BlackBerry Pearl launches on Cingular

Nov 30 2006 - 02:44 AM ET | Cingular

blackberry pearl cingularCingular has officially announced the BlackBerry Pearl, ending both the rumors of an imminent launch and T-Mobile's exclusive period with the sleekly designed device. The Pearl is the first BlackBerry to sport a camera and is also the first to use a trackball instead of scroll wheel. It has proven popular at T-Mobile and will likely be a hot seller over at Cingular. While the Pearl contains all of the email features BlackBerry is famous for, it's designed for consumers instead of business users.

Features of the BlackBerry Pearl include:

  • Push-to-talk (new to Cingular)
  • TeleNav GPS Navigator (new to Cingular, Bluetooth GPS required)
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • 1.3 megapixel camera
  • Media player, MP3/AAC/MPEG4/H.263
  • 240×260 pixel display
  • Speakerphone
  • 64MB memory plus microSD slot
  • EDGE high-speed data

Cingular is selling the Pearl for as low as $199 with a 2-year contract. That's the same price point that T-Mobile is offering. The Pearl should begin shipping from Cingular by December 4th though it could show up in select markets before then.