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126 of 129 found the following review helpful:
 Some tips and thoughts Oct 14, 2006
By Aamir Gulzar
I have never used blackberry before this one. I was looking for a cellphone with multimedia capabilities and with which I can check my email. BB Pearl fit that profile very well. I did read some reviews before getting it. Most of the reviews were very positive with one concern that was raised in some reviews that voice quality was not as good as reviewers expected. It was a concern to me but I thought that I could always return it if I noticed voice problems.
Here are some of my impressions from three weeks of use:
* Voice quality is excellent (I am in twin cities on t-mobile network). I haven't taken it outside the metro area or to another city yet. So, I don't know if that would effect voice quality
* I agree with couple of other reviewers that speaker phone is not the best quality. I only expect to use it on rare occasions.
* Phone paired easily with my samsung and motorola blue tooth headsets. I also have a stereo overhead bluetooth headset and when I paired the stereo bluetooth headset it worked great. It is amazing how clear other side sounds with a good quality stereo bluetooth headset.
* The back cover of the BB pearl seems to be made of flimsy plastic and I am afraid that if I removed cover too many times it might break and I will have to buy a replacement cover. When you open the back cover, you will see the battery. Underneath the battery are two slots. One for sim card and one for the micro sd card. You have to lift the latch and then insert the cards and close it. I am concerned that if I am not careful these latches to secure the cards may break. Seems to me a bit over engineering on BB's part. Because I was concerned about the durability of the outer back cover, I bought 1 GB micro sd card with plenty of storage, so that I don't have to open the back cover often to replace the micro sd card. You can transfer data to micro sd card either thru the supplied usb cable or thru bluetooth.
* Mp3 music: I transferred mp3 music files to micro sd and the player played without any problems. There are two issues to be aware of. One, the jack on the phone is 2.5 mm. Most stereo headphones are 3.5 mm. So, if you want to listen to stereo music on your favorite headset, you would need a small 2.5mm to 3.5mm converter. I bought mine from target for few dollars. The second issue is that I was unable to listen to music in stereo using my bluetooth stereo headphones (though I was able to listen to phone conversation in stereo using the same bluetooth headset). I don't know at this point why it was. I called t-mobile BB tech support but they were not able to give me a satisfactory answer.
* During the first week, I got number of "java null pointer exception" error messages during conducting different operations. The errors have decreased but I still got one couple of days ago. I am thinking these are software bugs, that t-mobile/BB need to fix.
* I am very happy with the email. It arrives instantaneously and I see a red blinking light when there is an email message in my mail box. Setting up email thru BB internet server was a breeze
* While email is great on BB. Web browsing leaves much to be desired for. Part of the problem is that t-mobile's network is slow (in the process of being upgraded), and then navigation on the BB browser is not easy. Perhaps, I will get used to it, but for right now I don't enjoy it much.
* Key pad is bit crowded. After three weeks of use, I still mistype a key once in a while, because the keys are so close to each other. I can't imagine using it for typing long messages. Just short quick notes. Perhaps, if you have more nimble fingers it may work better for you.
* Screen is very vibrant and clear. You would not be disappointed. I have had no problem reading messages, emails.
* Camera is ok quality. I would not throw my regular camera. I expect to only use it rarely
* Navigation ball is excellent and you would definitely like it to move "cursor" from application to application. I did notice one day that I could not move up the screen with the navigation ball. I turned off BB and started it again and the problem went away.
* As I said this is my first BB and before buying it I heard that you could read (not edit) microsoft documents plus pdfs. The gottacha here is that you can do that only if the documents are part of email attachments. So, for instance, you cannot upload a MS word document on your micro sd card and view it. I am disappointed with this limitation.
* The extra battery for BB pearl is being sold for approx $50. I consider it a highway robbery by RIM (maker of BB) to sell a $5 battery for that much. I am disgusted by this level of greed.
* I have noticed that after about a month of it's release still it's difficult to find accessories specifically for BB pearl like a leather cover. I liked the leather cover advertised at the official BB shop at shopblackberry.com but it's not going to be available until mid november. Meanwhile, beware of web sites which are re-marketing their existing products as made for BB pearl to make a buck.
