BlackBerry Pearl 8130 Cell Phone Review - Tour & Design
|
Mark Brezinski Published on December 18, 2007 Comment on this |
|
|
|
|
Front
The front of the Pearl contains a similar layout to typical BlackBerry devices, just with a different keypad. The top has a speaker and an LED. The next feature is the 2.15 inch display. Under this is the standard trackball array, which has the send, menu, back, and end keys. Under this is the SureType keypad, which has a somewhat wavy design.
Left
The silvered left side of the phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which immediately boosts the Pearl above most phones. Below this is a standard Mini USB port. Next is the Micro SD card slot, which is covered by a silver panel. The last button down the line is the dedicated voice command key.
Top
The top of the Pearl has its speakerphone and mute button.
Bottom
The bottom of the Pearl has a tiny microphone hole toward the left side.
Right
Like the left, the right side is also silver plastic. It contains the volume keys, camera shortcut, and the ever-important lanyard loop. It’s honestly a pretty bad lanyard loop, because it will cause the phone to hang at an awkward angle. If this is make or break territory for you, perhaps you’d best move on to the next handset.
Back
The most major feature on the back of the Pearl is its battery cover. Towards the top is the lens for the 2-Megapixel camera.
Battery Out
Taking off the battery cover off and battery out will let you survey absolutely no additional features.
In the Box (5.5)
The Pearl comes with a wall charger, carrying case, Mini USB cable, stereo headset, some software CDs, and a single manual.
Handling (7.0)
The Pearl is a great little device. It basically compresses most of the functionality of a typical BlackBerry device into a much more manageable package. The phone is small and thin, but retains a good amount of heft. The phone has rounded edges and should fit comfortably in any hand. Most of the phone’s weight is situated to the bottom, so the low grip necessary for typing isn’t an issue.
Portability (9.0)
The Pearl is very portable. It is very thin and smaller than typical phones. It’s also relatively light. It will slide pockets, purses or bags of any sensible size. There are also a ton of holster options available; holsters will even change how the phone behaves, meriting their own section in the ringer profile.
Aesthetics (7.0)
While not a knock-out by any stretch, the Pearl is a much sleeker version of the typical BlackBerry design. Since this is such a familiar look, the Pearl is best seen as a new take on an old trend. It could almost be seen as an updated retro look since BlackBerry has been making handsets since the mid-eighties. Again, it’s not something that will make the typical user’s jaw drop, but it is stylish and a great-looking, relatively tiny alternative to a standard BlackBerry.
Durability (9.0)
RIM know how to make a quality phone. The Pearl is a tank; it certainly looks and feels like it could brush off a beating. It doesn’t have any moving parts, which increases its durability considerably. However, it does have a large, exposed screen that seems like it could pick up scratches. To its credit, though, we’ve accidentally scratched a few of our last BlackBerry Pearl 8130s (science is a full contact sport) but the Pearl remains untouched. The only other source of paranoia comes from the trackball, which could feasibly allow dust and sundry grime into the guts of the phone. We wouldn’t worry too much about this, however.
| Previous Next | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
