BlackBerry Torch Vodafone UK Launch Confirmed

RIM's press release for the BlackBerry Torch 9800 was strong on US launch details but light on availability everywhere else; however, we now know of at least one UK carrier which will be offering the touchscreen/QWERTY smartphone.  We've just confirmed with Vodafone UK that they will indeed be offering the Torch.

The smartphone is yet to show up on Vodafone's "Coming Soon" page, at least at time of writing, and nor are the carrier talking about when the Torch 9800 might be hitting their network.  AT&T in the US expect to start shipping the handset on August 12th, but all Vodafone can say is that they'll soon be accepting pre-registration of interest ahead of the Torch's UK debut.

The BlackBerry Torch 9800 has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and a flash, and quadband UMTS/HSPA.  There's also WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a microSD card slot, together with the latest version of RIM's home-grown OS, BlackBerry 6.  More hardware specs here.

Update: You can pre-register here