[DonE]

I've had my Pearl about two months now. It replaced my Nokia E50 that had a horribly small font which made reading it on the go impossible, and I wanted a phone that was as good a PIM as it was a phone. I have no need for music, camera, video, opening Word, Excel, Adobe, etc. I absolutely need a superior phone, address capabilities, calendar and call management. Bluetooth and sync are extremely important. Ironically, I have no need for email either.

So, I decided to give the Pearl a try out of my frustration in trying to find a solid work horse in a functional package.

What I really like about the Pearl two months later:

> call management is top notch - search, selecting which number to call in the contact (the ball, aka the Pearl is really great), call log, etc.
> contact/address book - I have 2600 contacts.
> calendar
> ability to update firmware easily
> size
> keyboard
> screen, except auto-dim feature
> BB OS - top notch, easy to use, intuitive
> battery life
> browser - excellent

Here are the reasons I will most likely sell it:

> call quality - this is my second (replacement) phone from Tmo because I constantly get people complaining about me sounding electronic, breaking up or dropped call. Strangely, every call I have had on the two phones, I have heard the other party perfectly - right up until the call was dropped.

> bluetooth call quality - I've tried two different headset models, but the call quality is still poor. Most of the time, I have to disconnet the headset and continue the call.

If I am sitting in my home and I get a call, the quality is terrible. If I think I will be on the call long, I ask if I can call them back. I then go to my old Nokia 6230, install the sim card, and continue the conversation perfectly.

I really like the Pearl, but of the two different phones I have had, there is one thing in common - they were/are not real good phones, and that's the feature I need the most.

[dgray8]

all i have to say is.....thats a LOT of contacts!!! *grins*

and of course many will say that BB's are data devices first and phones second....and I love Nokia cell phones

[port80]

Did you return the pearl?

[tical]

maybe you should try another model blackberry ..

[asimplefarmer]

you know what headset works beautifully with my pearl??

the samsung WEP200!
it does not crackle, skip a beat or anything!!! oh and its loud!!!

i have the H700, h500, hs850 and the nokia BH-800
non are as good as the samsung!!
and mines been thru the wash too on accident and still survived!! yes the headset!

[DonE]

Yep, 2600 contacts is a lot, but not for a commission only financial advisor ;).

Anyway, I called Tmo today as a final attempt to salvage this and they recommend I replace the 2 year old sim card with a new one. They said older sim cards might not work well with data devices. They also said that one of the limitations to the BB is the way they handle signals and that I should select the option to disconnect from the network during the day so the device can reset itself.

Let's see...