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Rating: 4.5/5
While the reviewer does an exceptional job covering this phone, I have only a few objections. First, the scroll wheel does rotate. The reviewer says “Above the keypad are four function keys â— send, menu, back, and end â— with a “trackball” controller, which is not really a trackball at all (it doesn’t move), but more like a joy nipple. You simply rub your thumb over it to move the cursor up, down, left, and right. It’s quite sensitive and takes a bit of practice to get precise results.” The error is that the trackball does move and yes, it takes about .30 seconds to get used to it. Once I got my phone I did have to make some changes on the home screen, but once this initial set-up was done I havent had to mess with it again. And like the trackball, this only took me about .30 to a minute. Otherwise this was the best review I’ve read on the Pearl yet!
Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
Hey John, you can get rid of the sample video by clicking on your setting folder, then options, then advanced options, then applications, scroll down to Blackberry Sample Video and while it’s highlighted, hit your menu button, then hit delete. It takes a little bit but you can get rid of it. I hope that helps!
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
Just to tell you, you can turn on the key lock by holding down the # key. Also, if you hold the * key, it will switch ringer profiles from whatever it’s on to “Vibrate.” Just some tips to be aware of…
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
For some reason, this phone shuts down on me during random times. It either freezes, or shut downs on its own. Is this normal? The phone has never been dropped, nor dropped in water, so it has no reason to act like that.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
I love my new pearl blackBerry phone. I got the red one, its convenient, and one of the better phones I have had, and i’ve had about 12 lol. I would recommend this.
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I’ve never owned a Blackberry before. I switched from a Moto Razr on Cingular which was a piece of crap; now I have the Blackberry through Cingular with Blackberry RIM’s email/internet service package. I wanted to try the push technology for email. Wow! Was I impressed. It’s awesome when I’m away on business and I can receive/send my emails on the Pearl instantly without calling in for them or having to use an internet-based email client (I own the company and constantly have to be connected to what’s going on there).
Yes, having multiple characters per key is not as convenient as one character per key, but after a little getting used to, it’s type recognition software works perfectly. As the reviewer said, if you ignore the suggested words that appear on the line as you type, it will be much faster and it’s damn accurate! I could never do text messaging well on my previous phones and therefore never sent them, but the type recognition on this phone has me typing full emails now with now problems. I wanted a small phone and was willing to forego the bulky one character per key Blackberrys with a smaller phone.
The sound quality of my calls is great and the ringtone volume and vibration work great too. I’ve heard that past Blackberrys had bad sound quality, but this one works great. Yes, the ringtones that come with the phone aren’t so great, so I downloaded a couple and now it’s fine. The interface is a little confusing at first and has a higher learning curve than most phones, but after about a week I mastered it and now it’s easy to operate.
The only real negative I have is that I have a Macintosh with built-in Bluetooth and the Pearl and the Mac don’t sync well together at all when using Bluetooth; I get an error message each time telling me "connection failed" or "transfer failed", but for whatever reason I am able to upload/download one file at a time between the two devices even when it gives me those errors. I downloaded the free PocketMac software from RIM’s website which allows me to sync the two devices, but at this point in time the software only allows me to use a USB cord connection; Bluetooth currently isn’t supported by that software but they say they’re working on it.
Just a side note, one of the user’s reviews on this site had the "*" key and the "#" key functions reversed. The * key locks the phone while the # key switches the currently selected profile to the vibration profile.
I highly recommend the phone and have had no problems since I got it over a month ago.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
I am happy with my new Blackberry Pearl but some of the functions are concerning me…
1. When I make a call or receive a call from new number, I want to save it in address book. This number gets saved as work number. It does not give me any option to save as mobile or home number.
2. When I open address book, I dont have any option to create a new entry for new numbers. Hence I am trying to dial a new number and then go the call log and save from there. Is there any short cut?
3. I am not able to dial toll free numbers (e.g. 1-866-3RELIAN) as combination of numbers and words is not like ordinary phones.
