Customer Reviews

BlackBerry Pearl 8110 Phone, Titanium (AT&T)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this from an AT&T store, not Amazon because I was in a hurry. Amazon would have saved me a $100.
I decided to go with a smart phone because I have tons of contacts for my business. I didn't subscribe to the data service, just need good contact management capabilities.
Sound quality and signal reception are both great on the phone. Just came from a Razor on Verizon's network and never new I had bad sound quality til I got on this phone/AT&T.
The phone has a pseudo qwerty keyboard. I was used to multi-tapping on a number pad and it took some getting used to. The trick is to just type the words you want, the phone is EXTREMELY good about knowing the word you want based on the possible combinations of letters you have selected. As the phone guesses what you want, it will appear as a little menu beneath the word so you can select it and not type the whole thing if you choose.
I really like the trackball on the phone. It's great for navigation and doubles as a selection button.
The camera supports three resolutions: 640x480,1024x768,1600x1200. I bought a 2GB MicroSD card for the phone and use the 1600x1200 res. Pictures come out REALLY nice for a cell phone. A cell camera will always be less quality than a full size digital camera, but these pictures are nice and clear. Initially when I put in the 2GB MicroSD card the phone didn't recognize it, but after resetting the phone by removing the battery, it recognized it. I previously had a 16MB card it and I think it confused the phone when I swapped them out.
The phone comes with a USB cable (standard connector type, not proprietary) and the phone will be recognized as a mass storage device when connected to a computer, no software need be installed. This is a HUGE bonus IMO, many phones will not show up as a mass storage device, necessitating you e-mailing or texting yourself pictures to get them off the phone.
The phone feels very solid in your hand, but not overly heavy.
The buttons on the side can be reprogrammed to different functions. First thing I did was reset the Push To talk button to lock the keyboard instead. I reprogrammed the camera button to display the various profiles (Loud, Normal, Vibrate) so i could quickly switch between ring modes.
All profiles are fully customizable so you can set different ring tones for each. A word of caution, the "loud" profile defaults to Vibe and Ring, but the actual ringer does not ring until after vibrating for several seconds. If you were in the next room, you may miss a call because you don't hear the ring until late into the game. This is easily modified though.
I am really glad I went with this phone. Originally, wanted to get another Razor, but glad I decided on this. Never had a cell phone I liked as much as this one.

If you have not yet bought a Pearl, then don't. I've had this almost two years and I can't wait till my contract is up so I can chuck this POS into a recycling box!

Why?

#1 Poor durability (and I'm easy on phones). I had this phone for a month when the button that holds the batter cover on popped off. It's a piece of plastic with a tiny spring the size of a toenail clipping. Somehow this was my fault and this sort of defect didn't fall under the manufacturer's warranty. AT&T, the Company I bought it from, would do nothing. OEM (The manufacturer) offered to repair it for $90 dollars! AT&T offered to SELL me a new phone for $199 (when I got it free with a 2 year contract). Both Companies' best suggestion was to buy a silicon cover for the phone to hold the batter back on. Also, the chrome like paint on the phone wore off within 6 months of using it. C'mon people!

#2 This phone interferes (makes that buzzing sound) REALLY loudly with any audio device. More than any other phone I've owned. So if you want the convenience of using your USB cable to charge it on your laptop or pc, mute your speakers, or you'll be sorry. Also GREATLY interferes with car stereos, TV speakers, PA systems, and etc.

#3 I am equally disappointed that bluetooth headphones are not any option for this phone because the Pearl doesn't use the new technology that most, if not all, of the stereo headphones do. The headphones available for this phone are junk, and there is no good off brand alternative either. I've tried every adapter electronics store sell.

#4 Make sure your cellular carrier has a REASONABLE data plan for blackberry. AT&T only has the "blackberry data plan" that costs a minimum of $39.00 in addition to your minute plan. You cannot use the blackberry feature without this plan. This doesn't include using your blackberry as a wireless modem, that costs extra and you are limited on how much date you can use. (Don't go over unless you're prepared to take out a second mortgage.)Not useful as a personal organizer unless your willing to spend over $100 a month for a cellphone bill.

Seriously, this has been a thorn in my side, rather than a helper (which is why I bought a Blackberry).

I have had this phone for over a year already and I still love it.

