RIM BlackBerry Pearl - black (T-Mobile)

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 262 reviews Back to product review
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 7 out of 7 people found this review helpful

  4.5 stars

  "So glad I upgraded!"

  by ryanindc on October 2, 2006

  Pros: perfectly sized, trackball is fantastic, 50 people asked what it was in 2 days

  Cons: keyboard is a little smaller, vibration a little weaker than other BB's

  Summary: I upgraded last week to the Pearl after 3 months with my 7105t. What a difference! I read several reviews of the Pearl before upgrading, including CNet's, and was a little concerned with the claim that call quality was not up to par. Nonsense! Clairty is much improved over my 7105. The voices sounds a bit more digitized, but at least I can hear everything. Reception is also improved, allowing me to talk in every room of my house in DC. (My 7105 only worked on the porch.) My friend also upgraded that day and calls between the two of us have never been clearer, which proves to me it truly is the phone making the difference.
  
  Some people have complained about the trackball instead of the track wheel. While I admit it takes a little getting used to, it's much easier after a couple days. I've been addicted to BB for 3 years and switching away from the trackwheel is fine by me. The ability to scroll in an email to the word you want makes editing an email much less frustrating.
  
  Physically the size is wonderful. I remember thinking the 7105 was a great size, and now I'm almost embarassed by its clunkiness. the Pearl fits in your pants pocket and you almost forget it's there.
  
  Having EDGE helps a lot, and the camera is a handy feature even if it's not great quality. I also like that it has a dedicated button, and after you take a picture it allows you to email it right from the screen instead of saving and then going to attach it later. It's the simple things!
  
  As far as the media, I bought a 1 gig card for it and loaded it up. One thing to keep in mind is that the software won't let you transfer filees bigger than 3MB. Most MP3s are a little over that. I downloaded a shareware program that reduces the size of the mp3 (reducing quality slightly, but not upsettingly) and put about 100 songs on the first day, though I have room for plenty more. I bought a set of Jabra C220 headphones for $25 and they sound great--plus they have the built in mic and answer/end button. Pressing the button without a call coming in pauses the media player so you can order a cup of coffee, etc. I have a big MP3 player and I like that for my commute I don't have to lug it around. This definitely fills the void. I don't think the media player is as antiquated as a lot of people are saying. It's not an ipod, it's a blackberry! Video is surprisingly good as well. And I love using your music tracks as your ringtone. Even after listening to a few hours of music, battery life was still great.
  
  My concerns so far are few, but include the screen. I just have a feeling it's going to scratch as it is flush with the housing. Can't do much about that, but it's so pretty I'll hate the day that it happens. As I mentioned before, camera quality is kind of crappy, but that's what digital cameras are for. The smaller suretype keyboard isn't going to be for everyone, but i haven't made that many mistakes. I usually use the email feature for shorter responses, but if I had to write articles on it I would probably go for something with a full qwerty anyway. The vibrator on this is a little less than the 7105, but you can still tell when you're getting a call. Plus you can set the profile to vibrate three times if you want to be sure you don't miss something.
  
  All in all, it's a beautiful phone (causes a lot of geek envy so far) that works better than my 7105. I'm hooked. Plus it's only 200 bucks if you're upgrading at tmobile. I had only recently upgraded and so they charged me 250, but i probably would have paid more.

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• 1 reply to this review

• reply by: mdsofky on December 14, 2006

  I just set one up for one of our employees, and I LOVE it (the rollerball took getting used to, then in a little while, it seemed a lot more natural than the wheel). You put files larger than 3MB if you have a SD Micro card (which it doesn't ship with). You are limited to 2.88MB or less if you are copying directly to the BB's memory.

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