RIM introduces the BlackBerry Pearl

by Volker Weber

pearl

The thumb wheel is gone, and will be from all other future models. It is replaced by a trackball on the front of the device. The Pearl is similar to the 7130, but a lot thinner. It sports a number of features found on consumer phones, like a 1.3 megapixel camera, MicroSD storage, a mediaplayer and such.

The Pearl is the best looking BlackBerry so far, it has all the features you would expect. But it has tiny keys, uses SureType to predict what you want to write. The SD card is behind the battery, so you have to turn the device off to eject it. Maybe they sell this as a security feature. :-)

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Comments

It looks excellent, and I like the camera (although I probably wouldn't use it very often). What I don't like is SureType. Neither T-Mobile nor Vodafone (Germany) have the 8100 as yet.

Jan-Piet Mens, 2006-09-07

It will initially be available from T-Mobile US and Rogers (CAN). However, may colleague has been to London yesterday for the European launch. Maybe he has learned when the Pearl is available here.

Volker Weber, 2006-09-07

Seriously nice little Blackberry...can't wait for mine to arrive! Still love my 8700 though (passed on the ugly 8707 as the 3G made little difference).

Colin Williams, 2006-09-07

und soll ab Anfang Oktober in Deutschland verfügbar sein: thanks for the update!

Jan-Piet Mens, 2006-09-07

I have been lucky to hold one of these in the past week ... and it rocks. Some features I have not heard talked about much:

- the camera can save pictures directly to an online account
- RSS built into the browser, and you can set how often it pulls from the feeds
- a mapping application built for blackberrys (no traffic like google maps)
- full support for the push services from blackberry
- the desktop software will migrate all your data and applications and settings from an older blackberry ... its very slick

I know people will laugh at the SD slot being behing the battery ... but how often do you really change the SD card?

Personally, I prefer the small size with SureType to a larger blackberry. The 7100T was my first blackberry, so this device rocks. It is thinner than a razor (by just a bit) and the trackball is very nice.

I will update with pictures once my tmobile contact is allowed to sell the one with my name written on it in some store in Chicago

John Head, 2006-09-07

While I love the 8700c I have, I will have to "test" this 8100 out for my company! :-) I like the full QWERTY, but I also really liked the suretype on the 7100g that I had. So going back to suretype won't be bad.

Good comments John.

Rumor has it that it will be out for Cingular before year end and that the Cingular model will use the "push to talk" feature.

Chris Whisonant, 2006-09-07

This post gonna stay up until they send you one? :-D

Ben Rose, 2006-09-08

Or maybe he already has one and doesn't tell us? ;-)

Abdelkader Boui, 2006-09-08

Abdelkader, not yet. ;-)

Volker Weber, 2006-09-09

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