Cellphone Reviews Blog

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Phone Red T Mobile

Enjoy all the communication and connectivity features you’ve come to expect from a Blackberry phone–including email served up by the BlackBerry Internet Service and a full menu of messaging options (SMS, MMS, and IM)–in a new clamshell form factor. The Blackberry Flip from T-Mobile also brings support for T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home service, which enables you to make calls from the GSM cellular network and then seamlessly transfer them to your Wi-Fi network.

Quickly and accurately type messages thanks to the SureType enhanced predictive text typing technology.

The Blackberry Flip features the SureType hybrid alpha-numeric/QWERTY keyboard found on Blackberry Pearl phones, which makes typing messages and dialing numbers fast and easy. It also includes a 2-megapixel camera with video capture, Bluetooth for handsfree devices and stereo music streaming, microSD memory expansion (up to 16 GB), EDGE data connectivity, voice-activated dialing, and up to 4 hours of talk time.

T-Mobile Service
With T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, you’ll effortlessly transition between Wi-Fi calling and T-Mobile’s wireless network while you talk. You can get unlimited nationwide calls over Wi-Fi–at home via your wireless router or at any U.S. T-Mobile HotSpot. You can also use the HotSpot @Home service via most open, or unsecured, wireless routers, as well as any secured wireless router for which you have access to the password from the owner. This phone is compatible with the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi standard as well as with Wi-Fi security protocols including WEP ,WPA and WPA2. Whenever you’re not using a Wi-Fi network, this phone works just like a regular mobile phone, using your Whenever Minutes under your T-Mobile voice plan.

Additionally, this mobile phone operates on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks and can handle high-speed data connectivity via T-Mobile’s EDGE network (which stands for “Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution”). This high-speed, mobile data and Internet access technology is fast enough to support a wide range of advanced data services (with average data speeds between 75-135Kbps), including full picture and video messaging, high-speed color Internet access, and email on the go.

This phone also includes compatibility with T-Mobile’s myFaves service, which allows you to call up to five of your most common contacts–on any network, even landlines–without using any of your minutes. Learn more about myFaves from T-Mobile.

Download cool new games, HiFi Ringers (real songs by today’s hottest artists), MegaTones (instrumental versions of songs), and wallpapers quickly, as well as stay connected via the Web, instant messaging, and email.

Phone Features
The BlackBerry Flip presents a sophisticated look with a sleek design and a chrome-finished frame surrounding its smooth, luminescent face. Weighing 3.6 ounces, the Flip has two light-sensing LCD screens–an internal 2.3-inch 65K-color screen (240 x 320-pixel resolution) and an external 65K-color screen with a 128 x 160-pixel resolution. The external LCD makes it easy to preview incoming emails, text messages and phone calls without opening the handset. It can also display currently playing music track information, and the screen darkens after a pre-assigned time-out duration. The phone has an internal 128 MB memory, which can be expanded via microSD/microSDHC memory cards up to 16 GB in size.

More than just an email companion, the Blackberry Flip also offers a media player, 2.0-megapixel camera, and Wi-Fi connectivity–compatible with T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home. See larger version.

Opening up the clamshell reveals the Blackberry Flip’s unique alpha-numeric keypad, which has been brough over from Blackberry’s popular Pearl models. Each button on the keypad shares two letters and the unit automatically determines which letter is the intended one based on what it predicts you are trying to spell. This unique predictive text technology, known as SureType, makes the Blackberry Flip’s diminutive size possible. SureType also learns the words you use most often, further enhancing your typing speed.

With BlackBerry push technology, you don’t need to retrieve your e-mail. BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, allowing you to be discreetly notified as new e-mail arrives. Support is also built-in for viewing e-mail attachments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, and PDF formats).

You’ll be able to easily access up to 10 supported personal and work email accounts, send and receive text and instant messages, and connect on popular social networking sites with friends, family and co-workers. The DataViz Documents to Go software suite is also preloaded, allowing you to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset. The BlackBerry Flip is supported on BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which provides tight integration with corporate email systems.

Surf the Internet with the BlackBerry Browser, which includes a “Page View” option that displays a full web page on the screen along with a magnifying glass that allows the user to quickly and accurately point and zoom in on a specific area of the web page. It also provides quicker access to Bookmarks and History.

This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity, and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, audio/video remote control, and sending of vCard calendar and contact info. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. With Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), you just say the word and the 8120 can initiate a call with anyone in your contact list. Plus, you can use VAD along with the built-in speakerphone or with a Bluetooth headset for hands-free dialing.

With an advanced media player for displaying pictures, listening to music and watching videos, the Flip is the perfect on-the-go entertainment center. Videos play smoothly on the large internal display, playlists can be managed directly on the handset, and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters. The BlackBerry Flip also works with the new BlackBerry Media Sync application that makes it easy to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone. It’s compatible with a wide range of music file formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and AMR-NB as well as MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 video clips.

The external screen displays incoming calls as well as currently playing music tracks and a clock when at rest. See larger version.

The 2-megapixel camera features a 5x digital zoom and flash as well as your choice of three picture sizes and qualities and white balance settings. You can also capture video clips in two formats–normal and small for sending via MMS.

