While combing through the Rogers online store this morning to see if they would be offering the new Curve (they will be, before the end of the month), I saw that they had the Torch 9860 available for sale. After calling around to a few brick and mortar stores, it doesn’t sound like they’re in stock just yet, so ordering online and getting units mailed directly will probably be speedier. As expected, the phone’s going for $199.00 on a three-year plan.
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 is headlining RIM’s latest batch of OS 7 devices, second only to the Torch 9900/9930. It’s got a 3.7-inch 480 x 800 touchscreen (don’t worry, no clicking SurePress stuff), a 5 megapixel camera with continuous autofocus, 720p video recording, and LED flash, and is powered by a 1.2 GHz processor with 768 MB of RAM. There’s no NFC in there unfortunately, nor mobile hotspot as previously rumoured, but it does have a magnetic compass to support augmented reality apps. Check out our hands-on video over here, and stick around for our full review this week.
Telus and Bell should end up offering this one too, if you’re looking for alternatives. We haven’t heard a peep from the little guys, Wind Mobile or Mobilicity, about whether or not they’ll be offering the new BlackBerry 7 devices, but I sure hope they get around to it; my contract with Rogers is up soon, and I’m itching to switch. To pick up the Torch 9860 from Rogers, head on over to their online store.