BlackBerry Pearl 8110 on T-Mobile: 'Unlimited' data with no contract

Want a BlackBerry? Don't want a contract? Good news! T-Mobile and BlackBerry maker RIM have announced a new deal for the UK, that allows you to buy a BlackBerry Pearl 8110 for a one-off cost of £179, inclusive of 12 months of unlimited email and mobile Internet use -- without any need to sign a contract.

For calls, texts and that sort of stuff, you'll just top up the phone like any pre-pay T-Mobile, er, mobile. And after your 12 months of inclusive service is up, you'll be able to pay another one-off fee to get another 12 months of email and Internet, though pricing for that has yet to be released.

Note that, as is the irritating trend, 'unlimited data' means 'there's a limit'. We asked T-Mobile, and it turns out the limit is 1GB of data transfer a month. Exceeding this limit, however, will not cost you anything. Rather, if you continually go over the limit every month, you may be contacted to discuss moving to a service plan that includes a more unlimited data plan than the unlimited plan you signed up to.

It's almost as if the word 'unlimited' needs redefining. Again.

Still, the Pearl is one of the more consumer-focused BlackBerry models, including features such as a 2-megapixel camera, GPS, social-networking functions and, of course, email. Last year, we gave the model a juicy 8 out of 10 in our review, which you should check out.

The deal will be available from 1 May for £179 from T-Mobile's Web site.