First photos taken with RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120's two megapixel camera

Research in Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry Pearl 8120 — with a two megapixel camera, video recording capabilities (the first time in a BlackBerry) and WiFi — is available only in Spain and Italy.

It’s not yet available in the United States, but it will be soon, I assume, and RIM was nice enough to send me one to test.  I’m writing an article, that will be published in about a couple of weeks, for the mobile video/mobile television Web site/e-mail newsletter “Mobi-lize.”

I’ve taken a few photos and videos with the phone around the Washington, D.C. metro area, that I’ve posted to my new 8120 moblog (see below).  I’ll certainly post more in the weeks to come.

So far so good

So far, the quality of the 8120 photos don’t seem seem bad, although some images appear a bit too dark and lack vibrancy.  But I certainly haven’t taken anywhere near enoough photos to provide an informed opinion.  

I think the camera module is the same in the 81xx series and the 83xx Curve series.

The first Pearl I tested, the 8100, had a 1.3 megapixel camera and no video recording or WiFi capabilities.  The camera was good, one of the better ones for 1.3 megapixels.

Popcorn

The first Curve I got, the 8300, had serious problems (that I wrote about) with white balance where bright sunlight produced a popcorn yellow color, although the colors were generally more vibrant than the 8100’s.  The Curve was loaded with beta code when I first received it, and the quality of the images improved with the several updates I downloaded.

The 8320’s photos are at least as good as the best of the 8300’s, perhaps a bit better.  I like the quality of the 8320’s images. 

As is my wont, I have a moblog for the 8100, the 8300 and the 8320.

Comments

[Tyler]

Does anyone know when the 8120 will be available in the U.S.?

Tyler

[Alan A. Reiter]

Hi David,

I have taken a variety of videos with the Pearl, but haven't posted them. I just completed a two-part article about the new Pearl for www.Mobi-lize.com, but it won't be posted for at least a week.

I'll see about posting some videos before that.

Thanks for the suggestion. It's a good idea.

[Rahul]

Hi Alan,

I enjoyed your first impressions on the BlackBerry Pearl 8120’s camera capabilities and look forward to your upcoming article on Mobi-lize.

I was wondering if you could comment on the 8120’s USB data transfer capabilities (modes/speeds)?

As a gadget geek, I am concerned since I have used many feature-rich phones (Nokia N95, Samsung SGH-F300, Apple iPhone), where the data transfer speeds via USB from these phones to a PC have always been agonizingly slow! It almost deters me from storing large amounts of pictures or data to my phone’s internal memory or High-Speed MicroSD Cards.

It would be refreshing to see a phone that can support true Hi-Speed USB 2.0 transfers (instead of just claiming it) so that I may finally throw away my clunky card reader :)

[david]

photos from the 8120 look really good to me and pretty much what I'd expect from a 2MP cam. But I'm comparing mostly to the Treo line which is sub-average in my view.

I couldn't find any videos on your gallery. Being that video is new to BB's I think some video samples would be of high interest. Thanks.