Surely by know you’ve heard that BlackBerry thumb wheel that we have all come to know and love has been replaced by a track ball on the forthcoming BlackBerry Pearl. What you may not have known is that we may not see the thumb wheel again, at least not on the next wave of slim BlackBerry devices like the Pearl.

According to the Boy Genius, the thumb wheel was getting in the way of making BlackBerrys thinner and as you can see from the picture, the BlackBerry Pearl is pretty darn thin. It is actually thinner than a Razr.

Personally I think that this is a great move. I would surely trade my trusty thumb wheel for a track wheel that gives me vertical as well as horizontal motion and cuts the thickness of my device in half. Sounds like a good trade off to me…

BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry 8800