Blackberry Pearl 8100 Cell Phone Review

Blackberry Pearl 8100 Cell Phone Review

Introduction

The T-Mobile Blackberry 8100 Pearl, makes it easy for you to stay connected at all times with friends and family via e-mail, which presumably can be as easily accomplished just as calling. The Blackberry Pearl, just like precious oysters in the coasts of Bermuda preserving Pearl's at the bottom of a sea reef waiting for that perfect moment, has brought its perfect full set of multimedia featured 8100 Pearl into the market. The Blackberry 8100 Pearl is a full-featured, quad-band, Bluetooth enabled world phone that has definitely made quite a bit of a splash in the market. T-Mobile reports that the device is the most popular in their stores and is the top seller in most of their stores across the United States. The phone is currently under T-Mobile and has a suggested retail price of $349.99. But you can get yours for $199.99 after an instant discount of $100.00 and a mail-in rebate of $50.00.

Package Contents

What's in the box? The box includes a Blackberry 8100 Pearl cell phone, a travel charger, a Lilon battery, a user guide, a quick start guide, and warranty information. Other accessories that are included in the box, provided to you by T-Mobile is a handsfree device, a USB cable, your SIM card and a Blackberry Desktop Software. I personally would recommend that you charge your phone fully prior to use, install the desktop software, and read the operating directions with detail. A full charge will ensure that your cellular phone has not immediate technical issues like battery problems, which may cause bad reception in the near future after purchase. A full charge will also enable you to play around with the phone, which I recommend if you wish to learn the complicated features on the Blackberry 8100 Pearl prior to taking it for a full ride. 

Features

An upgrade over the 7100 series this quad-banded Blackberry Pearl 8100 world phone comes fully equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera with built in LED flash option, real Web Browser for easy access e-mailing between friends and family, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity and a media player with extra media storage capabilities. The 8100 series also is lighter than its pervious Blackberry counterparts and is a bit thinner. In addition the Blackberry Pearl comes with speaker-independent voice dialing, downloadable custom ringtones, graphics and themes. You can also preprogram up to 10 personal or work numbers in one listing, which you can store in your 64MB built-in shared but expandable memory that comes with your Pearl. The 240 X 260 pixel 65,536 (16-bit) LCD display produces clarity like never before and snaps real-looking images that you will surely be impressed with when using the camera feature especially. An additional cool feature that I liked when using the Pearl is its ability to access the 1st 4 interchangeable menu options on the main viewing screen for easy navigation. Not only does this feature enable me to access areas in the phone that I use the most, but it makes navigating more user friendly. The new Pearl replaces the scroll wheel navigational middle joystick with a  4-way trackball system. Not only did this new system feel easy to use, but the 4-way trackball system felt smooth & comfortable when navigating through applications within the Pearl. The Pearl's 4-way trackball not only makes the cell phone fun to use and navigate through, but at the same time it makes the Pearl's navigational buttons more effective than similar phones with touch keypads like in the case of the LG Chocolate (CDMA version). In addition to the trackball feature the Blackberry 8100 Pearl comes equipped with EDGE data for faster data transfer speeds & Internet viewing pleasures, a SureType text keypad for easy writing capabilities when using the Pearl for e-mailing purposes and push e-mail button for quick e-mailing options. Though the keypad is very versatile it can be a bit confusing to look at and the buttons are rather small for a bigger person. I recommend that you practice writing with the phone and try test driving the phone prior to purchase for all you guys/gals with big digits. In addition to its ultra versatile SureType text keypad, the Pearl comes pre-programmed with GPS applications. By syncing GPS instruments or devices currently available in the market to your Blackberry 8100 Pearl using the provided USB cable and needed GPS software you can download U.S. based or International based maps directly into your phone. Thereby, making the Pearl 8100 a versatile on-the-go cellular device that actually helps you find you way through the jungles of Los Angeles to the high rises of New York if you want to make a trip out of it or the world itself. I personally feel that GPS is handy if you can afford T-Mobile's T-zone Internet features to access this application in the Pearl in the first place. In fact if you are to purchase the Blackberry 8100 Pearl it would be beneficial for you to get Internet access through T-Mobile. Hey its ridiculous to purchase the Pearl and not get T-Mobile Internet option. The Pearl is primarily marketed to consumers as e-mail friendly cell phone with GPS and media sharing capable features, which all need Internet access to fully be functional for your Pearl. T-Mobile may not say this to you, but to fully use the features that usually attract most of us to the Pearl, you as the consumer may want to purchase Internet access on top your regular monthly plan. Overall, you will definitely enjoy the Pearl. It is within the top 3 cell phones that you can purchase in the cell phone market today.          
 
Specifications

The quad-band music enabled Blackberry 8100 Pearl weighed in at a mere 3.1 ounces with a specified dimension of 4.2 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches on August 16, 2006 when it passed FCC regulations. The Pearl 8100 has a bar form factor with a built in internal antenna. The talk-time produced by its Lilon 900mAh battery is to 3.50 hours and stand-by time up to 360 hours 15 days. Its my recommendation that you charge your battery fully prior to use and for all you power users out there you may just may need an additional battery to keep yourself in the game. Opt for an OEM battery or an extended battery, but make sure that your original battery door and the Pearl's protective casing fits prior to making any such purchases. The frequency modes included in the Pearl are GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 and is sold currently under the T-Mobile carrier logo. The Blackberry Pearl's LCD display has size factors of  240 x 260 pixels, which has a specified 16 bit 65,536 color resolution. The LCD on the Pearl is very vibrant, bright and extremely eye-catching, though a bit small for my eyes. The Pearl also comes equipped with 64 MB of flash shared memory that can be expandable using the TransFlash memory slot located under the battery. In addition the Blackberry 8100 Pearl supports Bluetooth profiles such as: HFP, HSP, (DUN, OPP, PBA) version 2.0 and comes equipped with EDGE (EGPRS) technology for faster data speed capabilities. The Pearl also supports various media formats for its music player such as MP3, ACC ACC+, and eAAC+. But the most important feature, the call-quality for the Blackberry Pearl 8100 when tested in Walnut, California in a business district under T-Mobile carrier frequency produced good reception between 3 to 4 bars. The clarity of sound was variable. The Pearl did produce a bit of crackle, but overall the quality of recognizable voice patterns seemed to be adequate for good communication during a call. In other words when I call a friend using the Pearl I did got crackles in her voice, though this can be directly related to reception on the other end, because I still had between 3 to 4 bars on the phone. Thereby, my conclusion would be that the Blackberry 8100 Pearl produces clear and crisp sound, but may be impaired due to carrier issues and in bad receptive locations from where you are trying to make a call from. But you can always solve this problem with a signal enhancing antennas.  

Conclusion

Overall, the Blackberry division has outdone itself with the 8100 Pearl. I would say that it is a almost a perfect mix between a feature packed and user friendly phone out now. The Pearl will definitely put a smile on your face. Almost everyone that I have talked to have indicated that the Pearl is all that's its packed up to be and more. Not only is the Pearl filled with features that we all love and crave for, but is also user friendly and packed with tons education within the phone itself. This help menu in the phone helps its users navigate through out the phone effectively. Overall, I love the look, the usability, and the features of the Pearl and will purchase a Pearl of my own in the recent days to come. For all you T-Mobile customers out there,  this phone may not provide you the best possible reception that you can buy, but it is the best overall phone out there and the best that T-Mobile offers currently. So if interested check your Pearl out at T-Mobile, but it you want to accessorize there is not other place but AccessoryGeeks.Com.