This is RIM's "proper" touch screen smartphone. By this, I mean the Storm 2 had a strange clicking sensation to the screen and the Torch range has a slide out keyboard.

The handset has a 3.7 inch display (the largest the company has ever produced) and runs the new BlackBerry OS 7 software.  It also sports a single core 1.2GHz processor, however this doesn't seem to impede performance.

The design of the 9860 reminds me of Samsung's Galaxy S handset. It's very nice to look at – sleek, but still a BlackBerry.

The single biggest gripe I have with this handset is the appalling battery life. Although it isn't particularly bad when compared to other smartphones, the thing I liked about my Torch was the fact that it would last for days. Use a few social networking apps on the 9860 and you'll be charging before the day's out.

The obvious alternate options for the BlackBerry Torch 9860 are RIM's own new touch handsets: the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and the BlackBerry Torch 9810, which still has a slide-out physical keyboard, like the old Torch 9800.