BlackBerry Pearl 8130 Cell Phone Review - Organizer
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Mark Brezinski Published on December 18, 2007 Comment on this |
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Synchronization (6.33)
The Pearl comes with software to make synchronizing very easy. The program is very straightforward and incredibly accessible, more so than Series 60 sync software. It doesn’t look as nice as the Windows Mobile sync, but remains slightly easier to pick up for newer users.
The synchronizing software works with calendar appointments, contacts, tasks, and notes. You can connect to your PC either with the included USB cable, or with the Pearl’s Bluetooth. The included desktop software is compatible with both Outlook and Stop Manager. Relative to other top end smart phones, this is a bit basic. Series 60 Symbian devices will also synchronize with the Lotus suite of programs.
Alerts (7.0)
There are a lot of options for alert customization. They can be set to go off between zero minutes and one week before the event, with 25 available presets to choose from. You can also set a recurrence. The rest of the alert customization options, such as the style (ring, vibe, or both), and the number of times the alert will sound. This latter setting is where functionality is a bit lacking. Once it’s rung its 1-3 times, the only option for a repeat notification is the blinking LED. If your Pearl is in a pocket or purse and you miss the initial alarm, there’s little to tip you off unless you actually take out the device and look at the screen. This being said, if you have a BlackBerry, you’ll probably keep very close tabs on it and not want it annoying you in meetings.
Over the Air PIM Sync (4.0)
The Pearl does support over the air synchronization. Straight out of the box, you can use either the BlackBerry server, or an Exchange server. Though you can’t use the Yahoo! or Google sync services out of the box, they can be installed later.
Address Book
Adding Contacts (6.73)
The Pearl took an average of 14.85 seconds to add a contact. This is pretty fast, though it took a bit longer than BlackBerry phones typically do. Both the Curve 8320 and The Palm Centro was able to perform faster because their full QWERTY keypad is easier to use. Of course, both these phones are a lot bigger than the Pearl, which is typically the trade off between QWERTY and SureType keyboards. Other QWERTY phones tend to be slower because they need to flip open to access their keyboards.
Cell Phone
Time (sec)
Score
BlackBerry Pearl 8130
14.85
6.73
Palm Centro
12.22
8.18
HTC Tilt
19.74
5.07
Sidekick LX
19.58
5.11
BlackBerry Curve 8320
14.1
7.09
Nokia N73
23.1
4.33
Looking/Sorting/Search (6.5)
Contacts can be sorted by first name, last name, or business. They can also be filtered by group for another layer of sorting. There is also a search bar you can input either of the three sorting criteria into to get to the entry you want. Standard phones typically only offer one or two of these options.
Fields (7.6)
There are 28 fields you can fill out for your contacts. This includes first name, last name, a picture, company, job title, an email address, various numbers, two physical addresses, birthday, anniversary, categories, notes, and four user-defined fields. You can also assign a custom ringtone, though that option is hidden in the menu as opposed to the actual list of fields. Though very comprehensive, Treo and Series 60 devices offer almost twice the number of fields.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.67)
The Pearl has twelve slots for speed dial assignments and good voice command software. You can set speed dials either via the menu button or by holding down an available key on the home screen. The voice command software did well, recognizing the names of all our test contacts. Although voice tags aren’t supported, the voice command software should be able to make up for it.
Calendar
Adding Calendar Items (15.31)
The Pearl was able to add a new calendar appointment in 6.61 seconds on average. While very fast compared to most phones, this is actually a bit slower than other BlackBerry phones. The reason is the interface is slightly different and also because the keypad isn’t as fast.
