My thanks go to Ed_NYC on this one for flagging new firmware that has been released for the Blackberry Pearl. The solution is a bit of a hack, but I’m willing to share it here.

My device is a US T-Mobile Blackberry 8100. I haven’t tested this on any other device. Use this solution at your own risk.

The latest firmware to be released for the Blackberry Pearl is version 4.2.1.66, T-Mobile US are currently only offering version 4.2.0.64 on their website. Therefore, we need to get it from elsewhere if you can’t wait for T-Mobile US!

Again, as a disclaimer, I don’t suggest you do this, it’s just for information only. Also, if you have BES enabled (i.e. you use your device over a corporate network), you may need your Blackberry administrator to wireless activate you again after the upgrade. However, after about 5 minutes after the upgrade, my wireless activation seemed to just start automatically.

The only mobile operator that seems to offer this download at present is TIM in Italy. Here we go, but a word of warning before you get started, you will need to put a good uninterrupted two hours aside to get this working. Once you start, you can’t stop!

To give you a sense of timings I started at 22:43 and finished the update at 00:25.

  1. Download the new firmware, by visiting this page.
  2. Once you have the download, run it and install the Blackberry Desktop software.
  3. If you do not have an Italian TIM mobile device, you’ll need to delete the vendor.xml file after the install. This can be found at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research In Motion\AppLoader\vendor.xml
  4. Connect your Blackberry Pearl via the USB cable and run the Blackberry Desktop software. On syncing, the Desktop software recognises that an update to the firmware should happen and will take you through the steps with the Blackberry Application Loader
  5. Just step through these selections, I would suggest taking the time to backup your device when the installation suggests you do
  6. After an eternity (around 40 minutes) the update should be complete. Your Blackberry Pearl will take time to reset and reboot – and that’s the hard bit done. You now have firmware version 4.2.1.66 on your Pearl – congratulations!

Once this update is done, you’ll see changes to the areas of core functionality, supplemental SureType wordlists (financial, legal and medical terms), better attachment handling, Blackberry Maps, Blackberry Messenger, BrickBreaker and the embedded US PST patch

One of the best updates is that you now have a Desktop View on your Browser. If you switch to this, you get an arrow to move around with the trackball. In the options of your browser, you can switch to the Default of Desktop View and you can also set minimum font size, image quality and enable JavaScript Location support.

If you use the T-Mobile Zen theme, when you hit the Blackberry key, it no longer comes up in the list format, it is now a page of icons, just like the 8800 version. I like this!

SureType also now seems more accurate and some fonts, icons and signals bars look more polished. I have also noticed there are new sounds available (like the ones on the 8800), which is great, also a new looking calculator. Seach is slightly different as you can opt to search your encrypted messages.

When I find out more, I’ll post it up here.

It is my hope in the long run that this firmware upgrade will solve the problem of my Pearl syncing with my TomTom for Plus services. Until I figure that one out, enjoy the new functionality.

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Buzz This
Vote on DZone
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Kick It on DotNetKicks.com
Shout it
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)