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Yesterday, Rogers Wireless announced that they’d be offering the BlackBerry Pearl 8120. That’s the WiFi version, which is significant, since Rogers now offers free home WiFi calling. For a flat monthly rate, users can route calls over their broadband Internet connection, and not waste any airtime.

The press release notes $249.99 as the price with a three-year contract, but it looks like there’s a promotion on Rogers’ website, which has the phone at $149.99. It looks like you’ll need a certain plan to get it that low. Without a contract, it will run $499.99.

So today marks AT&T’s release of the Blackberry Pearl 8110. “Wait a minute,” you might say. Didn’t AT&T just release a new Pearl last month? Indeed they did. So what’ with the new model? If you check out BlackBerry’s nifty compare function, you’ll see that the 8110 adds GPS, but subtracts WiFi. You’d think that they’d just put the two together, a la the 8820. Alas, we will have to wait for such a SureType device.

All right, so this isn’t exactly news — T-Mobile did announce it a couple of weeks ago. But because they blew the release date last time, I thought it worthy to note that the Pearl has been released. It’ll cost $149 with a two-year contract. Yes, it has WiFi (GPS, too), so it’s compatible with T-Mo’s popular Hotspot @Home service.

Normally, I’d just say “T-Mobile set to launch Pearl on April 14.” But considering they blew their last deadline, I’m not so ready to do that right now. Fool me once, T-Mobile…Anyway, Engadget Mobile has a screen shot of the Pearl’s release date. Of course, this could just be another Photoshopped job, but I’d like to believe that T-Mo can roll this device out, you know, two months after the original schedule. I’ll post the screenshot after the jump. Yes, it has WiFi, which will be compatible with Hotspot @Home. Should nab T-Mo a few subscribers from other networks.
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Wait, I thought that T-Mobile was supposed to have this first. I guess not. Maybe their overstock of colored first-gen Pearls held them back. But in any case, AT&T has announced the release of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120. On the surface, it seems the same as the CDMA Pearl 8130. That would make enough sense. It has the same upgrades: Better web browser, 2.0 MP camera. But AT&T has a goodie in theirs that Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel lack in the 8130: Wi-Fi.
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Last week, Engadget blogged about the impending release of the Alltel 8130 Pearl in red. Well, today, Alltel released the 8130 in red in retail stores and via their online store.
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We’ve been seeing tons of news about the BlackBerry Pearl lately. The second generation of the device, including a CDMA version, has been released, and carriers seem to be scrambling to pick it up. Count Vodafone as the first UK company to be in on the hoopla.
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A few weeks ago, we heard that Rogers was lower its data rates to a more, you know, reasonable level. This is on the heels of rival Canadian wireless carriers, namely Bell Mobility, offering substantially better rates for specific phones. Then we heard a birdie mention something about an unlimited data plan on Rogers, which is kind of strange, considering the costs of data just a few months ago. So it makes sense now that Rogers is rumored to be bringing the BlackBerry Pearl on board.
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There was a time when you could only get a pretty, colorful BlackBerry Pearl from T-Mobile, which offered various finishes on the earliest Pearl incarnation. But now we’re seeing the 8120 rolled out on GSM networks and the 8130 on CDMA networks. And with it is coming a new color scheme. Valentines Day-appropriate, you’re going to see a number or red and pink Pearls over the next month or so. Nearly every provider is jumping on the bandwagon, so I figured we’d go over who is offering what in which color.
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Research In Motion to Hallmark: Valentine’s Day isn’t just about you anymore. The Canadian BlackBerry maker has announced that they’ll launch two new colors of the Pearl 8130 in time for Valentine’s Day: red and pink. The red goes to Sprint, and the pink goes to Verizon. While it sounds like a nifty idea, and while it capitalizes on a heavy marketing segment, I have to wonder how much sense this makes. Clearly, Sprint got the better of the deal.
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