RIM BlackBerry Pearl - black (T-Mobile)

9 out of 10 - Spectacular
Another Treo convert. Well done RIMI!!
CNET Editors completely missed the boat on their review of this phone. The editors gave the Blackberry 7130 an 8....
CNET Editors completely missed the boat on their review of this phone. The editors gave the Blackberry 7130 an 8.3 rating (in June), yet despite significant improvements (much smaller size, expandable memory, camera, excellent navigation via trakcball, blutooth modem support included instant message application, included media player,etc) CNET only gave this phone a 7.3.

I recently upgraded from a Treo 600 and I am not looking back (to Palm). I buy a lot of 'gadgets' and I am rarely this impressed. I was actually ready to go back to a regular phone (move away from a smartphone) because I was tired of carrying around a big brick. The size of this phone is incredible. It is much smaller than the competition. It is smaller than most regular phones (including the RAZR). I think the first thing I noticed was how light it was compared to the Treo that I was used to carrying. You can comfortably tuck this phone into your pocket - no need to strap a clunky device to your belt.

I have been using the phone for 2.5 weeks now, and I am very impressed. The blackberry OS is fantastic. I have installed a lot of third party applications (google maps, berry411, WebMessenger, etc). I have had no issues with the OS crashing (as opposed to the TREO, which froze frequently - forced to reset once a week).

The MS Outlook integration is flawless. It simply works. I am wirelessly synchronizing corporate Email, Calendar, Tasks, and Notes. I receive email on my Blackberry before I see it in Outlook on my laptop. A great feature of the blackberry address book is the ability to quickly search and find anyone in the company's enterprise directory.

I purchased a bluetooth headset and had no issues pairing it with the Pearl. I have also configured the Pearl as a wireless bluetooth modem for my laptop (works flawlessly).

The included IM application uses SMS, so if you don't have a text message package with T-Mobil, I recomend buying a third party application. I am using WebmMessenger and have found it to be very good.

T-Mobile does not offer 3-G Internet service, but their pricing on Enterprise Blackberry accounts is much cheaper than the other carriers. I was not using the internet on my Treo 600 because it was so slow. The Pearl works on T-Mobile's EDGE network which is much, much faster than GPRS (while still not broadband). I am clocking 70-80kbs on CNETs bandwidth meter using the Pearl as a bluetooth modem. I am using the internet on the phone constantly (Google Maps and Berry411 are great applications to look up businesses, flight times, movie times, etc.) The response time for these applications is great.

As far as CNETs comments about the micro-SD card being behind the battery.... I think this is a great feature, not a detraction. The SD card on the Treo was on the top of the phone (and spring loaded). Just the slightest bump to the top of the phone, and your expensive media card would shoot out of the phone. I have no need to remove the media card (BTW the micro-sd card is incredibly, incredibly small). I am very pleased that it is in a secure place (tucked behind the battery), and no longer have to worry about it jumping out of the phone. My only complaint is that the phone does not currently support anything larger than a 1gig card (known RIM issue). I found out about the problem after trying, unsuccessfully, with a 2gig card.

I like the fact that this phone charges using USB. The BT headset I purchased also charges USB. I can now travel with one small charger cable (or just charge using the mini USB cable connected to my laptop).

As far as the phone's sound quality, I have mixed feelings. I am getting better range on this phone than I have with any other t-mobile phone. I used to experience a dead-zone on my Treo; on the Pearl I now have 4 bars in the same location. The volume is very good, however I do agree that the tone sounds a bit digitized at times. Overall I am satisified, given the range advantage over my old phone.

Finally, CNET, what is the issue with sure-type? I think its great. I think I am typing faster on this phone than on the treo (because the keys were so tight). I am very happy to trade a full keyboard for sure-type and get a very small pocket phone. I am happy that I can pull this phone out anywhere; without creating a spectacle (nobody realizes it is a full-blown smart phone, PDA).

