Research In Motion tests tablet, touch-screen phone

Research In Motion (RIM) is testing out both a tablet and a new touch-screen smart phone, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Unnamed sources said the smart phone will run on a new version of the BlackBerry OS and include gesture-based interfaces familiar to iPhone users. The phone is also said to have a universal search bar to find all of the phone's data and some data online. The tablet device, which is in an early stage of development, will connect to the Internet via BlackBerry phones.

RIM will soon launch the new OS 6.0, which is aimed at resolving customer complaints. Although RIM sold 19 percent of the world’s smart phones last year, the company’s BlackBerry devices are behind both Apple and Android with regard to touch-screen capabilities.