BlackBerry Pearl 8100 - Red (Unlocked) Smartphone

This is my first review. I would give this phone a 3 star rating. To those who wanted to experience Blackberry for the first time, this would be a great phone. One of the major downside is the processor. It lags sometimes, even when i wanted to make a phone cals, the first 3 digits usually appear all 3 at once as the phone process ( if you understand what i mean, it's hard to put it in word ). I would rate it as mediocre, but then, it has some other features that other flip phone might not have - WIFI and UMA. I save a lot of data by using WIFI. I don't really use UMA that much though; in fact I never used this features. the learning curve of using this phone is about 2 - 3 days, it has a very different kind of keypad. I don't really like to use the Dictionary ( auto - text ) as my mother tongue is not english, so i prefer to use the multitap type feature. The first few days, you'll get annoyed with the keypad, but once you've mastered it, it works like a charm.Taking pictures with this phone is not recommended, and there's 2 vertical line on the sides of the screen when in camera mode. The lines are also clearly visible on my friends 8220.

conclusion : It's an "OK" phone, and is recommended for girls as the flip feature makes it easy enough to be stored inside the purse.

Pros : WIFI ( save a lot on data ), battery life is ok compared to other Blackberry Phone, Small compact size, offers most of the features smartphone.

Cons : slow processor leads to lags, low quality pictures from camera, need to spend few days to learn how the keypad functions ( typing ), and the web browser experience too, mainly because of the small LCD.

I can honestly say that I LOVE BRICKBREAKER, which is the game that comes with any and all BlackBerry devices and anyone who has owned one will know what I mean!! As far as the phone itself, it is outdated but I knew that when I purchased it. I bought it solely for the game, as I think I may have to get an iPhone to be "up to date" with technology! Now, as far as the applications of the BlackBerry - not bad, if you use them for business and are integrated with other BlackBerry users or the BlackBerry server. I don't require one for work, it's strictly personal and for that I only really use: BRICKBREAKER ALL THE TIME, the camera, video on occasion, definitely SMS (text messaging) and BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). I am happy enough with the quality I get for the pictures, the text messaging aspect is fine (it takes a bit to get used to SureType technology)but I find the buttons are way too small for my average fingers!! That has been corrected in the newer and larger BlackBerry devices.
Product support here really shines. BlackBerry support, forums and freeware is second to none! I am thrilled with it and would recommend purchasing a BlackBerry for that reason.

This is a nice little phone, packed with features. For those that want to be able to do "real" internet surfing with their phone, it proves QUITE useful. You will need a data plan, but with that, you can add different applications that extend the functionality of the phone immensely. Anything form Social networking sites like Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, & other Instant Messaging programs can be downloaded for free. And there are MANY other programs you can download and use for free, which is one of the things I LOVE about the usefulness of this phone. You can take pictures with the camera, and save then to an SD card added to the phone. And even save music to the SD card, to listen to music.
All in all, a VERY nice phone. There are 2 issues surfacing with the Blackberry phones though:sometimes the trackballs start working erratically, but a quick shot or two of "dust remover" in a can cures that problem for quite awhile. Or the trackball can be replaced fairly easily, with instructions found through a search engine such as google.
The 2nd problem I have just rea;ized with these phones is the mini-USB port seems to be prone to trouble on some of these phones. But if you get a charging cradle or an external battery charger (both which can be inexpensively found on Ebay), that will not be as much of an issue.

8100 Pearl, is very nice phone,the 8100 Series smartphones are designed to help you do everything,the desing is very smooth, the 8100 is very light compared with other smartphones.

i buy it like one mon ago and is working Perfect, is not the like the new BB's on the market But still doing good, and the low price.... I lOVE IT

This is my family's fourth BBerry phone purchase and all have been durable workhorse text machines. 8100 model is appreciated for compact size compared to full QWERTY device. This is our second 8100 Pearl. First failed when the track ball mechanism failed. Hopefully, this one will last longer but since we bought used at pennies on the dollar, I have less invested to worry about.

The BBerry devices have proven to be more durable than touch screen, and touch pad traditional phones and certainly more durable than sliders. End users range between 1000 and 3000 outbound messages a month and we had touchpad failures routinely. Those of us using BBerry have had devices in service over three years with no problems.