BlackBerry Pearl 8100 > Reviews > Blackberry Pearl 8100 Review - Great Smartphone!

Author's product rating:   

Look & Feel	Excellent
Durability & Robustness	Very Strong
Reception quality	Good
Battery standby time	Excellent
Value for money	Good
Range of features	Large selection

Advantages:	Blackberry functionality, great looking, features for both business and consumer use
Disadvantages:	Interface is perhaps a little dated

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Research in Motion (RIM) have been around for almost ten years, creating fantastic corporate wireless devices like no other. Not surprising then, that in 2007, the number of Blackberry users reached 8 million and is continually on the rise. Originally aimed at large corporations with the Blackberry's appealing wireless email services and corporate functionality such as calendar, contacts and tasks synchronisation, Blackberry have now created a device which goes even further and offers a few more consumer friendly features.

Aimed at both business users and consumers simultaneously,
Blackberry have done a good job at being able to get the right balance between the two very different types of users. The Pearl is the first Blackberry device to feature multimedia features such as a built in camera with a flash, music and video playback features and of course the first thing that makes the Pearl more appealing than other Blackberry devices: a sexy, slim line body. This phone weighs almost nothing - it's certainty the lightest I've ever held, yet one of the most feature-packed. It is a 'candy-bar' shape and feels nice to hold. It's shiny, professional and attractive - the best of all worlds. It has an impressive talk time of 3.5 hours and an even more impressive stand-by time of over two weeks. Of course it has all the standard features you'd expect in a phone of this calibre, including a powerful web browser, voice dialling, speakerphone, micro SD card slot (which you will of course need, in order to expand the built-in 64MB of memory), USB port, headphones jack and more. The camera is 2.0 megapixels with a 5x digital zoom and a flash.

The most attractive feature from any Blackberry device is it's email functionality and of course this Blackberry is no exception. Email can be pushed to your Blackberry, but remember that you must use a wireless carrier (phone operator) with a Blackberry supported data plan. It is available on all UK networks, and Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T Mobility (Cingular Wireless), Verizon, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, Alltel and Cellular One in the US.

Some of the special features exclusive to the Pearl include the modified QWERTY keyboard layout which is laid out across 4 rows and 5 columns with a predictive input algorithm known as SureType. Another unique Pearl feature is where it gets it's name from - the centre point of the device, i.e. the pearl. The pearl is a white track-ball which has replaced the traditional blackberry scroll wheel in this device. It will scroll both horizontally and vertically. A third party application can even be used to change the colour of the pearl from it's default glowing white.

All-in-all, the Blackberry Pearl is a great Blackberry device - also one of the cheapest. If you're new to Blackberry, or a consumer who wants Blackberry functionality but doesn't want to ditch the gadgets such as the camera and music player which comes with most consumer mobile phones, I'd strongly recommend it.