Other features include:

• Instant messaging via popular services including AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Live, Google Talk, and Blackberry Messenger
• SMS text and MMS picture/video messaging
• Support for IMAP/POP3, SMTP email
• Integrates with an existing enterprise email account
• Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g)
• Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry Enterprise Server
• Ringtones: polyphonic, MIDI, and MP3
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• Downloadable BlackBerry Maps application provides directions and maps while on the road.
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bluetooth version 2.0 with the following profiles: A2DP (stereo music streaming), AVRC (remote control), HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), DUN (dial-up networking), PBA (transfer contacts)

Vital Statistics
The Blackberry Flip weighs 3.6 ounces and measures 2.0 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches. Its 900 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 360 hours (15 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies as well as Wi-Fi 802.11b/g networks using the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Good phone, shame about its carrier…
I am a big fan of the BlackBerry. I’ve never had a problem with the straight design in all of its versions, but when I heard that they’d released a flip version of the Pearl, I knew I had to give it a whirl. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip has a gorgeous design. It has two displays — an internal and an external — and both look great. The phone is rather long in dimensions (as opposed to Sprint’s LG Lotus, which is thick and short), but it’s not as big or as heavy as I thought it would be. When flipped open, it is a little thicker than the Motorola RAZR, but not by much. And it comes in two colors — black and red. I love the red one.

The Flip, like all other BlackBerrys, has Push e-mail, web browsing, GPS, a media center, and you can download applications to it. It runs with RIM’s latest OS, so you get the newest features. The internal display isn’t as impressive as the one found in the BlackBerry Bold (AT&T), nor is it as fast and user-friendly, but it’s good nevertheless. This is a Pearl, which means you get the short-type keyboard. It works the exact same way as the classic BlackBerry Pearl, so no renovations there. It has a 2-MP camera and a headphone jack. The design is quite sleek and beautiful, and it’s very comfortable to hold to your ear while talking on the phone. The trackball is smaller than earlier versions of the BB Pearl, and you may or may not like this change. I for one had no difficulty using it. The web browser is middling in this phone. Definitely not as refined as the one found in the Bold.

The phone itself is great. Business types as well as idle fans will very likely enjoy using this. The one big problem I see with this phone is its carrier. T-Mobile still runs on Edge. They have GSM and 3G capabilities, but in very few areas, which does not include mine. I live in Western Massachusetts, not far from Connecticut and New York, and Verizon, AT&T and Sprint run fast and reliable 3G networks. T-Mobile, however, has yet to step up on the plate. Well, at least it has wifi, and it works well at home and at local hotspots. The aforementioned carrier also sets some limitations in terms of features and capabilities. I am not impressed with their media software. They are also not very friendly with Mac users. I was not able to sync my music, photos and videos on this phone, which is a big dealbreaker for me. I want my smartphone to work for me, not the other way around.

So, in a nutshell, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip is beautiful and possesses the ease of use well known from RIM. As far as functionality goes, it is either a hit or a miss. As for me, it is a miss. This isn’t a great area for T-Mobile subscribers. I need my 3G network for when I’m on the road, and I’m not getting that here. I also need my media, which neither the phone nor the carrier allows me to install on this phone. I’d say be careful, do your research, and then decide if T-Mobile works well in your area and if this phone is the right one for you.

1 Star Mac users stay away!
Mac users should stay away from this phone!! I purchased the phone through T-mobile because I wanted a smart phone that would work as a pda and mp3 player. First I checked to see if the phone was compatible with isync. It is not. However, apple points you to the “PocketMac Sync Manager” application. I got my the pearl flip and loved the way it looked, the way it made calls, and the wi-fi features. I thought this was going to be so awesome.

My first sign of trouble was trying to connect through bluetooth. I installed PocketMac and paired my phone with my MacBook Pro. I could not sync up wirelessly. I did get it to sync once via USB cable with PocketMac. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the application trying to fix the trouble. It was then I learned that PocketMac doesn’t sync with bluetooth. PocketMac would no longer open.

I called T-Mobile who patched me through to Blackberry support. After two hours even their tech was frustrated and admitted that PocketMac is not a good solution for Mac users. Bottom line, some people get this to work but they have far more free time and patience than I do. I’m returning the phone and wishing I didn’t have a contract with T-Mobile.

4 Stars Very good phone with lots of features!
I’ve been using my new Blackberry 8220 flip phone for about a week now. Here are my impressions about this phone… the pros and cons. Keep in mind that this is my first Blackberry phone, so I do not review it in comparison to any other blackberry. Instead, I compare it to other flip phones I’ve had. My last flip phone was the Motorola KRZR K1. This phone eats it up, and spits it out.

Pros:

-Call quality: sound quality while making and receiving calls are good. There doesn’t seem to be a difference in quality between making a wifi call or network phone call (see wifi)

- Wifi: This phone has a built in wifi receiver. This means that if you have a wifi connection at home (or any unsecured wifi signal) you can browse the web with this phone (for free). The pre-installed t-mobile browser is lame (it doesn’t let you browse any website you want unless you sign up for the data plan). Download the free browser “Opera” for this phone, and you can cruise any website you want.

-Wifi calling: When you are connected to a strong wifi signal… you can make calls over the wifi connection, thereby not using up your minutes on your plan… very cool!

-web browsing: Web browsing is as good as it gets on a 240 x 320 resolution screen. Again, I recommend downloading a free copy of the Opera browser. When used with a fast wifi connection, loading time for pages is surprisingly fast.

