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
RIM'S "Pearl"
I never had a Blackberry before, but I got to sit down with a Repesenttive from blackberry during a Demonstration. After using it, I was hooked. So I ordered one.
Out of the box WoW. BE CAREFUL Putting in the Sim card & SD Card. Those Doors are tiny & will break. The big surprise as always...The Screen. Big, Bright, & Colorful. I am used to my Razr with 262,000 colors. The Pearl only has 65,000 colors, but I do not notice any change.
At First, It took a while to load with the hour glass spinning, & spinning. Done. It is fast with the trackball. The trackball is precise & very responsive. It is just like my PDA without touch screen. It has all the Favorites, calendar, todo list, calculator, Phonebook, games, media, & The camera was the biggest wow. The megapixels really do help. Wait a minute....where is the Instant messenger, Web browser, & tzones from T-Mobile.....
YOU HAVE TO BUY THE BlackBerry INTERNET PACK from T-Mobile for $20 TO USE MMS/Picture Mail, Web or even the instant messanger. MORE MONEY.
Once, added the EDGE data was quick & responsive. The web was way more attractive than on my old RAZR. Web sites are easy to travel to & load with a snap.
The interface was easy to learn in about 2 hours. Sounds are wonderful & the MP3 Player was crisp & great. The video player was smooth too.
My recommendation is to get one. I have seen & used the Q, Blackjack, MDA, & SDA. Still the Pearl for a blackberry Preforms the BEST!
PROS:
Both speakerphone and voice are loud
Screen is BIG & beautiful, even in daylight
Tracball is tight & responsive
Contact list is great !
Battery life = 4-5 days.
Reception has been great.
Size is perfect for pockets.
Typing is easier than I thought it would be
Bluetooth use is fast & stays connected
CONS:
Ringtones are on the low side, but use an MP3 instead
Sure type takes some getting used to, the keyboard is full not like a regular phone
Near Perfect
I have wanted this phone since it first came out. I have to say that it works very well. There are a few parts of this phone that are a little annoying, but I have done some research and it is not the phone itself, but the latest software upgrade. The IM program on the phone is not working right. I have software version 4.2.0.64, and what I have found is that on version 4.2.0.42 it worked, but once you upgrade it doesn't. Other than that it is good.
The ringers are low, but the speaker-phone is fine. I use my headset almost all the time, so I can listen to the music I have on the Media Card, and I hear when it rings, so I don't even worry about the ring tones.
The Media Player is a little weak, but it works just fine. It is a little annoying to have to be in the media player in order to skip to the next song, but at least I don't have to carry my MP3 player AND my phone. Plus, when i did that I couldn't hear when my old phone rang, and now I can tell.
The Trackball was a little awkward when I first used it, but it is like second nature after a few days. I even used my Girlfriends RAZR and found myself trying to use the trackball on there.
Pros:
Browser
Media Player included
SMS Messaging is easier to navigate through
Keyboard
Trackball
Light
Huge Screen for the phone size
Cons:
Ring tones are low
Media Player needs work (Software upgrade?)
If I think of anything else I will edit this Review. By far this is a phone I see myself hanging on to for a while.
Oh my!!!!
I will keep this short.
Simply put I have had the following phones in the past year.
Nokia 6600
Motorola Razr V3i
Sidekick 3
Palm 650
T-Mobile MDA & SDA
Samsung T809
Nokia 6102
Motorola MPX
Do you get the point? Yes I think so...
So about the Black Pearl, Rrrrrrrrr....
All I have to say is this is my most favorite phone ever. It does everything, finally!!!, that I want a phone to do.
From Myspace to Email, from MMS, SMS, and Instant Messaging, I am in hog heaven.
RRrrrrrr, I command you to get the Black Pearl.....
Oh yeah it comes with AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ...
TMO overnighted this for free!
Seriously I am not joking. This phone rocks!
BB for non-business users
Pros: Push-email, small size and weight, camera, decent (but not perfect) speakerphone, loud-enough ringtone, scroll-by-button easier than side scrollwheel, easy to set up saving to Media Card (micro-SD) and then send to email
Cons: SureType keyboard, battery life could be a little better (e.g., long calls, Internet access, causes a noticeable drain, micro-SD card, had to return phone (under warranty).
This is my 3rd BB and I just wish they made the Cingular 8800 with a camera. It's nice to have and the ability to easily send photos via email (compared to pull-email systems) is a definite plus. Navigation is easy with the use of the up/down and side-to-side navigation the push button allows, unlike the old scrollwheel.
I have had odd problems, one requiring a phone replacement. The normal earphone-speaker used for normal calls quit working and only the speakerphone would work. Also the phone would not pair with my Bluetooth headset (a known issue). I received a new phone and it now pairs. And every now and then it'll misread the SIM card and I have error messages or it will refuse to place calls (not sure if it's the card or the phone on that one).
Items worth noting:
If you have large fingers, the keyboard is tiny.
The SureType system also takes some getting used to (I found it easier if you just visualize a keyboard and type away, scrolling back as needed).
If you call a number that requires dialing-in a person's name, you're out of luck unless you can remember what letters go with which numbers on a standard phone keyboard -- something that would also be a problem on the full-keyboard BBs.
And until you get used to how BB labels things, searching the "help" menu requires patience and trial-and-error to learn how to do simple things (like reordering the on-screen icon list to suit you).
Overall it's a great phone for a non-business user (i.e., one who is not provided one or who needs/wants a camera).
Can I get an "AMEN!!"
