BlackBerry Pearl 8100

I have had this phone for a month now, and I love it. The keypad is confusing at first, however this is to be expected, but once you have used it for a week or two you will find typing is very easy and quite quick as well. The screen on this device is clear, and very nice, high-resolution.
And as for the camera on this device... never thought I could say this about a phone camera, but the camera actually is decent. Nothing like a normal digital camera, but close... In a pinch it would work and do a decent job. I was surprised with the clarity and colour reproduction. Flash is worthless, and gives photos a green-tint to them, however.
Battery is OK, I usually have to charge my device nightly, however I do use it everyday, quite frequently.

Looks great as well, it's great to hold and nice and sleek. The black colour is glossy and does attract fingerprints but looks really good; and the chrome-coloured sides and top add nice accents. This phone is, described in one word, sexy...

Overall an excellent phone. I recommend it over the TREO 650, my last phone, by far due to features and size.

I picked up a used T-Mobile locked 8100 to play with and here is my impression of it.

Size:
It was smaller than I thought it would be. It's a very handy size and not too heavy. It fits well in the pocket and is slim.

Human Interface:
The keypad is similar to the Samsung Blast's in a lot of ways. It is a semi-QWERTY keypad. This means if you are always looking for letters on your computer keyboard you are always going to be looking for letters on your phone too. The tutorial explained things very well and I was typing at a sub-glacial pace in no time! I improved quickly.

The "Pearl" is the trackball above the keypad. My phone is well used and the trackball, as advertised, did not work all the time as it should have. When it did I could see what a joy it was to use. When it didn't I knew it would be going to the shop soon. The parts are inexpensive and readily available.

The side keys are few. They are the camera key, which is unmarked, the volume/zoom key, which is split and marked with a + and - and a key with three bumps on it, the left convenience key which is used to activate voice commands. There is also a top mounted mute key. The camera key also opens a user programmed application.

Cool Stuff
This phone is one you can schedule to turn on and off by itself. No more late night wrong numbers.

There is a variety of fonts you can use for the screen and they come with attributes and sizes to fit your weary eyesight.

The build of the phone is rock solid. Every mobile phone designer should spend at least a year interning at RIM to learn about how to build a solid mobile phone. This thing is a tank.

Blackberry's Desktop software, which is downloadable from the RIM website works well after you install the correct USB drivers. Media, contacts, calendar all synch up easily with lots of chances to refuse a change if you want to.

External battery contacts on the back of the case so you can charge it when it is in a dock which means extra minutes in your pocket or on your ear later in the day.

Incredibly detailed demo video at the RIM site for setting up the device.

Not So Cool Stuff

It doesn't have a dedicated on/off switch. You have to turn it off via the software, use the "end call" button or remove the battery, which is also known as a "hard reset". Turns on when you insert the battery.

The tank like build doesn't extend to armour for the LCD lens. Your very next purchase for this phone should be two screen protectors. The screen is out there and it will need protection to avoid getting dinged up.

The map data on my device had been wiped out so although it connected to my GPS receiver and tracked my movements it was on a pleasant green grid, not on a map. No doubt your map data will be present and you won't have this issue.

User Interface
I use Nokia phones almost exclusively. Getting used to the rationale behind the Blackberry layout took some time. It's easy to use once you get there. Many things are customisable. There is a wealth of available information about the device such as signal strength that you ordinarily do not see on a RAZR or a 6133. One very cool thing is when you are on a call your number is displayed.

This device is a keeper. It plays music, does all the basic phone functions very well, offers a wealth of other features for which Blackberry is famous that I haven't touched. It's a well built, strong performing unit.

I bought this phone like 3 weeks ago, and it's great, and works excellent, veri thin size and light weight, 100% recomended.

This phone is sleek and small. If you have large hands, you may not want this phone. However, for such a small phone, it is packed with features. Please be aware though, you will need a data package with your carrier should you want to use all the features. Has email, picture, mp3, calendar, and so much more. Really worth the money for the phone.

Great Phone! Haven't found anything that I don't like about it yet, beside no video camera, but it's not like I use those very much anyways, so I'm not too upset about that. BUT I do love how I can hook it up with my laptop, and that when I send a picture to my email (taken from my phone camera to my laptop) it's not this teenie tiny little picture- it enlarges to fit the size of my screen without losing quality!!! I love the lil thing. I am a crackberry user for sure!

I, honestly, only purchased this because it is the "in" phone to have. I will never do that again.
Positives: Great large colored screen, beautiful phone, good internet, good phone coverage, lightweight, great to show off, the ball action works perfectly.
Negatives: Cost is very high (around $250ish), the keys stick, scratches easy, the back button that keeps the phone from falling apart came off on mine, and people always say they cannot hear me very well when they call (even when I turn the volume completely up), when you hit the "end" key to end a conversation the speaker phone sometimes comes on b/c it's hard to miss the speakerphone key when you hit the "end" key which produces a loud sound.

