Pros: Form meets function in a perfect blend.
Cons: SureType isn't perfect. Puts out a lot of interference.
The bottom line: Recommended for corporate users who need data access on the road.

About this review This review is based on heavy usage of the RIM BlackBerry “Pearl” 8100 for three months for both data and voice features. The phone is a “work” phone so functionality was weighed over price.

Getting the phone

My company has a contract with Cingular (now AT&T again), due to their international capabilities and rates, therefore I’m tied to Cingular devices and plans. BlackBerry’s have been around in my company for a couple years and I successfully had avoided them, not wanting to be “one of those people” with the big blue potholder sized device clipped to my belt, tethering me to my job at all times. I briefly experimented with a 7100 series BlackBerry and hated it. It was narrower than a standard BlackBerry, but had a “SureType” keyboard (2 letters per key), yet was still bulky and a pain.

The pressure for me to get a BlackBerry seemed to increase with every week and I’d always defer it with a standard “but I don’t like the devices.” My fingers were too big for easy typing on a Treo, and no other devices were compatible with my company’s IT wishes.

Then, one day, one of the IT guys comes into my office, and sets down this little black phone. “What’s this” I asked as I picked it up, examining it front and back. It was slim, compact, with a large color screen, a camera, all in a stylish package. “Is this some sort of new Nokia?” I puzzled. I looked up to see my IT guy grinning ear to ear, he knew he had me hooked.

When I saw that the Pearl had the SureType keyboard it immediately lessened in my eyes. I didn’t like it the first time, and I wouldn’t like it now I rationalized. But my IT guy was persistent, told me they updated the software, and to try it out for a couple days. It was already configured with my work email.

So I reluctantly took it, slid it into my pocket, and forgot about it.

About the phone

At 3.1oz and a depth of .6 inches, it was lighter and slimmer then my Verizon LG personal phone, and the Nextel I carry. In fact, I still find myself patting my pocket to make sure it’s actually in there. It’s 4.2” tall and 2.0” wide. A little wider than a standard phone, but not much taller than a flip phone with antenna (the Pearl doesn’t have a protruding antenna).

The full-color screen is 240 x 260 pixels and although one of the smaller BlackBerry screens, it’s easy to read.

One key difference between the Pearl and older generation BlackBerry’s can be found in the center of the phone. Instead of the scroll-wheel on the side, there’s now a little trackball (the sensitivity of which can be adjusted). Traditional BlackBerry users say it takes a little time to get used to, but I had no trouble picking it up as a first full-time user. The advantage of the trackball is that instead of limiting you to only vertical scrolling, it also allows for horizontal. Pressing the trackball down is like clicking a mouse on a standard PC.

The keyboard is arranged in a QWERTY layout with number keys in the middle. I’m not going to lie, it takes a little getting used to at first, but a week or so of usage will have you pecking out short emails with ease.

In addition to the keyboard, and a couple function keys, there is a green phone button (initiate) and red phone button (end). The red button also functions as a power switch. There is a back button and a “BlackBerry” button, which is the everything button. It is under this button, that you’ll find the full functionality of the phone.

There’s a PTT (push to talk) button on the side of the Cingular device, but unlike Nextel’s it costs extra. There are two quick keys on the right side as well.

The phone has a mute feature as well as a speaker phone.

There is a memory card slot for micro-SD (sold separately).

The back of the phone is the lens for the 1.3 MP camera, and the access to the rechargeable lithium-ion battery and SIM card. The phone can either be charged through USB connectivity or via a standard wall outlet.

Voice features

First and foremost a BlackBerry is a phone, right? Previous generations of BlackBerry’s were notorious for having poor voice quality and were clumsy to use as a phone. This is where the Pearl really shines, the size and shape make it feel like a phone. It feels natural pressed against your ear and voice quality is perfect (assuming good signal). The Pearl is Bluetooth enabled as well.

Dialing on the Pearl is simple, with number keys in the center of the phone, in a layout like every other phone. The only disadvantage I’ve found is that when you have to enter an access code that has letters in it, it can be confusing, as the system you’re dialing into is based on a standard 3 letters per number phone.

Voice dialing is simple to configure, and depending on how much memory you’re sucking up via other applications, can be limited.

Data

My Cingular Pearl runs off the EDGE network. It’s not incredibly fast, but isn’t very frustrating.

Internet connectivity is established through the BlackBerry browser which is relatively intuitive. As with any mobile device, webpages don’t display like they do on a computer and are compressed and put into a vertical format. It helps if you’ve navigated a page on a PC before you access it via mobile web, as you’ll have a better understanding of where things are.

Customizable settings can enable / disable all sorts of different options which can speed up displays.

Not all websites are accessible via the mobile web, and others offer only a paired down version. For example, delta.com reached via the mobile web will give you flight status updates, and will let you login to your SkyMiles account, but you can’t buy a ticket, process a refund, or do anything complex. And, at the time of writing, if you go to usairways.com, you just get a white page.

E-mail

BlackBerry’s were made for email, right?

