It's a good week internationally for BlackBerry lovers. First we hear that South Korea finally has unbridled access and its own Bold to toy with, and now we're hearing a similar story for the people of Vietnam. Viettel (a mobile operator in the country), Alcatel-Lucent and RIM have all joined hands to make it happen, with "it" being the launch of BlackBerry wireless service. Speaking of launch, prospective buyers can look forward to wrapping their palms around the Pearl 8100, BlackBerry 8700 or the Curve 8320 initially, though we wouldn't be surprised to see even more flavors roll out soon. There's no talk of price just yet, but feel free to phone up your nearest Viettel shop and see what's up.

[Image courtesy of thugian]

Grab your Kleenex, folks, because we've heard today that a couple of seemingly timeless pillars in AT&T's lineup might be breathing their last few breaths of in-store air. First up, the Pearl 8100 is due for replacement on all the networks that still offer it, with the 8110 and 8120 models taking their place depending on individual carriers' dispositions toward WiFi, and we're hearing that AT&T will be phasing out the older units this month in preparation for an April launch of the GPS-equipped 8110.

Next -- and here's a shocker -- rumor has it that AT&T is also starting to close the door on the original Motorola RAZR V3. Not to worry; naturally, you'll still be able to get those great circa-2004 looks by picking up a V3xx, but the old-skool units appear to be on the verge of overstaying their welcome. Frankly, the writing's been on the wall there for a year, if not longer, so we're not sure that this is much more than a formality. We'll keep you updated on this one as soon as we here more.

[Thanks, Kal and Matthew]

In the event that neither black nor white were to your liking, T-Mobile is now delighted to offer you three more colors of the BlackBerry Pearl from which to choose: blue, "Sunset," and "Pale Gold." The only problem? It's the same old Pearl, not the Pearl 2 everyone's salivating over. Whatever, though, we guess it'll be cool to flash this to your RIM fanboy and fangirl friends for the next few weeks while we wait for the next generation to come around. Get 'em now for the same $150 on contract as the originals.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Leave it to Rogers to sneak out another color in the BlackBerry Pearl stable without having an official announcement anywhere in sight. Since May 9, Rogers has been quietly selling the candy apple red 8120 (8100, just kidding) for $249.99 (about $230) on a (gulp!) three year contract. Now, the only question is why would RIM and Rogers release the Pearl in such a lovely shade without a ton of fanfare? Maybe they were still backlogged from other events.

[Via Howard Forums]

So, first the good news: a recent market pricing document from AT&T shows that the N75 is still in the cards. Now, the bad: it's anybody's guess when it might finally get around to launching. Said document simply (and ominously) shows "Launch Delay" in the N75's row, indicating that S60 fans could be in for more of a wait to get their US 3G on -- as if they haven't waited long enough already. Let's end this little tid bit on a bright note, though, shall we? There's a red variant of the Pearl in the pipe, which may very well make for RIM's least business-oriented product yet (our apologies if your original black and gray piece is starting to look a little drab now). No word on a launch date there either, but we're guessing -- nay, hoping -- that there are fewer technical hurdles involved with the color changed than with the N75.

Just like T-Mobile USA here in the states, Canada's Rogers Wireless is set to release a white version of the RIM Blackberry Pearl sometime on February 1st (like yesterday). We've loved how the "Pearl" sports its name due to the pearl-like navigation...thingy, but now Rogers can join T-Mobile with a more apt-pearl moniker of being offered in white this time through. It'll set you back $250 in royal-mounted Canadian greenbacks with a 3 year commitment -- to a voice and data plan. Is it really just GPRS as spec'd on Roger's website page? Man, we hope not, for the speed sanity of all those who'll be forking over decent pocket change for this unit. Perhaps Rogers just forgot that "E" in front of the "GPRS," eh? We like to at least live on the EDGE.

[Thanks, Ashleigh]

Wait a tick -- in nature, aren't black pearls more precious than white pearls? And following that logic, shouldn't RIM have released the white Pearl first and manufactured like ten of them for every black one? Seriously, RIM, get with the program; talk to Verizon and LG for an idea of how this punny product name thing works. Anyhoo, an intrepid reader found this microscopic picture (blown up for readability and hardcore blurriness) of a pale Pearl on T-Mobile's support site, which seems like pretty strong evidence of an impending release. We'd say it was the keypad that needed fixing first, not the color, but is there really any doubt RIM's gonna sell a baker's dozen of these anyway?

