BlackBerry Pearl 8130 user reviews (dark purple, Sprint)

Pros Easy to learn to use, sprint tv, gps navigation, 2 megapixel camera, camcorder, bright display, and fast on sprint's network.

Cons keypad is going to take some time to get used to.

Summary I've had the blackberry for 2 days now. I found it easy to use compared to the phones that have windows mobile 6 on it. I like all the features such as the tv, radio, gps, sprint music store, camera, camcorder, and all the other features. It says you can view all the ms word, powerpoint, and pdf files however I have been unable to figure out how to do that yet. The keypad will take a little bit to get used to but I don't think it's too bad. I really like the browser. I was able to check my bank account, facebook, myspace, and yahoo mail. I just wish that I could figure out how to read the word and pdf files on it. Overall, I feel this is a great phone.

Pros Handsome, fast, extremely portable

Cons I could not type on it. So small, and the lack of a full qwerty keyboard made this too difficult for me.

Summary This is a beautiful phone. I was so excited to receive it. Once in hand, it was staggeringly small and light. But my issue was with being able to type. Others say they were able to master this, but I was not able to. I returned within a week, greatly saddened, as the phone offered many of the features I wanted, but it just would not work for me.

Pros Looks nice. Can override the SureType feature.

Cons This phone has a lot of features, but apperently they weren't developed together or tested together. My phone will get "stuck" and the hourglass will rotate round and round ... it won't even turn off . I have to reboot it 2x a day.

Summary I think they call it the Craskberry since it behaves like it is on Crack. It crashes all the time and the applications do not work well together. I don't know how much of the software is by Blackberry and how much by Sprint, so it is hard to know where to lay the blame. I have never been this frustrated by a piece of technology and I have been using computers since DOS and working in software startups for 20 years. This phone has a lot of features, but apperently they weren't developed together or tested together. And you really can't download very many before you hit the memory limit. Even with no "extra" apps loaded, my phone will get "stuck" and the hourglass will rotate round and round and round... When it gets like this it won't even turn off for 10 minutes. I called Sprint and the woman was very helpful (truly) by letting me know that I need to remove the battery when the phone is on to reboot it. This has saved me many times - but to the tune of once or twice a day. If I am on a call and the calendar gives me a reminder, the phone locks up. Sometimes when I call e-mail with the "push the 1 button for a long time" feature, it will connect me to voicemail and simultaneously enable the speakerphone and the mute key so that if I enter the password the keys are not "heard" by voicemail and it is useless. It erases all text messages after you read them unless you purposely save them (I have looked all over to try to figure out an override for this). The "message" alert will show that you have a voicemail, but you can't just click on it to get to voicemail - you have to go through one of the other channels. And if you don't call right away, the reminder disappears (since it is really a text message) and it is easy to forget. The "themes" make little sense. The SureType makes it nearly impossible to type in the web address you want (the MultiTap override is nice, but must be reset every time I reboot the phone). The phone lets you take/store around 4 lowest-res pictures, and does NOT let you erase the 10 or so default pictures - I mean really, even free phones let you have a bunch of Picture IDs. I bouight the 2GB memory card and it only seems to be good for storing photos, mp3s, ring tones, etc. and is not used as extra memory which I think this phone needs in order to work correctly. Also, I pay for GPS service, but was not prepared to find out that the phone has no GPS software (except a 2 week trial that you can renew for $9.99/month). I can buy a real GPS for $100. and not have to pay another cent. The internet is slow, the Sprint TV unwatchable (2-3 words out of each sentence with long pauses), and the GPS often cannot find my location. If you are out of range and the phone can't find a satellite connection, the hourglass spins and you can't even get to the other apps (i.e. to look up a phone number at a phone booth). I bought it because I needed a PDA. I can't use it efficiently as one. Te phone book is amatuerish - you can set categories, but cannot easliy sort by category. The phone log only shows you a list of names ordered by who you talked to last, but none of the useful info like when the call was, how long you talked, etc. that I am used to from even very very basic cell phones. You can set categories for the names in your address book but it takes many steps to sort by them and by default it shows all names of all people. I have a number of names in there that I may call once a year but need on hand, but I don't want to see them all the time. The Palm Pilot does this stuff much better. I am constantly amazed at how something with such a loyal and excited user base as Blackberry could put out a product that seems like an alpha or beta version. I'm writing this off the top of my head so have probably even forgotton stuff. My swearing has reached new high levels and my productivity new lows. Palm had this stuff figured out years ago and does it much better. I'm switching back.

Pros From what I hear many people did not like the sure type feature but for me coming from a Samsung A-920 that had to have every text typed and hunted for it's a blessing. I also love the size of the phone its not too bulky.

Cons The only con I have is that when the phone stops working it really breaks down. I have run into some problems with the track ball and memory issues which were solved with the purchase of a memory card.

Summary I love this product. I love the fact that at the touch of a button I have all my emails right in front of me. Not to mention the GPS that comes standard on my device that in serious times of need have helped me navigate my way out and around Dallas and other cities I have been sent to because of my job. Oh yeah the color does not hurt I mean being born in February and being able to rock my birth color everyday. Being on the Sprint network and being able to take advantage of their fully capable entertainment network and features that come with the plan that you select.. All I can say is thank you Blackberry for this phone. They might want to really think about creating this phone with a bigger memory just a suggestion.