|
| BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Smartphone Black (T-Mobile) | 
 enlarge
| Brand: BlackBerry
Category: Wireless
List Price: $349.99
Buy New: $38.24
You Save: $311.75 (89%)
New (2) Used (1) from $38.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  137 reviews
Sales Rank: 940
Color: Black
Media: Wireless Phone
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
Model: 8100
UPC: 610214613370
EAN: 0610214613370
ASIN: B000ID10JE
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Data not available Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent phone with a few minuses October 20, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Been using this for about a week now, here's what I came up with.
Pros:
-The phone is SMALL and fully featured. Organizer, MP3, camera, PDA, Web broswer. etc
-The 'pearl' is absolutely genius. It takes about 3 mins to get use to, senitivity is just right.
-Clean, easy to read screen.
-Conversations with this phone is clear, although the included headset sounds much better. Speaker volume is good, not as low as some people have reviewed IMO.
Cons:
- There are no accessories for this phone yet. I went out and bought a Nintendo DS screen protector and cut it to the phones size.
- The glossy finish makes the phone look dirty when there are fingerprints.
- Slow load times when switching applications.
- I can't browse the web while talking with someone! It forces you to hang up first.
- Camera sucks..but that's every phone.
 Finally! A Blackberry for Me! October 17, 2006
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I have always been inticed by the blackberry line of phones. How they could do everything, browse the web, IM, Email and so on. But none have ever worked for me because they were huge. I tried a 8700c, but that wasnt the phone. I liked the keyboard, but it was huge. I also tried the 7130c, which was better, but was still to thick and felt weird to use next to my Razr. I waited and waited and almost gave up, but RIM finally came through on this phenominal device.
I bought this the first day it came out, after bearing all the hype of it, and I must say, I am very very pleased. This has got to be out of my 40 phones in the last 2 years, my favorite phone. It has everything. The easy to use Suretype keyboard, the camera and mp3 player, a new much better looking UI, and we cannot forgot its amazingly small. It is the perfect compromise between the 8700c and Razr. I couldnt believe how small it was.
It has alot of features compared to previous Blackberry's which I really do appreciate. I normally get bored of my phones in a week, and this one has been lasting me awhile. Its got EDGE speed Internet browsing (yea I know not EVDO, but its fast compared the the GPRS I have been using forever), Email, a Mp3 player, a Camera, and so many more features. The menu of the phone goes on forever there are so many programs on it. This phone is truly wonderful.
And I think RIM has reached their goal of making a Blackberry for the masses. I was at the Mall of America yesterday and I went into the Wireless Experts store to see what kind of deals they have on a Sidekick 3(so I can get unlimited texting, internet and so on), and I went up the counter to get a card of my salesman, and there were about 10 people in line waiting to pay, and guess what phone they all had, The Blackberry Pearl. I was shocked. No Razrs, No Samsung Traces, No Sidekick 3's, every single one of them had a Blackberry Pearl. I already see this phone as being bigger then the Sidekick 3, since i have already seen more of these "out in the wild" compared to the Sidekick. Good job RIM on dethroning the Sidekick. It really shows something big can be defeated, when you think it cant.
Overall I would say get this device at any cost. It will keep you going as far as features, and you will be very satisfied.
A Blackberry for Everyone October 16, 2006
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I have now owned this phone for three days, coming off a one-year relationship with a Cingular Blackberry 8700c. The 8700c is more of your traditional Blackberry; when it was released, the folks at RIM gave it a more hip appearance while maintaining the business as usual status quo of all Blackberries. With the Blackberry 8100 "Pearl," RIM has taken another huge step towards making hip phones for the masses, and especially younger people.
At first, I would not even consider the 8100, because of the Suretype keyboard. I looked in vain at the Verizon 8703e and its Sprint equivalent. Unfortunately, those phones are almost exactly like my Cingular 8700c. More importantly, they are overpriced and are offered by mobile companies with expensive voice/data plans. By chance, I took a look at 8100. I bought it immediately for the following reasons.