-Built in mp3 player: The mp3 player works well and sounds good, but the layout/interface could be better. (tip: use button #4,#6 to skip songs instead of using trackball) For example, when the phone is closed… you can only access volume controls. The built in standard 3.5mm headphone jack is fantastic, though! All phones should have this… I absolutely love not having to carry around an annoying adapter just to listen to my music in the car or over headphones. It’s also cool that it has the ability to display album artwork This phone comes with a handsfree headset/stereo headphone… very cool! The included headphones sound surprisingly good too… about as good as a typical $30 set of Sony headphones.

-Screen: The screen is small but gorgeous… colors look saturated and images look very sharp.

-Camera: For a 2 megapixel camera… it works well and does a good job of automatically adjusting shutter and exposure. Color saturation and contrast could be better, though. Even on the highest resolution… images lack high contrast and sharpness. Built in flash is a nice extra.

-mp3 ringers – I really love the fact that you can use any mp3/sound file as a ring-tone, alarm tone, alert tone… etc.

-Texting: At first, I really hated the button configuration for texting. It’s totally different from most phones. But once you get used to it, texting on this phone works very well and the intelligent word suggestions are pretty good at guessing what word you’re typing. The ability to add your own words to the custom library is great, too. I love that when a text messagecomes, you can preview the first few lines of the on the front screen… very useful! Also, there are special status lights on the front of the phone that blinks Red on the front of the phone when you have an unread text.

-Picture texting: Photo texting seems to work relatively well, but the only limitation is that you can only add a few words of text along with the image. I’m not sure if this is a limitation of the ‘mms message system’ or phone.

-expandable mini-SD/mini-SDHC. This is awesome for storing tons of images and music for the mp3 player… very cool! Right now, you can expand it up to a 16GB micro SDHC card and essentially have a 16gb Mp3 player in addition to a phone.

Cons:

-Battery Life: Sadly, the battery does not seem to last very long… even when the phone is only used for texting. For example, I noticed that the battery drained down to about 40% capacity from just one day of texting (no phone calls). To be fair, I do text a lot in one day (perhaps 50 a day?) Sadly it’s a phone you’ll probably have to charge every day even if you don’t use it very often throughout the course of your day. If you’re listening Blackberry, please release a Hi-capacity battery for this phone!

-Non-standard USB connector: I don’t like that it has a non-standard usb connection. If you loose the cable, you’ll have to get one especially made for the blackberry. They could have easily made it the standard min-usb to USB connection (but they didn’t… GRrr!) Oh well, at least they got the standard 3.5mm headphone jack right.

- The whole phone is very prone to fingerprint smudging… so it ends up looking oily and kinda gross, if not cleaned like… everyday.

Conclusion: The positive features greatly outweigh the few negative things about this phone. This phone has an impressive array of features… considering how small the device is. It’s really a tiny computer in addition to a phone, and it does most things pretty darn well. If you’re into flip phones, and want one that does more than probably any other one out there…then this one may be the phone for you. I just wish that the battery on this baby lasted longer! Oh well, even tiny computers take lots of juice I guess

Fun tip: You can get the game Pac-man for this phone for free online

Buy/More Info

BlackBerry Curve 8320 Phone Pale Gold T Mobile

Adding a fashionable touch to Research in Motion’s formidable arsenal of telephonic, PIM, and media tools, the BlackBerry 8320 Curve for T-Mobile is also the smallest, lightest BlackBerry phone that includes a full QWERTY keyboard. This amalgam of the svelte BlackBerry Pearl and the more business-oriented 8800 combines RIM’s long-valued corporate email and messaging platform with a host of advanced multimedia features, including a 2-megapixel camera and stereo Bluetooth (for listening to music via wireless headphones). In addition to its quad-band GSM and EDGE connectivity, it also offers Wi-Fi connectivity for access to the Internet and email as well as access to T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home service. This version comes in pale gold, but it’s also available in titanium.

The Curve’s full QWERTY keyboard and the innovative trackball navigation system (placed above the keyboard) makes accessing your data and writing email a breeze..

The 2-megapixel camera makes it easy to capture pictures to send via email or upload to your online photo collection.

T-Mobile Service Options
With T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, you’ll effortlessly transition between Wi-Fi calling and T-Mobile’s wireless network while you talk. You can get unlimited nationwide calls over Wi-Fi–at home via your wireless router or at any U.S. T-Mobile HotSpot. You can also use the HotSpot @Home service via most open, or unsecured, wireless routers, as well as any secured wireless router for which you have access to the password from the owner. This phone is compatible with the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi standard as well as the following wireless security protocols: WEP, WPA (TKIP), WPA2 (AES-CCMP), LEAP, PEAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, EAP-FAST, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA. Whenever you’re not using a Wi-Fi network, the Curve works just like a regular mobile phone, using your Whenever Minutes under your T-Mobile voice plan.

This phone also includes compatibility with T-Mobile’s myFaves service, which allows you to call up to five of your most common contacts–on any network, even landlines–without using any of your minutes. Learn more about myFaves from T-Mobile.

Staying Connected
With BlackBerry’s push email technology, your email will find you without having to initiate a connection. BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, notifying you as new email arrives. In addition to the text, you can also receive and view attachments in a wide range of popular file formats, including Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect, and Adobe PDF.

