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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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Monday — just Monday! — we were talking about T-Mobile’s February 18 release date for the Pearl 8120. So color us surprised today when we found out that you can get one of them today. We raised an eyebrow at this one, but calmed down once we realized that T-Mobile is working on finalizing a purchase of SunCom, the company offering the Pearl 8120. It’ll cost you $220 with a contract and rebates. We’re not quite sure if your SunCom contract will be absorbed by T-Mo once the final papers are signed — but we’re sure they’d be glad to take on the remaining year-plus on your contract.
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T-Mobile is really into the BlackBerry Pearl. After all, they have the device in four different colors: Black, Gold, Ruby, and Sapphire. However, those are the 8100 models. While they might remain an excellent gift for the holidays, they stand to be replaced in the very near future. Reports surfacing this weekend say that the 8120 will be available as soon as February 18. Further, the reports say that the devices are ready now, but T-Mo already made the holiday push for their current line of Pearls.
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Since 1999, Research In Motion has produced their uber-popular BlackBerry smartphone, the industry standard in its field. While people gushed about their BBs — some even becoming “addicted” — there were just a few complaints, mainly coming from the consumer sector. The devices were great, but they were bulky and aimed almost completely at business users. Something this neat, many thought, just had to be adapted for the casual user.

So, responding to demand, RIM introduced the Pearl (8100) in the third quarter of 2006. It was a quad-band GSM device, and the demand grew so much over the next few months that RIM went back to the drawing board and introduced a CDMA version of the Pearl (8130) in November 2007. Now that we have an offering for both major networks in the U.S., it’s time to answer a haranguing question: Why do you want the Pearl?
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Alltel can’t afford to fall behind national carriers Verizon and Sprint. So when Research In Motion announced the CDMA Pearl, you figured Alltel would jump in at some point. Well, this morning they announced that they have, and that they’ll make the device available for the holiday season.
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Awwww, yeah. So it appears that the FCC has leaked Research In Motion plans to launch a Pearl complete with WiFi capabilities. This is a GSM model, so for now we’re talking availability on T-Mobile and AT&T. But it’s a significant upgrade for those who use their Pearl mainly for Internet access. It helps doubly on T-Mobile, where we figure it will be compatible with HotSpot @ Home. That is, if it ends up being available through them.
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Other than Research In Motion’s stock taking a dip, there’s not much going on in BlackBerry land today (we wouldn’t make a big deal of the dip, either; it’s just part of the ebbing and flowing of the market). So we’ll just confirm some aspects of Sprint’s Pearl.
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Verizon just began shipping the CDMA Pearl earlier this month. Now it’s Sprint’s turn. The Nation’s No. 3 cell provider will launch the Pearl 8130 — the Pearl 2 — on November 23. Black Friday. Though many stores have gone through measures to start the deals earlier so their stores aren’t completely swamped on that fateful day. Sprint stores will be, though.

[HTLounge]

We’ve been waiting a while for this one. Ever since the announcement of a CDMA Pearl a month ago, we’ve been waiting for an exact release date. RIM said November, and with that we figured late November, maybe December. But they’ve followed through, offering the device on Verizon starting November 8th. If you have an overwhelming need to click the “buy” button, you can pre-order it today find the Verizon Pearl currently for sale here.
Read the rest of Verizon Pearl ship date, price announced…