4. When I click the call log, sometimes it takes me to the address book. I dont understand why?
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
Performance on this phone is exceptional. Sound quality, ringtone quality, down your favorite MP3′s, texting… etc…
The best thing is the video playback. I’ve got a 1GB memory card. That enables up to 3 full size movies sometimes 4 movies. Great on those long trips in the car with the kid. I’ve downloaded from my DVD recorder TV shows I’d normally miss, and watch them on my lunch time at work!!! ha ha co-workers are jealous!!!
My wife’s got one also. She loves hers also.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4.5/5
While I love the newe media capblities on the pearl, I miss the keyboard of my 7300. The keyboard takes some getting use to, but after a few days I am finally getting a handle of it.
Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
I bought this Pearl based on the many positive reviews. It’s a pretty good telephone and has some useful features, but if you are going to buy it for PDA features, I would think twice. The device touts 64mb of flash memory. I found in my Pearl that 57mb of the 64mb is full of pre-loaded programs and other worthless junk that can’t be deleted. For instance, none of the pre-loaded ring tones can be deleted, and there is a bunch of them. Only newly downloaded ring tones can be deleted. That’s not all. There are several pre-loaded pictures and a sample video file that can’t be deleted. Then there is a sample music file, that can’t be deleted. Some of these files are huge. Like I’m going to sit around all day and listen to the sample music file and watch the sample video file that is pre-loaded that I can’t delete, sure! Here’s more: The promo’s say you can sync contacts, calendar entries, tasks, and memos. What they don’t tell you is you need 3rd party programs, such as Lotus or Outlook, to do that. This is not a Palm that has a very useful desktop manager program that allows you to make entries to any of those programs from your desktop PC and then sync them to your device. The promo material for the Pearl also tells you that you can view Microsoft documents. Sure you can if you subscribe to your carriers data plan and have email capabilities. You can then save any documents that are attached to the email and view them on the Pearl. At present there is no way that I have found to download Microsoft doc’s to your Pearl from your PC. Documents-to-Go, a program that allows you to download and edit Microsoft docÂâs with a Palm, is developing a program for Blackberry. It’s not due out until later in 2007, and then it will probably have the $49 price tag, as they do for Palm. Learning curve is quite intense for a novice. Pearl comes with no printed manual. You have to use the .pdf file manual for reference. If you run into a real problem, Blackberry will charge you for tech support. Picture quality with the built in camera falls short as well. All in all the Pearl is a major disappointment for me.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
I really like this phone but i’m struggling with figuring out how to use the media part. Video content and music is what I want but I have yet to figure it out…is there a user friendly way of figuring this out for my Pearl??? HBO "help a brother out"! Thanks! Virgil
PS. this phone is exceptionally excellent as an organizer…for business it is to die for…
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3/5
Nice phone but bad signal strength.
Rating: 6 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
This phone is awesome. I was a bit worried when I read some of the complaints, but I absolutly love this phone. I dont mean to sound like a jerk, but I have to get this out for those that are looking at buying this phone and going off of these reviews.
Most of the complaints I have read on any web site about this phone, are the users fault. If you know anything about technology and are efficient with computers, you will be fine. Most of the complaints are just the users not knowing what to do, or figuring it out. I had some problems the first day, but just had to go online and research the answers on blackberry forums or the support site on blackberry.com If you have problems with technology, then you probably have no reason to get this phone. But overall, the mp3 player, video player, and all other features are pretty much awesome!!! People just need to take time to learn how to use it before complaining :)
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4.5/5
The phone is fabulous! Portable, allows me to take care of business while out of town and great clarity when talking on it. I love mine…
Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
Although I like the Pearl, I have had a recurring major problem: after about 4-5 months I can no longer hear my calls unless I place them on speaker. When this problem occurred the first time, I had the phone replaced. Now the replacement phone is experiencing the very same problem. I have not dropped the phone or spilled anything on it. Placing calls on speaker using the Pearl is terrible because the speaker on the Pearl is not very good. I would not buy this phone again.
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I am going on my second week with the Blackbery Pearl 8100 and I love it.
There however has been one problem that I keep experiencing with the phone and that is it keeps loosing Date,Time and Time Zone.I have called T-mobile my provider about this but all they did was note the account,not really much help with solving the problem.