Browse the web with the integrated, full-featured browser, which quickly and efficiently displays HTML pages as well as enables you to set up RSS feeds to stay connected to up-to-the-minute news and blog posts. And keep up with your contacts using a variety of instant message (IM) networks, including the integrated Blackberry Messenger as well as downloadable clients for Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, and Lotus Sametime.

For corporate users, the Curve delivers all the enterprise email and messaging capabilities you’ve come to expect. It’s supported on BlackBerry Internet Service, giving you access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts), as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server, enabling advanced security and IT administration within IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise environments.

Phone Features

Click for larger view.

The Curve is fashioned in a liquid silver finish with chrome highlights and subtly curving corners. Measuring 4.2 x 2.4 inches, the Curve is just as slim as the Pearl (0.6 inches) and weighs in at 3.9 ounces–just 0.7 ounces heavier than its predecessor. It features a bright 2.5-inch color TFT screen that provides 65,000 colors and a 320 x 240-pixel resolution, and it includes a light-sensing feature that automatically adjusts backlighting for indoor, outdoor and dark environments. Like the BlackBerry 8800, the Curve includes a trackball navigation system located on the top of the QWERTY keypad, and it also features an integrated spell checker with a customizable dictionary to help maintain accuracy while on the go. It has 64 MB of internal ROM memory, and is expandable using MicroSD memory cards. The battery provides up to 4 hours (240 minutes) of talk time and up to 17 days (408 hours) of standby time.

You can snap vivid photos (though no video) using the 2-megapixel camera on the back of the Curve, which also features a 5x digital zoom, built-in flash, self-portrait mirror and full screen viewfinder. It can capture images in up to three picture quality and size resolutions that can be shared instantly by email, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger, or even uploaded to your Flickr account with the Yahoo! Go service. Photos can also be immediately set as a unique caller ID or Home Screen image. You can edit photos and create albums within the Curve using the PhotoSuite application. Pictures can be cropped, rotated and straightened, and flaws can be fixed by removing redeye or changing the brightness, contrast, and saturation levels.

Listen to your favorite music and watch downloaded videos using the included stereo headset, or use an optional wireless headphone thanks to the Curve’s support for the Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP). The Curve is compatible with a wide variety of file formats, including MP3, WMA and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ audio and WMV, MPEG4 and H.263 video. Dedicated volume controls are conveniently located on the side of the handset.

With the Voice-Activated Dialing (VAD) feature, you can initiate a call just by telling the Curve who to call from your contact list–either via the integrated speakerphone or using an optional Bluetooth wireless headset. Other advanced phone features include advanced sound technology that cancels out background noise and echo, dedicated volume and mute keys, and the ability to customize the Curve with polyphonic and MP3 ringtones.

Vital Statistics
The Blackberry Curve 8320 weighs 3.92 ounces and measures 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 408 hours (17 days) of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Blackberry Curve 8320 T-Mobile – Loving it….. still!!!!!,
This is by far the coolest phone I’ve had! I love the ease of set up – I have yet to even glance at the manual. Before I knew it, I was surfing the internet and dowloading Google Maps (a must have for every blackberry user – the satellite views are amazing)! Camera is the best I’ve seen on any cellphone thus far. With a memory card you could load up to 2GB (unsure if a larger card will work) of music, ringtones, videos, and pictures. The screen is beautiful! Very impressive Blackberry.

The only negative aspect that I could find, was the fact that T-Mobile’s version does not have GPS (AT&T does). But this flaw can easily be overcome by buying an optional portable GPS receiver that costs anywhere from $45 – 100 bucks.

Overall – this is one awesome phone!

4 Stars Powerful,Great Quality/Design,not easy to configure
(Note: long review)

I was shopping for a phone (not a PDA) when I decided to buy the Blackberry Curve 8320. My top priorities were:

* to eliminate my need for an office landline by using an inexpensive cell phone plan and a phone with maximum coverage options

* great call quality

* ease of use and configuration

* good headset features that would allow me to easily talk while using my computer

Less important but desirable were:

* Bluetooth so I could occasionally use my Garmin Nuvi 660 for hands free phone use and POI dialing.

* a media player (but not if it got in the way of phone use)

The service provider was more important than the phone, and that led me to T-mobile, which offers good coverage in my area, the best prices, great service, and Hotspot@home which increases coverage to anywhere with open WiFi.

So my perspective is that of a solo consultant who chose a Blackberry Curve over other, less complex, T-mobile Hotspot@home compatible phones (the other choices were Nokia 6086, Samsung Katalyst, and Samsung t409).

Pros:

Call quality when using included headset (and T-mobile network) is the best I’ve ever experienced with any kind of phone, cell or otherwise.

3.5mm jack means many options for headsets of any type/quality/price.

Very stable: The PDA and media functions don’t crash the phone or get in the way of phone use. So this model works for those who want a phone first and foremost without any compromises (though there are a couple minor quirks mentioned below).

Having WiFi as an option is great, though I don’t need it at home or at my office thanks to good T-mobile reception. I want this option not in order access the web or to save money (1000 minutes per month is plenty for me), but rather to increase call quality in situations where the network signal is weak or not present.

