Research In Motion has officially released details about its latest smartphone that the company hopes will challenge Apple's iPhone.

The BlackBerry Torch was revealed at a press conference in New York Tuesday and boasts a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard.

The Canadian company is also pushing a new operating system as a means to compete with other consumer smartphones that surf the web, play music and video and, of course, make calls.

RIM said the new operating system handles RSS and social media feeds, including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

The latest web browser also supports tabs to view multiple sites simultaneously and is designed to automatically format text for easiest reading.

A new multimedia feature allows users to wirelessly access their iTunes library over Wi-Fi and download songs to a BlackBerry.

The new OS will work on the new Torch and other BlackBerrys already on the market, including the Bold 9700, Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G.