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
Be Careful
This Phone!! No way.
I got the phone from Rogers wireless. They sold me this phone saying the best of all the phones....
Battery life sux.
Scroll button would not work....
I had to send this phone for repair to BB. They sent me a refurbished phone saying that it was brand new. Bunch of crucks.
No video.
Camera quality of picture is not good at all, You can see blurry pic.
BB Screen can barely survive in cold winter time. Indoor and Outdoor temp difference causes screen to crack.
I suggest get iPhone or any phone but BB.
This phone is great!
This is a very very solid phone! It is great for all of the people who want a smart phone, but really don't want to deal with the size, touch screen, slide etc. The pearl has been out for a while, and it still continues to sell--that must say something! Blackberry has been doing their job for years, and they have gotten really good at it.
The camera isn't great, neither is the flash--however, it's a phone and the phone is good! Emails come right away, and using the phone is easy. It offers enough features for seasoned smart phone users to enjoy, and easy enough for first time users to have a easy time with it. The keypad looks difficult, but it is very easy to use. The battery life on this phone is great. I am currently using another TMobile phone with horrible battery life, and I am going back to the Pearl next month when I save up enough money to buy it. It's a very inexpensive phone for all that it does!!
The screen isn't that great, and I understand the size of the phone is small, but putting it next to the blackberry Curve makes the screen look so cheap! If you have to choose I would say the Curve for the same features, but the Pearl for the size.
I gave this a 4 and not a 5 for the mere fact, it has some bugs--like everything in life, so nothing is perfect and I didn't want you to think it was!
Great phone!
I've had this phone for over 6 months now and it's pretty sweet! BE FOREWARNED that you can not use any sort of data service (with AT&T anyways) if you do not have a BB Net plan...this means NO E-MAILS, only SMS text! I don't use the web or e-mails a lot on a phone, but it would have been nice to send the occasional e-mail and get charged for the use, ya know? If you know how to send an e-mail without bbnet, please let me know!
PROS:
~Voice Dialing is amazing!
~Nice, clear screen!
~Decent Camera
~Easy to use keyboard(send messages wicked fast!)
~No need to program Voice Dialing!
~Standard USB port so you don't have to buy any special cord!
~Pretty simple navigation!
~Trackball is awesome!
~VOICE DIALING IS AMAZING!(it reads your voice!)
~Battery life is good, two days without charging for average use (with Bluetooth on!)
CONS:
~micro SD behind battery
~Speaker phone clarity could be better
~If you take the battery out and put it back in (to hard re-start the phone) it takes forever to come back on!
~from home screen and start to type in a person's name to call, it java errors. So I actually have to go into the address book. =(
Overall, it's a sweet phone, especially if you like the candy bar style! I'm more of a flip-phone person but the voice dialing and the ease of the keyboard could not be beat!
WOW !...Just WOW !
This is my 1st BB and I must say that I am impressed. The Pearl replaced my RAZR and I must say that it was a quantum leap forward. I have not even began to use all of the email/web features of this phone and I am totally blown away. I will report back with those findings in another review later down the road but for now I will list pros/cons for the basic usage I use the phone for right now which is the synching of my work calendar, contact list, voice quality, etc.
PROS:
Both speakerphone and voice are so loud I must turn volume down.
Screen is beautiful, even in daylight.
Voice dialing is AWESOME !
Tracball is sweet !
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 synchs with my car flawlessly.
CONS:
Camera/picture quality = fair.
Flash = useless.
The basic functionality of this phone is so user friendly. The menus are setup so that if you accidentely go out of one and go back into it again it takes you to where you left off last in that menu instead of starting all over again. Thank you RIM for both voice and speakerphone volume that is soo loud it has to be turned down on both ! The voice dialing is unbelievable how it automatically recognizes contacts without setting up voice tags and if 1 contact has multiple numbers it asks you which one to call...IT IS AWESOME ! This is by far the best phone I have ever owned and I am so glad I went with this one over the Blackjack. I will report back with more findings as I discover them
I highly recommend this phone, it was well worht the $$$ to me !
Best Consumer device for email
Am using the Cingular Pearl. Came from a Samsung Blackjack, which, on paper, is everything one could want in a device. It had 3G, full keyboard, good form factor and expandability. However, what made me switch was the poor implementation of push email and the battery life.
So why did I switch to the Pearl and what are my comments after 1 wk with the device?
Pros
1)Email. Pearl's email is amazing. I am set up to receive my corp email via BES and it works flawlessly. Sometimes I get my email on the Pearl before it hits my inbox at work. You can also set it up to receive 10 other internet/pop3 emails.