Has many physical design features that are very well thought out: user assignable buttons, a surprisingly usable keyboard despite the tiny size, a standby mode button (prevents accidental key presses) – all in an attractive yet solid form factor – and there are many accessories available to augment use of the phone. The more I use it, the more impressed I am with the physical design.

Volume control is superb – can go up loud enough to be able to use in very noisy conditions – and if there is a risk of ear damage from excessive volume, a warning pops up.

Even if you never send emails from the phone, having a well designed keyboard makes for a better phone: It makes dialing contacts fast, means 26 speed dial keys (letters are easier to remember than numbers), and typing in a new contact is faster than with numeric keypad phones.

The address book is very nicely integrated with the phone in a way that makes it fast and easy to dial contacts even if they are not on speed dial – just dial the first couple letters of anyone’s first or last name and you’ll then be able to use track ball to pick out the contact. It was easy to install and use the software on my computer that enabled me to transfer my 150 contacts from MS Outlook.

The “Send Voice Note” feature lets me send myself (or anyone) a voice note, usually in less than 10 seconds. Never imagined wanting such a feature but now that I have it I love to use it to send myself reminders or cash expense notes for later entry into Quicken.

Battery life is good if used primarily as a phone.

In March, 2008, the phone cost only fifty (after rebate) when purchased with a 2 year contract commitment through Amazon. This was relevant as the other phone I considered was the Nokia 6086 – which would have been free through the same source. Purchased direct from T-mobile the 8320 costs two hundred additional which was a big enough difference that I didn’t even consider the 8320 at first. Even though I wasn’t shopping for a PDA, the modest extra cost was well worth it for a couple of nonPDA features – and I get to see for a modest cost if using as a PDA makes sense for me.

T-mobile’s pricing plans are the least expensive available for national service plans – the 39.99/month for 1000 anytime minutes and unlimited weekends/nights is just what I need. For another 9.99/month I got BB E-mail, as required by the Amazon offer. The additional cost of 15 cents per MMS message is fine if you send just a few MMS each month like me.

T-mobile’s customer service is the best I’ve ever experienced from a phone company.

Blackberries are popular so that means lots of options for support and Accessories, and integration with other systems. For example, users of Gmail and Google Apps will like that Google has already provided some integration tools and integration is likely to greatly improve by the end of the year.

Cons:

Complexity of interface and scattered options/help screens leads to many hours of figuring out how to configure the phone – or finding out something can’t be done. Discovering some of the answers required use of online forums or calls to T-mobile.

The default settings were a bit different from typical cell phone settings. It is time consuming and tedious to configure the 8320 to act like a normal cell phone (though you can do it in less than half an hour with a new phone once you finish learning where all the settings are). I wish I had discovered sooner that the majority of changes a basic user would want to make are buried in two applications if you study them carefully:

Profiles/Advanced/Normal/Phone and Options/Screen/Keyboard.

Some things that are standard on most phones cannot be done (or in some cases additional effort is required to download/install an application).

Examples of missing standard phone functions are:

1) cannot ring/vibrate simultaneously

2) no sustained flashing LED when there’s a voice mail (it does for a few minutes but then it stops – so if you happen to miss a call and not be near your phone for the next 15 minutes, you won’t know you got a call unless you look at the screen).

When not using the headset, your ear must be in the proper place for good quality. If your natural inclination is to place your ear close to the phone and just above it, you’ll hear a low level hiss from the speaker (true with both phone or media player use). This is minor if you learn to hold the phone differently and/or primarily use with headset.

A little uncomfortable to hold this wide phone for calls of more than a few Minutes. Avoid this phone if you have small hands and/or plan to spend many hours per week using as a phone without headset.

Too little memory (or is it bad memory management?). I am not (nor do I want to become) a power user but yet will need to do a battery pull every few weeks (Update: there is a way to do a soft reboot. Alt-Right Shift-Delete). It starts with around 21MB free but just checking out the various applications and settings and using the media player without even enabling email dropped it to 16MB. A battery pull bumped it back up to 21MB. With memory so cheap it seems bizarre that it comes with so little.

Having expandable SD memory is great but the Curve is very slow and sometimes awkward in how it accesses the SD memory. For example, for music albums with many short tracks, it can take over 30 seconds to open the album and begin to play music when loaded first time. It is also slow to display the names of albums from the SD card after each time the phone connects to a computer.

Having WiFi accessibility is great but in many cases requires changes to the router configuration. Would rather this worked with any open router without having to reconfigure – or if reconfiguration is required, then make it easy to do. On the bright side, T-mobile offers pre-configured routers for $50 for those who don’t want to go through the reconfiguration hassle. Would like it even better if they sold a portable gadget that simply took any open WiFi signal and converted it into a format that works fine with my phone.

Having Bluetooth compatibility with my Garmin 660 is nice but if not for a terrific post on the blackberryforums.com web site by ggraves, I’m not sure I ever would have been able to get it working properly. Garmin tech support did not know what needed to be done to get the 660 working with the Blackberry Curve. Connecting properly should not be so complicated or required making a change to the Garmin operating system.

It’s a finger controlled PDA. It is time consuming to figure out how to work all the functions of the device and this can be a distraction from getting work done. This has happened to me, as I am one of those people who gets sucked into checking out the capabilities of a new electronic gadget.

