If I had to place my vote as to which restaurant in the world was the most “geeky” or most technologically advanced, it would definitely go towards the “Pearl” restaurant in downtown Richmond. This Australian-based establishment, headed by Chris Lucas is in the process of moving over the restaurant’s entire menu-system to iPads. As you may gather, the Pearl will make use of it’s own specialized iPad app that will let people browse food and drink selections like never before, giving them deep and interesting options in choosing their meal.
But that’s as far as it goes. According to Lucas, there is still a very important part reserved for the waiter/waitress in actually placing the order. Keeping the customer from directly ordering the food ensures that the “cheap” fast food feel doesn’t creep in — at least that’s what I’m picking up. In the end, a restaurant where you can sit down, pick up an iPad and drill down into your meal with vivid pictures and explanations is pretty mouth watering.
For now, the Pearl only has four iPads on hand, though eleven more are on order. Cost is undoubtedly high — 15 iPads and over $40,000 in development costs on the “Pearl app” alone with more iPads obviously needed. Talk of iPads, development costs, and business models aside, this is cool — very cool….
If you’re into the smaller form factor Berries, this is definitely news for you. The next inline Pearl series is already known to be taking the 91xx model line. Heck, a couple different version of said devices have even been spotted. The biggest differences we’ve seen so far between the leaked devices is keyboards. The straight 9100 was leaked with the familiar have-sized SureType keyboard and trackpad in tow. The 9105 however does things a little differently, dropping the SureType and instead tossing in an old relic with T9, (yuck) and of course that wonderful little trackpad. A third variation which a few renderings have been seen takes it in the opposite direction of the 9105 and actually crams a full-QWERTY on top of the svelte form factor.
Thanks to an anonymous BerryReview tipster, we can at least enjoy the two former designs side by side as seen above. To me, T9 on a BlackBerry is almost sacrilegious. The two things just don’t go together. If I wanted a T9 phone, I’d get the POS $5 carriers literally beg you to take. If I want a smartphone, I want a smartphone, meaning I can actually type on the thing. Clearly I’m just not feeling the 9105′s T9 garb. Anyone else?
I have to give it to RIM. The last couple of years they’ve drastically increased their R&D as well as designers eye, putting out some truly awesome products. One such product was the BlackBerry Pearl of years past. It was RIM’s first (first good looking that is) candybar-size phone that more mainstream/consumer users actually wanted to use. At that time, that was a big deal for the typical corporate workhorse BlackBerry. But all good things must come to and end. As such, RIM has left that slim candybar space void of any real improvement since the 81xx device leaving many out in the cold.
Then several weeks back pictures of a new 91xx Pearl leaked, showing the world a much classier and lust-worthy Pearl. So far, both SureType and full-QWERTY keypads have been spied in these so called leaked shots. Well, add another keyboard to the list of potentials today as now a T9 keyboard also appears within this super model of a phone.
While I understand that this is a render, it’s a poor one at that. Not to mention, RIM’s bread and butter feature is amazing keyboards. Amazing the T9, from any manufacturer, is not. With as much emphasis as RIM puts on communication, I can’t see them seriously considering rolling out a dumbed down POS T9 enabled phone. But that’s my opinion. What’s yours?
With all the full-QWERTY love RIM has been dishing out the last few quarters, Suretype users may feel like they’re getting ignored and getting left out in the cold to whither and die. Nothing could be further from the truth though as images of a revamped Pearl of sorts currently plotting along with the 9100 moniker have been spotted several times. So far, any real useful info such as price or release date have been MIA. But a new screenshot of a Fido inventory system has good news coming on relatively swift wings. If all goes according to plan, Fido customers could see a revamped Pearl/9100 drop on May 4th.
Those of you still managing to hobble along on 81xx hardware have reinforcements/relief coming soon. If you’re made it this far, another 5-6 weeks isn’t going to kill you. Excited?
For those in the market for a smaller form factor BlackBerry, you’re only real choice as of right now is the grossly outdated Pearl 8100. Paying anything more than a few dollars now would be a travesty in my eyes. But there is light over the horizon. The BlackBerry Pearl 9100 has been seen strutting it’s stuff here and there in various leaked shots. Finally today we have at least a few specs to go along with those stellar slimmed down looks. Really, it’s pretty common stuff here — 3G, trackpad, SureType, and a 3-megapixel camera. Nothing to sway one from a Bold 9700 mind you, unless your biggest “want” is a tiny candybar smartphone. In that case, the 9100 may be right up your alley. If anything else, it at least looks the professional part, borrowing styling cues from it’s more expensive and feature filled siblings.
No word yet on how much this little gem will cost. But based on previous experiences, I’d say you’ll be able to walk away with one for roughly $249 if you play your cards right.
Sorry for the long title. All I can say is that it’s late and I’m not exactly firing on all cylinders — it’s hard being witty in a limited amount of characters. But before I go on and on about my sentence structures and grammar…
The BlackBerry 9100 — the 3G Pearl — the miniature messiah. Ok, so maybe the last one isn’t an “official” 9100 nickname. To many BlackBerry users not into the full qwerty style of pretty much every Berry however, a 3G equipped and chopped down thumb bender would certainly make make their lives exponentially easier.
The entire tech world has known of this 3G Pearl for some time. Unfortunately, the powers that be have so far decided they don’t want to reveal this public knowledge quite yet. Fair enough. Until that wonderful day we’ll just have to make due with these almost mysterious fuzz-filled photos of a 3G Pearl showing what appears to be support for T-Mobile’s goofy ass 1700 MHz slice of radio pie. Hmmm 1700MHz pie. Anyone hungry?
If the video that revealed itself a week or two back showcasing the upcoming SureType BlackBerry 9100 wasn’t quite the greatest thing you’d ever seen (/sarcasm), this new video may come a tad bit closer. The above motion picture clip features a much more thorough tour around the 9100 (Stratus’) hardware and software offerings. Going by what we see in the vid, it looks like a rock solid device to keep the SureType line of devices relevant and alive. Just in case you’re short on time, you can look forward to the following: OS 5.0.0.350, 256MB of app memory, a life catching thanks to a 3.2 megapixel camera around back. Not mind blowing features, but enough that it should do relatively well.
Are you a hater of full sized keyboards and extra wide loads? Think the BlackBerry 9100 has a chance to win your heart…?
While many CrackBerry addicts live and die by the full qwerty keyboard that resides on their trusted loyal companion, some people just can’t deal with all of that width. The heft of a full qwerty BlackBerry (even though small compared to many others) turns some people off. To solve that problem, RIM brought us the 8100 BlackBerry Pearl several years ago. Following up the 8100 was the 8220 which took a slightly different flip phone form factor and retained the suretype goodness. And today we now have images of the new BlackBerry Pearl 9100 — suretype goodness reborn, optical trackpad, assumed 3G and all. Even though I wouldn’t go back to any suretype device after living with full qwertys for the last 2-1/2 years, it’s still a hot looking device that will no doubt bring in millions and convert many more people to team CrackBerry. As soon as we find out specs we’ll let all of you know!
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