Blackberry 8130 Pearl 2 Review
Research in Motion (RIM) has done it again. They entered a new market with flair and pizazz with the Blackberry 8130 Pearl 2. The Pearl is RIMs first phone designed for consumer use. While designing the phone, RIM tried to design a device for the young professionals. However, quickly this phone became popular amongst many different crowds, making it a huge success and making Blackberry a household name.
Video Review on our YouTube channel.
Design
Design and Size
Like most phones, the Pearl is a “Candy Bar” style phone and measures 4.2" x 1.97" x 0.55" and is the smallest smart phone in the Sprint line up. It is almost 0.5” narrower than the Blackberry Curve. The phone is small enough to be carried around in a pocket without noticing it or restricting movement.
Even though the phone is small, RIM didn’t leave anything out. Under the batter cover, RIM added a very clean, crisp and clear speakerphone that ports through the vents on the top of the phone. The quality of the speaker, during both phone calls and listening to music is outstanding for being on a phone. There is little to no distortion or crackling.
Screen and Buttons
The screen on the Blackberry Pearl is vibrant an easy to see, even in direct sunlight. It measures 240x260-pixels and supports 65k colors. Traditional with all Blackberries, there is a light senor built into where the LED flashes that will dim or brighten the screen according to the surrounds.
The keyboard layout on the Pearl is a hybrid between QWERTY and the standard layout. Blackberry calls their unique design SureType and is predictive text messaging with two letters per key. This works the same as other predictive text features, like T9, and guesses what word you are trying to spell based on the combination of letters used.
Even though SureType is unfamiliar to just about everyone that switches to the Pearl, it doesn’t take very long to get used to the difference. After using the phone for a while, we were able to text faster using SureType than using the Blackberry Curve with the full QWERTY keyboard. Be patient with learning how to text and you’ll get it. For those interested, there is a great game to help teach SureType called Typing Trooper.
The Blackberry does offer some quick and convenient features to make writing messages even quicker. While most of these can be found in the owner’s manual, some of the features are too important to be forgotten by those of us that don’t read the manuals. For example, after ending a sentence, if you double tap the space key, the Pearl will automatically insert a period followed by a space. Personally, this is the feature that I missed the most while using other smart phones. Others shortcuts include the Alt+Back combination that works the same as the Alt+Tab on most computers.
There are also a few buttons on the sides and top of the phone that shouldn’t be forgotten. On the left side of the phone, there is a convenience key. Right out of the box, this key is setup for the voice activated dialing program, which allows you to dial contacts by saying the name in your phonebook or by speaking the number you wish to dial. There is also another convenience key on the right side of the phone, this one is set to activate the camera and double as the shutter button.
No phone would be complete without having the volume buttons to change the in-call volume. RIM put these buttons for volume up and down on the top of the ride side of the phone and right where your finger would rest during typical phone calls. There is also a button on the top of the phone that will mute the microphone during the phone calls when needed. If this button is pressed and held during non-phone usage, it will put the Pearl into standby mode and lock the keyboard.
On the left side of the phone, you will see two more very important features. On the top is going to be the mini USB charging/data port. This is a very standard cable in the computer world and similar to what a typical camera would use. This is yet another way that RIM tries to simplify their customer’s lives by using cables that are interchangeable.
Beneath the charging port, there is a cover for the microSD card slot. The Pearl, with Blackberry OS 4.5 or higher, supports up to an 8GB card. On the Pearl, this memory card is more important that for just storing music and photos. There is a known issue with the phone in regards to the storing of text messages and emails. Due to the limited internal storage of the phone of 32mb, the Pearl will automatically purge and delete text messages, emails, and call logs when the memory is full. To prevent this from happening, simply add a memory card and the messages will be saved there automatically.
Features
Media Features
As a media rich phone, the Pearl leaves little to be desired. With the Blackberry OS 4.5 or higher, the phone is capable of streaming video and audio from places like Pandora, Slacker, and YouTube as well as mp3 that are side loaded through the microSD card. The audio and video streams are impressive and play without much hesitation in EVDO coverage.
With the new OS, RIM solved the biggest complaint users experienced: the lack of picture mail. There is now an option in the menu when viewing a picture that allows the picture to be sent to any phone, not just those using Blackberry Messenger. The MMS program does take a while to start so be patient.
The phone has a lot of other convenient features, including the camcorder and GPS. Right out of the box, the Pearl has Blackberry’s GPS program called Blackberry Maps ready to go. After the phone is activated, icons for other programs will appear in the applications menu. It is worth the time to download and use the Sprint Navigation program. Sprint Navigation uses TeleNav for up-to-date maps and traffic conditions, allowing easy reroutes around traffic jams. Be careful though, any of the GPS programs will drain the battery quickly.
Performance
Quality and Battery Life
Overall, the quality of the Pearl is solid and durable. The Pearl holds up well under normal conditions without any noticeable problems. Surprisingly though, the phone does feel slightly cheap because of the size and the plastic case. There were only two complaints with the build of the phone. The screen scratches easier than previous Blackberries and the paint on the casing starts to peel after it gets dropped or scratched.
The call quality on the Pearl was excellent and far beyond average for a smart phone. The calls come in crystal clear to both the caller and receiver. Even in rural areas, the phone rarely dropped calls.
One of the most frustrating features about a smart phone is usually the battery life. The Pearl has a 900 mAh lithium-ion which is rated at 3.7 hours of talk time and 9 days of standby time. There is a time and place for modesty, but I don’t think that RIM should have chosen battery life to downplay. The Pearl has outstanding battery life especially compared to other smart phones. Due to RIMs exchange server that sends silent “triggers” to the phone to check for emails as they arrive, the phone isn’t constantly connecting to the Internet and searching for new messages. This saves a huge amount of battery and can easily make it through the day and even stretched out to two days if the talking is kept to a minimum.
Video Review on our YouTube channel.
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