BlackBerry Torch 9850 Headed Toward Verizon Wireless

It appears the Big Red will be getting another one of RIM's latest BlackBerry OS 7 handsets. A poster in a Verizon Wireless retail store illustrated the Torch 9850 will be landing on the carrier's network sometime in the near future.

Verizon previously kept mum about the arrival of the BlackBerry Bold 9930, causing quite the stir when the handset debuted from this carrier prior to its Sprint release. However, this time the nation’s largest wireless carrier slipped news of the Torch’s forthcoming arrival a bit early. 

The Torch 9850 sports a 3.7-inch 800 x 480 (WVGA) touchscreen and does not have a physical keyboard. Powered by a single-core 1.2GHz processor, the handset features a 5-megapixel camera.

It runs the recently-released BlackBerry OS 7, which includes a faster web browser than any of its predecessors. It also has voice-activated searching and other enhancements.

While details regarding price and availability for this smartphone are still unknown, the rumor mill is already turning. Sprint is selling the device for a mid-range price of $150 with a two-year wireless contract, and Verizon would be wise to price its version of the handset at a similar or lower price, like Sprint did with the BlackBerry Bold 9930. After the Bold launched from Verizon for a retail price of $250, Sprint released the smartphone on Aug. 21 for $50 less than its biggest competitor.