I have not had any real problems with it.
The trackball only became unresponsive when it got something on it and it only happened twice.
I got used to the SureType pretty quickly.
I bought a plastic snap on case at the swapmeet that protects the phone pretty good, I have dropped the phone and the case broke but phone was fine.
I did have the issue others mentioned of losing SMS before you can reply and the ringer volume issue but they were both easily resolved in the settings and profiles.
I love it as a music player and actually use it more than my iPod because you can listen without headphones.

I'm returning this phone. It has been very convenient having access to e-mail and a basic web browser, but it's just too inconvenient overall. Here is a whole list of flaws I've compiled over using it for just one week. I use the phone with AT&T; It may work differently with other carriers.

After losing sigal, it sometimes doesn't reconnect on its own. I have to go into the network settings and turn the network connection off and back on.

The trackball can be quirky at times, not registering any movement until I move it around rapidly.

The keyboard is very frustrating to type on, and SureType is hard to operate combined with the trackball issue. SureType doesn't remember which words I use more frequently, and keeps suggesting the same wrong one.

Some sound effects cannot be turned off, like the camera "shutter" sound, and the tones when dialing a phone number.

When talking to someone via SMS, the "Reply" option goes away after I reply to a message, so I cannot reply a second time without going through the steps to compose a new message.

When left to charge overnight, the phone sometimes dies, and won't come back on until I take out and replace the battery.

I got the phone because I really like the form factor, and I still do. But due to all the software flaws, I decided to return it.

ok so i bought this phone and at first it is awesome. The design is awesome, the keyboard perfect and the perfect size for keeping in your pocket. however, it breaks fairly easily, the pait will begin to rub off within weeks, and the software is just plain horrible- it crashes randomly.
The phone has a beautiful design but i would NOT recommend it to anybody. it is completely unreliable. after 3 months of light usage the trackball stoppped working, the back case that covers the battery fell off, the bluetooth mysteriously stopped working completely, and for some reason the phone would not store more than about 10 text messages before forcing me to delete previous texts because there was "not enough room on the phone" (even though there was at least 20 mb free)
also, although this phone is capable of taking videos, you are not able to use this feature until you buy a seperate media card ($10 dollars approximately from amazon)

summary of all this: dont buy this phone unless you plan to treat it like gold, because the slightest mishap will cause it to break)

i really like the pearl, its easy to use, and i like it as a phone. however, i had to replace my first one after less than a month because it broke really easily. so i'm being very careful with my new one...
but other than that i love it.

I bought this on eBay and just got it today. I had originally gotten a Motorola Backflip when we signed up for our new contract and was quite happy up until the day it was stolen... I wanted something that was not too expensive to replace my beloved Backflip (like I said, I liked it, despite other peoples' negative reviews)since we're in contract, and a refurb, no-commitment price iPhone is still $279, and a Blackberry Torch $500, but I still wanted a smartphone, too.
Seller marketed it as "3G Data Capable." It is not. This would be my biggest beef with this phone.
Track ball is already a pain in the back side: it will sometimes not allow you to scroll up, and will sometimes scroll down instead or just not respond at all.
I tested the speakers using the media player and anything above 1/2 of the max volume decreases sound quality considerably.
Bluetooth failed to transfer any contacts from my "old" phone (approximately 5 months old, but still in great condition- it was my dad's free phone when we signed a new contract but he went back to his old LG flip phone from 4 years ago because he's a techno-phobe, and I commandeered his to replace my stolen Backflip.)
The pseudo-QWERTY keyboard is nice in its condensed size, but a pain in the rear to try to teach yourself to use.
Design's older than the micro-USB port, so it uses the mini-USB instead. Not the biggest turn-off, but still...

My advice: Spend the extra to go with something newer. I'd say go with something with a less-strange keyboard, preferably an iPhone or something with the Android OS. (both great, but pricy for no-commitment pricing)

Amazon will send an automated request to ATT to make sure you are qualified. ATT then sends an automated confirmation/decline back. It is a mess. I ordered a phone on Oct 18th, (called ATT first to make sure all was ok to order on Amazon) It is now Dec 4th and order has been looping through their automated system and keeps saying it will be delivered and never is. I finally cancelled the order and went to ATT Store. Huge dispaointment!

I've had the phone for about 2 weeks now and it seems to be pretty awesome.