Continuing with our coverage of the latest mobile phones on offer we’ve been testing Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Pearl 3G aka the Pearl 9105. For those that had one of RIM’s original Pearls (8100 series, 8200 series, etc.) you’ll be please to know that the range has had an interesting and beneficial 2010 facelift…

As an owner of the ever-popular BlackBerry Curve 8900 (yes, the non-3G possessing phone that EVERYONE has got) I was very intrigued by the 9105. Small like a little 17p Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar, light like phone should be (at just 93 grams) and packed with loads of features; 3G, 3.2MP camera (with autofocus and flash), Wi-Fi, GPS, 360×400 pixel screen, Bluetooth, BBM, Optical Trackpad, BlackBerry Maps, SureType, expandable memory (up to 32GB), media player (with dedicated buttons) and much more.

So where do we start? The 3G of course. I know I haven’t had 3G on my regular phone for a while (despite testing out numerous devises) but the data connection of the Pearl 3G is blisteringly fast. So is the (802.11 b/g/n enabled) Wi-Fi – we were soon on RWDmag.com and Twitter (via the official app of course) uploading and downloading packets of data to our hearts content. One thing we’ve always loved about BB is the ease in which it finds and connects to available Wi-Fi networks and the Pearl 3G is of the same calibre.

Users of the original Pearls might be VERY a little annoyed but the keyboard you loved and were accustomed to has changed. Whether it’s changed for the better or worse is up to you to decide but we were left a bit clueless after trying to adjust to the lack of QWERTY on a device. We’re just so used to typing on a QWERTY that it was very hard to adjust to the Pearl’s SureType system which runs on something very similar to a traditional 0-9 phone keypad. However, once you get used to the new predictive text system it’s very easy to use. Practice makes perfect.

The usual built-in apps (BlackBerry Maps, Media Player, Calendar and of course the amazing BlackBerry Messenger) are great, but the Calculator needs a bit of work (another place where the keyboard falls short). Once you have these apps on there though, you’re ready… Twitter, Facebook, Google Talk, Movies, TIME Mobile, QuickPull, Wallet, Tube Map, Blocked Traffic, PayPal and Ibiza Rocks (download  from ibizarocks.com).

The latter, Ibiza Rocks, is the perfect app for those who are looking to take on the Balearics this summer. This app allows BB users to be the first to hear about all of the latest club and DJ news from the Isle and there will be weekly island news and recommendations from celebs and island promoters. Shane Murray of Ibiza Rocks says: “For the last five years we’ve been redefining Ibiza for a new generation, and a big part of that is looking at innovative ways to expand the Ibiza Rocks experience for our audience. Developing a BlackBerry app ticks all the boxes – it allows people to tap into Ibiza Rocks whenever and wherever they are, and gives us a new outlet for all the fantastic content we’re developing this season.” Nice.

And last on the list, the Pearl 3G’s 3.2MP camera. It’s good but as you know from the iPhone and the new Sony Ericsson, we’ve seen better; here are a few pics…

In Summary

BlackBerry Pearl 9105

(BlackBerry.co.uk, £From Free)

The BlackBerry clan get bigger and bigger and so does the App Store. We’re only mentioning the apps because that is all iPhone users go on about, ‘Ooooo… how many apps does the BB have?’ Even if it only had one app, BBM, what an amazing bit of software it is. Anyway, the new Pearl 9105 is the first BB to have a traditional keypad but utilises SureType and soon learns important words/ sentences like, ‘Sorry,’ ‘Running,’ ‘Late,’ and ‘Again.’

Buyability: Definitely opens the device up to an even younger audience.

Longevity: Will last about a year before being upgraded to an even more desirable model.

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Tags: BlackBerry, Gadgets, Online Review, Phones, Unwind