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Telus Canada's period of exclusivity for RIM's latest Pearl model, the 8130, sure was short. Less than a week after introducing the snazzy new smartphone, rival Bell Canada has picked it up.

Bell is selling the first Pearl model for CDMA/EV-DO carriers for $149.95 on a three-year agreement; $50 less than what Telus is asking for the same length contract. The Pearl 8130 jumps up to $299.95 for two years, $399.95 for one year, and a whopping $449.95 without a contract.

To support the new BlackBerry, Bell also introduced new rate plans for all the RIM smartphones it carries.

So now, for $15, you get 1.5MB of e-mail per month through the BlackBerry Internet Service, which is aimed at consumers and small businesses. $20 bumps data usage to 2MB, with added support for SMS messaging and Web browsing. While an additional $15 on top of that nets you at total of 6MB and support features like Bell's Message Centre Express and Call Display.

Not to be outdone by their our up north, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel both plan to start offering the new BlackBerry this month as well.

The Pearl 8130 supports CDMA carriers like Telus, Bell, Sprint and Verizon's EV-DO 3G data networks, far faster than the 2.5G EDGE technology used by Pearls that have been available to GSM operators for over a year.

It also integrates GPS to support location-based services, such as RIM's own BlackBerry Maps software.

The Pearl 8130 measures 4.2 x 1.97 x .55 inches (107 x 50 x 14 millimeters) and weighs 3.4 ounces (96 grams), slightly heaver than the GSM Pearl, the 8100, which only hits 3.1 ounces on the scale.

RIM says the Pearl 8130's battery last 9 days in standby to the 8100's 15 days and 220 minutes of talk time, the same as the GSM version.

As with the 8100 the 8130 sports a microSD expansion slot. It supports the SDHC variety of microSD card, which currently top out at 4GB and will someday reach 32GB. There's also 64MB of internal flash memory.

For picture and video there's a 2 megapixel camera with what RIM is calling an enhanced flash. There's a 3.5mm stereo headset jack and support for Bluetooth stereo audio.

The 8130 display supports 240 x 260 pixel resolution.

Of course, there's the Pearl's trackball (the pearl in the pearl) navigation system and RIM's light sensing technology to automatically adjust screen and keypad brightness.

In addition to RIM's standard array of push e-mail and personal information management software, the new BlackBerry comes pre-loaded with RIM's new Facebook application, which allow you to tag and upload images, poke and message your Facebook friends, add new friends, check the status of your friends, etc.