Photos: RIM's BlackBerry Storm

Today's announcement of the BlackBerry Storm marks RIM's long-awaited release of a touch screen device.

Traditional BlackBerry devices featured a Qwerty keyboard, while its later consumer-focused devices such as the Pearl featured a hybrid that sat half-way between a full keyboard and a numeric keypad.

The Storm does away with not only the physical keyboard, but also other BlackBerry staples, such as the trackball which has been the main method for navigating around the screen of past devices.

Our gallery takes a closer look at the Storm and at how RIM has tackled the move away from keyboards over to a touch screen, both in terms of software and hardware.