I woke this Morning and the same thing again I will call again Today because this is still within the 14 day trail and see how far I get.
But not to seem like a crybaby I really do enjoy the phone and all it’s features,especially being able to put a full movie onto the device and watch at my leisure(that is the best feat i must say).
Software seems to be a little pricey but there are tones of forums were you can find really great software to try and buy.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
This is the best phone I’ve ever had. I’m so in love with it and addicted it it. I’ll never by anything other than a BlackBerry again.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
I had the phone for 2 months and for some reason it would turn on and off every 5 sec. I went to my provider and found that another person had the same problem as me. They couldn’t save any of my phones there were over 230 phone number suggest you save your phone numbers.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1.5/5
The Pearl worked for a few months. Now the internal speaker doesn’t work. So I always have to use the speakerphone or my bluetooth earpiece to make/receive calls.
The phone resets itself or goes into SOS mode at random times. My Pearl has never been dropped or gotten wet at all .
Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 0.5/5
This phone is great, when it’s working. I had to replace the phone within the first 30 days because of a software issue. Now I am having to replace it AGAIN because it is not turning on, not responding AT ALL!! I am so frustrated and am regretting having bought this phone!
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
Ok first of cingular let my husband get this phone without my authorization(he’s not on my account and we have dif last names) the phone stopped working, he went back to Cingular they messed with it, got it working again,and told him he had to get outside insurance because they don’t provide it. The phone two weeks later stopped working again and before we took it back we dropped it the side panel came off and now it won’t turn on at all. He has had it for 2 months and now we are screwed!!!! anyone have any advice? Why do they make products that they know are faulty and won’t back them up?
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1.5/5
I purchased in February 2007. Like others the Pearl worked great for about 3 months, then I started experienceing SOS/SIM card errors. This is particularly annoying since it just randomly goes into this state- and you can’t recieve or make calls. Often times my phone was just sitting not being touched or moved. I also had the internal speaker issue! ATT sent me a refurbished Pearl, which lasted about 5 months. I noticed last week that it was having issues with SMS and call logs- it didn’t keep them. Then two days ago I couldnt make or recieve phone calls (SMS and MMS & Email were fine) even though the phone showed plenty of covereage. I took it in to ATT and resetting the battery helped for a day. Yesterday after viewing a SMS message my phone froze and will not wake back up. The screen will occassionaly flicker, but I can’t turn it on or off. The red indicator light just flashes at me. ATT/Blackberry would send me another refurbished phone, except several weeks ago I had dropped my phone about 1.5 feet in its belt holster. The belt clip hit the ground and rocked and so my phone suffered a minor gouge in the corner. Because of this I am no longer covered under warranty and I have to purchase a new phone- most likely not at a promotional rate. I will also most likely loose my address book once again. I bought the Pearl because I had a work Blackberry (old purple wide one) that has been dropped so many times (due to its crappy belt holster) but still functioned perfectly! Unfortunately the Pearl is simply a pretty paperweight. I will not buy another RIM device. This has been the ABSOLUTE WORST phone experience I have ever had and I had Sprint PCS when it first unveiled. Beware that because this is a “High-End” device- you don’t qualify for any type of insurance on it. I have babied this phone more than is reasonable and it’s still dead. AVOID THE PEARL! If you crave drama and crappy devices and lots of time talking to tech support- then buy the Pearl.
Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3.5/5
Well what I don’t like is the keyboard. it’s a little confusing compared to other Blackberries and well the Pearl gets stuck sometimes and if you’re on the internet your thumb will get a workout just trying to scroll to view the page!!
Rating: 7 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
I bought a Pearl back in may 07. I liked the phone alot,T-mobile service data only laptop connect,slow connection network EDGE GPRS 5 times faster than dail-up. I thought it was a nice PDA until I observed a teenager with one. I remember when Blackberry use to mean Adult business, but I guess those teens are tired of Sidekicks, so i returned it for a blackberry 8700 same network, still slow as hell. If your going to get a Blackberry go with 8830 world phone or 8800 curve. I am on EVDO Sprint now, using a Palm TREO 700WX and there is no turning back. Pearl 8100 nice phone for a teenager!
