Early BlackBerry Torch Prototype Show BlackBerry OS 5, Second Front Facing Hole

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In a world dominated by mobile operating systems like Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS it’s getting increasingly harder for competing platforms to keep up. Research in Motion, for example, with their popular line up of BlackBerry handsets is doing everything they can to keep their head in the game and their hardware in your pockets.

Luckily, RIM has taken some cues from their competitors to give consumers exactly what they want – a streamlined user interface and a mobile application store saturated with top notch titles. With their release of the BlackBerry 6 mobile operating system they did just that, but will it be enough to fend of Google and Apple? Without hard hitting devices that rival the iPhone and devices like the Droid X, possibly not.

Coinciding with the release of the BlackBerry 6 platform was the BlackBerry Torch 9800. This handset featured everything we’ve come to know and love from traditional BlackBerry handsets but threw a slide-out QWERTY keyboard into the mix. With mixed reviews, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 has generally been deemed a successful launch largely in part thanks to RIM’s BlackBerry 6.

However, despite having a top notch BlackBerry platform, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is still lacking in the feature depart when compared to some other hard hitting devices. For one, it features a smaller display at just 3.2-inches and a 5 megapixel camera where as the Droid X has a 4.3-inch screen and 8 megapixel camera. Additionally, while phones like the iPhone 4 and HTV EVO 4G feature a front facing camera destined for video conferences, the Torch 9800 does not.

However, that doesn’t mean RIM is clueless when it comes to smartphone hardware which has just been proven by a recently leaked early prototype of the Torch. As you can see in the above picture, other than the fact that it’s running BlackBerry OS 5 and not 6, there is a very defined second front facing hole. We already know that one of these holes features a proximity sensor as made evident by the phone’s actual release, but what is the second for?

Our best guess points to a front facing camera that RIM decided to scrap sometime down the line. However, this gives us hope that a future BlackBerry will in fact feature a front facing camera bringing the handset series up to part with competing devices.