Been a Blackberry guy for a couple years, and have always been craving multimedia and a smaller, cooler look. This phone is that and more.
pros:
Better Internet speed
looks
it's still a blackberry
the trackball is the bomb
multimedia
cons:
keyboard and sure type takes some getting used to
BlackBerry Pearl really shines
First picked this phone up when it launched for Cingular and I loved it at first. Pretty much had everything unlimited through my Dealer plan so I got to play around with the PTT on it as well. The size of the phone was great and I love the SureType over Qwerty.
Pros:
- Form Factor
- SureType
- TrackBall
Cons:
- The Speaker was covered by the Back of the Phone. (WHY!!!!????)
- MP3 Player felt limited to me.
Excellent phone packed with lots of features
I am using this phone with T-Mobile in the Houston market.
Pros:
- Great design, small form factor
- Love the auto-dim display feature that helps save battery
- Very Loud earpiece...great especially whenever you're in a noisy area
- Camera is 1.3MP with flash and works pretty decent (don't give up your real camera just yet!)
- Easily sync with computer
- Conversational view with messages
- Speakerphone is loud
Cons:
- Can't Vib and Ring at the same time. It Vib twice then rings
Bottom line:
Great phone for the price (I got mine for $200 with a $50 MIR from T-Mobile)
Absolutly superb phone with no major flaws...
I have had many phones and this is my first smartphone. I was sceptical about making the switch to a smartophone, mainly because of the bulk of most smartphones and the lack of multimedia features, but am extreemly happy with the Pearl. It is in a class all by itself. This phone has everything that I would expect from a BlackBerry without the bulk and weight. This phone is very light and fully functional. It is jam packed with multimedia features such as a camera (w/ self portrait miror and a flash), music and video player and very nice design. The e-mail feature is excellent and very easy to setup and use. My only gripe about the phone is that, the memory card slot is located behind the battery (every time you want to change to memory card or get to it, you have to turn off the phone, take off the battery-cover, and remove the battery), personally this isn't really a big deal to me but it may be a issue to some. All in all this phone is jam packed with features and I think that this phone is perfect for buisness users as well as consumers alike.
Great phone for the average consumer
Before I start, I do want to advise that I *do not* have the data package, and do not use e-mail or web on my phone.
A history of my phones includes:
Moto RAZR
Moto SLVR
Moto KRZR
Nokia 6230
Nokia N75
SE W810i
Samsung D900
This phone does everything that a *phone* needs to do wonderfully, and that is to place and receive calls. First and foremost I use this as a phone, as such, the call quality and reception is well above average. It is too bad this phone does not have 3G, as the calls on my N75 were amazing, but for a GSM phone this is one of the best phones. The volume is very high, and the quality is above average. Pros and Cons listed as follows:
Cons-
Can't 'erase all' from the messages and call history list.
MP3 player only plays 1 song at a time (does not offer a playlist so to speak).
Screen gets dust under the screen (this is only visible when the screen is off, when the screen is on, it is not noticeable at all)
Only 1 alarm can be set (the razr allowed 5 alarms)
Screen does not go on when a text is received, and only goes on for about 10 seconds when a call comes in (meaning that the phone could still be ringing, but the screen is not on)
Pros-
Sure-type keypad is obviously not a full keypad, but it is amazingly faster than a regular keypad when texting.
Call quality/volume are superb.
I get reception in places the Moto's could not get any bars.
Phone is hands down the best looking phone I've ever had.
The trackball is easy to use- I don't think I can go back to scrolling with buttons.
Things that are average include the camera, speakerphone, battery life, and the fact there is no video recorder (doesn't matter much to me).
I can't speak on behalf of those who need a phone for the business world, but if you're looking to use this phone as the average joe would (calls and text), it does everything wonderfully.
Blackberry FTW (Cingular employee review)
After using the RIM 7130 with nothing but 100% great praise, I switched to the Pearl with high hopes. And, as I had assumed, the hopes were fulfilled.
Blackberry does it again; only this time with seamless integration with combining a phone, organizer, e-mail and multimedia device all into one unit. As a Cingular/at&t Wireless employee, I have used a wide variety of devices, ranging from:
-HTC 8125/8525
-RIM 7130/8100 Pearl/8300 Curve/8700/8800
-Samsung i607(BlackJack)
-Nokia N75
-Motorola V3i
-Motorola V3xx
-Samsung A707 (SYNC)
I must say I have returned to a RIM device EVERY TIME. I don't need anything more than my texts, e-mail, and internet in a phone device. I have always been happy with my RIM devices, as far as:
PROS:
-devices NEVER lock up
-durable
-easy to use
-SureType absolutely is the greatest if you give it time to accustom yourself
-customizable to no end, with free theme downloads
-GREAT voice quality
-very easy to use
-Spreadsheets are easy to view in attachments.
-Pics are actually of a very nice quality when uploading back to my laptop.
ONLY CONS WITH THE 8100 PEARL DEVICE:
-SOMEWHAT (and I do stress that) laggy when text messaging.
-like all Blackberries, no e-mail editing, no Word, PowerPoint, etc.
-No full GPS navigation (doesn't matter to me, but can be a turn-off for customers) ***still has the ability to give free directions in a MapQuest style.
I really can say I have tossed this phone 20 feet in the air, dozens of times. It does nothing more than pop the battery. Mine is dinged, scratched, and dented to hell. I still use it over anything they could give me for free. Ease of use is unprecedented. I just ordered the new 8300 Curve, and after using a demo I can seriously say it will be just as good and if not better than the Pearl! If you don't need Microsoft apps, steer clear of Windows OS devices. If you don't need the TeleNav full navigation that the 8800 offers, go with this or the 8300 Curve.