The cell phone was just as promised, brand new and in perfect condition. It was also shipped very quickly. I would highly recommend using them and I would buy from them again in the future.

WHAT IS GOOD:... small and compact, stylish, fairly good voice recognition dialing, good battery life, decent picture camera, decent voice quality, good receition.
NOT SO GOOD ... Sepeakerphone not very loud and not very clear, doesn't ring very loud either, The software and the menus are a comlete bad dream, complicated and old fashioned, must have been software designed by a masochist or a comuter nerd from the 80's.

In general I am not happy with this phone, it looks pretty, but I do not want to have to have four years of college to figure out how it works.

Can't wait for the iPhone, even if I have to switch carriers and pay a termination fee !!!

I really like the BlackBerry Pearl series of phones. I owned one for 6 months but it got stolen and I missed it so much I had to get a new one. They are such a great deal for being what they are too. They have a nice large screen, that amazing trackball mouse is genius and couldn't be smoother, and the keyboard is my favorite part!! At first I thought that I would never get used to the 2 letters to each button set-up but within a day or two I was typing on it like a normal keyboard. The great thing about the keyboard is that the keys are able to be much bigger than on a regular phone keyboard where it has 1 letter to each key which in turn makes it much easier to type than on ANY other cell phone that exists. Touch screen phones like the iPhone and others are over the top(and I'm not some old man, I'm a 19 year old that has worked at Circuit City) because your fingers don't touch the letters as well as you might like. I am in love with this phone. The only improvement would be to get a better camera but it already has a 2 MP camera built in WITH a flash.

fast shipment and quality product fast shipment and quality product fast shipment and quality product

This blackberry is the perfect size for the person on the go. A tad larger than a flip phone, but still with all the luxuries and features that blackberry is known for. It's easy to set up, and even easier to use. I tried several different models of blackberries before finding this one- it's perfect.

The pearl is one of the smallest smart phones out there and is very fun to type with and it only takes a few days to get used to it and get fast. The screen is a nice size and has many options, it has a nice media player and support for 2gb micro sd card that is behind the battery. 8/10 because it can be slow starting up and takes a little while to get used too but once you find the shortcuts you will love this phone!

It was pretty much exactly what I expected. Good good good good good good good good.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Charles

The cell phone was locked and even though I purchased a number to unlock it, I could not do it, so I lost and additional 30 dollars. Also the screen was damaged and you could not see well. I am most disappointed and would love to be able to return the phone. Can you help me?
Thank you
Mihai Grunfeld

received phone with a battery that did not fit and was promised a new battery, but never received one.

Nothing bad on the item except for one that the trackball i cant fill it am i push it or not.
Im using this phone for a Tracking Device for my Motorcycle now. Its work great

ONE OF THE BEST PHONE MONEY CAN BUY
SMART AND EASY AND DO EVERTHING
EMAIL IS EASY AND MOST OF OPERATION IS FAN
I REALY HAPPY WITH THIS PHONE AND EITH THE PRICE
AND IT WILL BE USE TO ENYONE THAT NEED GOOD MOBILE PHONE

i bought a blackberry pearl used the phone was in good conditions and it work good immediately impressed with the number of features available on this inexpensive phone. It has a 1M-pixel camera, video camera, and speakerphone.

I liked how easy it was to find, I loved how quick shipment was, however I disliked the fact that it was not made for use in America and thus did not have the full list of programs available for me to use in America.

I've had a Blackberry 8100 years ago and I was the happiest guy on the block when it was new. Now that I've transcended to a higher level of iPhone altitude I currently got this phone as a gift. If it wasnt a christmas gift I'd be selfish and keep it all to me haha. All in all great description of item and amazing shipping. wish i coulda got original box and usb cable but other than that i would definitely buy from seller again. 2 thumbs up A++

easy and quick response to questions. communication was very simple. product works great.thanks. great ebayer

I wanted to purchase a refurbished blackberry because I know blackberry refurbs are good as new. The phone was in excellent condition however the keypad was loose. I ended up purchasing a new keypad for $8 so it all worked out.

hi, i'm narodive i like this phone because it's a small one who you can do everything like the others but i consider to buy a blackberry tour because now it's the better bb that i ever has seen buit the pearl i like it for his style and normaly like it is

I was wonder for all the programs I found for this model, how this can be used just like an iPhone, the windows skins, the office like apps, the too many games are for this model & the mos like are the mouse like pearl, it makes so easy to navigate betwen the menus & apss, I was thinking on my first PALM V when I foud all a PDA can made.

There is the bad news, at first time, is hard to found a contact from the SIM Card, thats why can not be Plug & Play, in my case my carrier send me a SMS when i have a missed call, in another phones I just select to return the call & I can select the phone number included in the message, in this model it is no way to made it, the keyboard have many letters but not all, so if at first time I know all the characters in a numeric keyboard, in this phone I need too learn the character order again, is to much work to use a phone