BlackBerry Pearl Launch Date Announced

The world’s coolest smartphone, so BlackBerry says, is set to launch in Australia on Tuesday, 28 November.

The phone which has already been launched in the USA, is more than just a pretty face, the company says. Details on the Australian model are yet to be released but if the American model is anything to go by, the phone will offer an impressive feature-set.

The Pearl gets its name from the ‘pearl-like’ trackball navigation system which is designed to make the phone’s many functions easy to use. Apart from the famously-addictive BlackBerry email, texting, messaging, browsing and organizing functions, the Pearl adds a 1.3 megapixel camera with built-in flash and 5x digital zoom as well as expandable memory in the form of microSD cards.

The ‘next-gen’ display on the Pearl is capable of illuminating over 65 000 colours, BlackBerry says, making it perfect for viewing photos, Web pages and video. These files can be transferred to the phone via USB, smartphone browser application or Bluetooth.

One particularly useful feature is voice activated dialing on the Pearl – so you can make a call by telling your smartphone who you want to speak to – and this will work with speakerphone or Bluetooth headset mode. Perfect for making calls safely whilst driving, for example.

In the US and Canada, the Pearl also has a BlackBerry Maps function – which essentially allows you to check maps or get driving directions by typing an address into your address book. Hopefully, the Aussie version will have this handy feature also.

Stay tuned to SmartHouse for full details and pricing after the launch.