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BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Is a Small Gem

Luxury Electronics: When it comes to mobile phones with intelligence, the BlackBerry line is summa cum laude with its front-row bleeding-edge technology. After all, it is a handheld mobile phone that works like a multi-port personal computer. And if that isn't enough to prompt a "wow" from the galley, the new BlackBerry Pearl 8100 is smaller and sleeker than its magnificent predecessors. Aside from being a phone that allows international roaming between North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, it comes with multimedia capabilities and 64 MB of memory, which is easily expandable.

The BlackBerry Pearl's warehouse of features includes email, SMS- and MMS-text messaging, and instant messaging. It has a web browser, a digital camera, and a media player that provides audio and video playback in various formats. There is an integrated address book with a calendar, a memo pad, and a task list. Bluetooth technology enables hands-free usage and allows easier viewing of the BlackBerry Maps. Voice-activated dialing also is included. The light-sensing screen adjusts so that it is perfectly viewable whether indoors or outdoors and under any type of lighting conditions. The Pearl is compatible with most popular personal-information software too.

The unit's pearl-like trackball navigation and convenience keys add the finishing touches. The BlackBerry Pearl 8100 is perhaps the biggest small "smart-phone" available today. But do stay tuned.

For LxM James Rothaar