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 0.5/5
I got my first blackberry about 8 months ago. The phone is junk! After having it for two weeks I had to return it because the software wasn’t running right and Bluetooth wasn’t working at all. 2nd phone went crazy and started calling people at 2-3 in the morning and changing options when no one was even near the phone. (Language and email settings!). 3rd phone- worked for about 2 months and started erasing the call logs. So if I missed a call the light would blink and then nothing! Everything was empty and also the mystery phone calls started up again. I am now on my 4th blackberry and hate it. It is mystery calling again and leaving no record of it! At this point I am tired of having to pay $20 every time I call t-mobile so that they can send me a refurbished phone! On top of that if you don’t have the blackberry plan you are not able to receive pictures or voice notes! The internet is slow. All my blackberry’s get a loud feedback and the speakerphone feature gives worse feedback
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1.5/5
The Blackberry Pearl is a disappointment if you write a lot of email. It is phone and entertainment device capable of emailing pictures. This is not a business tool. The QWERTYish keyboard makes creating emails a headache. The keys are small so you need to have small nimble fingers. Actually I should say finger. I have to hold it in on hand and peck with the other.
Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1.5/5
I have just received the Blackberry Pearl from my company. It is a phone that is capable of taking pictures and emailing them. It is not for use as emailing device. The keys are so small with its QWERTYish keyboard. If you send many emails this is not the device to purchase doubled up keys and the size of them requires small and nimble fingers. Sorry Blackberry but this should be touted as a phone capable of emailing pictures.
Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I have tried all the phones and this is by far the best. It is also very manly and makes me feel more confident and powerful. Unlike the others that are so small and very girly, the Blackberry I am very satisfied with.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
This phone is nice but I have had to send it back three times now from it breaking…first time the screen went next the ball didn’t work and third time just turned off and didn’t come back on…Hopefully fourth time lucky or I getting a different phone.
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
The Pearl is a great smartphone and not too bulky. The phone is about 3 quarters the size of my hand and came with all of the usual BlackBerry features including and 1.3 mp camera along with music and video capabilities. In comparison with my last BlackBerry (the 7130e), the Pearl elimanated a lot of the unneccessary functions in the menus in addition to making making the most commonly used options more accessible.The only drawback to the Pearl is the QWERTY keyboard is not as maneuverable as a smartphone keyboard should be. I plan on keeping this phone for at least another 2 years and I will probably get another BlackBerry after this one.
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3.5/5
I love the pearl, I have had it for about six months and I love everything about it, but I have not had one Blackberry in the past months, I have had three! The phone is very resourceful and I can honestly say it has saved my butt a few times because of its ability to keep track of EVERTHING. All in all its not a bad phone, it is the best texting phone I’ve ever had, its internet speed far surpasses that of the iPhone and it is close to unbreakable physically speaking, but after a while its brain starts to go nuts. And I mean this thing has a mind of its own. After a while (a couple months or so) it will literally start performing on its own! It will call people out of my contacts at any time of day, when I try to call someone it shuts off its antenna or it will mute my microphone! I can’t text because it will randomly send the message before I am done with it; sometimes I have to send up to ten messages for a single sentence. The phone recently “learned” how to unlock its own keys and it will just start sending people messages of random words out of my wordlist. Every single blackberry I’ve had in since May 2007(that was my first blackberry, I’ve had 3 since) has done this to me. I love the phone while it lasts but when it starts trying to take over the world then I’m out and looking for a new one which isn’t hard since the warranties on these things are very good, but still who wants to get a new blackberry every 6-8 weeks?
Rating: 7 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
I just got it today, and it is ok! I like the size and style of it the best. The texting is a little hard to get used to if you have never done the “qwerty” txt before. One thing I really don’t like is that you can only set 1 alarm. I need to set 3 different alarms a day, and now I don’t know what I am going to do! But all in all it is a good phone…sometimes a little sluggish though.
