RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8100

User reviews and rating

Long Term Review, as in 1.5years

12 Oct 2008 Dan

6 out of 10

About a year and a half ago I had a sidekick.  I had been stuck on that phase and had the first sidekick all the way to the third edition of it, but the phone was horrible.  I upgrade to this phone and was pleased at first, but I quickly met the phones limitations.  The built in IM client with t-mobile is horrible, I switched to Jivetalk through Beejive.  In terms of instant messaging this phone is great, web browsing with opera mini is okay, and media/pictures is horrible.  The phone slows down a great deal when any sort of application is opened, ie. opening the file browser for photos or music.  The phone had held up well until this past summer, the trackball started to not function properly.  I had to take the trackball unit apart and clean it.  This worked, but would fail and require cleaning nearly every week (Later I discovered it was not that it was dirty, the sensor was simply failing).  About a month ago the trackball simply stopped scrolling down despite my efforts it will no longer scroll down.  This essentially makes the phone absolutely useless.  I have always used a screen protector, the phone has always stayed in a nice case, and I would describe myself as someone who really takes care of their electronics.  For the device to fail after only a year and a half is a testament to how poorly this phone was constructed, I am a power user and my phone requires charging every night, yet thats really the people who blackberrys are made for.  The 2.5mm audio jack also requires a special adaptor from blackberry to use 3.5mm, I went to radioshack and tried several of the ones they had to no avail.

Pros

Opera Mini can be installed.
Can install Jivetalk.
Changeable dedicated side keys.
Bright screen.
Nice keyboard design (in theory).
Notification light.
Email.
Voice dialing.

Cons

Low quality build.
Keys feel cheap.
Low durability.
Freezes more than occasionally, as in once a week.
Slow service w/T-mobile.
2.5mm Headphone Jack.

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:(u cant b serious:(

15 Sep 2008 hellomoto

4 out of 10

k so i got this phone and i wuz suuuuper happy bcuz i am the only one with this phone in my school. i am the only 6th grader with a smart phone and i wus all syked about having the awsum phone.  i hate this phone cuz first the earpiece broke on my first. then i got another one. the trackball on that wouldnt go right. now im back to my one with no earpiece. peice of crap. not reccomended to ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pros

QWERTY keypad
camera
email
web browsing
maps
IM
powerful speakerphone
data transfer

Cons

easy pocket dial
trackball doesnt work
freezes up ALL THE TIME
no video
not able to save or delete pitures
tzones slow
slow startup
updates almost impossible to install

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Kyle

18 Aug 2008 Kyle

5.4 out of 10

Well the only thing I really like about this phone is the QWERTY board. Also the trackball (the white white center ball) makes easy navigatioon around the menu. It is a little large in size, but still fits in my pocket. I also like all the different themes, but it's chunky. Also it's made of all plastic so if you drop it there's gonna be a scratch. Also also the screen scratched really easy. OVERALL - THE PHONE IS AWESOME ON THE INSIDE CHEAP AND PLASTIC ON THE OUTSIDE!

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