RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120

(Review) - RIM just updated its Pearl product line with a few enhancements to make its consumer-friendly option even friendlier. The new 8120 from AT&T is equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an updated camera to make it an attractive upgrade.

Naturally, the addition of Wi-Fi is great, and it will allow users to quickly hop to a faster network and browse their favorite sites. However, lack of Wi-Fi will kill any excitement over the device’s Internet browsing capabilities. You see, the 8120 doesn’t have 3G (EV-DO) support, unlike other BlackBerry units that do support it. Similarly, the 8120 lacks on board GPS tracking capabilities, so using it real-time with Google Maps is out of the question now. We don’t understand RIM’s mentality with upgrades like these. Sure, adding Wi-Fi and updating the camera from 1.3-megapixel to 2.0-megapixel is great, but why discontinue other useful features? If anything, we would argue that having GPS is more important than a better camera, especially for business users.

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The camera offers 5x digital zoom and a variety of photo-taking modes to please any camera phone user. It can also record video, which is interesting. Of course, still picture quality has gone up and live video was okay at best. You wouldn’t want to replace your video recorder quite yet, but just like the camera option, it’s there to capture those once in a lifetime videos when you don’t have your recorder with you.

RIM has made changes to its browser as well, but compared to the iPhone, perhaps the closest competitor to RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones, it’s nowhere close to being as slick as it could be. That’s okay, however, since we expect the company to take a little bit of time to release a dedicated browser that makes you want to surf the Web, not because you have no other choice.

For $299.99, the company’s standard price for all of its BlackBerry products, you get to play with an updated unit that offers a number of updates, but it also takes away what we thought were absolutely needed features in a smartphone. RIM needs to get out of this habit of crippling its phones with a new update. Either way, regardless of these changes, we recommend waiting for the company’s 9000 series before making the jump. We hear they will be pretty amazing.

Editor's Note: For a full review on the BlackBerry 8100 series, click here.  

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