To summarize, if you want a smart phone that simply works - buy this phone. If you want a powerful device, capable of heavy business use and running multimedia applications but don't want to lug around a mini-laptop - buy this phone. If you want an intuitive easy to use GUI and a stable OS - buy this phone. Read more
by xtremed (see profile) - October 6, 2006

78 out of 78 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 comments posted to this opinion

9 out of 10 - Spectacular
You've read all the high-level stuff... here's the guts.
Having been a 10 year Sprint client, I've been a Treo user for some time. Consistency of email delivery ...
Having been a 10 year Sprint client, I've been a Treo user for some time. Consistency of email delivery has been the fundamental challenge with the Treo as has the size and form-factor of the aging Treo platform. I could never get used to the tiny keys on the Treo and always mashed multiple keys when typing messages forcing repeated backspaces and edits to get the email content correct.

A couple of months ago, I tried out the Moto Q, however, I couldn't get used to the toaster pastry form-factor (like most BlackBerrys). Although the keys were somewhat better than the Treo, the hard edges of the Q made it uncomfortable and I still had challenges entering error-free emails. Back it went.

Enter the Pearl.

The first time I saw it was online, and I have some colleagues with the older SureType 7XXX-series, so I wasn't too enthraled with the device. Then I went to see it in-person. Wow... it's really small and thin!... about 1/2 of the volume of a Treo. This isn't your grandfather's BlackBerry, this is a real contender. It has the thin-ness of the Q without the toaster-pastry profile and smooth edges that dissappear in a shirt pocket, breast pocket & pants pocket. Great screen and the camera's nice, but honestly I'll use the camera 5 time a year, max.

So, what about the keys and that SureType stuff?... afterall, I want to do email on this thing. I have to say after playing with it for a day, I was hammering out error-free emails for the first time on a mobile device. It got to a point where I never had to look at the screen to make sure I was typing the right keys (like I did with the Treo and Q). Just mash away and SureType figures out what you're typing. Anyone who has issues with SureType for composing emails simply has control issues.

Now SureType isn't great for everything. Typing in email addresses, part numbers, anything that's not a 'word' can be a bit frustrating, however, you can hit a hot key that switches the input from SureType to Multi-Type or Multi-Press or whatever it's called. In other words, you hit the key once for the 1st letter or twice for the 2nd letter on the key. I use this for entering passwords and other 'non-words' and it is slower and more painstaking than a full qwerty keyboard, but for the size of the device and the usability of the keys, it's a welcome trade-off in my opinion. The good news is that the browser and messenger remembers your passwords, email addresses, etc. so I haven't had to use multi-type too much.

The keys do move a bit side-to-side which can give the keyboard a mushy feeling, but you get used to it and the keys are large enough that I have yet to do a double-mash key press.

Trackball is excellent. Floats effortlessly over messages, web content, menu selections and the fact that you press down on it to select just like side wheel on the older BlackBerrys is the perfect use model.

I've found the voice quality to be just fine and it paired effortlessly with my Nokia micro-mini bluetooth earpiece. I also married it to my PC and it transferred music and data files back and forth with aplomb. Oh, and did I mention, it has an actual file system? It does. You can create folders, files, etc. just like a real PC (or PocketPC for that matter). As for the MicroSD slot and the complaints that it's behind the battery, I don't understand the issue? How often do you remove the thing? My SD card in my Treo hasn't moved in a year and the MicroSD is so darn small, I feel better knowing it's secure inside the unit.

The EDGE network is much better than the Treo 650's download speed and about 1/2 of the speed of the Qs (and Treo 700) EVDO download. But honestly, I'm not d/l a lot of 'rich' content so as long as I get a page in a few seconds, I'm happy. It's way *way* better than the Treo 650 and using the Q or 700 as a wireless modem does not exploit the speed of EVDO. You really need a dedicated card if you want to get anywhere near the 1mb/sec d/l speed of EVDO. EDGE has a far wider availability than EVDO and there are also plans you can get with T-Mobile that include wi-fi hot-spot access with your laptop. One thing that I might miss is the availability of wi-fi on the Pearl, but I would not use it for browsing (EDGE is fine for that), I would use it for data transfers with other PCs. The USB cable and BlueTooth will have to suffice for now.

What else? Well there are a whole host of BlackBerry applications out there, many of which are being ported to take advantage of the uniqueness of the Pearl's trackball. The trackball is a UI element which we will see in other larger format BlackBerries due out in the Spring.

A great revolutionary device. I'll post more comments and insights as I gain more experience with the device.