First, despite its ultra-thin size and different layout, it's as much of a Blackberry as my 8700c. Indeed, many of the menus and manner of doing things are the exact same, or at least, familiar. My 8100 is paired with a Blackberry Enterprise Server for work; activation and daily use is the exact same on the 8100 as it was on the 8700c. RIM did an excellent with integrating these business features into a hip new phone.
Second, the phone is certainly entertaining. From the camera to the music player to the movie player, it has many features to make you forget it is a Blackberry. While I doubt I'd ever ditch my iPod to use this phone as my main media player, it is still nice to have the option. Also, the phone's vibrant colour screen is well suited for games, movies, and the like. You can conduct business on this phone... or you can not.
Third, the T-Mobile plans are awesome. This phone is a "myFaves" phone, which means you can select five numbers to which you call and receive calls the most and get unlimited to/from calls to those numbers. For me, the feature is invaluable. In addition, T-Mobile's Blackberry data plan is much cheaper than plans from other carriers. With Cingular, I paid $149.99 for voice and $44.99 for data. With T-Mobile, I now pay $49.99 for voice and only $29.99 for data, including the add-on to use a Blackberry Enterprise Server. The huge savings in the voice portion of the plan is courtesy of myFaves; most of my calls went to the same people every month, which caused enormous overages. With all of the money I saved with T-Mobile, I added the Hotspot service for $19.95/mo., which gives you Wi-Fi access at Starbucks, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.
Fourth, this phone with exceedingly well with other tools in my digital lifestyle. Its Bluetooth pairs and works flawlessly with the 2004+ Acura TL handsfree feature. I can make and receive calls from the car without ever touching the phone. More importantly, the 8100 pairs with Mac OS X via Bluetooth out of the box. An enterprising person figured out how to use the 8100 as a bluetooth modem under OS X. I tried it and found that the speeds are pretty darn good, even though T-Mobile does not have a EVDO network, like Verizon and Sprint. I was able to browse web sites and even use Remote Desktop to log into work without any problems. I simply choose one option in Mac OS X and it's done... NO software to install. It truly exemplifies the simplicity of Macs and phones like the 8100. Finally, as a Mac user, I was able to download PocketMac 4.0, a free program offered by RIM, and synchronize all of my contacts, calendars, notes, tasks, etc.
In summary, this phone is a perfect blend of youthfulness and business. It is perfect for the young student, as well as the older businessman. T-Mobile really shines as a provider, as well.
I highly recommend it.
Some tips and thoughts October 14, 2006
116 out of 119 found this review helpful
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
A phone that does not suck October 14, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Well this is my first blackberry so my review is based on cell phones in general. I am coming off of a hate/hate realtionship (razr/cingular). As the story goes I wanted a new phone so I switched to cingular for the fancy phone and boy was I sorry. I went through 6 razr's in one year. Every thing from buzzing sounds to dust under the screen to ear pieces not working. That phone is the biggest piece of s**t i have ever had. On top of that anytime I had to call cingular I had to wait like 40 minutes to an hour just to talk to someone. Even after six phones they would not let me switch to another handset to see if I had better luck. So I said good bye Cingular and went back to T-mobile. Switching the numbers over was a breeze and the funny thing is I only had to wait like two minutes to talk to a CSR @ T-Mobile to change the number.
I have to say I love this phone so far. This phone is a piece of cake to setup. Unlike the razr the cable and cd is included to help transfer information from your computer to your phone. Also unlike the razr, they have a proper addressbook implementation so when you transfer your contacts from outlook you get a one to one transfer( meaning if you have two number for one contact you don't get two seperate contacts on your phone).
Setting up my email was easy as well, in fact setting up everything was very easy. This phone is very configurable. Menus, Fonts, Layouts it is all easily configurable.
Phone quality has been great so far. Very crisp and clear with ample volume. Speaker works fine, voice dialing seems good (also a better implemenation then the razr, you do not have to program in a voice recording for each contact).
Played with the maps feature. Seems to work good as well. I found it is better to use the keys to pan around on the map rather then the scroll wheel. But you can get driving directions with just a few clicks.
SD card slot is under the battery but that does not bother me as once I put it in the phone i don't plan on removing it. I agree that the media player leaves something to be desired but that's what I have my iPods for.
Overall a phone that does not suck, thank you Blackberry!
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
