The new Blackberry Pearl 9105 for business

Last week Blackberry released their latest Smartphone in the UK. The Blackberry Pearl 9105 at first sight seems more of a consumer rather than a business mobile phone. So, what do we think of this newcomer to the stable and how does it perform as a business mobile phone?

Blackberry Pearl 9105 3G

My first reaction on seeing the phone was that it is a fairly outdated design – the shape is reminiscent of the Blackberry Bold 9700 but is about 30% smaller and slimmer measuring 107 x 49.7 x 13.2mm – it is more curved and smoother looking than the previous Blackberry pearl 8100. So far the 9105 only comes in black.

The Blackberry Pearl 9105 brings 3G connectivity and more computing power than it’s predeccesors. The display has a resolution of 360 x 400 pixels that is incredibly crisp and clear – good for photos and video!

Below the screen is what looks like a common mobile phone numberpad – we looked underneath and there is definitely no QWERTY keyboard, hmm, this is the main reason for the phone not seeming too functional as a business mobile phone, For those used to Blackberry QWERTY keyboards it will be quite a transition to be able to type as quickly using predictive text. But for many mobile phone users this may attract them to the Blackberry range as it is not such a change.

However, the predictive text is done very well and is simple to use, learning as it goes using the Blackberry Suretype technology. Like T9 text input you only have to press the key once to get it to start spelling your word. Blackberry Suretype combines a traditional mobile telephone keypad with a standard QWERTY keyboard to create a more efficient and intuitive way of typing.

Suretype includes:
* Default word list of over 35,000 words speeds up messaging composition
* Expandable list as SureType technology tracks word patterns and occurrences
* Automatic spell check as you type
* Remembers names and addresses in your address book

You can also add industry-specific words to your SureType word list to save you time as you write messages. You can also pull new words from incoming email messages and automatically add them to your custom word list.

Like the Blackberry Bold RIM have used an optical trackpad just below the screen as there is no touchscreen functionality. As with the other Blackberry models the trackpad does a sterling job of helping you navigate the menus and functions.

Blackberry have also brought media functions to the fore on the Pearl 9105 with rewind, play/pause and fastforward as well as mute on the top of the phone.

The sides of the phone also have buttons hidden beneath a rubberised cover. There’s volume up and down, a dedicated camera button and a key that can be customised and which is initially set up for voice commands, as with the other BlackBerry handsets.

There is a 3.2-megapixel camera with zoom, autofocus, flash and video recording – it is pretty standard and gives fairly good photos and video images.

Instant messaging on the Blackberry pearl 3G is very good with the Blackberry Messenger (BBM). All Blackberry smartphones come with BBM installed so you just need to activate and get messaging with other Blackberry business mobile phone users.

You can also switch between the messaging service, the web and calls all at once giving great social functionality and multi-tasking.

Images can be saved to a microSD/SDHD memory card. The Pearl can support memory cards up to 32GB, which will be needed for the 16 hours of playback that Blackberry are promising on their site.

The phone runs the BlackBerry 5.0 operating system meaning you’ll get exactly the same functionality from a software point of view as the Bold.

The phone also has GPS, as well as all three wireless standards (802.11 b/g/n) built-in and the ability to connect Bluetooth headsets, speakers and anything else you can find via its Bluetooth 2.1 connection.

The Pearl is powered with a 624 MHz processor and has 256MB Flash memory. Considering this is still classed, certainly by RIM, as an entry-level phone, that’s pretty fast. On the quick test drive that we had it obvious that the phone was fast for email, getting through all of the menus, loading apps and instant messaging.

There is a a rechargeable 1150mAhr battery that promises approximately 5.5 hours of talk time on 3G networks.

Overall, we think that this phone will probably bring Blackberry a number of new fans and will also probably be a good option for small business mobile phone  users.

Once properly released we will update with a fuller review. We nicked this video from Youtube – not great but good enough to give you a quick look.

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