The BlackBerry Torch is a high-quality QWERTY slide phone which has been assembled brilliantly to create an attractive and functional smartphone.

The handset itself is slimmer than your typical BlackBerry phone, alleviating you of the feeling of carrying a bulky device around. However, this also means that RIM’s signature QWERTY keyboard has been sacrificed: the buttons are slightly smaller increasing the awkwardness for those who aren’t precise typers. It is still relatively comfortable though, and users also have the option to prod away at the onscreen virtual keyboard.

Boasting a 3.2 inch capacitive, users will be delighted by the responsiveness and ability to use the multitouch feature. One of the highlights of this is the ability to delete multiple messages at once by pressing the top and bottom of the listed messages at once, saving you the effort of deleting each message individually.

The Blackberry Torch runs OS.6 – a little step up from OS.5, but manages to iron out some of the glitches. The new operating system offers a more dynamic and graphic menu, which is sure to whip you into a CrackBerry frenzy. Users can customise the menu, and this time round RIM has put a strong focus on shortcuts, and users are no longer left seeking out popular content which is embedded in a menu within a menu. A social networking app will allow you to do things like pull in your different RSS and social networking feeds into the one page.

The 5-megapixel camera is surprisingly impressive, producing clear shots when there is decent lighting. It also carries an LED flash, which will light up your images but will often leave them looking a little dull and washed out. The camera however is remarkably good at picking up detail.

The BlackBerry Torch is impressive, but you should note that it doesn’t stray all that far from the BlackBerry Bold 9800. It’s a high end phone that will cost you that little bit more, but will probably still tempt the business-type users.