I owned one of the first Palm-based PDA cell phones and experienced the same thing – I wasted more time trying to figure things out then I saved by being able to browse or have my contacts on a phone instead of on a printout (and struggled to learn the custom alphabet). I turned away from PDA phones after that experience and figured I’d wait until intelligent voice interfaces were standard for these things but here I am wasting time again.

I’ll gladly ditch this phone the year an affordable, intelligent, voice controlled cell phone comes out.

The process for buying this phone through Amazon was unwieldy – was not able to get hotspot@home for Amazon and am not able to add it for 6 months without incurring a penalty (so says an Amazon rep – T-mobile reps say you can add hotspot@home without penalty but I don’t want it enough to risk a $250 penalty). When I checked the status of my phone order on Amazon, it wanted me to revise it but didn’t tell me how – so I called a phone rep to be told that I didn’t need to revise it. And I was supposed to get free 2-day shipping but got charged shipping because I bought a microSD card along with the order. Also unclear who to contact – Amazon or T-mobile – about certain issues – and one issue wasted a bit of my time because of that. If $200 doesn’t matter to you, I would recommend buying from T-mobile for $249 instead of $49 from Amazon to get the best possible customer service and the flexibility to change plans at will.

Summary:

In sum – once setup and customization is complete, it’s a very good phone, but learning how to set it up and use the rich feature set to best advantage takes too long, and managing memory is a nuisance. This has the feel of an “early adopter” type of devise that requires a certain level of dedication to harness all the power. This may be a non-issue if the IT department of your employer sets up the phone for you and helps get you started.

Buying it from Amazon turned out to be enough of a hassle that I question whether it was worth saving $200.

Now that I’ve bought the phone and spent the time learning how to best use it, I’ll stick with it. But it would have worked out much better for me if the defaults were very similar to a regular cell phone – or it had a way to easily make it like a regular cell phone (perhaps the setup up process could have offered three choices like – what kind of user will you be – simple phone user, moderate communicator, power user – and then it configures with default settings that make the most sense for that type of user).

It was tough to choose between the Blackberry Curve 8320 and the Nokia 6086, but the deciding factor turned out to be the 3.5mm jack (I didn’t like the two Samsung models because I find real keys easier to use than membrane keys).

The Nokia 6086 had equivalent call quality (with no hiss) in my 5 minute in-store test. If it had including a 3.5mm jack and identical bundled headset, then that probably would have been a better choice for me. But I am satisfied with the 8320 and will probably stick with it for years – and I am using functions (some useful, some fun) that are not available on the 6086. I just hope I have the discipline to use it as a phone, not a time draining toy.

5 Stars Real Estate Must Have!
This phone was the answer to almost all of my needs! Being in the Real Estate Industry, I rely on always being available…..and when I cannot be available I must still be in contact with the working world. This phone lets me keep up on employees and others I work with while I am out. Responding to clients needs is very simple and they appreciate me being able to get a hold of them and to respond to requests in minutes! Taking a few hours off to golf and not feeling guilty! I am literally still in the office with full access to all of my documents, contacts, tasks, calendars and more!

The camera on this is great. Not close to a Nikon and definitely would not use for property photos for advertising, but driving by a smoking deal and being able to send the mls info and some “decent” quality pictures to a client to get the “OK” is priceless.

For those whom have primarily EMAIL needs, do not even try others. Blackberry has nailed it as they always have. I have been through countless Blackjacks, Dash’s, Wizards, Pocket Pc’s, Treo’s and others and no one can compare to Blackberry’s instant email push. Don’t hesitate; the only decision is what blackberry you want.

3 Stars Blackberry vs. Treo
Pros of Blackberry: WiFi usage. My old phone (Treo 600 from Sprint) couldn’t pick up cell reception in my apartment. With Blackberry Curve 8820 I can talk all I want at home. (I’m using my WiFi connection but still get charged for cell minutes; you don’t need to buy the WiFi router, it’ll detect any WiFi in your neighborhood.)

Cons: I miss my Treo! The Treo seemed more user friendly. Some things I miss on my Treo: 1) instant ringer off with button on top of phone. With the Blackberry, you have to go in the interface and select ringer off. This can be a pain if you’re in the movie theater and at the last moment have to turn your ringer or phone off. 2) The Treo had a vibrate and ring option. With the BB, you can only choose vibrate or sound. There is no dual function. 3) Ring tones. Both phones come with ring tones but in the Treo, you could select it from the menu when you were in the phone book interface. With the BB, you can select volume only. The ring tones aren’t in the preferences either. Its hidden down deep in the menu after about 6 click strokes. 4) Treo has touchscreen interface, BB does not. The touchscreen is a real nice option when you’re fed up with the BB trackball. 5) The Treo comes with a nice user manual about 100 pages. The BB comes with a 1 page folding user guide. You have to go find the manual elsewhere (I use TMobile’s BB manual online ~ so that means I have to be connected to the internet to figure something out. 6) Synching. Treo has the nice Desktop software so if you have to make massive revisions or want to copy something from the internet straight to your Palm, you can do it via the Palm Desktop software. The BB software is just a synch manager. Its not a real desktop software. You HAVE to use a third party software such at Outlook (doesn’t work with Outlook express), Yahoo, Google, or other. Since I’m a student and don’t have access (nor money) to buy the Microsoft office suite, I’ve had a heck of a time synching my BB to Yahoo and its a pain to have to do everything in Yahoo (I miss the Palm Desktop software because it was like the Palm but on your desktop so the learning curve was low).

