This major update to the popular 7105t brings the BlackBerry experience to a whole new level. The BlackBerry 8100 Pearl sets new standards for ease-of-use. It’s next generation user interface features a pearl-like trackball navigation system, and make this smartphone incredibly intuitive.

The BlackBerry Pearl 8100 is a much more compact device than the 7130. At 107×50x15mm and just 90 grams, It is not only thinner and lighter, but it also sports a memory card slot, an MP3 player, and voice dialing.

The BlackBerry 8100 comes in with a 1.3 megapixels camera that features 5x digital zoom, an built-in LED flash and white balance controls, but it doesn’t have video recording capabilities like most camera-equipped smart phones and cell phones. With this smartphone, you can snap pictures and send them to family and friends instantly, via email, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger.

Although you can’t record video, but you can play back video and audio in all kinds of popular formats including AVI, MP4, MOV, and 3GP with the integrated media player. The player has play and stop buttons, and you can fast-forward and rewind clips by clicking the trackball and scrolling right or left. You must transfer all audio and video files into your phone via USB cable, browser application or Bluetooth before you can play back.

The Pearl is also the first BlackBerry to come with a map application. BlackBerry Maps provides local maps and allows you to check maps and get step-by-step driving directions quickly and conveniently, wherever you are. You can map addresses straight from your contacts list or enter them manually. In addition, you can e-mail your location to a colleague or friend or add it to a Favorites list. The map details are pretty bare-bones, but you can zoom in or out and pan maps.

Use the BlackBerry 8100 handset’s Web browser to access the Internet from the palm of your hand. Browse Web sites, get up-to-date stock quotes, read the latest news, check weather reports, and more–all at fast speeds, thanks to support for T-Mobile’s EDGE high speed data network. Instant messaging and wireless messaging are also built into the BlackBerry 8100 Pearl. The handheld supports AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ instant messaging, as well as SMS text messaging. MMS messages can be received and forwarded.

With Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), you can initiate a call simply by telling the BlackBerry 8100 who you want to talk to. VAD integrates a buil-in speakerphone or a Bluetooth headset for hands-free dialing.

The BlackBerry 8100 comes with 64Mb Internal memory, but it can be expanded using a microSD slot, which is handy because the enhanced multimedia facilities on the 8100 will use memory up quickly. The Pearl retains the SureType keyboard of the 7100 series, and comes with a screen with the same resolution of 240×260 pixels. The 8100 comes with stereo Bluetooth support. Battery life is somewhat reduced over the larger 7130 though.

Reviews from CNET.com.au:

The good:

• Slim and sexy design
• Lightweight
• BlackBerry’s email and business functionality
• Multimedia capabilities
• Inclusion of a camera
• Quadband
• Flash memory and microSD card
• New consumer focus

The bad:

• No 3G connectivity
• No QWERTY keypad
• No Wi-Fi
• Poor camera quality

The bottomline:

Consumers that have already been lured by the BlackBerry’s popular email functions will love the new-look Pearl, but may be disappointed when comparing it to other high-end consumer devices with 2-megapixel cameras and Wi-Fi connectivity.

For BlackBerry 8100’s Specifications, please refer to Amazon.com