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4.5/5
The blackberry pearl is by far the best phone I have ever owned, and there have been a lot. The email is fantastic, the text is great, the internet is unbelievable, and its thinner than a closed Rzar .some argue about the QWERTY keyboard but I am actually doing very well with it. After using the keyboard a couple times and doing the tutorial it is very easy to use. All in all than phone has everything in such a small package.
Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 0.5/5
Wow, and I thought i was having problems with pearl. After reading all those reviews I understood that I haven’t experienced even half of what others had to come across. Pearl is crappy because if you pay about 300 dollars for a phone it should function perfectly and not give you headaches. I’ve had so much trouble with my trackball that I can’t wait to get rid of my pearl. Next time it’s a smart phone without a trackball. I hate pearl though i used to love it before it stopped working. Don’t buy pearl if you don’t have the nerve to deal with customer service and pay for replacements.
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3.5/5
Hello people, I have had my Blackberry Pearl for a little over a year now and while it may not be the most durable phone on the planet; it has by far the best call clarity ever. You see I have high frequency nerve deafness and I have always had hard time understanding people when they are face to face, much less over the phone. But with this phone, I can hear every word of the conversation. In fact, recently while I was talking to my husband who was at work, his cell phone rang and I actually heard it. Normally, I wouldnt hear it ring if it was sitting right next to me. So, here are my ratings for the phone:
Pros: Call Clarity: A++, Appearance: A++
Cons: My opinion as an Individual: Price, No insurance offered via AT&T, Phone durability,the phone will not ring and vibrate at the same time(either 3 vibes, then 3 rings or vice versa).
My opinion as a hearing impaired indiv.:
Phone has weak vibration strength, and the ringtones are not very loud at all.
However, in spite of all of the cons I have listed for this phone. I can’t bring myself to get a different phone due to the dynamic call clarity of the Blackberry Pearl.
Rating: 7 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1.5/5
I bought this phone about a year ago. It worked great at first and I really enjoyed all the features. Then the problems started. My call log doesn’t work so I don’t know when people call. The phone doesn’t send caller ID and when I reset it to send caller ID, it changes itself back. So when I call people my number comes up as restricted. This is the first time I have ever written a negative review about something. I would recommend that you find a different phone.
Rating: 3 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4.5/5
I have had my blackberry pearl for about 2 months now and learned its functions very well and if there is something you don’t understand just call your company. I call t-mobile blackberry and they are great in providing me with instructions on what I want to do. So all you cry babies out there you just want to complain about something you don’t understand and it’s your own fault that you buy something and don’t know how to use it. You buy what you need; you are not going to buy a $400.00 notebook to play high graphic games when you really need Alienware or Dell XPS. Don’t be a knuckle head and down a good product because of your lack of knowledge. Buy a Nokia N95 then and spend $500.00.
Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
With so many icons, you’d think everything would be a breeze to find. It’s the exact opposite. The menus are confusing and don’t do what you want them to do where it makes sense to do it. I don’t think I should have to set up a profile if I want a new notification tone. Why can’t I just go to the tone I want and click the button that says “use as notification tone?” It doesn’t exist. The simple things like that aren’t in the manual. I love the features, but they are unnecessarily difficult to find and use. Good phone for the most part. I’ll keep it around for a while, but I’ve have the phone for 2 weeks and I still have yet to master the basic functions because simple commands are so hidden
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
This is my second blackberry pearl with Sprint in 6 weeks and the same problems exist. My first pearl would just erase the text and call log history by itself. When that happened I could not receive any more texts unless I took the battery out and started put it back in. I have had my second replacement pearl for two weeks and the same problems occurred again. I really like the phone but the reliability issue is too much to handle. I will switch over to a different phone. Probably the Mogul.
