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donovan1983 · 10-12-2006, 01:09 AM

I had used an 8700g for the past 5 months and just picked up an 8100. I expected it to be very laggy from reports I read and my first impressions of them in the store, and I didn't expect to like SureType much. I did want a smaller device since the 8700 was becoming increasingly cumbersome.

Surprisingly, I am really liking the 8100. SureType is going to take some adjustment but it works quite well overall and I'm getting used to the keyboard shortcuts relatively quickly. The trackball is overall an improvement over the trackwheel, although the trackwheel did have a more confident and precise feel that I miss a bit. The trackwheel was beginning to cause soreness in my right thumb after many months of usage, so I knew I was going to have to get away from it sooner or later though. Although I don't plan to use the media player much, it does sound pretty decent and I was quite surprised and impressed to find that it can display album art, something I didn't expect at all out of it. Speedwise it seems mostly on par with the 8700g with Dobson (4.1.456) firmware. A little laggy at times, but nothing bad.

I am definitely planning on keeping this little thing. I am quite impressed by it so far and unless a showstopping glitch shows up on it, I have no reason to take it back. Given that I tolerated firmware glitches on my 8700g when I used the Dobson and then Bharti (4.1.466, iirc) firmwares, it would take a lot for me to want to move back to my 8700g from this thing. The 8700g is an excellent device, but the 8100 truly deserves the name smartphone in both form factor and functionality.

CieFish · 10-12-2006, 03:59 AM

I'm past the 14 day point of no return w/ TMo. Have to say the EDGE speed makes WWW surfing tolerable. Ppl have said they can actually hear me, no more "drive-thru" speaker quality. I was a bit hard on my 7100t, filled it with drywall dust, and scratched the screen pretty good. The Pearl has been awesome so far. I lived with the 7100t for two years and it was Hades with a capital H, worst tech device I've ever had... Pearl = Joy! /wf

dmoffitt · 10-12-2006, 11:52 AM

I RARELY miss qwerty, the BT/Modem thing and SD made it a no brainer. I also forgot how much I missed having a simple / cheap camera on me at ALL times, sure I have a d200 and a small nation's GDP in lenses, but that's a PITA to carry...

kept mine, haven't looked back. doesn't hurt t-mo is SO much cheaper per mo...

stac · 10-12-2006, 12:30 PM

After reading some of the thoughtful messgaes in this thread, I'm prompted to write (though I hadn't planned on it originally). I'm one of those hopelessly damaged neophiles that simply must be constantly engaged in the newest/greatest gadgets... to that end, I've owned countless phones, had countless contracts, etc.

After waiting for a seemingly interminable abmount of time (about 30 days), I had to go take a second look at the Pearl. I had been using my third PocketPC 'smartphone' this year (Cingular 8125/Wizard) that had just left me high and dry for the second weekend in a row (software corruption, phone hanging... etc) and wanted to return to the functional simplicity that was Blackberry. My last BB was an 8700 which I love for a lot of reasons, but also hated for it's lack of geek-chic... was the Pearl going to get me?

Well, I saw the thing for the second time in a new light at the T-Mobile store. Verfied that there were unlocking resources to be had... negotiated a deal with the store, and brought it home the other night. Slept with it. And woke up without a hint of alligator arm.

It's been three days now on the Pearl bandwagon, and I have to say that, thus far, it's checked all of the tick-boxes on my list:

1] Excellent battery life - CHECK!
2] Excellent call quality - CHECK!
3] PIMs are functional - CHECK!
4] Speedy One-Handed UI - CHECK!
5] Excellent email and SMS handling - CHECK!
6] Quick and easy RSS - CHECK!
7] Nice easy way to get 411 and direction info - CHECK!
8] Has a camera for candid camera fun - CHECK!
9] Comfortable on the ear for long calls - CHECK!
10] Chicks dig it - CHECK!

Anyway - you can see where I'm going with this - I love the handset more than any I can remember owning. My friends have established an over-under on my having this phone at the New Year's party... I put a bet on the over. I've been wrong before, but I don't think this is a bet I'll easily lose.

Stac

phungy · 10-17-2006, 08:58 PM

Keeping mine unless a better, more sexy version comes out.

NJBlackBerry · 10-17-2006, 09:37 PM

Love it. Poll results do not reflect the OPs circle of friends. Obviously.

