The New York launch event of Research in Motion (RIM)’s new BlackBerry Torch has clearly left some industry watchers as well as potential users somewhat disappointed.

While a few reviewers were quick to catch the interface and software sluggishness of the BlackBerry Torch, thanks to the company’s new flagship has a 624 MHz processor; fans appeared disenchanted at the fact that RIM had signed an exclusivity deal with AT&T for the handset, at least for the present.

Reviewers like Mark Spoonauer and Nilay Patel, from Laptop and Engadget respectively, immediately noticed the slow interface and software of the BlackBerry Torch, and felt that the new handset was rather underwhelming. In fact, commenting that the slide-out keyboard of the Torch was “not that great,” Spoonauer added that it was a “toss-up” compared to the disastrous Palm Pre Plus.

Further, unimpressed by the Torch’s 360 x 480 screen resolution, and comparing it to Apple’s 960 x 640 iPhone 4 screen Retina Display, All Things D’s John Paczkowski said on Twitter that RIM should call the Torch’s screen “Cataract Display”!

Meanwhile, BlackBerry fans appeared equally disappointed with RIM’s choice of AT&T as the exclusive US carrier for the Torch. Noting that AT&T is already struggling with to keep pace with network demand for the Apple iPhone, one commenter said on the CNET Web site: “Yet another hardware vendor goes exclusive with AT&T--what the heck?!?! Haven't they learned from the previous disasters?”