I got a nice little toy in the mail this morning: the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100, announced back at WES and coming soon to Rogers, Bell someday, and likely AT&T. While I’ll be sure to do an in-depth review later this week, here are some of the things that hit me right off the bat.
The size difference with the original Pearl isn’t noticeable, but that’s not a bad thing – both are still extremely slim and pocketable. The 9100 shares a lot with the Curve 8500-series, like seamless, under-the-surface side keys, and top-mounted media controls. Personally, I always liked how the volume keys doubled up for track skipping and the mute key for play/pause, but having media controls visible on the outside do a good job to sell it as a music device, an oft-overlooked feature on BlackBerry. The integrated keys might be just a bit too subtle. They aren’t as raised as on the 8500 BlackBerrys, but damn do they look good.
Some of the prepackaged accessories are worth a mention. The microUSB charger is the standard model with interchangeable plug for international outlets, not the USB-based we had seen before, unfortunately. The microUSB cable they provide with the handset is ridiculously short – maybe a foot long, so if your computer is on the floor, you’ll have an awkward time syncing. A pleasant surprise was updated headphones, which have traditionally sucked. The jack is now down to a respectable size, the buds are comfortable, stylish, and have bendable necks. The sound quality itself is definitely acceptable; they may be a bit high on treble and not so hot on external noise insulation, if anything, but still passable if you don’t have your own set.
That’s about it for now, but here are some pictures. I look forward to see if Wi-Fi n is all it’s cracked up to be, and would like to put the camera through the paces to see how it compares. Will had some time to play with the 9100 too, if you’re looking for more video.
UPDATE: Full review over here.
