The rule used to be that if you wanted a smart phone, you had to choose: work or play.
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On the other end, Apple Inc.'s iPhone and the dozens of smart phones that use Google Inc.'s Android software were mostly good for posting Facebook pictures, playing games and downloading quirky apps. They weren't very efficient for office work.
But Apple and Google have remedied most of the problems that made them outcasts from corporate IT departments. Several Android phones have physical keyboards, in addition to touch screens, so banging out long e-mail memos is not so onerous.
With challengers aiming for its crown, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., too, needed to burn the rulebook. The culmination of that is the BlackBerry Torch, which went on sale Thursday for $200 with a two-year contract. AT&T is the exclusive service provider for the phone.
The Torch is the first BlackBerry to include both a touch screen and the hallmark physical keyboard that has turned many BlackBerry users into self-described "CrackBerry addicts."
RIM has struggled with touch-screen devices. A pair of Verizon Wireless phones under the BlackBerry Storm moniker were initially billed as "iPhone killers" but disappointed users in just about every way. They were slow, clunky and hard to type with.
Lessons have been learned, and the BlackBerry Torch tries hard to be the phone for both the office and the home. The idea here is that you won't have to carry around two phones. In that sense, it works well.
But it's neither the strongest office tool nor the ideal touch-screen device.
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