The BB is great for business professionals who have Outlook and BB has push technology so you can read up to 10 email accounts on your BB. This is a cool function (but quickly gets out of hand because now your interface has email, SMS, and in/outgoing call logs). You can set it show it only shows up one or the other but then you’ve just paid for push technology (about $30) and now aren’t using it.

Too bad Palm isn’t catching up as fast as BB because I think its more user friendly.

However, once you get use to digging in the menu options in the BB, its not too bad. PS – another note on the sparse user manual in the BB, you have to play around with the menu and you’ll find alot of undocumented shortcuts. I wish they would just document these up front!

2 Stars defective software
I bought the blackberry in December 2007. Within a month, there were problems with memory, recalling numbers, keypad etc.

In March, I spent much time with T-Mobile technical support to fix these issues. They suggested I needed a memory card even though I was emailing very little and was not downloading applications, data … I have been erasing all calls, texts etc every day since. The problems have continued.

It is now June 1, 2008, I am demanding that T-Mobile replace an obvious defective handset and I am being met with resistance. They want me to buy a memory card and I am refusing. ( Two other family members have this same Curve and use it to collect data much more than I do and have had not issues)

I would suggest to all buyuers to go with another carrier to avoid the problems I am having.

Buy/More Info

BlackBerry Pearl 8110 Phone Oyster Pink ATandT

Stay connected wherever you roam and keep yourself on track for your next meeting with the GPS-enabled BlackBerry Pearl 8110 from AT&T, which is compatible with the new AT&T Navigator turn-by-turn driving directions. You’ll also enjoy push-to-talk (PTT) capability–an AT&T exclusive–as well as music downloads from AT&T Mobile Music.

The Pearl 8110 continues to offer all the communication features that you’ve come to expect from Blackberry smartphones, including email served up by the BlackBerry Internet Service and a full menu of messaging options (SMS, MMS, and IM). And it’s easy to type emails and messages on the go using the Pearl’s SureType QWERTY keypad, which provides word completion, advanced editing, and the ability to learn new words. Other features include a 2.0-megapixel camera with video capture, Bluetooth for both communication headsets and stereo music streaming, MicroSD expansion, digital audio player, speakerphone, and voice-activated commands and dialing.

Nicely compact and lightweight at just 3.2 ounces and 0.55 inches thin.

AT&T Service
This quadband phone operates on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks and can handle high-speed data connectivity via AT&T’s EDGE network, with availability in more than 13,000 US cities and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. It also offers global voice roaming in over 190 and data roaming in over 130 countries.

Among the unique features of the Blackberry Pearl 8110 are AT&T’s Push-to-Talk (PTT) service and AT&T Navigator GPS direction service. AT&T Push-to-Talk boasts the largest push to talk coverage area in America. PTT features on the Pearl 8110 include “availability” icons, quick group calling, and the ability to easily convert a PTT session to a regular wireless voice call. You can use your Pearl 8110 to Push-to-Talk to communicate with individual colleagues or friends, or set up groups for broader communication. In addition, the AT&T service offers such standard PTT features as call waiting, contact alerts, as well as text, picture, and voice messaging to anyone in their contact list.

Get turn-by-turn directions from AT&T Navigator.

You can also take advantage of the AT&T Navigator GPS software and service, a full-featured premium navigation application that includes audible turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates and re-routing options, and 3D moving maps (additional charges applicable). AT&T Navigator offers several other features to make your commute more enjoyable and reliable, including mobile access to Yellowpages.com. Additionally, AT&T Navigator is the only mobile phone-based GPS service that provides integrated speech recognition for address entry and points of interest search.

The Blackberry Pearl 8110 delivers the legendary BlackBerry email experience. With BlackBerry service plans from AT&T, you can receive emails instantaneously from up to 10 email accounts (personal and enterprise). With BlackBerry push technology, you don’t need to retrieve your email. BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, allowing you to be discreetly notified as new email arrives. Support is also built-in for viewing email attachments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, and PDF formats).

If your company has a BlackBerry Enterprise Server installed, you can also take advantage of the power of wireless calendar synchronization. Your calendar events are exchanged wirelessly and automatically so that your desktop calendar and BlackBerry handheld calendar are synchronized. All your Outlook meeting requests, changes, and updates are instantaneously synchronized instantaneously with your desktop. Make meeting requests, invite new attendees and more, all on your Blackberry Pearl 8110. Users without BlackBerry Enterprise Server support can manually sync with their desktop calendars and contacts via Bluetooth or USB using the included BlackBerry Desktop Software.

Phone Features
Weighing just 3.38 ounces and just 0.55 inches thin, the Pearl 8110 manages to fit a QWERTY keyboard onto the handset’s slim frame. Each button on the keyboard shares two letters and the unit automatically determines which letter is the intended one based on what it predicts you are trying to spell. This unique predictive text technology, known as SureType, makes the Pearl 8110’s diminutive size possible. SureType also learns the words you use most often, further enhancing your typing speed.

