BlackBerry Pearl 9100 stars in pre-announce video demo

Leaked photos are one thing, but we do enjoy a video of a pre-release device to really see how it fits in the hand.  Having seen the BlackBerry Pearl 9100 (aka Striker) a little over a week ago, now comes a video of the compact smartphone in action courtesy of Salomondrin.  No word on how he acquired the Pearl 9100, but he gives a decent overview of its form-factor and the changes from earlier handsets.Video demo after the cut

In terms of specifications, the Pearl 9100 has GSM 3G (i.e. it uses a SIM rather than CDMA networks) and of course there's the optical trackpad as seen on some of RIM's other recent BlackBerry devices.  Around the back there's a 3.2-megapixel camera, and the handset runs BlackBerry OS 5.0.0.350 with 256MB of memory.

Particularly nifty are the multimedia controls running along the top edge of the handset, which allow you to skip tracks, play or pause music (as well as control the phone ringer) without having to take it out of your bag or pocket.  That almost makes up for the side-mounted 3.5mm headphone socket, ideally placed to catch your headphones cable as you try to whip out the phone.

[via IntoMobile]