Aside from the differences in the keyboards....the pearl feels more like a phone in your hand because it's slimmer...the Curve is wider and feels, "different." The Pearl fits in your pocket easily, the Curve is more obtrusive and not as pocketable. My coworker just got the Curve, and putting them side-by-side, it surprised both of us how much bigger the curve is.

The Curve has a bigger screen so if you're going to watch videos on it that would be nicer, and you'd have more screen for web browsing...