[Heracles]

My wife needs a blackberry, and she is leaning towards the 8130 bc its only $29 to upgrade..I really wanted her to get the curve but its $99 for the upgrade...

The pearl isnt so bad is it? I hear when memory is low its known to lose emails and such...

[akosnitzky]

Wirelessly posted (Verizon 8830)

I think it comes down to the keyboards. Pearl has suretype while the Curve is QWERTY.
I suggest she go to the store and try out both. My wife loves her pearl.

[dstaff]

I've had both an 8100 and now an 8130 after a carrier change.. I love it.

[badabing79]

Have mine for almost 3 months and I love it. It has drawback but overall I give 8/10

[kevinwska]

yeah its great
The keyboard is suretype but oddly still feels like qwerty its hard to explain
The pearl does have memory problems but all blackberry phones will start deleting things if the memory gets low, its just the curve has more memory. You just have to be aware what you are putting on your phone and make sure to get a SD card for pics and stuff.
All the features are the same

[sv_ted]

I tried out the 8830 (similar size to the Curve) and did not like it. The Pearl is more a phone that works than a pda that phones. It depends on what you want but the Pearl works the best for me.

PS: Suretype is great.

[rachel308]

My husband has the curve because of the screen size and loves it, but I have the 8130 from Sprint, and I love mine. They are practically the same phone as far as features (losing e-mails at low memory, sd card capactity, etc). I agree with sv_ted on the sizes; the pearl doesn't even feel like a pda. But definitley tell her to go to the store and see which one she likes the feel of better, but both are capable of the same features...

[chrisbc]

Why don't you get her the Flip (8220)? It isn't much more expensive than the Pearl and is newer and looks pretty cool too. Oh, and it also has WiFi.

[rachamphetamine]

Wirelessly posted (T-Mobile 8320)

Originally Posted by chrisbc

Why don't you get her the Flip (8220)? It isn't much more expensive than the Pearl and is newer and looks pretty cool too. Oh, and it also has WiFi.

Probably because the OP is looking for opinions on a Verizon phone.

However, the Apex (the CDMA version of the pearl flip) will be coming to Verizon sometime next year, if you're willing to wait. My cousin has the 8130 and loves it, however. I'd recommend it based on my experience with it.

[rachamphetamine]

Wirelessly posted (T-Mobile 8320)

Originally Posted by Heracles

My wife needs a blackberry, and she is leaning towards the 8130 bc its only $29 to upgrade..I really wanted her to get the curve but its $99 for the upgrade...

The pearl isnt so bad is it? I hear when memory is low its known to lose emails and such...

Re the memory loss - all BBs are prone to doing that. It's not a problem as long as she deletes old texts/emails regularly!

[Redflea]

My wife and I both have Pearls (8130s) and both of us love 'em. VZW has a 30 day exchange policy (you can swap out for another phone if she doesn't like it) so not too much risk here...

[kevinwska]

Sprint has that option too

[amsolo]

I think Verizon now charges if you change your mind on phone.

What's the big deal on the price diff on the curve vs. the pearl? Isn't that nothing compared to to monthly fee you'll pay?

Anyway, I like the pearl because the size and the keypad makes more sense as a phone (numbers). I can type fine on it but there is a learning curve.

[JessK]

My friend had a Curve and was the one that made me get a Blackberry, but I went for the Pearl because it is slimmer. For me, size is the most important. I think the Curve is nice, but it is just too fat for my tastes.

As far as differences, the Curve definitely has a larger screen, so it is a bit better than the Pearl for Internet browsing and reading things in general. If you have ever used T9 on a standard num-pad phone, then typing on the Pearl should not be very hard. The only reason I had trouble with it (and still do at times) is simply because I am not used to the key placement versus a regular phone. But besides that, its no trouble for me. I am having some memory problems, and my friend has yet to report any on his Curve, but at the same time he is less techinically inclined and probably wouldnt recognize one if he had it.

I keep all my media (pics, music, ringtones) on a MicroSD card, so storage is limited only to the size of the card. They are really cheap now, so it should not be a large issue. I got 2 4GB Class 6 MicroSD cards(the fastest out at the moment) for $16, and 2 8GB Class 6 for $32. If you look in the right places (New Egg, Woot, Buy dot com), you can get them for dirt cheap.

I have only had my 8130 for about two weeks, and still have the option to send it back and get the Curve for $50 more, but the only reason I can see myself doing this is if I cannot resolve the memory problems.