[Thanks, Penn]

Not only should you be able to stroll into a Cingular store in the next few days and pick up a Blackberry Pearl (ahead of schedule, no less), but now we're finding out there's no way you'll get lost getting back home. Cingular's variant of the Pearl -- a device already launched to much fanfare on T-Mobile -- will be the first carrier-launched device in the US to feature TeleNav Maps, providing users with static maps (that is, no GPS link) and driving directions free of charge. Of course, folks ponying up the cash for an external GPS receiver will also be able to use the dynamic TeleNav navigation services already offered on several other Cingular devices. Other than this Pearl's push-to-talk capability, the spec sheet reads very much like its T-Mobile predecessor -- 260 x 240 display, 1.3 megapixel cam, SureType, crappy keys -- and it can be yours starting tomorrow for $200 on a two-year contract.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

While we still may not have an official answer for our trackball woes, RIM's off to the races planning their next Pearl release -- this time around, Vodafone gets the honors. Styling looks to be identical to its American T-Mobile cousin (save for that little Voda logo down there, of course), and the guts carry over as well, meaning our British friends will be no better off when it comes to 3G data. No word on the exact day these things will materialize on store shelves, but Vodafone is more than happy to take your pre-order now for £127.66 (about $240).

[Thanks, Chris H.]

Ever used a Pearl? Well, yes, it's thin, it's sexy, it's much more easy on the eyes than the rest of the BlackBerrys out there. But the keypad -- dear lord! RIM got so wrapped up in that stupid "Pearl" of theirs that they forgot how crucial the typing experience is on a mobile communicator with a QWERTY (or in this case SureType) keyboard. They're smushy, mushy, wobbly, and weak. Know why? Because they're just keys glued to a thin, flexible rubber film beneath. Seriously, we kid you not -- more pictures after the break.

Cingular customers, we're afraid you're going to have to wait just a little bit longer to automatically ignore your calls. Though they say they'll still be getting a PTT-enabled version of the Pearl, it won't be coming until early 2007 now instead of the late 2006 we'd hoped for. By the time it comes, they'll hopefully have the ringer-silencing trackball issues worked out, but it sounds like it'll be going up against a strong competitor in the SGH-i607, a sprightly little smartphone that happens to pack 3G (not to mention a full keyboard) in a package every bit as small as the Pearl. Then again, we love a good showdown -- when it comes to smartphones dropping stateside, we say the more, the merrier.

[Via Gadget Review]

Anyone who's had the good fortune of seeing a Pearl in the flesh knows that it's one extraordinarily good looking phone, particularly by BlackBerry standards. Unfortunately, where we come from, phones that don't ring are called "paperweights" -- which is exactly what the Pearl becomes when the trackball gets nudged. You know, like if it's in your pocket, or your purse, or pretty much anywhere besides a stationary counter top. As it turns out, when the phone rings, the handset immediately silences the ringer with even the slightest movement of the trackball, regardless of whether keylock is enabled. While we do appreciate the Pearl taking the initiative for us and ignoring phone calls so we don't have to, there is an occasional situation where we like to make the decision ourselves, and until RIM issues a fix users simply don't have that option. Strangely, two Engadget editors patiently attempted to explain the issue to a RIM representative this week at CTIA for several minutes without success; we think the first step to RIM issuing a fix would be for the company to understand the problem, so we could be in for a bit of a wait. Maybe the words we were using were too big?

No surprises here. We knew when, we knew where, and we knew how much -- now, T-Mobile, $199 -- but in the event the BlackBerry Pearl has slipped your mind, consider your memory jogged.

[Thanks, Max and Zach]

Right, like you needed RIM to tell you about the Pearl at this point. Ok, well, here it goes: RIM officially announced the BlackBerry Pearl tonight for T-Mobile USA launch on... wait for it... September 12th, and on Rogers in Canada in October. The price wasn't disclosed, but c'mon, don't you trust us? (Psst, it's $199 with service agreement.) Oh, here's the final spec list, just in case you weren't paying attention previously:

• 240 x 260 65k color display
• 1.3 megapixel camera with flash
• 64MB flash and microSD
• Media playback with MP3, AAC, MPEG-4 (h.263)
• Trackball (i.e. the pearl in Pearl)
• Bluetooth 2.0
• SureType keyboard
• quad-band GSM / EDGE
• 4.2 x 2.0 x 0.57 inches (107 x 50 x 14.5mm)
• 3.1 ounces

Click on for some more shots! Like you need 'em!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Today's Boy Genius BlackBerry Pearl (8100) leak: the User Guide and a good long look at the trackball that gives the Pearl its name. From the guide it looks like it has built-in support for Push-to-Talk, which Cingular will most likely take advantage of when it releases the Pearl later on the year. The Boy Genius also confirmed to us that the Cingular version will have cosmetically differences from the T-Mobile release. Boy Genius also sent us a video of the Pearl's trackball -- a setting in the phone app enables the trackball to changes colors to a ringtone set and during a phonecall.

[Thanks to Jibi for deconstructing the Pearl .xml files]

Download - User Guide
Watch - Trackball video [MOV]