Casual BlackBerry users and enthusiasts alike all appreciate one crucial advantage that BlackBerry phones have over the iPhone: the keyboard.

But when rumors began circulating around a BlackBerry touch-screen device, code-named Thunder, many wondered how the keyboard-less device would function in a touch-screen environment.

Now we have answers... well, more like a really good guess. Exclusive new shots of the Thunder's on-screen keyboard have now surfaced over at CrackBerry.com, and I must say, I'm impressed with what I'm seeing.

From CrackBerry.com:

• Tactile Response - when you press on the Thunder's screen, it pushes in "just" a little bit (the whole screen is sort of like a big button) and you get immediate "real" feedback - you hear an audible clickety sound, and can feel a buzz in your finger where you actually pressed on the display.
• Full QWERTY and SureType entry - hold the phone in landscape mode and you can take advantage of a full-qwerty keypad. Use the phone in portrait mode and you can enter data on a SureType keyboard. You will be able to choose/change your screen/keyboard orientation at anytime. 
• Screen is made of glass and will feature multi-touch - the Thunder is said to be utilizing WebKit for it's browser engine (same as the iPhone), so hopefully that means a solid web browsing experience for the Thunder.

Very impressive indeed. The tactile feedback sounds very, very cool. I was originally very skeptical on RIM's attempt to enter the touch-screen market, but it sounds like we should be expecting a very solid hands-on experience when the Thunder launches on Verizon later this year.

What do you think? Do we have a contender against the almighty iPhone? I think we just got a real match!

Head on over to CrackBerry.com to get more live shots of the phone.

CrackBerry.com via BlackBerrysync.com