Barely eight months after it introduced its first feature-rich multimedia device Pearl , Research In Motion has decided to give a Pearl-like finish to some other handsets. It has debuted another Pearl look-alike device 8800, a full-keyboard model that can play music and videos, besides handling e-mails as efficiently as ever. The company is billing the 8800 as the thinnest BlackBerry to date, measuring 0.55 inches from front to back.
New features include an instant-messaging client that can chat to buddies on Yahoo IM and Google Talk, plus RIM's own browser. The 8800 also comes with a media player and an external storage slot for removable microSD memory cards.
Above all, it uses a GPS chipset for mapping and navigation that finds its way in a BlackBerry device for the first time and will compete with Nokia's 6110 Navigator phone. RIM has partnered with California-based navigation solutions firm TeleNav, which also offers similar versions of the software for Windows Mobile, the Palm operating system, Symbian, Qualcomm's Brew, and the Java-based J2ME environment from Sun Microsystems. So the advantage to RIM could only be temporary.
Besides, the 8800 is among the new crop of handsets that some feel could also bite into Apple iPhone's marketshare somewhat.