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RESEARCH IN MOTION’S Blackberry Torch 2 retains the same hybrid touch-screen and keypad design as its predecessor, with the majority of changes under the hood.

RIM will ship the 3.2in smartphone with a 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of internal storage and Blackberry OS 7.

The handset is aimed at those who like a large touch screen alongside the traditional Qwerty keyboard.

The Torch 2 is set to go on sale in the UK during September, and will be available on major networks. Pricing is yet to be confirmed. µ

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THE BLACKBERRY Torch 9860 will come with a 3.7in touch-screen display, the largest that RIM has to offer. The device is optimised for video and internet browsing, and has no physical keyboard.

A 1.2GHz processor will power the BlackBerry 7 OS handset, and other features include GPS and a 5MP rear camera with HD 720p video recording capabilities.

RIM expects to start shipping the Torch 9860 in September. The manufacturer said that all major networks will carry the device, with prices at a mid-tier level expected to be somewhere between the Bold Touch 9900 and Blackberry Torch 2 9810. µ

WE’VE GOT OUR hands on LG’s Optimus 3D, the world’s first glasses-free 3D smartphone.

The Optimus 3D brings, er, 3D content on a smartphone with out the need for wearing ugly and annoying glasses. It also has dual 5MP rear cameras so you can create your own 3D photos and videos.

LG has opted for a Texas Instruments chip with, what it is calling, a tri-dual configuration. This consists of a 1GHz dual core, dual channel and dual memory processor.

The phone has a large 4.3in parallax barrier screen which can also convert 2D content into 3D. It’s currently running on Android 2.2, but LG told us that 2.3 will be coming in October which will bring 2D to 3D conversion of applications and games. µ

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THIS WEEK’S Dell Technology Camp gave us the perfect opportunity to look at the stylish XPS 15Z notebook.

The machine is Dell’s thinnest 15in model and apparently “one of the thinnest 15-in PCs on the planet”. With a full HD 1920×1080 WLED screen, it’s clearly aimed at multimedia enthusiasts.

The laptop has sharp good looks with a metal look keyboard and slot style optical drive that can read Blu-ray discs. It’s got some tasty specifications too, including an Intel Sandy Bridge processor, 4GB of RAM and over eight hours of battery life, to rival Apple’s Macbook Air. µ

TODAY AT the Dell Technology Camp we got the first chance to take a closer look at Alienware’s M18X gaming laptop since its announcement.

We got a one-to-one demonstration of the massive 18in, 7Kg giant and took a look at why it’s Alienware’s flagship model for its range of gaming laptops. The device not only has an 18.4in screen but the possibility of dual graphics cards, oh and don’t forget the overclocked Intel Corei7 racking up a speed of 4GHz.

It’s got some neat boy racer style lighting and we even get to see some pro gaming skills from the Alienware representative. µ

US CAR GIANT Ford has been demonstrating its Ford Sync system. The hands-free in-car interface allows you to play songs from various smartphones, read back text messages and allow users to set navigation routes using the driver’s voice commands. The Ford Focus with Sync will come to the UK in 2012. µ

IF YOU ASK Microsoft about its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) mobile operating system update, Mango, it can certainly talk on the subject for some time, and above is a 14 minute video to prove it. We cover all of the main topics in this, including the new WP7 email scheme and how groups work, and there’s even a demonstration of the fancy new Bing visual search feature.

The company was also keen to emphasise developers, too. With the launch of its new toolkit, there’s an emulator included now, which should help apps developers write programs without the need to actually own a Windows Phone 7 device. This is quite important, as it should increase the number of people developing for WP7, which is something that Microsoft really needs. µ

TWO COMPANIES have in a team effort pried away the ultimate eye-candy trophy from the grasp of Steve Jobs and his Ipad 2 by demonstrating a 10.1in WQXGA 2560×1600 resolution RGBW display at the SID Display conference in Los Angeles.

While simply saying that the technology, which goes by the name of “PenTile RGBW”, is equivalent to having a 10.1-inch 300 dpi colour print in your hands, that just wouldn’t be enough. However if we blurt outright that the pixel density is more than twice that of Apple’s Ipad 2 display, then you’ll get a real idea of what this means.

The “W” in RGBW stands for white, as it was through the addition of a fourth component colour that the firms have been able to increase the pixel density so much. The side benefit of this is that it also reduces the number of transistors needed in a panel array by half, which in turn also halves power consumption. Of course, being that LCDs suck quite a lot away from a mobile device’s battery life, halving the power consumption of an LCD is tantamount to extending the battery life by about 10 per cent, which is quite an accomplishment.

There are, however, other upsides to this. This is a technology that puts touchscreen resolutions up to desktop display levels. The RGBW display has twice the transmittance of a regular touchscreen and will easily double the brightness of current devices. The 300cd per square metre brightness can go as high as 600cd in outdoor mode. Contrast figures have not been given.

Samsung has a lead here and is taking care of bunging these displays into its devices. By the end of the year, which is Samsung’s predicted commercial availability, we should have 2560×1600 Samsung Tab III’s running amok in the market. Let’s just hope the graphics hardware can keep up.

So, Nuovoyance developed it, and Samsung is marketing it. But it’s not an exclusive. Companies like Wacom and others might want to crack open their piggy banks and spring for access to some of this display technology. µ