RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8100

Price: $.01 - $.01

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Best device in a long time -- BlackBerry Pearl01/20/07

Pros:

Keypad, MP3 player, Camera, Call Clarity, Signal Strength, Screen Quality, Ease of Use, Speakerphone

Cons:

Battery life, Battery Cover Door, Backlighting Options

The Pearl is one of the best devices I've used in quite some time. Whether you're looking for a simple phone, or a corporate e-mail and internet solution, the Pearl has a little bit of everything for everyone. First of all, the Pearl doesn't look anything like the BlackBerry that I was used to -- it's slim, sleek and very "phone-like." No more holding a scientific calculator up to your ear to make a call!!



With all of it's phone-like qualities and features, such as the MP3 player, 1.3 Megapixel Camera with Flash, kinda-QWERTY keypad, etc., it's simply familiar to most users.



With the more advanced features, such as the BlackBerry Internet Service or Enterprise Solutions, Real web browsing, downloadable programs, document viewers, etc., it's a great alternative to the users like me who can't stand the Microsoft SmartPhone solutions.



Overall, the software - being upgradable as new features are introduced - is really easy to use. Although it's very "texty," and doesn't have a lot of colorful icons and pretty menus, it's very reliable, fast and easy to use. Microsoft Windows Mobile is slow and unstable (much like their PC Windows versions), and the BlackBerry OS is much like that of a MAC in stability comparison.



I would highly recommend the Pearl to anyone who is looking for a phone with all of the features and functions that a PDA has, without the bulkiness.



One of the bigger Cons listed above is the Backlighting Options. To touch on that, let me explain. When I first got the Pearl, you could turn "Auto Brightness" on or off - making the screen a constant brightness, which I preferred. In the new software upgrades, BlackBerry removes that option, and sets the feature to "On" automatically. Unfortunately, it seems a bit backwards - go into a dark room, the screen gets darker, move under bright lights or the sun and the screen gets brighter. I'm sure it was due to the less than desirable battery life, but it doesn't seem to improve that area as much as it should. This issue is not enough for me not to love the Pearl, however, and I'm still a huge fan!



Get the Pearl - you won't be sorry! The Desktop software even allows you to transfer data to/from Outlook, Excel, Act and other contact databases. It also allows you to switch from a different device (i.e.: your Windows Mobile device) to the Pearl, importing most data seamlessly.