RIM (Research In Motion) has introduced its new elegant, ultra-compact BlackBerry Pearl 3G, which the company claims as the smallest BlackBerry smartphone as yet, based on BlackBerry OS 5, combining a suite of incredible powerful features with the industry-leading BlackBerry email, messaging as well as social networking capabilities.

“Considering the fast growing consumer interest in smartphones and the fact that more than three-quarters of the people in the global mobile phone market are still buying handsets with a traditional alphanumeric keypad, we think the new BlackBerry Pearl 3G addresses a substantial market opportunity,” commented Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO for RIM. “It allows consumers to upgrade their traditional mobile phone to a full-featured, easy-to-use and fashionable 3G BlackBerry smartphone that supports BlackBerry Messenger and many other apps while maintaining a handset design and layout that is familiar and comfortable.”

Main Features and Specs of BlackBerry Pearl 3G:

• High-resolution 2.26-inch 360 x 400 pixels color display (238 ppi)
• 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with flash, video recording and geotagging
• 624 Mhz processor complemented with 256 MB SDRAM
• Optical trackpad for quick, smooth navigation experience
• Built-in GPS for location-based applications like BlackBerry Maps
• Bluetooth v2.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity
• SureType technology can understand and complete words as what you’re typing, aiming for efficient and familiar typing experience
• BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) lets users chat with their closest friends anywhere, anytime
• BlackBerry Media Sync to easy sync photos as well as iTunes and Windows Media Player music with the handset
• Access to a numbers of applications from BlackBerry App World
• Available in 5 variants of color – Piano Black, Opal Pink, Royal Purple, Flash White and Red Gradient
• Talk time: 5 hours ; Standby time: 18 days ; Music playtime: up to 30 hours
• Size: 4.25 x 1.96 x 0.52 inches ; Weigh: 3.3 ounces

The new full-featured BlackBerry Pearl 3G smartphone will be offered in 2 models with different keyboard style – BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100 with 20-key condensed QWERTY keyboard and BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 with 14-key traditional phone keypad, expected to be available beginning May 2010 but no words on its price yet.