 "Very usable and takes decent pictures" | 2008-07-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3L3E4FXMBDAY5 |
I've had this phone since October of 07 and it's held up very well to the abuse I've put it through. It's very easy to use, just get through the set up wizard, install the BB organizer on your PC and enjoy. The qwerty key pad is great for typing out E-mails for my work while off-site. Any E-mails or pics I receive can easily be put onto my home pc with the usb cord and software that comes with the phone. I can also send decent pictures of my son to my family across the country whenever I feel the need.
My only problem with this phone is finding a durable case which isn't the phones fault, but I gone through 2 swivel cases and a silicone case in the last 9 months.
I do recommend getting some additional memory if you plan on using this for an mp3 player or take loads of pictures. |
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 "good phone...." | 2008-07-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A33GJO0W22LF8J |
| I have this phone and I know others that own it too, while I do love it, I have had several problems with the trackball and know others have too. |
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| "No On/Off Switch" | 2008-06-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1FEJUKLTRACYC |
Who was the idiot that decided to leave out an on/off switch? As a result, whenever there is a problem, you have to remove the back, pull out the battery, wait, reinsert the battery, and wait for about a 2 minute reboot. Reminds me of how long I have to wait for a Microsoft operating system to boot up. This was a huge oversight by some Blackberry engineer. I am glad he's not a brain surgeon - he might have forgotten anesthesia.
This device is an OK phone. It does not always pick up all of the email. I don't like the small keyboard (difficult for a man's fingers). Overall, I would not buy this product again. |
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 "The best phone yet" | 2008-06-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2MSIG4QN7S87K |
I'm not a phone geek, and I don't pretend to be a subject matter expert, but this is the best phone I've ever used. The screen looks great, the phone is very strong (I've dropped it many many times), the buttons and scroll ball are easy to use, text messaging is easy (it guesses what I'm typing 9 times out of 10), it is packed with features, and it was free (with 2-years service contract).
NO complaints. |
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| "How much I missed my BlackBerry!" | 2008-05-22 |
| - Reviewed By _askmanny |
For a few years I used a work-paid Pocket PC. As I wasn't paying for it, I took what I was given but I was disappointed with the unit for the most part. Prior to it I had been a BlackBerry user for a while and had loved it.
The 8100 Pearl is not only slick-looking: it delivers on the promise. The interface has now migrated away from the wheel on the side to the tracking ball in the front. Navigation continues to be a breeze and typing is not sacrificed by combining multiple letters into the same key, thanks to the smarts of the device that typically identify the word you are typing as you go.
Most of the pre-installed software runs like a charm and is intuitive to use. The main exception is the browser. Luckily you can download and run Opera Mini for free to get a nice mobile browsing experience.
The camera takes great pictures when you have good light. It doesn't perform as well doing indoor photos, but what do you want for 1.3 MP?
All in all, I now realize how much I had been missing my BlackBerry. I don't know you iPhone users out there. BlackBerry is with me for good! |
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| "Best of the Best" | 2008-05-02 |
| - Reviewed By wjo13 |
| This is hands down the best phone I have ever used. I have been using cell phones since the time they came in a suitcase, and computers filled up the entire floor of a building. This phone not only functions as a great phone, but also functions as a mini computer. I can get my email anywhere in the country, take pictures of a job and email them to my office for imediate review. I can search the internet for anything that I might be interested in. With the bluetooth function I can talk handsfree in my car or on my motorcycle. The small size makes it easy to stick in a pocket, or it doesn't take up much room in a holster. I would recommend this phone to anyone. As a matter of fact two of my adult kids have Pearls also. |
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| "OK Phone But Has Major Problems" | 2008-04-27 |
| - Reviewed By t_aku |
I actually bought the 8130 Pink Pearl from Verizon. It's a very attractive upgrade of the 8100. The phone has an excellent form factor, fitting in your hand, pocket, or purse easily. You would think that being an upgrade most of the problems others have identified here would have been resolved. Not so, at least where bluetooth technology is concerned. If I left bluetooth turned on in the 8130 but left the ear bud turned off, everything worked fine. But as soon as I turned on the ear piece, it became a crap shoot. I could make and receive calls just fine. But when the call ended, and the party on the other end of the call hungup before I did, there was a 50-50 chance that my pink pearl would lockup. No amount of button pushing would unfreeze the unit. My only choice was to remove the battery, as others have already noted. That means that if you're driving your car or truck, you have to pull over to the side of the road to get your phone working again. Unacceptable!!
My second problem was one I foresaw, but didn't believe it would impact on me as much as it did. That is the compact keyboard. When I bought the phone, I really didn't expect to use the keyboard that much. It was there for emergency use only. Little did I know. I needed to respond to the very first email that was pushed to my phone, and that was a nightmare. While the ads say the phone has a qwerty keyboard layout, they really should say it has a qwerty-like layout. I was forever hunting for the right key.
Then came the SureType feature that's supposed to intelligently guess your next character or word. To be fair, the technology did seem to do a decent job, but I after three weeks I still had not gotten used to it. I think that was because it kept distracting my mind, dragging it away from what I wanted to type and which keys I needed to press for the correct letter. The problem was bad enough in the end that I tried to turn the option off. I followed the instructions to the letter, but the software would not properly deactivate the SureType thing. After a couple more days of trying, I finally gave it up and took the unit back to Verizon before my evaluation period expired.
I replaced the Pearl with the Verizon Blackberry 8830 World Phone. I haven't yet had a chance to fully explore that phone, but I can say that there is no SureType look ahead feature getting in my way, I no longer have any typing problems, and I haven't had to remove the battery because of a software problem causing the unit to lockup.
If all you need is a phone, the Pearl is probably more phone than you will ever need. But if you need to respond to email, type URLs into the browser, create memos, or even add a lot of contacts directly into your address book, don't look to the Pearl. Step up to a full size Blackberry. |
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| "Good phone...lots of buttons and handy features." | 2008-03-25 |
| - Reviewed By youngblood500 |
| Great phone. The calander is handy. The only downfall is that you cant create video messages or recieve video messages. The keyboard is great for text messages. The phone does take some getting use to. It seems more complicated then your average cell phone. |
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| "sleek, classy design is awesome" | 2008-02-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A39P97T2YBB6LM |
| The Blackberry Pearl 8100 is a very sleek, trim handheld. This phone is an organizer, trendsetter, and techno-saavy combo in one. Once you get a Blackberry Pearl, there's no turning back. |
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 "Problematic phone!" | 2008-02-08 |
| - Reviewed By riversmelissa2 |
| The smaller size of this popular BlackBerry 8100 Pearl myFaves Phone (T-Mobile)is very nice, but I found basic functionality of this model very poor. Reception didn't compare to other phones I have, and speaker feedback problems never went away despite swapping 4 phones and 2 SIM cards. Voice dialing recognition was useless. I've moved on to a different model.... |
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