I have four email accounts patched into my BlackBerry. One, webmail (gmail), two Pop3’s, and my work email which requied my IT department to set-up via an Enterprise server. Setting up my personal email accounts was very simple, and takes about 5 minutes. Each has it’s own separate mail file on my BlackBerry’s desktop and then there’s one “together” mail file, which is also where my work e-mail gets dumped.

For all of my webmails, when I compose a message it tags them with a “Sent from my Cingular BlackBerry Mobile Device” (or something similar). I haven’t figured out a hack to get rid of this, and I find it annoying. It doesn’t tag my work emails with this, thankfully.

Work e-mails do not contain my usual work signature, which is how people can tell I’m not in the office.

Viewing attachments can be done with most standard Microsoft Office programs, as well as .pdfs. They’re usually displayed in plain text, therefore all formatting is lost. You can, however, make an edit to a document on the blackberry, and reattach to an email and it will display properly. It’s a little tricky, but definitely a cool feature.

Most of my coworkers don’t bother editing documents on their BlackBerry however, and I do it only on a rare occasion.

Because my work has not upgraded to the new Enterprise server, I am unable to view encrypted documents, which can be a pain.

There’s another “secret” feature of BlackBerry’s, that not a lot of people know about. If you’re typing a message to another BlackBerry user, if you have their PIN you can send them a direct message that goes direct to the other BlackBerry and not via a server (so it’s a bit faster) – or at least that’s my understanding of how it works. Establishing a PIN contact is also how you enable BlackBerry Messenger, which is a chat like system.

It should be noted that if you travel with your BlackBery, in order to receive data – even if you’re in the US – you have to enable data transmission at all times (I had mine originally set to off when roaming).

I have my e-mail set to store messages for 30 days, which seems to be fine for the 64MB device.

Other applications

The calendar function replicates with my work server over the air, so there’s no need to constantly replicate my BlackBerry with my computer. I can also access my work address book over the air, but need to connect via a USB cable to my computer to update the personal address book.

Maps and GPS come pre-loaded on the phone but don’t seem to work very well in my attempts at using them.

There are a few freeware applications, like “Berry411” that can be downloaded for free and, in the 411 instance, work like a virtual YellowPages, which is great if you travel a lot.

And as with any standard mobile phone, there’s an alarm clock, text messaging (SMS) capability, picture messaging, memo pad, and a variety of other applications.

So how do I like it?

I have to admit, I really like my Pearl. It’s compact, and functions well as a phone. The data features make it that much nicer than a regular cell phone.

I have two complaints about my Pearl – the first is the fact that I hate being “that person” with an annoying ring-tone, so I always have it set on vibrate. The problem is that my new e-mail notification vibrate is essentially two rings. Because I receive over 100 emails a day, I don’t reach for the phone every time I feel it vibrate. But, if I feel more than two “buzzes” then it’s a phone call and now I’m left scrambling to answer the phone before it goes to voicemail after five rings.

The second problem is that there’s an incredible amount of interference associated with this phone. If you have unshielded appliances (external speakers for a computer), televisions, landline phones, etc. you’re going to get a lot of interference.

My other problem, and this isn’t a device problem, is Cingular / AT&T. I had them for a personal phone provider for about a year and dumped them because they have abysmal customer service. The same holds true today and if I wasn’t locked into a corporate contract, I would not use them.

The battery life of the device is impressive too. Rated at 15 hours of talk time and 15 days of standby, that’s not bad. How does that translate to real world usage? I can take a two day business trip, with heavy usage, and not run out of juice.

Also, the SIM card likes to pop out of its holder on occasion, which is mildly annoying.

The OS, which is a BlackBerry based system is very simple to use and is a bit more user-friendly than the palm baesd OS’ I’m familiar with and the stupid Windows Mobile OS.

My thoughts on SureType

I’m not a big fan of SureType, but the size it saves you, compared to a full keyboard, is worth it. The Pearl has a better, “progressive” SureType that learns what words you frequently type. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad either. SureType can be a pain when you’re adding things like e-mail addresses to your address book, but that’s what the PC is for.

Most people associate SureType with T9, but this isn’t fair. Because you have only two letters per key, the changes of typing the wrong word are drastically reduce (although it does still happen) and, unlike T9 where if you type the wrong word and you hit delete, then type the same sequence again it will type the original word. SureType realizes that it goofed, and will type the other word.

Comparison to the 8800

The newest BlackBerry is the 8800, and I was offered to upgrade to that through my company. I played with it for about a day and decided to stick with the Pearl. Although the 8800 is roughly the same size as the Pearl (a little wider), it has the advantage of having a full QWERTY keyboard. But the keys are so small, I was hitting multiple keys with my fat thumbs, which defeated the purpose of having the full keyboard.

Recommend for

I recommend this phone for corporate users who travel frequently, and don’t feel like lugging their laptops for a fast business trip. Personal users could get decent functionality out of it, but why do you need non-stop access to your e-mail? It seems like a bit of an overkill to have $100 phone plan for personal usage in my opinion ($100 on Cingular buys you 400 minutes and unlimited data).

Other

BlackBerry Pearl is available in a variety of colors on various networks. For complete specs, visit blackberrypearl.com or cnet.com (I’ve tried to integrate the most important specs into the text of the review).