2)Form Factor. Even better than Blackjack. Smaller, lighter, narrower. Reminds me of a Motorola SLVR. It is very pocketable.
3)Battery Life. Tremendous vs Blackjack.
4)EDGE. I was concerned about going down from 3G. I have to tell you, EDGE seems almost as fast, and is, according to the results I am getting from speed test using the opera browser.
5)Screen. Blackjack screen is also good. Bright, adjusts in sunlight so it is readable outside. Blackjack was not.
6)Suretype. my biggest worry was suretype. i am now its biggest fan. if you don't look at the screen and just type, the Pearl guesses the word correctly almost every time. However, suretype is not as good for entering web addresses.
7)RF. Has been very good. Blackjack was also very strong. Getting terrific signal.
8)Audio. almost too loud. have spearker on middle setting.
9)MediaPlayer/Camera. 2gig memory card. can even put a movie on the card. camera is good but not great at 1.3mp.
Cons:
1)Bluetooth. Has been a little flaky with my car. Blackjack and V3i always worked perfectly.
2)Battery door. it does feel flimsy and bows out a little.
I use email 20x vs web so for me the Pearl is and easy winner over Blackjack. The push email on the Pearl is unmatched by any other non-blackberry product from my experience.
Almost Great
I had the Pearl for about a month, it is really a great phone my only problem was the suretype keyboard is a little small and started to cramp up my fingers, anyway, pros and cons:
Pros
-E-mail of course
-Speed of applications and overall phone usage
-Size is amazing for a blackberry
-Trackball is the coolest, no need for touchscreens
Cons
-Sound quality of music and calls not as good as it could/should be
-Keyboard is too small
-e-mail and text/mms in one folder
It's a really good phone especially for $100 after rebate.
I finally got it right!!!!!!!!
The heading is exactly what I meant; I got it right! I have 2 lines through T-Mobile (3 with my son on a family plan.) I've had this pearl for a week. Already it's light years ahead of my other phone which is that God-awful Nokia 8801. I spent $500 on that POS, which is probably one of the stupidest purchases I've ever made.
I'm still learning this phone but my experience so far has been great. The EDGE technology T-Mobile uses is very fast, sound quality is superb, menu is very simple to navigate through, battery life is exceptional. My absolute only gripe about this phone so far is the owner's manual. It is very vague, and for the amount of features this phone has there should be more detail in the manual. Outside of that I have complaints.
Pearl a definet keeper!
I was debating between this fon and the htc dash, I ended up getting the pearl in the end. This fon is awesome, very small, sleek and lots of multimedia a new start for bb.
I was using a moto v360 I got this past april and decided I needed a pda for my business. I have pretty good allover service on this fon but I wont get into that as of course it varies depending on location.
Pros:
Small/sleek design
Camera/Video
Media PLayer
Pearl navigation is nice!
Large high-res screen
Bluetooth
Nice web Browser! Anything from myspace to cbs sports line.
19.99 bb unlimited data is pretty hard to beat! (current bb srvc)
Cons:
keypad is qwerty but letters are doubled together on one key, takes some getting used to.
Almost too light felt as if I was gonna drop it when I first got it.
Camera is 1.3 MP but still lacks a lil in my opinon.
Definetly more of an email fon than a txt (sms) one, But thats ok for me.
well not too many cons on this device, very cool fon and I recommend getting it if you are even considering getting a pda. 4.5 our of 5.0, almost a perfect fon in my opinon.
Everyone should have this phone!
Wow. When i got this phone i looked in the box and said wheres the rest of my phone. This phone is the smallest phone Ive ever owned. Forget the razr or the slvr this phone tops em all. And with the migration from the wheel (old models) to the Mini track ball (this model) was genius. I love how the little ball lights up too.
This phone is very powerful with Email and Synchronization with the PC including Outlook and Groupwise.
PROS:
Very Clear Screen
Changeable Fonts and Theme (Downloadable themes too)
Maps and Directions at your fingertips
Trackball
Programmable convenience keys
Long Battery Life
Fast typing despite the absence of qwerty
Voice dailing and voice commands
Super Small (smallest blackberry ever)
CONS:
Is it too small?
Ringtones could be louder
Great Phone Love it
I love this phone it has great features almost anything that you need. it has a great interface and everything is laid out great. Amazing service and good call quality. the camera on this phone is fantastic for only a 1.3 mp. i actually used it in my anatomy class to take pictures to study off of.
One thing about phone is that although the phone may seem like its hard to type on at first(especially test and email), don't be discouraged just keep at it and it will become second nature to you.