Overall, I am very happy with the BB Pearl. Many of my complaints are minor to me and do not materially effect my decision to buy this BB. I hope my two cents will help you in making a better decision if this phone is for you or not. Goodluck
130 of 141 found the following review helpful:
 Best of all possible worlds Sep 19, 2006
By PeterC@AWS
"rare reviewer"
I think the Pearl is terrific. I was so hooked by the description that I went out and bought it on the first day it came out and have been enjoying it for a week now. Having used a 7100 for the past three years I have always disliked the size; too big to comfortably fit in your pocket and annoying (not to mention geeky) to clip to your belt loop. At last, a Blackberry with a reasonable form-factor! I immediately bought a 1GB microSD to put in it and am thinking of it as a day-to-day ipod replacement. Finally I can go on a short trip and bring a single device for communication and entertainment.
Agree with the other reviewer that the speaker phone is not the best quality but with the other advantages (size, style, color, audio/video/camera, email, calendar, etc.) I find it hard to knock the experience. Best phone I have ever had.
108 of 117 found the following review helpful:
Great phone with e-mail Sep 16, 2006
By James Barry
I have had the Pearl for a few days now in both the US and Europe. The phone clarity is great. The size is perfect to drop into your pocket, smaller than my friends Razor. The phone is very small and great as a phone. Battery life is great - four days and going strong on the first charge. The web browser is great, though I miss my Sprint fast connection on my Treo. T-Mobile needs a faster data connection. The pictures are great with the 1.3 megapixel camera.
The email is typically Blackberry. I even have my personal POP (normal e-mail) e-mail and it works as well as my corporate email. As an e-mail reader, it is really clear and easy to read. Easy to get to e-mail. But replies have been tough as I learn to type on the keys. I think they are too small for much of a reply.
Overall the Pearl is a great phone, with a wonderful way to read e-mail. If I want to send a lot of e-mail, this is not the phone for you. But if you want it all in a phone smaller than the Razor, this is a wonderful package.
23 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Has the potential to be great, but needs to have software bug fixed Oct 03, 2006
By calvinyw
Have used the Pearl for almost 2 weeks now. It's my first Blackberry.
Pro:
1. Powerful functionality. Email and ability to sync with Outlook. Despite its cool factor, it's still a blackberry at heart, and does everything other blackberry do.
2. Size. It's small, light and thin. Occasionally I put it into my shirt pocket and almost couldn't tell it's there. I don't like have a phone on my belt, so this is the only blackberry for me.
3. SureType. Takes a little to get used to. But overall it's quite accurate. Not as fast as the full keyboard on my bf's 7xxx Blackberry, but I still managed to type without looking at the keyboard most of the time. As one reviewer mentioned, it's a phone first, then email. If you want email with phone capability, go for the 8700.
4. Excellent screen. Easy to read even under sunlight.
5. One hand operation. With the trackball, I can type email with only one hand, while I am walking. Could never do that with the 7xxx. And I always have trouble with the thumbwheel on 7xxx as the wheel would slide off to the next object on the screen just before click it.
6. Battery is pretty good for a phone this small and with such a big and bright color screen. I usually charge it every 2 days. (I average about 1-2 hours on the phone every day.)
7. T-Mobile service is better than I expected.(I wasn't expecting much.) Not very good at penetrating buildings, etc. But overall had decent coverage as long as you don't go to rural area much.
Con:
Lots of software bugs! Here a few things I noticed:
1. The phone will stop ringing for no apparent reason. When this happens, if I go to Options and switch to other ringtones, it won't make any sound at all. (Usually when you scroll through the list of ringtones, it will play each one as the cursor moves.) The only way to get it work again is to pull out the battery. I have had a lot of missed calls because of this. I would leave it on the table with nothing touching the keyboard or trackball and use another phone to call it. I can see the call coming in, but it won't ring. Annoying as hell. So far, I had to pull out the battery 3 times in 4 days.
2. When I call someone, I can only hear silence before they answer. No ringing. The problem is on and off.
3. I had people complaining that when they call me, there's 3-second delay in me hearing their voice. Again, it seems to be on and off.
4. Volume (earpiece & ringer) doesn't go as loud as my previous Sprint Sanyo phone. If you are at a noisy place, you better set it to maximum volume and longest vibration, and you are still likely to miss some calls.
5. Reception is decent enough, but not on par with Sanyo or Nokia which can carry on a conversation even when the signal is wobbling around 1 bar and 0 bar.