If you can get past your SureType control issues, this is about as good as it gets in my humble opinion.

-sitkom Read more
by sitkom (see profile) - October 21, 2006

53 out of 54 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 comments posted to this opinion

10 out of 10 - Perfect
Best Phone I have Ever Had & I Have Had About 200
I have had cell phones since the day that they were the size of small car batteries. I recall the ...
I have had cell phones since the day that they were the size of small car batteries. I recall the days when all you really got for $500 was the smallest phone made. Then went to color screens, menus and icons, then PDA features, to cameras, now MP3 and video.

This phone for $200 [T-Mobile upgrade price] is a total steal if one remembers, like I do, when phones five years ago were $500 and all they made was phone calls.

I have had enough electronics to compare the functions and features of this phone, from MP3, high end digital cameras, video players [that play converted videos], and of course cell phone service.

In summary, for a cell phone the Pearl performs its other functions superbly. The MP3 player plays fine, the 1.3 megapixel camera takes good pics, the video play plays AMAZING video, and the phone interface [e.g., menu choices] is easy to operate [especially with the new "pearl" trackball.]

Now there are lots of critics out there yammering about the so so quality of the camera, the MP3 player does not have external controls, the MicroSD chip is not accessible unless you remove the battery, etc.

But what everyone forgets is that the 8100 Pearl is a cell phone with added features. It is not, for example, a digital camera with a cell phone feature. It is not a video player with a cell phone attached. One should NOT be criticizing the Pearl because it does not take pics of the same quality as a 5 megapixel camera.

This phone is amazing. After two weeks of using it full time I cannot criticize anything about it. I am very, very please with it. Add to all of the above that I also get the Blackberry e-mail service, well things can't get better than that, except that all I had to pay was $200 for this device. Absurd.

Yes there are a couple issues that RIM [who makes the 8100] will be fixing. It needs, for example, a "hot key" that allows one to disable the trackball when I plan to put the phone into a pocket. This is needed because otherwise the phone goes into "ignore" or silent mode at the slightest movement of the trackball. So a call that comes in could get killed or disconnected when the phone is one's pocket.

Also, it cannot play videos unless they are converted into a format that can be played on the Pearl [GP3]. RIM does not mention that clearly, so we were all left to fend for ourselves on figuring this out and to rely on third party software to convert videos so they will play on the Pearl.

But there are plenty of "how to convert" instructions out there now, so this is not really an issue. But new purchasers have to figure this out for themselves since out of the box no one knows what or how to put videos on to the Pearl.

I recommend that you join one or all of the Blackberry forums out there to learn more about how to use the phone, such as pinstack.com. There is lots of help out there if you need it. Read more
by RotoRooterGuy (see profile) - September 30, 2006

28 out of 29 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 comments posted to this opinion

8 out of 10 - Excellent
It won this Palm-veteran over
I have been a die-hard Palm user for the last 10 years. Until the Pearl, I had yet to see ...
I have been a die-hard Palm user for the last 10 years. Until the Pearl, I had yet to see a phone that could get me to ditch my Palm.

My requirements for a smart phone:
- Sleek form factor (not bulky), to fit in my pocket
- Flawless Outlook/Windows syncing
- Ability to easily enter data
- Easy web surfing
- EDGE (high-bandwidth data transfer)

Past Blackberries have been too bulky for me, and I really didn't like the idea of a thumboard since I was so handy with Palm Graffiti. I still can't understand why the market has gone to thumboards and not touchscreens, but that's another issue. In the end, the Pearl was sweet enough to get me to leave Graffiti behind.

This phone is not perfect - no phone is. But it rocks, hard. The trackball is killer; Very intuitive and easy to navigate with. The screen is gorgeous; large & detailed enough to view things effectively, but small enough to keep the form factor sleek. The phone initially struck me as too small and light, but I have gotten very used to that and love it. The two buttons on either side of the phone are fully customizable to activate whatever application you want them to. The camera is great, as long as you don't mind not being able to record video with it. Bluetooth connectivity has been flawless for me, as has T-mobile's EDGE data service.

