS update that was revolutionary and beyond the others, but they did need a refresh that brings them to at least the same level. There are businesses that will never leave the BlackBerry behind and devices will be issued to employees for years. It looks to me like BB 6 may help keep consumers satisfied with their BlackBerry now that it has much more consumer appeal. While this may not necessarily propel sales of BlackBerry devices to the stars, it may very well keep them on track and reduce the number of outside devices that people feel they need to bring to get better media, gaming, and user interface experiences. Shoot, just seeing that they finally updated the DOS-like settings area makes me happy.