The postman rang once today, and he came bearing that oh-so-sweet-sounding BlackBerry 8800 (aka… the Pearl with a full-QWERTY keyboard.) Even though the Pearl’s SureType has improved drastically over previous generations, there was still a very loud group of ‘berry addicts who were screaming for a super-thin QWERTY to make their thumbs happy. And, as announced, Cingular’s got first dibs at this one.

Other than the keyboard, the only real update over the Pearl is the built-in GPS functionality, making the mapping programs especially awesome. I just got this thing, so I haven’t had a chance to seriously put it through the grinder yet, but it appears to be just as blazing as previous ‘berries (that is: much more stable and much, much faster than Windows Mobile.) Like the Pearl, it comes with a media player, EDGE (I’m getting the feeling RIM is allergic to 3G), and a pocket-friendly profile that keep your Middle Manager belt clip safely stowed in your drawer.

Full unboxing photos below the fold…