Being new to the Blackberry world, I am quite impressed with the interface and applications. You can customize just about everything, and it's all been pretty intuitive so far. The calendar, contact and notes syncing with Oulook has been flawless (I don't use Outlook tasks). The email aspect is truly everything it's cracked up to be - I have had zero problems connecting with my various yahoo accounts.

The few things I don't like:
- The Pearl definitely has weaker reception than the Nokia 6600 I had, but not so bad that I'm going to ditch the phone.
- I may still have some learning to do about the Blackberry interface, but so far I'm surprised at the lack of folder/file management abilities. It seems pretty limited - and that will get more frustrating when I add a 2GB microSD memory card.
- I am hoping, with the new support of multimedia features, that Blackberry will enhance it's support of these files in their interface - especially with a more robust mp3 player. Read more
by miltos8 (see profile) - September 25, 2006

19 out of 20 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 comment posted to this opinion

10 out of 10 - Perfect
Raising the Bar on Smartphones.A New Definition of What a Smartphone Should be!!!
Throw the towel in Palm and Motorola. RIM finally raised the bar in the smartphone game. After having time to ...
Throw the towel in Palm and Motorola. RIM finally raised the bar in the smartphone game. After having time to go through all the functions of the phone, i'm sold on it completely. Was the first person at the store when it got released this morning. In the contrary to what everyone is saying about it being so "sexy" "delicious" and "elegant," its doing what all the other companies have failed to do. To go back to the basics of form and succeed in making it look like a normal phone. I've owned the Q, the treo, the bb 8700g, the sidekick II, and the little mda and none of them got it right. It's not flashy and doesn't stand out on a table which is exactly why its accomplished so much. if you were in a line with ten people with candy bar phones, you couldn't tell which one was the smartphone. and that, my friends, is success. (and trust me, i'm the strongest advocate of full querty boards but if you're just writing short emails and want speed with ims and texts, suretype is on point. once you spend a week with it and get your idiosyncratic vocab in its memory, you'll fly through messages. i'm typing fast on this than the q and the treo650). This is most definitely a 'tweener' device that fits the person who wants subtlety of size yet function of a treo or q (someone who thinks bulky/wide phones look silly. i mean, c'mon, take a look at that classic nokia everyone and their mom had in 1999. it was half the size of the treo and the Q and looked a million times sleeker) in the past six years, no product, until this pearl, has thought to go back to the size of small classy phones(except the mda which is a failure cause of the lack of querty). I can't say enough about this phone. the first day i came home with a treo i thought it cool but hated the touchscreen and that plastic pencil. it makes being on the go impossible (running around nyc). with the q, it was better and the sling media tv is sweet, but it just looked to wide and didn't hold well in one hand. this pearl, on the other hand, is a true one handed device. you can be walking down the street (fast) and holding a bag in the other hand while sending, checking and writing short texts. its ideal for those on the go. the feature set is a sell and though its not as strong as the treo or the q, its still amazing because it fits it all in such a tiny package (you have to hold it in your hand to see how small it is). the mp3 player is decent (nothing special), the photo viewer runs slow (like the q), and the oz messenger service is still a joke after all these years (fortunately for those true 'aim'ers', there's imramble which works with aim smoothly (though if you straight addicted to aim, go sidy3. nothing bettter than real time aim). but i'm here to say that this pearl is most definitely "no joke." sure paris hilton will have it as will many other hipsters and people in tune with portable hardware. but hopefully because the software selection is so small (and we crackberry fans are happy with bblight and bbtetris) and practical people will stay with the treos and uptown businessmen will keep their q, the blackberry pearl will keep its appeal and not go way of ipod and razr mass appeal. can't beat the email push and the 'comicbold' font. blackberries RULE!!!!

13 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.

