BlackBerry Thunder breaks cover with first close-up photos

Apple may be chuntering on about the iPhone being a BlackBerry killer thanks to its beefed-up email features, but BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is coming back at ‘em with the BlackBerry Thunder, a touchscreen handset that wants to give iPhone a good shoeing.

Now the CrackBerry website has some nice big photos of what it says is the Thunder in action, showing its virtual keyboard. Apparently it gives good tactile feedback, including vibration, to make it a bit better than iPhone’s version.

There’s a choice of QWERTY and SureType keys depending on whether you’re using the Thunder in landscape or portrait mode, too. CrackBerry says the screen is made of glass, and will include multi-touch technology. I’m prepared to believe that a proper haptic on-screen keyboard can deliver as good an experience as a physical keyboard, but the big question is whether RIM’s fanbase of business users will believe that…