Telstra will be the first telco in Australia to offer the very compact and sleek BlackBerry® Pearl™ 3G.

It’s the smallest BlackBerry yet. And when it arrives in late May, it will be available exclusively on Telstra’s Next G™ network for three months.

And while BlackBerry is known as the classic executive smartphone, the Pearl’s eye-catching design and compact QWERTY keyboard will make this a winner with consumers too.

It combines the best of the BlackBerry smartphone experience (think excellent email service and a premium finish) with social networking features. It will keep even the most enthusiastic messaging fan in touch via email, text, through Facebook® or via Twitter throughout the day. Check out the first video for an overview of how it can help you take your friends in your pocket.

Customers can also personalise their Pearl 3G by downloading free apps from BlackBerry App World™.

One of the best elements of the Pearl is that is runs BlackBerry® Messenger, an exclusive instant messaging service. It allows customers to create groups and share pictures, send voice notes and share calendars with other friends using BlackBerry Messenger. More about Messenger in RIM’s video below.

When it arrives in-store, the Pearl will be available in Royal Purple and Piano Black.

We’ll release pricing for consumer and business customers a little closer to the launch.

We would love to hear your thoughts as to whether the compact keyboard for fast emailing and texting plus the BlackBerry messaging service would tempt you away from your traditional mobile. Let us know what you think.

If you’re interested in getting more info about this smartphone as it becomes available, you can register your interest here.

Key features:

Elegant candybar design measuring 108mm x 50 mm x 13.3 mm and weighing only 93 grams
624 Mhz processor with 256 MB Flash memory
360×400 sharp-resolution display
Optical trackpad that makes navigation fast and smooth, plus a comfortable keyboard that enables quick and accurate typing
Media player for videos, pictures and music, plus dedicated media keys integrated along top of the handset
3.2 MP camera with zoom, autofocus, flash and video recording
Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) – first BlackBerry smartphone to support ‘n’
microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB cards
Premium phone features, including voice activated dialling, speakerphone and Bluetooth® (2.1) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits (including systems that support the emerging Bluetooth Message Access Profile standard) and other Bluetooth accessories
Support for tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM networks
Removable, rechargeable 1150 mAhr battery that provides approximately 5.5 hours of talk time on 3G networks
Full specifications for the new BlackBerry Pearl 3G smartphone can be found online here.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.