Meet the Blackberry Pearl

Without a doubt, the one device capable of interrupting a special, personal moment is Research in Motion's (RIM) Blackberry. The handheld device combines all of your typical PDA abilities, including: phone, schedule, email, and other features exclusively designed to ruin vacations. As if the Blackberry hadn't become popular enough with the world's VIPs, RIM has now unveiled a slimmer, sexier phone dubbed the "Pearl".

Whether you're CEO of Best Buy or just digital media supervisor, the Blackberry has become a useful tool for every ambitious businessperson. The Pearl is meant to appeal to more than just the Wall-Street hopeful, however. Its design, which features a size and width only slightly larger than Motorola's RAZR phone, is the smallest Blackberry to date. To be exact, the Pearl is just .37 inches thick and 3.1 ounces in weight.

The Pearl gets its name from the small trackball at its heart, which in this case replaces the standard trackwheel on the side of more traditional Blackberries. It might take some getting used to for those new to the Pearl, as will the letter-to-number limitations which allow for the Pearl's small frame. (Source: betanews.com)

The Pearl also features a 3.1 megapixel camera, although most sources report that the quality of shots is far from spectacular. Reports suggest that the images taken with the Pearl are relatively blurred. (Source: technewsworld.com)

Although it might not quite be the perfect all-in-one device, the Pearl's supermodel weight and size will inevitably make it popular amongst the same crowd who have grabbed up Apple's iPod Nano, Sony's slim PS2, and Motorola's RAZR.

It seems funny that as the waistband of most Americans expands, the demand for thinner and lighter devices climbs. Maybe we should keep with eight pound cell phones and massive laptops, if only because carrying them will build some lean muscle in between stops at MacDonald's. ;-)