Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of the popular BlackBerry smartphones, on Wednesday launched a high-end model, BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone, priced at Rs 28,490, featuring the new BlackBerry 7 operating system.

"The BlackBerry Torch 9860 features many new enhancements, including the next generation BlackBerry 7 operating system and we think customers will be particularly thrilled by its faster performance," Frenny Bawa, managing director, RIM India said.

With a 1 GHz central processing unit and a 3.7-inch display, the all-touch BlackBerry Torch 9860 is optimised for displaying Web

pages, photos and videos, as well as delivering powerful gaming experience. It also delivers real-time communications and collaboration experience, besides high definition video recording, the company said.

The BlackBerry Torch 9860 runs on the new BlackBerry 7 operating system, which features the next generation BlackBerry browser, voice-activated searches and has the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, as well as additional personal and productivity applications out-of-the-box.

The next generation browser combines the performance of the WebKit browser engine together with BlackBerry Torch 9860's hardware enhancements to deliver 40 per cent faster browsing results than earlier models.