I'm not sure if this is normal or not but whenever I put my BB in the case which uses magnets to hold shut the screen turns off, is this some sort of energy saving feature or is this something to be concerned about?.

BlackBerrys have a feature called "In Holster". It may have come with a carrying case or a holster. When you put the BB in the holster or carrying case, a magnet in the case activates a magnetic switch in the BB itself, turning off the screen and setting the BB into "In Holster" mode.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

And yes this is a power conservation feature

Sweet, I purchased the case at T-mobile it was originally 24.99 but at the time I purchased my BB it was on sale for 5, its really nice, brown leather but anyway thats a really cool feature, thanks.

Does include the case that comes with the Pearl? I can't feel anything hefty enough in there to be a magnet?

Yep.

Yeah I just went and checked, i slid the pearl out of the case and it woke up, slid it back in and it slept.

That's pretty snazzy. I like it but overall I prefer the OEM BB Skin to the pouch.

quick question< i noticed that when I usa voice dialing while in the case, it will go through all the motions up to "dialing" whoever I requested and then stop. The BB has to be out of the case in order for it to work. Im sure this has something to do with the "sleep" function. Is there anyway to change this? It would be nice to have the pearl in my pocket and make a call.

I'm a brand new BB Pearl owner (2 days) and this same exact thing happens to me. When it's in the case. It runs through the motions up to the point where the headset says "calling..." then I hear a very very faint click and the call never goes through. When it's out of the case the voice dialing works perfectly. I can also receive calls when it's in the case. I just can't make any.

Can anyone tell me if this means there's something wrong with my Pearl?

Known issue w/VZW OS release. You have to upgrade to one of the later versions of the OS to fix it...the US Cellular release (4.30.0.97) is at the top of this forum...won't remove/change anything verizon-specific.

Is there a Verizon upgrade? Won't using another carrier's os void the warranty?

the software doesnt matter, hardware changes void the warranty. you can upgrade and downgrade software at will