I got my Blackberry Pearl 8100 yesterday, and while impressed with its desktop integration features and interface, so far I am very disappointed with its internet capabilities. Prior to this phone, I had a Motorola Razr v3, which came standard with a SMS-based AOL Instant messenger (AIM) (It also came with free YIM, MSN, GoogleChat, and ICQ). I was under the belief that the Pearl had this feature as well. Of course, when I started using it, I realized that it doesn't.

I browsed the forums and tried a lot of different things and nothing has worked yet. I have the Opera Mini browser and Ramble installed, but they can't access the internet. I tried changing the TCP settings and the APN address to ones for both T-Mobile and for AT&T, and none of them work (I don't even have a place to input the Gateway IP and Port #). When I tried to call T-Mobile's service department, they disconnected me two separate times after I had inquired about "unlocking wap.voicestream.com", just in case that was my problem, so now I'm hesitant to call back.

I don't have any kind of data plan yet, as I'm trying to see what my capabilities are without it. I really don't want to subscribe to the BlackBerry plan-- I don't have any desire for the BB branded services right now, especially since there are others out there.

Ideally I would like to have the following applications working on my phone:
1. Opera Mini (primarily for use with LiveJournal)
2. AIM (I was misled to believe this was standard!)
3. Gmail (I couldn't find an .ALX for this, and when I generated my own, it errored)
4. an IRC application of any sort, even java and accessed through the web would be fine. Even Telnet would be better than nothing...?



If any of you can help me, give me a walkthrough, or links, I'd really appreciate it. I've been through just about every recent post on these forums, and ALL the stickies, and nothing has worked for me. I'm starting to get frustrated. I just want to enjoy my new phone! It would really suck to have -DOWNGRADED- from the crappy Razr I had previously. :\