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
This is my second blackberry pearl that’s having the same problems as the first the person who posted before; my first pearl would just erase the text and call log history by itself. When that happened I could not receive any more texts unless I took the battery out and started put it back in. I have had my second replacement pearl for two DAYS and the same problems occurred again. I really like the phone but the reliability issue is too much to handle. I don’t want to switch to a new phone but no one knows how to fix it?? C’mon
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3/5
I’ve had 2 Blackberry Pearls (1 was a replacement) and I have been having the erased history problems as well, I called my company and it’s a problem in their software and they’re working to update it, but they need to write individual programs for each cell phone provider, which is why it is taking so long until then I have to take the battery out when the files free gets to less than 3 million which isn’t too big of a hassle. Also once the time on the phone went back an hour and I missed an important class and didn’t even know I was late until I came in and sat down like nothing happened, because it is so unexpected for a cell phone to do that. Also, there is no way to turn off the key tone beeps, you can turn the phone on “silent” but the beeps will still be there and I called about and there is truly no way. So don’t call us “cry babies” when there are clearly many flaws with this phone. I’m used to it and I like it, but the amount of problems for the price is ridiculous, it’s a good thing I didn’t have to pay for it.
Rating: 6 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
I found this review when looking to solve the issues with my new Pearl–namely the erased call logs and texts. It is so frustrating!!! Otherwise the phone is great. The Sure type gets some getting used to but nothing to bad and I love the small size. The camera is great. But the issue with the texts and call logs is SO frustrating–enough for me not to recommend this otherwise great phone.
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2.5/5
I have had my Pearl for 2 weeks and I have to have it replaced already. My phone froze up and they cannot even retrieve my contacts to save them. Mine wont dial out (numbers don’t work occasionally) and you have to take battery out and put back in to be able to dial out. It drops calls easily. When you do dial someone sometimes it never connects. Cannot do the simplest things like change the ringer. I am becoming gun-shy with this phone. My KRZR had software issues at the beginning and that turned out to be a straight out lemon and no one stood behind that phone and it was replaced twice and software updated 5 times in a year and a half. And I still had to pay the regular price for the pearl which is starting to scare me. The numbers on the Pearl are very small so easy to hit wrong keys.
Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
I recently upgraded my Verizon phone to the Blackberry Pearl 8130. Within the first week of having it, I had to get it replaced. This was because whenever I placed a new number in my contacts, my entire phone would freeze up on me. I received a replacement phone, and none the less it has the same problems. On top of that the internet is required on all Blackberry phones. This basically sucks if you don’t use the internet much. You’re basically giving Verizon $30 a month for free for a crappy internet service. Watch out with this phone, there are many glitches.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4.5/5
I just recently got the Blackberry Pearl 8130 and I love it. With all of its features there really is nothing not to like about it.
Rating: 9 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
I have had the phone for 3 hours and want to throw it through a window already. It is very hard to navigate. I have called tech support 2 times already for the bad Internet on this phone.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 0.5/5
This phone is junk!! I have had it replaced 3 times in a year. The track ball constantly stops working. I has horrible reception. The lock feature will unlock itself. DO NOT BUY!! I have T-Mobile and had them for 6 years before this phone. From the day I bought it my reception was horrible. This phone is a waste of money!!
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I have had my Pearl for about a week now. It is the best phone I have ever had. I love all of the features that is has to offer. True, it could ring louder and the sure-type text is not the best thing I have ever encountered. But overall, I would recommend this phone with no hesitations.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
I have to laugh when I read the review of Chris, Christopher and Slmdakkota03. These people forget that first and foremost thois is a BUSINESS tool and not the so manieth multi media toy, Without internet or BES service the tool makes no sense. I have owned several Nokia and SonyEricsson PDA’s, as windows mobile is best at trashing itself so not even an option if you are serious about your business. I kept away from Blackberry till my Nokia E61 was stolen and a friend lend me a Pearl. It has given me a great deal of grieve as it has a learning curvecoming from other PDA type phones. What one has to get its head around is that BB is a desktop extention, not so much a tool on its own! You start using it to organise your life and what you do is reflected on your desktop machine and vise versa. Best possible way of synchronising… Loose it while on the road and your data is waiting for you and the repolacement BB(whatever type) upon return to the home base. Great tool but not a toy like the other things it gets compared with. Geta life and read specs before you buy…
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I have had the Pearl since January 2007 (veteran BB user having owned four models previously). Yes I am on my 3rd Pearl 8100. (the first 2 crashed due to OS problems). I have successfully learned my way around the OS by having several different models. The trackball is easy to use and the icons can be hid if you don’t want them to show, making the process a little easier.
