This is a very, very sad "high end" offering from a technology company. This product is where the smartphone market was about a year and a half ago. Bulky, with one of the lowest screen resolutions on the market, a comparatively slow processor that hampers response time, sub-HD video, and little storage, this is not going to make Research In Motion competitive — particularly in the face of the surveys published August 2nd showing RIM customers ready to leave the brand in high numbers. After the BlackBerry Storm debacle, they needed a phone which at least compares with what others are offering. This is strictly inferior. (The television commercial for the device says, "Screen images simulated".) The Torch may appeal to BlackBerry diehards, but is unlikely to attract anyone to the brand.
On another RIM front: UAE nations have been threatening to ban some of RIM's BlackBerry services in their countries because RIM will not allow those nations to monitor communications over RIM's encrypted channels. I initially applauded RIM's courageous stance on this issue, standing up to extremist states, and not cooperating in the systematic oppression of human rights. But then, RIM caved in to Saudi Arabia's oppressive government. So much for corporate integrity.
As might be expected, the ignorati can be found adding comments to online articles about RIM's UAE situation by saying that at least the BlackBerry has encryption, unlike the iPhone, which doesn't. God save us from the willfully ignorant... The iPhone has long had execellent security measures, as can be readily learned by actually making the effort to perform rudimentary research online, like browsing the PDFs available through http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/.