6. Voice quality not as good as my old Sprint Sanyo. Could be the network. There seems to be more static noise on the line. You can definitely tell it's a cell phone conversation most of the time. I am comapring it to my old Sanyo. Keep in mind that Sanyo has the best reception among Sprint phones, and Sprint's marketing of "Clear Connection" actually has certain truth to it. So the combination of the two sometimes had made the cell phone conversation feel like a landline connection.
7. Speaker phone: Again, the volume is just acceptable, not great. There's some distortion with the sound coming from the speaker (more than my old Sanyo), probably due to the size of the phone forcing them to using a smaller speaker. For this reason, I only use it if I am on hold or waiting for the other person to pick up the line. The distortion makes it uncomfortable to talk on the speaker phone for extended period of time. On the mic side, the person on the other end reported that they can hear me clearly with no problem. It's still a half-duplex speaker phone, which means you and the other party cannot talk at the same time like on an office speaker phone. If you interrupt while the other party is still talking, their voice will be cut off as soon as you start talking, and resumed as soon as you stop. The switch over is fast and instantaneous, better than my old Sanyo which I will have to wait about 2 seconds after I stop talking before I can hear the other party's voice again.
8. Menu could be sluggish from time to time, although happens quite rarely.
9. Shiny screen & covers get dirty easily.
Can't say much about the multimedia part. The video play seems to have excellent quality, not sluggish at all. Plays MP3, but you will still want to keep your iPod or whatever. Camera is just for emergency use only. It definitely won't replace your regular digital camera. I don't care much about the multimedia part as I don't see myself use it often. If you are interested in the multimedia part, you are reading the wrong review. Actually, you are looking at the wrong device. Multimedia is NOT Pearl's strong suite, despite its sleek form. Go for something else if MP3/video/camera is important to you.
Overall, I still like the Pearl. Will keep it, but I wish they will come up with a new firmware ASAP. Even with so many software bugs, it's still the best smart/PDA phone around, the kind that you will actually put in your pocket and take everywhere. My boss & a co-worker both have Motorola-Q. It locks up once a day. One of them eventually returned it for a regular phone.
My advice: wait for the next firmware to fix all these problems before you buy.
************** UPDATE: 10/31/06 ****************
Now I have used this phone for about a month and half now. The biggest complaint so far is the voice quality. Sometimes it got so bad that I had to hang up and call the other person back just so I can understand what they were saying.
The problem is two-folded:
First, T-mobile's network. There's a lot of static noise on the line, even when I get a full signal. Some areas it's better, some worse. For example, Philly is worst than NYC. I talked to a friend of mine who works as a network engineer for T-mobile and what I was told was that it's a typical "dirty frequency" problem which means the network frequency needs to be re-tuned.
Secondly, the phone itself. It will garble up the conversation if it had some program failed to close properly and taking up resources at the background. It seems that the phone doesn't have dedicated resource to handle voice calls. At one time, I switched to answer a call in the middle of using Google Map, which caused Google Map to hang and failed to close properly. In every conversation afterwards, I would hear the other person's voice for 1 second, then 2 second of silence with a lot of static noise, and continue repeating like that. I had to remove the battery to fix the problem.
As far as the ringer problem mentioned earlier, the store gave me a new handset, and it only happened once on the new handset. The same problem happened once on my bf's 1-month old Pearl as well.
Email push bas been relatively consistent except for a few delays. Outlook sync was excellent and smooth since day one.
33 of 35 found the following review helpful:
Refreshing upgrade from other BlackBerry's - Depends on Priorities Sep 15, 2006
By Drew Nichols
I have had BlackBerry's for years since the "black and white" pager style models that didn't even have phones.
Over time, I have found that even though I had the large-keyboard units, I typed out relatively short messages, generally, and did not have a use for the detailed keyboard. I did write a memo on a plane one time that when printed was two pages. I would not want to do that on the Pearl.
What I can tell you is that if you are needing a phone plus email and not email plus a phone (note the difference), the Pearl is for you. I give it four stars only because it's not perfect; no phone ever has been.
PROS: Camera - good. Thin, narron (better than the Q's wide size). I like the pearl instead of the track wheel we're so addicted/used to.
Cons: Speakerphone is weak, to be expected for a small phone. Keyboard is too small to write long articles, like this one.
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