Buying a BlackBerry Pearl in Hong Kong

By k | January 12th, 2007 | 24 Comments »
Buying a BlackBerry Pearl in Hong Kong

Hong Kong
Well, that sounds easy. It isn’t! My target for the last 2 days was: “Buy a BlackBerry Pearl in Hong Kong that supports Chinese (simplified and traditional) characters and without a plan – just the device.”

Because we all know the Pearl is available in Hong Kong for a while I thought that is easy. Wrong! Right, the BlackBerry page tells us there are 2 providers that have the Pearl in their stock. So there must be a shop (some of the fancy, small, not so serious looking shops that sell nearly every everything) which has the Pearl to sell. After some hours of looking around I found some of them and asked for the price. 2500 HK$ (~$320)! Wow! Great price, I want it! But, first of all, I saw that it is “T-Mobile” branded. So this device was not from Hong Kong. After some time of checking the manual and stuff … I figured out that it was an imported Pearl from the UK. 1 day and nearly thousand shops later I came back and wanted to buy the Pearl I have seen at the first shop. After 30 minutes of waiting they figured out they don’t have it on stock and I will have to wait for at least 2 days. No time no money … So I checked the next store and they had the Pearl available there but for 3200HK$ (~410$). Who cares, I bought it and it was the T-Mobile branded UK version. I though, no problem, upgrading the OS is easy…

So I was looking for the handheld software. But there is no handheld software for the Pearl at BlackBerry.com. Surfing the web for hours brought me to the Hong Kong CSL page (which was not easy to find) and I indeed found the BlackBerry Pearl handheld software I want for my Pearl. I didn’t start the upgrade process yet but I will tell you more of its state.

By the way: The picture on the left is somewhere in Hong Kong Central (so it is on Hong Kong Island) showing a carnival and was taken with the BlackBerry Pearl’s built-in camera :)


  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/2007/01/16/spot-gps-tool-will-support-files-for-waypoints-and-maps-on-the-pearl/ BlackBerryInsight » Spot GPS tool will support files for waypoints and maps on the Pearl

    [...] I just had contact with my information source from the Skylab. He told me that an update of “Spot” will come soon. Moreover, the new version will come with some revolutionary feature that is not available on the market yet. We know since the presentation of the Pearl that our BlackBerry 8100 (I have one too) has Mirco-SD-Card and File Access Support. The GPS and mapping application Spot has a nice map implementation but these maps are depending on Internet access. The advantage is that you will get realtime downloads of maps and you will always get the most recent map to your device that is available on the map server. But you will not be able to see maps if you don’t have a data plan. The new version will bring a feature that is called “georefernced map image”. It will allow you to prepare maps on your desktop and transfer them to your device. The BlackBerry’s memory works here as well as the SD card. You can select the map from within Spot through a file browser and add the map image to your “Layer Manager”. So you are treated to use the Internet access all the time. Actually this feature isn’t as new as it sounds because it is available for the mobile phone version since the beginning. However, the Pearl is the only BlackBerry that currently supports the file system access. [...]

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/2007/01/20/blackberry-pearls-chinese-input-method-support-1/ BlackBerryInsight » BlackBerry Pearl’s Chinese Input Method Support #1

    [...] Well, I searched in forums, blogs, boards, where ever there might be a hint or hack to get this work. None! But as you all know my Pearl needs to get Chinese support soon. Changing the BlackBerry OS to the HK CSL (which has Chinese character support) was relatively easy. Hoping that “Chinese character support” means I can use Chinese characters was false. That support is only meant to make the Pearl able to show Chinese characters. OK, that is more than before but not enough. Being able to read see Chinese characters does not mean you can write them. As of now, there is no BlackBerry OS 4.2 available that supports at least one of the Chinese input methods. HK CSL, Singapore Telecom, Smartone-Vodafone and more were tried. We even tried to hack some files of the BlackBerry OS to get the chinese input method from the 7290 (which we upgraded successfully to the HK CSL BlackBerry OS before) work with the Pearl. [...]

  • Thiago

    Ok, maybe someone out there can help me. I bought a Blackberry 8100 at a 1010 store in Hong Kong and brought it to Shanghai. When I arrived, I switched the SIM card and started talking right away. ‘For some reason, after a few minutes of conversation it wouldn’t make or receive calls anymore. Every time I tried to place a call it would say that the number I was dialing was unreachable or it was a wrong number. This kept happening for a while. I would turn it on, it would work normally for a while and out of sudden it would just stop working. I got tired of it and went back to my old phone, but I really would like to fix the Pearl.
    Another thing, I tried to get the email service on it, but China Mobile says that only companies can have it here in China, anyone out there can help me? Thanks.

