AT&T gets official with BlackBerry Pearl 8120

Suddenly, our Pearl 8100s are looking just a little long in the tooth. AT&T rather unexpectedly pulled out all the stops today to rush its 8100 replacement to market today ahead of schedule, offering several enhancements that Sprint and Verizon customers have been enjoying on their 8130s for a few months now: an externally accessible microSD slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a refreshed 2 megapixel camera, for starters, but more shockingly, WiFi instead of the GPS found on the 8110 and 8130. The 8120 is available to businessfolk starting today and will run you a shiny new pair of Franklins out the door on contract.

[Via phoneArena and Crave]

[eggothewaffle @ Mar 13th 2008 12:39PM]

It's 2008 and we still don't have microSDHC standard on every phone out there?

Cell phone developers must have concluded that too much data is a dangerous thing for the average consumer and that if we get anything more than 4 GB of removable storage, we will all turn into gray goo.

ARGH.

[Backlin @ Mar 15th 2008 12:13PM]

I'm pretty sure having a MicroSDHC standard on every phone would jack the price up just a little.

[eggothewaffle @ Mar 15th 2008 3:19PM]

Jack up the price just a little for what, exactly?

A microSDHC reader costs as much as a microSD reader :-\

[Jeff @ Mar 13th 2008 12:46PM]

Verizon 8130 user here. Great phone. I like the black letters on silver keys better than white on black though.

[Tyler @ Mar 13th 2008 12:54PM]

When is T-Mobile going to push theirs out?

[Ganesh Kumar @ Mar 13th 2008 9:41PM]

Good question. I'm wondering the same thing and it's among my top choices for my next phone. Does anybody know?

[element8 @ Mar 13th 2008 12:57PM]

hmm...what's the wi.fi logo on there for? didn't know that at&t was planning that feature on their phones. image stolen from the t.mobile version perhaps?

[AboveUnrefined @ Mar 13th 2008 1:02PM]

I think they did since it says at&t all over the phone.

[JamesR @ Mar 13th 2008 2:16PM]

Also, from the blurb:

"but more shockingly, WiFi instead of the GPS found on the 8110 and 8130"

[Brad @ Mar 13th 2008 12:58PM]

That's great! All they need now is a good network!

[James @ Mar 13th 2008 1:37PM]

It might not be perfect but its the best youre going to get in the US.

[Killian @ Mar 13th 2008 1:11PM]

I think it should AT&T on it a couple more times

[SeditioN VII @ Mar 13th 2008 4:28PM]

What twice? Get over it.

[Tony @ Mar 13th 2008 6:17PM]

I see more than two..

[steve @ Mar 13th 2008 1:32PM]

I am a business customer with AT&T, and I've now talked to 4 different reps trying to order this thing... they have no idea what it is, let alone do they have a sku for it yet. I read the press release on RIM's website to the last CSR I talked to, and she tried to tell me I have to order it from RIM. Hopefully they're system catches up to their press releases...

[steve @ Mar 13th 2008 1:54PM]

Device just appeared on AT&T's Premier site within the past 15 minutes. Order placed successfully.

[Turtle @ Mar 13th 2008 1:43PM]

Fark WiFi... GPS FTW! 8800, babeeeeey!

[lilStevY @ Mar 13th 2008 2:11PM]

That's great! Now we have high speed USB. The major hardware change between 8100 to 8120/8130 is the USB sideloading card. Check out the articles below.

http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=203101718

[BrettB @ Mar 13th 2008 2:25PM]

Wondering if it's time to upgrade from the 8100? Hmm, not quite.

[john @ Mar 13th 2008 3:16PM]

Still just EDGE?

[john @ Mar 13th 2008 3:29PM]

And not Bluetooth DUN either... blech.

[J @ Mar 13th 2008 7:56PM]

screw AT&T i only had their crappy overly priced service for less then 30 days and they charged me $175 still because of the connection fee

[mtoddii @ Mar 13th 2008 9:49PM]

Any word on when this will be availible for regular consumers?

[jvh @ Mar 26th 2008 9:45AM]

check now

[Sean @ Mar 13th 2008 10:38PM]

I'd like to point out that this is the first phone in the US that has wifi and offical sling player besides all those by winmo :shuddders::

[Colin Kelly @ Mar 13th 2008 11:26PM]

Seems like a nice phone.. the first pearl was pretty tight - I guess wifi will be cool? Shame there's no GPS, but I guess I'll live.

[Mari @ Mar 14th 2008 9:57AM]

I just found out AT&T was getting the 8120 last night and minutes later it showed up on their Premier site. Mine should be coming Saturday via DHL. Different strokes for different folks. I don't need GPS. Got a great one in my car. I live out in the country and most of the time I don't have a problem with voice reception, but Internet and downloads are a problem at times so WiFi will a blessing.

[SpaceOptimist @ Mar 15th 2008 5:44PM]

I bought the 8100 last night. Today I was reading the web about how to use it and I found out that AT&T released the 8120 this week. I really want the wifi because I don't want to spend $30 a month for internet. I found out that with the wifi I can do things like sync my Google calendar and that would be really nice.

I went back to the store and they didn't know anything about it, but they thought they would get some this week. Now I'm back home and doing some more reading and I find out that AT&T seems to only have released it to their business customers. I can return my new 8100 for the next 30 days and wait for the 8120. Maybe they will get them in the store. Do you think?

[CJ @ Mar 15th 2008 11:12PM]

It'll get to the stores.....eventually.

Even with it being only offered on the Premier site, it's only available with new service, or when you're eligible to upgrade on your current service. Unless you want to pay more for it, that is.

I not eligible for upgrade pricing until May.

[DDUNMHK @ Mar 16th 2008 12:27AM]

Stupid question, but are Blackberries now able to handle third party programs? And are developers working on these if so....

[jag @ Mar 16th 2008 10:59AM]

Old blackberry are still better than the new blackberry that have low quality bells and whistles.
Blackberry work fine as email and phone. The new blackberry with camera and music drains battery and worst thing is if dropped once the phone is broken. Old blackberry are rugged.
Boo to new blackberry and Yeah to the old 7000 series.

[Quet @ Apr 17th 2008 5:16PM]

I got my new blackberry pearl 8120 from T- Mobile Monday the 14th.

[Quet @ Apr 17th 2008 5:18PM]

I got it the day it came out at T-Mobile