BCollins521 · 10-17-2006, 09:56 PM

It's a sad day...I sold it on ebay...had to sell it to make the money for it..thought I could sell my W810 but nobody wanted it...so alas I sold the pearl...

Maybe another day I'll get another one...I loved it when I had it

noeffectx · 10-18-2006, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizzle247

just like it says ladies and gents.
i already know about 23 people who purchased the pearl,
and only 2 of them have kept it so far.
The rest have gotten rid of there pearl for various reasons.

anybody else get rid of the phone also?

23 people my aaasshhh!

cloud909 · 10-18-2006, 03:02 AM

I'm holding onto mine... I've had it for almost two weeks and I already can't live without it (except for the fact that T-Mobile doesn't get great reception in the place I just moved to). It's my first Blackberry, and I used to be a die hard "OMG HELLO MOTO RAZR SLVR KRZR PEBL OMG" fan... I never thought I'd get a Blackberry, but I'm already addicted

jprincipe · 10-18-2006, 03:24 AM

I had it and tossed it aside when the 8703e for verizon came out. The network is sooooooo much better then t mobile (although I miss the camera). ill use the Pearl when i travel overseas. i wish Verizon had an international CDMA/GSM blackberry for sale.

sna66 · 10-18-2006, 03:36 AM

1st time bb user, for about a week, coming from treo, win mo devices, this is DEFINATELY a KEEPER especially with TMO minutes and mail plan....and please if whoever is thinking about getting rid of the pearl, DO SO,, I like being exclusive

SanFrancisco · 10-18-2006, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizzle247

To all the people who are in desperate need to know, the exact number of people I know who purchased the pearl so far is 24. I couldn't remember everybody off the top of my head when I create this thread.

Y'all happy now?

You still made up that statistic. You know 24 people who have purchased the Pearl and you have kept up with all of them to know that only 2 have kept the phone?

What, they hung around you or called and said "Hey, got a Pearl." Then later, they called to update and said "Hey, me again, I'm gettin rid of my Pearl." And all of this happened in the space of a few weeks.

Yeah right.

By your account, the Pearl was the Yugo of phones and RIM should be contacting you to find out where they went wrong.

TheBigNewt · 10-18-2006, 05:59 AM

Is it true that the Tmobile Blackberry unlimited data/email plan is only $20 USD/month? I hope so. Waiting on user reviews of the Dash, but the Pearl is high on my list right now.

cloud909 · 10-18-2006, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigNewt

Is it true that the Tmobile Blackberry unlimited data/email plan is only $20 USD/month? I hope so. Waiting on user reviews of the Dash, but the Pearl is high on my list right now.

With the fear of sounding like a complete jerk, why on god's green earth would you even consider the Tmobile Dash? That has got to be the single most hideous looking piece of communication equipment I have ever seen.

Is there anything cool about it that the Pearl doesn't have?

stac · 10-18-2006, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cloud909

With the fear of sounding like a complete jerk, why on god's green earth would you even consider the Tmobile Dash? That has got to be the single most hideous looking piece of communication equipment I have ever seen.

Is there anything cool about it that the Pearl doesn't have?

This probably doesn't belong here, but I'm a neophile so I must always keep an eye on new stuff - the Dash (HTC Excalibur) is based on the same OS that the Moto Q uses - so you can expect that it'll have similar bugs to the Q which are, as yet, unresolved. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - I don't think it looks too shabby. It does have 802.11 wireless which the Pearl doesn't... a 2MP camera that still sucks... and a very strange jog-wheel-device-thingy which the jury will be out on.

Thing is, regardless of how it looks, or what is purports to do, the windows mobile OS is neither as stable as it should/could be and that is the killer in the deal for me. I spent more time checking to see if my email was being pushed properly and whether the thing was still running so I could receive calls that it was exhausting. I was babysitting my phone!

I'm sure I'll go play with it when it hits the store in a week or two... but I'm certainly not going back to the frustration that is WM5.

-S

Tixxx · 10-18-2006, 03:25 PM

This is my first BlackBerry, I moved from a Treo 650 and 7 years of the Palm OS. I'm keeping mine.

rwcohen · 10-18-2006, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dizzle247

just like it says ladies and gents.
i already know about 23 people who purchased the pearl,
and only 2 of them have kept it so far.
The rest have gotten rid of there pearl for various reasons.

anybody else get rid of the phone also?

I'm keeping mine!!