An event in New York will mark the launch of the upcoming Blackberry 9800 slider, a new phone from RIM that promises a large touchscreen, RIM OS6, and a slide-down keyboard. In short, it looks like a fatter Palm Pre and promises AT&T 3G connectivity.

The phone has been the worst kept secret in RIM history and is essentially going up against Android sliders and – dare I say it – the iPhone.

They’ll announce the phone at 11am EDT/11am PDT so keep your ear here for more details.

via BerryTimes