The BlackBerry Pearl 3G announcement slipped out just this morning, but we’ve already grabbed one for a go, right here in UKaydia. Like the recent Bold 9700 and Curve 8520 push email powerhouses, it’s sporting an optical trackpad, but it slims down the size with a traditional 0-9 keypad. Does it work? Read on and find out with our BlackBerry Pearl 3G hands on photos and first impressions.
BlackBerry Pearl 3G: Everything you need to know. Click here!
We saw the BlackBerry Pearl 3G in a sneaky snapshot months ago, but now it’s finally official, and headed our way. While the BlackBerry Pearl 3G takes the 14 button keyboard layout of candybars from yesteryear, it’s taken a healthy dollop of design from the newer Curve and Bold lines. That means an all black, rubberised build, an optical trackpad instead of a sticky trackball, and in this case, 3G too, still unusual in a new BlackBerry even now.
The BlackBerry Pearl 3G has a lovely feel in the hand: it’s slim and sturdy, with a plasticky grip that feels comfortable. There’s no faux-leather back, as on the Bold 9700, but it’s still an eye pleaser.
What’s most unusual about the BlackBerry Pearl 3G is the layout – we’re not sure why RIM opted to ditch the SureType, two characters to a button design that made the Pearl line so popular in the first place, and a spokesperson couldn’t give us a reason, but RIM has decided we get 0-9 while Americans get 20 keys instead. When we tried tapping out a web address, we did find that RIM’s software for predicting words was eerily accurate, but it’s still not quick, and destined to be a frustration in a phone designed for email.
We can live with the postage stamp screen on the BlackBerry Pearl 3G: at 360×400 pixels, it’s surprisingly sharp, but web browsing on BlackBerry OS as usual isn’t brilliant – we don’t need to tell you how bad RIM’s stock web browser is for a 2010 smartphone (We’re getting bored of saying this now RIM, but no tabs? No tabs? Wake up).
BlackBerry Pearl 3G: SureType gets a trackpad
That, more than the form factor, may be our main concern with the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. It’s quite clear that BlackBerry OS 6.0 is on the way, and RIM gave us no indication whether the overhauled operating system, with a revamped, speedy WebKit browser, would come to the little candybar. As such, you’re stuck with the perfunctory OS 5.0, which is snappy enough, but hardly different from what RIM was serving up three years ago.
Still, depending on how the BlackBerry Pearl 3G gets priced up, anyone wanting a slim phone for work email and nothing more would be wise to give it the once over. Do so right here, right now, in our BlackBerry Pearl 3G hands on photo gallery, and check the bonus shots of it stacked up against the wider BlackBerry Bold 9700.
Out May | £TBC | BlackBerry