To get this score we first had to access the main menu, then select the calendar item. Scrolling between days is easy with the trackball. Once we found our time slot, a click brought up the new calendar item entry dialogue. A fifteen minute reminder is automatically added. From here all we had to do was fill in a short title (lunch) and set the time to noon; setting the time was the most time consuming step
Cell Phone
Time (sec)
Score
BlackBerry Pearl 8130
6.61
15.13
Palm Centro
4.8
20.83
HTC Tilt
7.46
13.40
Sidekick LX
12.44
8.04
BlackBerry Curve 8320
6.04
16.56
Nokia N73
18.96
5.27
Calendar Views (4.7)
The Pearl’s calendar software is almost exactly like the typical BlackBerry suite; it just has a few minor interface changes. The views are the same though, and monthly, weekly, daily, and agenda function just as they always have.
The default is day view, which is a very helpful view. The left hand side contains the hours you’ve set the day to run between. Appointments are written in the main part of the screen, and receive orange brackets to show their duration. Scrolling left and right will change the day. If you get lost, just reference the handy mini-map in the top right hand corner.
Week view is a cell phone standard: hours down the left, days across the top. Appointments are highlighted orange in the grid. Selecting an appointment will display its title location and duration. Clicking on an entry will zoom to it in the day view.
Month view isn’t the most helpful view. It’s the standard six week lineup, and each date gets little hash marks for the number of appointments that day. Highlighting such a day won’t display any information about the appointments, however. Clicking again sends you to day view.
Agenda view will list every appointment you’ve scheduled. Free time is clearly marked.
Fields (11.0)
The Pearl will let you set a title, start/end/duration, location, and reminder. Advanced features include recurrence, notes, status and two checkbox options: “Mark as Private” and “All Day Event”. In the menu you can also invite a contact. If you have multiple email addresses, you can choose which one you’d like to send the invitations from. The only field we would’ve really liked to see included was a category.
To Do/Tasks
Adding To Do/Task (7.05)
We were able to create our sample task in 14.18 seconds. This is a good time, and, unlike other timing tests, actually beat most of its BlackBerry brethren. The main reason for this was because the tasks application was accessible from the main menu, which cut down on navigation time a bit.
Cell Phone
Time (sec)
Score
BlackBerry Pearl 8130
14.19
7.05
Palm Centro
11.52
8.68
HTC Tilt
17.77
5.63
Sidekick LX
14.30
6.99
BlackBerry Curve 8320
14.80
6.76
Nokia N73
13.16
7.60
To Do/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (7.0)
Tasks can be sorted by name, priority, due date, or status. The search feature included will let you type in any word in their title.
Fields (10.0)
The Pearl has good task functionality. You’ll find all the basic fields (title, priority, due date, reminder) and also a healthy amount of extras: notes, status, time zone, and recurrence. You can even assign a category, which makes us slightly more disappointed in the calendar’s lack of them. There are more fields here than most standard phones have in their calendar application.
Notes
Adding Notes (5.41)
It took 9.25 seconds to enter in our sample note. This is a fast time; the times in the chart below that are under nine seconds are very fast. It was also a bit faster than other BlackBerry devices because the notes application was on the main menu. Most phones tend to bury the notes application under at least three layers of menus.
Cell Phone
Time (sec)
Score
BlackBerry Pearl 8130
9.25
5.41
Palm Centro
8.46
5.91
HTC Tilt
13.79
3.63
Sidekick LX
8.28
6.04
BlackBerry Curve 8320
12.2
4.10
Nokia N73
15.12
3.31
Note Interface (7.5)
The new note dialogue is two rounded rectangles. The first holds the title, and the second is the body of the text. There really isn’t much to distinguish the note interface form an empty screen. If it wasn’t for a bit of gray and “Title:”, you’d be staring at a white screen. Like tasks, notes can be assigned and filtered by a category, which makes the calendar a bit depressed.
Note Formatting (0.0)
The notes program won’t let you format text to any extent.
Voice Memo (3.0)
The Pearl has a much better voice memo application than the 8800 series simply because it lets you save your notes to the phone (the 8800 phones would only let you send them via text once you made them). It’s still very basic, but it gets the job done.
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