9 out of 10 - Spectacular
Simply amazing!!!!
First of all I would like to mention that I am a Cell Site Tech for a T-Mobile so I ...
First of all I would like to mention that I am a Cell Site Tech for a T-Mobile so I see, use, and break ALOT of phones. This review will be lengthy and only for those who really want to read about this device. So, I've gone through many phones trying to find a phone that performs up to my high standards. I've used Nokia (Average brand with many flaws), Motorola (Better than Nokia but has major issues with bluetooth and I hate there address book), Samsung, (probably about the same level as Nokia), LG (Thier OK), Sony-Ericsson (Probably the best brand out there, but tends to have issues on US systems), and Blackberry (Was probably the worst untill now). With that said, lets carry on.
The Pearl is just that, a pearl. It is small, slim, sexy, and performs as good (if not better) than any other PDA phone out there. The camera is good enough to take quick snaps of something for work or personal use, but you will want a real camera if your going to treasure the pictures forever. Bluetooth works flawlessly. Email is as always with Blackberry/RIM, best in the market. I have not had an issue with signal or reception and I sometimes work in the boonies!!! The keyboard is not a full QWERTY keyboard, but then again, the phone fits in your pocket. How much more can you expect??? It does, however, have a partial QWERTY keyboard and top notch suretype wich learns as you use it. Eventually you wont even have to check it to make sure your typing correctly. A big downfall (not for me personally) is they went without WiFi. I know this is not important to some, but it is important for others. Also the phone is, ofcourse, RIM and not MS Mobile 5 so you will not have the advantages of that but the phone will allow you view only MS documents. You can buy software for it to be able to modify docments though. It also has a media player which will play MP3s but does not have stereo headphones or a jack for them. It does, however have A2DP profile which allows you to stream music via bluetooth and you can purchase bluetooth stereo headphones for this. Its media card is located under the battery making it not hot swapable, but honestly, you probably wont need this, just buy a 2Gb card, it will be hard to fill that!!! My biggest grip about this phone, which is very small issue, is that you cannot set the ringer to ring and vibrate at the same time. Its only vibrate, then ring. Honestly, I can find the faults in any phone and I put every phone I touch to the test, I have found nothing wrong with this phone. So, I HIGHLY recommend this phone to anyone looking for a decent, sexy, PDA phone that doesn't need to fully process MS documents.

7 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 comments posted to this opinion

9 out of 10 - Spectacular
So glad I upgraded!
I upgraded last week to the Pearl after 3 months with my 7105t. What a difference! I read several reviews ...
I upgraded last week to the Pearl after 3 months with my 7105t. What a difference! I read several reviews of the Pearl before upgrading, including CNet's, and was a little concerned with the claim that call quality was not up to par. Nonsense! Clairty is much improved over my 7105. The voices sounds a bit more digitized, but at least I can hear everything. Reception is also improved, allowing me to talk in every room of my house in DC. (My 7105 only worked on the porch.) My friend also upgraded that day and calls between the two of us have never been clearer, which proves to me it truly is the phone making the difference.

Some people have complained about the trackball instead of the track wheel. While I admit it takes a little getting used to, it's much easier after a couple days. I've been addicted to BB for 3 years and switching away from the trackwheel is fine by me. The ability to scroll in an email to the word you want makes editing an email much less frustrating.

Physically the size is wonderful. I remember thinking the 7105 was a great size, and now I'm almost embarassed by its clunkiness. the Pearl fits in your pants pocket and you almost forget it's there.

Having EDGE helps a lot, and the camera is a handy feature even if it's not great quality. I also like that it has a dedicated button, and after you take a picture it allows you to email it right from the screen instead of saving and then going to attach it later. It's the simple things!

As far as the media, I bought a 1 gig card for it and loaded it up. One thing to keep in mind is that the software won't let you transfer filees bigger than 3MB. Most MP3s are a little over that. I downloaded a shareware program that reduces the size of the mp3 (reducing quality slightly, but not upsettingly) and put about 100 songs on the first day, though I have room for plenty more. I bought a set of Jabra C220 headphones for $25 and they sound great--plus they have the built in mic and answer/end button. Pressing the button without a call coming in pauses the media player so you can order a cup of coffee, etc. I have a big MP3 player and I like that for my commute I don't have to lug it around. This definitely fills the void. I don't think the media player is as antiquated as a lot of people are saying. It's not an ipod, it's a blackberry! Video is surprisingly good as well. And I love using your music tracks as your ringtone. Even after listening to a few hours of music, battery life was still great.