T-Mobile has been very understanding with the problems. I only had to pay $15 to get the second phone (1st replacement). They didn’t charge me at all for the last Pearl because that was 3 in one year. Equipment Protection pays off.
For the call/text/e-mail logs being deleted (I learned this the hard way on a BB 7105t 2 years ago), it’s because the memory (in Options>Status) is low. The phone will delete emails, texts, and call logs because it has no room to store them if the memory drops below 15MB. This means you have to delete unused applications, languages, themes, ringtones, the sample video, etc to help the device run better. Fortunately, I never had the problem with ANY of my Pearls.
Simple solution to the dropped calls I saw mentioned here…bug your wireless carrier and tell them to check the towers in your area. Also hands free options like a BlueTooth headset might work.
If you want the BB to play music, view video, TV and movies, then you need a memory card to store this stuff on. My BB was my backup MP3 player until I got an iPod 4 months ago.
I don’t use alarms or vibrate so I don’t know how to help with those problems. I keep my phone silent.
To address the issue surrounding SureType…it just takes PRACTICE AND PATIENCE. The system learns words and phrases based on usage patterns. The key to mastering the system is to NOT look at the keyboard the first time you write a text, etc. Keep typing until you finish your word. You might be pleasantly surprised at what SureType came up with. If people would take the time to just calm down and get used to the keyboard (which is SURETYPE) and navigational features, you WILL have fun with the phone.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I have been with my BB since Oct 2007 and must say that this is by far the best pda I have ever used.
I dont understand how everyone could be having so many problems unless it’s user error or bad luck. There is a way to solve the lost call log problems and such. sign up and become a member of pinstack.com, ONLY BB website out there IMO that will give you everything you need.
Just for the record, I have had palm pilots and I have had treo’s in the past. Tried WMD and hated it. Treos are the worst… I will never go back.
I use my BB for the messenger, emails, texts, and many many other third party apps and have absolutely NO problem with suretype.
Sorry most of you are having probs, again look to pinstack.com for your BB solutions
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
Please keep in mind whenever you hear someone say that the phone starts deleting texts and such, they didn’t bother to buy a microSD card. When the phone runs out of internal memory and there’s no memory card, it starts to delete stuff. If you have a microSD card, the phone is great. It definitely takes some getting used to, but becomes second nature very quickly.
And yes you have to purchase the email and data package for a BB from Verizon, but not getting internet for a BB is like not getting leather interior in a Benz.
Good multimedia and full featured all around. Good phone
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 0.5/5
I have had this phone for 4 days now and in the last 24 hours it has had 3 major issues – first it froze for 5 minutes and refused to turn off, then less than 12 hours later it gave me an error while simply entering a task and exited without saving, then tonight the phone wouldn’t let me dial out until I removed and replaced the battery like Annessa had said. I HATE this phone – worst $200 I’ve ever spent! I’m taking the damn thing back tomorrow and demanding a different phone entirely. DO NOT BUY!
Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 4/5
I have had every kind of sidekick even back to the black and white ones, and the pearl was my first blackberry. It is easy to use and has better features than the sidekicks however it is not very durable to damage and its keyboard is insane to use.
I would say the features on this phone are awesome but video play back is SO SLOW and picture quality is not good at all. The internet is really fast compared to the sidekicks.
I have the micro memory card and even then, it still deletes messages (with out warning) which is very irritating. Messaging on this phone is hard. The keys are small and close together.
But in the end, I do need a phone that can stand up to wear and tear aka a couple of accidents, and this phone has not. It scratches easily(especially if you get white, which by the way also fades to a yellow).
Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3/5
its alright the brick wall game is entertaining, has alot of feature interet is crappy. the phone itself is crap textes dispear so do phone calls un less your restart your phone every one or twice a week. It freezes way to much. reception is pretty good. the track ball, who ever put that idea on that phone was on drugs. that stupid thing never works. i just got my replacement yesterday. non of the buttons work meaning i cant text, it doesnt let me call il lbe lucky if i can accept some calls from time to time.it freezes up for not just 5 min or 10 min but for half hour to an hour unless i restart the damn phone over again. it has way to many glitches. tmobile customer service is crap for this phone they have no idea what theyre talking about all they say is restart your phone. waste of money
Rating: 6 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
Interesting because I have never given a review on a phone because I have never had this many problems. I wanted to see if it was just me or were there others having similar issues. i will be returning this phone and its only the 3rd day. The basic features are way to complicated. I put phone on vibrate, quiet, and off but the phone still rings loud. Changed the advance settings and it still rings and beeps. You have to pay $20 bucks to get a ringer package and they are all crazy ringers. No real songs…..nothing. Im sure in time I could get use to it but i paid good money for it and it should not be this complicated on the 3rd day.
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
Nothing has gone right with this stupid thing. My texts and calls randomly delete, it freezes up constantly, and the track ball is horrible. I have done everything I can to try and get this thing to work. I’ve gotten the memory card, taken the battery out, and I am still on my 3rd phone in just 3 months! I would never recommend this phone to anybody especially someone that relies on texts or e-mails daily like me.
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 5/5
I have only had my BB for two weeks, but it is a great phone. I agree with many other users, this is not a toy, if you don’t require internet use or other organizational links to the http://WWW., don’t buy the phone. There are plenty of gadget phones on the market. The size is great and it does take patience to learn the functions, but don’t buy a phone because it’s the latest fad. Buy what you need. BB is worth the money.
Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
I had this phone for a couple months. For the first amount of time I had it, it worked perfectly. But after a while I started to have problems with it. My texts and call logs would randomly delet on their own. Also this phone is very complicated. It took me a while to get through the manual and i still haven’t figured out the entire phone. I would not sudgest buying this phone.
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
I’ve had my blackberry pearl for 6 months now, and it’s all sorts of crazy. it doesnt light up, it always says I have a new voicemail, and it never hangs up on people. Thank god I had a warranty. I’ve heard MANY people have had problems with this phone. But.. it is cute
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
I’ve had this phone for 2 weeks and I’m ready to take it back already. It has already started freezing up at times and some of the applications randomly decide to not open. Don’t buy this phone, it sucks.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
I have had my phone for about 7 months and it has already broken several times and I do not recomend this phone to anyone, unless you want to waste your money!
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
This phone is so overrated it’s ridiculous. I never do reviews but I had to on this one. My buttons that I use the most never work, decides when it will and won’t receive calls, freezes up all the time, the battery is horrible after a year of use, if it freezes the battery dies. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE, TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY!!!
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
I can not believe this phone. I only had it a few months before it completely crashed. It would not recieve calls erase text messages and call history. I have had so much problems with with this phone and SPRINT was so reluctant to replace place it because the phone has these problems. I HATE THIS PHONE!!!
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 2/5
This phone is poorly designed. When sitting in my purse or pocket, buttons get pushed and calls are made without my knowing. I called one person 13 times last week by accident. The camera button on the right side is too easy to activate by mistake, the voice command key on the left side comes on and shouts “say a command” at the worst possible times, and the miniature keyboard makes it challenging to send text messages. Possibly the new Blackberry Pearl flip phone will help the inadvertent phone calls but I don’t know. Love the smart phone features, but hate the design of this thing.
Rating: 4 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 1/5
Ive had this phone for almost 1 and a half years. ive had to replace it twice! never before has there been a phone with more problems. from going to a white screen for hours or deleting messages. i hate everything about this phone. brick breaker is the only plus!
Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 3/5
I have had to have the port for the charger repaired twice now. It has been an easy to use phone but after 16 months it is beginning to let me down!
Rating: 6 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.
Rating: 0/5
Our entire family – myself, husband and son all got one and have regretted the choice ever since! We have all experienced it freezing up, poor response, battery issues, etc. We have constantly had to delete info, reported issues and are just disgusted overall. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!
Rating: 0 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.