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    I didn’t experience that problem. But as I told you, I have a Pearl from T-Mobile UK. Did you try to upgrade your handheld BlackBerry OS? I just saw the link in the blog entry isn’t online anymore.

    I found the link again, hope it will help you to get your Pearl working: BlackBerry Download For Individuals

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/2007/02/27/pimp-up-my-pearl/ BlackBerryInsight » Pimp up my Pearl!

    [...] As a Pearl user – of course – I am interested in that! All you need to do is take apart the Pearl trackball casing and color over the LEDs with a colored permanent marker of your liking. [...]

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/2007/03/03/did-you-ever-wanted-to-read-some-forbidden-books-of-the-new-testament/ BlackBerryInsight » Did you ever wanted to read some forbidden books of the new testament?

    [...] I’m currently reading it on my Pearl and it works fine. The ebook – like all ebooks from this vendor – comes with an included BlackBerry ebook reader so there is no need to download a reader somewhere. It is easy going, just install and read [...]

  • Michael

    Anyone know when OS 4.2 will support Chinese input methods?

  • George

    I have a US TMobile 8700 and I downloaded three.com’s software. I have no problem using the Chinese input system. You just need to switch languages at the menu. In Simplified Chinese, you can get pinyin and one other method. In traditional character, you can get two methods (one in Cantonese) but no pinyin. The new BlS 2.3 is supposed to support simplified and traditional Chinese right out of the box. I have been eagerly waiting for it. The 3 service OS does give my US blackberry trouble once in a while. Let me know if you have any problem.

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    The problem is George, that the Chinese input method seems to be available for all QWERTY BlackBerry devices. So it cannot installed on the Pearl as it is SureType powered :(

  • SC Wijaya

    Hi, I’m SC from indonesia, please help me, inform me where the location in hongkong sell blackberry, I want to buy BB 8300 curve in HK, thanks very much ….

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    You can check out Kowloon around Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. There are a lot of phone dealers and I am sure you can find some BlackBerry models there as well.

  • Sc Wijaya

    Thanks, i think that really helpful, but any shop you know that sell unlock BB 8300, do you know the price is? thank before ….

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    Most of the devices there are unlocked. I don’t know a price yet but it is mostly the cheapest one you can find on earth as Hong Kong is a free trade area with no tax at all :)

  • Mike

    Hi, I am planning to buy BB 8320 which supports Chinese character input. Does anyone know where I can get them in Hongkong or Singapore or Indonesia?

    Thanks much

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    If you would have subscribed to our feed you would have known that already :)

    Check out: BlackBerry 8820 (GPS) and Curve 8320 at Hong Kong (HK) CSL 1010

  • http://surya_murthy1991yahoo.co.in surya

    i want more images

  • Terry

    I’m currently living in Shanghai and want to get a Blackberry Pearl from Hong Kong because I heard its cheaper. How would this work? I’d get a HK number and data roaming? I’m guessing if I pop in my China Mobile SIM, the data would not work and only the phone would work?

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    You can just buy a bulk device without contract in HK. The devices are unlocked which means you can put any GSM card in there. China Mobile works fine though.

    It just makes sense if you are travelling to HK anyway, so you could just grab one up. Ordering one from HK and get it sent by mail to China might be too expensive.

  • http://de.blackberryinsight.com/2008/12/02/blackberrys-zu-schmuggeln-ist-kein-kavaliersdelikt/ BlackBerrys zu schmuggeln ist kein Kavaliersdelikt | BlackBerryInsight – Deutsch

    [...] besonders diejenigen aus Hong Kong, die zollfrei sind. Ich habe meinen Pearl auch in Hong Kong gekauft. Dort hat er nur $US 400 gekostet. Viel billiger als an anderen Orten zu jener [...]

  • chris

    I am now in hongkong and need to purchase BB that support Chinese characters input and need to purchase bb without any plan i.e., bulk / handset only. any particular shop that i can go to?

    thanks.

  • http://www.blackberryinsight.com/ k

    Any of the shops mentioned above are alright. A bit dodgy though but you will still get a device.

    If it does not come with Chinese characters by default, you can still upgrade your BB OS with a chinese version from one of the local carriers.

  • justin

    any one know where i can get an unlock BB Gemini in hongkong? like as cheap as possible :P

  • Joseph-Mary Ebereoji

    Hello Sir/Ma,
    I will like to buy some mobile phones form you please I will like you to send me some free samples so that I can continue to buy from you steadily. Thanks hope to hear from you soon

  • Teresa-au

    Do anyone know any Hong Kong site when I can buy a Blackberry online?
    Because it’s supposed to be cheaper to but there??




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