My concerns so far are few, but include the screen. I just have a feeling it's going to scratch as it is flush with the housing. Can't do much about that, but it's so pretty I'll hate the day that it happens. As I mentioned before, camera quality is kind of crappy, but that's what digital cameras are for. The smaller suretype keyboard isn't going to be for everyone, but i haven't made that many mistakes. I usually use the email feature for shorter responses, but if I had to write articles on it I would probably go for something with a full qwerty anyway. The vibrator on this is a little less than the 7105, but you can still tell when you're getting a call. Plus you can set the profile to vibrate three times if you want to be sure you don't miss something.

All in all, it's a beautiful phone (causes a lot of geek envy so far) that works better than my 7105. I'm hooked. Plus it's only 200 bucks if you're upgrading at tmobile. I had only recently upgraded and so they charged me 250, but i probably would have paid more. Read more
by ryanindc (see profile) - October 2, 2006

6 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 comment posted to this opinion

9 out of 10 - Spectacular
Best phone I've ever owned!
I was skeptical about getting the phone after the CNET reviewer said the call quality was sub-par. The call quality ...
I was skeptical about getting the phone after the CNET reviewer said the call quality was sub-par. The call quality is great for me, everyone I talk to says that it's much better than my old phone.

The phone is about half an inch taller than a RAZR, and about the same thickness. It's amazing that it's so small, considering everything packed into it.

I really like the "pearl" trackball too. Very intuitive once you get used to it. The suretype feature is great when writing emails or IMs, but can get annoying when typing email addresses or URLs. In that case, just switching to multi-tap.

I have no other complaints. For such a small phone and the low price, there's nothing like it out there. Read more
by robfarmergt (see profile) - September 14, 2006

5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 comment posted to this opinion

9 out of 10 - Spectacular
Portable office for my freelance business I have been waiting for.
I only picked up the phone today and its only been out one day. I swapped my Blackberry 8700 for ...
I only picked up the phone today and its only been out one day. I swapped my Blackberry 8700 for it because I don't mind suretype (I had the 7100 until it crashed 3x a month ago and I gave it up), I love the thinner design, I like the option of an mp3 player for travel and the car and the bluetooth functions are improved for my uses (connecting to computer, using as modem in a pinch). I have to say I was happy with the 8700 only having it for a few weeks but I am thrilled to move back to the sleaker design for vain reasons of fitting better in purses, my pocket and not seeming so business geeky when I pull it out to check email or make a call. So far the device has been simple to make calls, use address book, use the browser, use the address book and take photos. I did not know that pocketmac was not ready for it yet. So I will be hurting until it does no longer having an updated calendar and address book on the phone. This will be critical, blackberries are the best fit for business use with a mac because of the pocketmac syncing (I tried RAZR hated the phones features, tried T-mobile MDA but could not sync because of windows mobile 5). I am not a techy and was able to use the phone right off the bat, I think I will be very happy with it, and I thank all the techs for their reviews as this is where I figured out my syncing problem (need pocketmac 4.0 which is not out yet). Read more
by Mollyreilly (see profile) - September 13, 2006

5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

8 out of 10 - Excellent
great phone with 2 flaws
I've only had this for 1 day, and it's my first BlackBerry, so of course I love it. ...
I've only had this for 1 day, and it's my first BlackBerry, so of course I love it. Like everyone says, they're highly addictive. However, the first thing I noticed (besides the sheer sexiness of the phone) was the spotty reception. I work in Manhattan, and my calls dropped in and out walking to work. Also, my T-Mobile reception at work is much worse than it was with Cingular and a Razr. Not sure if it's the service or the phone, but it's bad enough to make me reconsider my choice. If I do stick with it, I'm anxiously awaiting T-Mo's forthcoming bandwidth increase via the FCC auction...if all goes according to plan. Google to see the latest news on that. Also anticipating the 4.0 release of PocketMac to sync with my Mac -- should be out in a week or two.

Lastly, I don't know what they were thinking when they designed the incredibly flimsy plastic battery cover. For all the thought they put into this phone, they thoroughly botched this one crucial detail. As stated in a previous review, it comes off without having to press the cover release button -- not good. I'm sure they'll have to fix that in a second version...word is that Cingular will have these in the fourth business quarter this year.

But those two caveats aside (and they are big ones), I can't believe how fantastic this phone is. Read more
by lunaharpua (see profile) - September 13, 2006

5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.