BlackBerry Pearl 8100
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 26, 2006 by Eric Lin
Our In Depth review of the sleek BlackBerry Pearl consumer messaging phone. NEW: video review added. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Great Design....OK for all others
I really wanted something that would keep me organized, and thought the blackberry pearl would do it. Love the design, small compact sleek phone.
PROS:
-Email easy to set up.
-Trackball better than track wheel.
-Easy to use
-great voice dialing feature
-easy to text (remembers conversations)
CONS:
-had to exchange it twice in less than 30 days.
-tasks changed all the time when syncing with outlook.
-camera not so great
-doesn't do video play with my carrier yet, so feature is useless
-sound not always great
-screen kinda small
Overall, the phone is okay and will get you by. With my carrier however, I have to wait for approval for the video portion, why, i paid for it, give it to me. Also, keyboard is pretty easy to use once you get use to it. Nice one handed phone. Not good for syncing. Also, redirector takes long.
A Nice Blackberry for the average consumer
I had this phone for a short while, and my time with it was very good from what I remember.
Pros:
- SureType. Never really had to look at the screen when typing a message.
- Customizable. You could make every shortcut button what you want it to be.
- Size. A very small size for a Blackberry, makes it attractive to those that don't need it for work (like me).
- Trackball is awesome.
- Internet was pretty good. I never had a Windows Mobile device, so my experience with the BB Pearl's browser was very nice.
- Camera and video were good for 1.3 MP.
- Themes looked very cool.
- Call quality was decent. I had pretty good reception (Cerritos, CA), didn't drop any calls.
Cons:
- None that I can think of.
This is a very nice phone. You should not hesitate to get it, you won't regret it (I regret giving this one up :( )
I will never change again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this phone is absolutely amazing there is no such thing as a con on this phone i have not had one problem with it and whenever someone sees me with it says that they wish they had it i have had so many people want to switch to tmobile just to get the white pearl i love the flash camera and the beautiful color and keyboard the pictures are brilliant even if i take a high speed shot driving down the highway!!! this phone has absolutely everything and the service is outrageous go TMOBILE!!!!!!!!!!! this phone rox i wouldnt have another phone ever again but now im a little upset if the ever stop making it :(
Call Me..........................
Yes give me a ring on my new cellphone the blackberry pearl. Wow i feel like a little kid on christmas this phone has every thing i have wanted on in a cell phone i can search the web and instant message with aol and yahoo and msn the service is great. The 1st Blackberry to have a camera yes i love taking pictures and it also has a flash wich makes it way it better it has great picture quality tranfer them to my computer and email some great shot to family and friends. this phone also has a great speaker that i use wen im in the car. Overall i cant get enough of it plus i got this phone for a phenomenal price that cant be compared anywhere else, i got it at ushopwireless.com and used the promo code af-lm and also got a free bluetooth. so stop ur search an get this phone that is sure to turn some heads. So take it from a person who cant live without her cell phone. lol
excellent email phone
This phone is excellent for receiving emails and making phone calls, so it meets my needs. It has an excellent ear piece that is loud and the speaker works great. The T-Mobile push mail just keeps coming. You never have to check it and the email account is easy to set up online.
If you get this, spend time reading the user guide to figure out all the short cuts. Some of them are: in email, hit "9" to page down, or "8" to go down one line at a time, or "3" to page up, or "2" to go up one line at a time.
I love the fact that the phone is small and has good sound quality. The screen is bright and clear and pictures look great. However, the processor is a bit slow and it takes a lot of time to go from one pic to another.
If you want a great phone and want to get email for an extra $20 per month, it's the way to go. If you want to surf the web, the edge is pretty slow, the screen is small and I don't recommend it. Recommend getting a sidekick III if you spend a lot of time on the web or doing text messaging.
Pros:
great clear bright screen
clear and loud speaker
good ear piece
good email
excellent camera
Cons:
extremely difficult to setup shortcuts
complex menu operation
must read user's guide to figure it out
The Best Form Factor I've Seen
Years ago when I realized there would one day be a "perfect" smartphone I have waited impatiently for that phone to show up. In as much as this phone is somewhat short of perfection, it is the current best in class.
Pros:
Elegant styling.
Great screen.
Good sound quality.
Good signal. (T-Mobile)
Great web site, helps, tip & tricks etc.
The trackball is way cool.
Battery life seems good.
Good price, if you don't mind a 2 year contract.
Cables are not specific to the Pearl so others such as Motorola work well. (why can't the handset manufactures agree on a standard for cables and connectors?)
Cons:
No Pearl specific accessories, especially a case. This handset has been in the works for quite awhile, I don't understand what the holdup on accessories is.
Would love to have Word and Excel available.
Should have wi-fi.
Speakerphone could be louder.
The small size is great but I'm worried I will drop it and scratch it up.
Don't like signing onto a 2 year contract renewal.
Even though Yahoo is a Blackberry supported portal, it doesn't recognize the Pearl, yet, which hampers set up for Yahoo mobile.
I have checked out many phones, only to return them. After a week I'm thinking about keeping the Pearl.... but I have that nagging feeling that the perfect smartphone may be just around the corner.
halfy....
i have gone through 2 pearls and i have had the same problems the phone it self sometimes freezes and you have to take the battery out to reset it. and the pearl is also know for its my fav problems with T- mobile. and the internet browser was a little slow for a phone of this calibur. I'm my opinion its a great phone if they can work out the glitches.
The Pearl... A Diamond In The Rough.
Excellent phone. Excellent PDA.
The BlackBerry Pearl is the essence of a consumer PDA. Great voice quality, easy navigation - VERY EASY. And it can take some abuse too!
I use my Cellular One Pearl daily and think it's absolutely awesome in most every way. I highly recommend this one to anyone using a Microsoft Windows Mobile PDA or Palm OS device.
My only dragging opinion is the SureType III keyboard technology. I am more of a QWERTY guy myself - at least I have been until this point!
EXCELLENT.
Very ,Very good phone!
1st of all I never owned a Blackberry before and always laughed at everyone who had one because of the size, it looks stupid at least all the original big models do:)
PROS:
*Email is awesome
*Easy to use (never owned a Blackberry)
*Very easy typing once you get used to how it actually works
*By far better looking than any BB ever made!
*Good speaker-phone
*Blutooth is fair, cant say it suck's and cant say that its awesome either
*Page to Page browsing is fast
*sound quality is not the best but good
*Easy to use center trackball ( be carefull and dont push it in too much because it could break(words from a RIM tech himself)
*TMobile reception works great.
CONS:
*Camera if it makes any difference to you and to me it does not is just OK.
*
Blackberry pearl
The blackberry pearl is blackberry's first attempt at making a smaller style pda. instead of featuring a thumb scroll on the side of the blackberry it utilizes a computer mouse like trackball that makes scrolling and navigating through the phone very fast and time efficient. its sure type keypad is also very usefull if you are writing messages and you only want to use one hand versus two. it has a 1.3 megapixle camera that takes very decent pictures but while viewing the pics as a thumbnail it look very pixely. when you click the thumbnail to view it the picture actually looks excellent i think its just the thumbnail viewer that causes it to look so pixely.
