Research In Motion Ltd., the company which produces Blackberry, is testing a new BlackBerry smartphone and companion tablet, reported the Wall Street Journal today. According to WSJ’s sources, which are not identified, the new will run BlackBerry 6, the new BlackBerry operating system, and it will feature a touch screen and a sliding keyboard.

According to unnamed sources the phone will have some iPhone-like qualities like multi-touch gestures, which allow the users to swipe through screens and pinching-to-zoom. The new smartphone will have a 5-megapixel camera and will have an internal storage of 4GB. It will have a “universal search bar” that will enable the users search through all of the phone’s data.

The tablet device has been developed to act as a companion to the BlackBerry. According to “people familiar with RIM’s plans,” the tablet, which is in an early stage of development, will be able to connect to cellular networks by tethering to a BlackBerry. The WSJ report added that the tablet could hit the market by the end of this year.

RIM is planning to launch these new devices without much delay in order to remain in the smartphone race and compete with the Apple and Android devices. Notably, RIM has only one phone with a touchscreen–the BlackBerry Storm. RIM has 38 percent of the North American smartphone market share now. It was 54 percent last year.