Updated 14 Feb, 2012, 6:01 pm IST

BlackBerry Pearl 8100

13 Nov, 2006, 5:59 pm IST | Aalaap Ghag | Smartphones

User Interface
The user interface is one of the things that has remained largely unchanged in the Pearl. The home screen and main menu look refreshed with background wallpapers and redone icons, but beyond that, it’s back to the black-and-white mode with simple text lines. Entry fields are difficult to differentiate from regular text or other controls, which is a sure turn-off for non-BlackBerry users looking at the Pearl.

The Pearl offers several font options to choose from, but most of them look the same, only differing by width. Font smoothing gives a very subtle softness to font edges, but the fonts still look quite the same.

The Pearl clicks to act as a 'select' or 'ok' button, while the menu button brings up a context sensitive menu that changes contents depending on what you’re doing. This is better than the Nokia way of simply taking you to the main menu. The back button acts like an 'escape' key, but it doesn’t close the applications, for which you need to use the menu.

One thing that needs a mention is the speed of the UI. It doesn’t feel as sluggish as Series 60 Smartphones. On the contrary, the UI is fast and probably the only things that require waiting are the web browser loading and camera startup activities. A Xscale PXA901 processor running at 312MHz is making its presence felt out here.

Email and Web
A device with a seven-year legacy built on email functionality cannot fail and the BlackBerry Pearl continues the tradition. Email on the BlackBerry Pearl works flawlessly. It took around 15 minutes for the activation to take place with the BlackBerry-ready Airtel SIM card, but it was an effortless exercise and I was online with my office’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server, sending and receiving emails within no time. I was able to view attachments and forward emails, just as I would on my computer.

At times, the EDGE connectivity did slow down to a crawl, mainly in the evenings, but during the day it was pretty fast. This, however, isn’t the same with web browsing, which was slow throughout the day. The web browser isn’t as effective as the one found on recent Nokia phones. It reformats the pages to fit the small screen size and while all links and objects are viewable, the web is just not going to look as pretty.

The Pearl can also sync with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise, exchanging email, calendar, tasks and other details. For chat, the Pearl (in India) also comes bundled with Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger.

« Previous Page

Tags: RIM , BlackBerry , Pearl , Smartphones , Mobile Phones

Would you buy it?

We usually associate resale value with property, but thinking of the resale value of handsets before purchasing ...

RIM tells European developers it's "ready to compete"

Facebook and Twitter to be tied into BBM

RIM's Bold Heroes campaign faces Twitter thrashing

RIM CEO eyes "significant" plans for BlackBerry

Cellphone makers can expect poor reception in 2012

RIM not on Samsung's shopping list right now

How We Test

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings are simple - higher the score, the better the product. A brief listing of the features and what they mean are given below.

1 - 3

The product is bad in almost every aspect. We strongly advise against purchasing this product.

4 - 6

An average product that isn't the best you can buy, but isn't the worst either.

7 - 8

Product with this rating is highly recommended because it's priced sensibly, has a good set of features and performs well.

9 - 10

Exceptionally excellent product with features and performance unlike any we've seen in the past. A must-have for everyone!

What is the Average User Rating?

We at Tech2 take product reviewing very seriously and every product is tested with the utmost care and level of objectivity. The end user who buys a particular product and uses it over an extended period of time has his own take on a product and there might be nuances that he or she can shed light on. The Average User Rating is present to help readers get the complete picture of how good or bad a product is. The Average User Rating is calculated by averaging the ratings by the thousands of readers visiting Tech2.com every single day. To record your own rating of a product, simply click on the user rating bar. If you disagree with our ratings or our community's product rating, please don't hesitate from voicing your opinion in the comments section below the review.