It sports a large 240 x 260 screen that supports over 65,000 colors–plenty of real estate to view your e-mails, Web browser content, messaging sessions, and attachments. The venerable BlackBerry trackwheel has been replaced on this model with an innovative four-way trackball placed below the screen. On the rear of the handheld, you’ll find a 2.0-megapixel camera and a self portrait mirror. The handheld’s MicroSD memory card slot is located inside the device, behind the battery. There’s also a standard 3.5mm headset jack that can be used with the included headset, as well as a mini-USB port for data connectivity.

The Pearl 8110 features an updated visual interface and integrates a new font rendering technology that displays characters with enhanced legibility at even the smallest point sizes. The BlackBerry Browser is further improved with a new “Page View” option that displays a full web page on the screen along with a magnifying glass that allows the user to quickly and accurately point and zoom in on a specific area of the web page.

This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity, and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, audio/video remote control, and printing. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. The integrated media player allows you to create and edit playlists right on the handset. The Pearl 8130 also features a 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and enhanced flash. The new camera also supports video capture in two resolutions: 240×180 or 176×144 for sharing via MMS.

Other features include:

• Phone as Modem Capable: Use the included USB cable to connect to laptops for a wireless modem, or choose to run this capability via Bluetooth with no USB cable requirement.
• Voice Command and Voice Activated Dialing: Built-in speaker independent voice command allows users to look up contacts, place phone calls and access key information from the device.
• Voice Notes: Make a voice note and send as an email .wmv file attachment.
• Productivity Tools: View and update your calendar, schedule appointments, checks your task list and more while you’re on the go. Also includes a calculator, alarm clock and memo pad.
• Notification: Polyphonic, MIDI, MP3 ringtones plus vibrate mode
• Rating for hearing aids: M3, T3
• 64 MB internal memory
• 3.5mm stereo headset capable
• Built-in speakerphone

Vital Statistics
The BlackBerry Pearl 8110 weighs 3.2 ounces and measures 4.2 x 1.97 x 0.55 inches. Its 900 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4.5 hours of talk time, and up to 240 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars best phone I have ever owned
I recently purchased the Blackberry Pearl, and am delighted with it. It is easy to use, versatile, and best of all small and elegant and fits nicely into a purse.

I did have an issue with teh address book freezing up. Apparently it is a known issue, and it was recommended that I take out the battery and then plug it in again. This worked.

5 Stars GVanHorn
This is the phone I have now I really enjoy the quality of the phone and its many features.

Buy/More Info

BlackBerry Curve 8320 Phone Sunset T Mobile

Adding a fashionable touch to Research in Motion’s formidable arsenal of telephonic, PIM, and media tools, the BlackBerry 8320 Curve for T-Mobile is also the smallest, lightest BlackBerry phone that includes a full QWERTY keyboard. This amalgam of the svelte BlackBerry Pearl and the more business-oriented 8800 combines RIM’s long-valued corporate email and messaging platform with a host of advanced multimedia features, including a 2-megapixel camera and stereo Bluetooth (for listening to music via wireless headphones). In addition to its quad-band GSM and EDGE connectivity, it also offers Wi-Fi connectivity for access to the Internet and email as well as access to T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home service.

The Curve’s full QWERTY keyboard and the innovative trackball navigation system (placed above the keyboard) makes accessing your data and writing email a breeze.

The 2-megapixel camera makes it easy to capture pictures to send via email or upload to your online photo collection.

Click for larger view.

T-Mobile Service Options
With T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, you’ll effortlessly transition between Wi-Fi calling and T-Mobile’s wireless network while you talk. You can get unlimited nationwide calls over Wi-Fi–at home via your wireless router or at any U.S. T-Mobile HotSpot. You can also use the HotSpot @Home service via most open, or unsecured, wireless routers, as well as any secured wireless router for which you have access to the password from the owner. This phone is compatible with the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi standard as well as the following wireless security protocols: WEP, WPA (TKIP), WPA2 (AES-CCMP), LEAP, PEAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, EAP-FAST, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA. Whenever you’re not using a Wi-Fi network, the Curve works just like a regular mobile phone, using your Whenever Minutes under your T-Mobile voice plan.

This phone also includes compatibility with T-Mobile’s myFaves service, which allows you to call up to five of your most common contacts–on any network, even landlines–without using any of your minutes. Learn more about myFaves from T-Mobile.

Staying Connected
With BlackBerry’s push email technology, your email will find you without having to initiate a connection. BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, notifying you as new email arrives. In addition to the text, you can also receive and view attachments in a wide range of popular file formats, including Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect, and Adobe PDF.

Browse the web with the integrated, full-featured browser, which quickly and efficiently displays HTML pages as well as enables you to set up RSS feeds to stay connected to up-to-the-minute news and blog posts. And keep up with your contacts using a variety of instant message (IM) networks, including the integrated Blackberry Messenger as well as downloadable clients for Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, and Lotus Sametime.

For corporate users, the Curve delivers all the enterprise email and messaging capabilities you’ve come to expect. It’s supported on BlackBerry Internet Service, giving you access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts), as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server, enabling advanced security and IT administration within IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise environments.

Phone Features
The Curve is fashioned with subtly curving corners and chrome highlights. Measuring 4.2 x 2.4 inches, the Curve is just as slim as the Pearl (0.6 inches) and weighs in at 3.9 ounces–just 0.7 ounces heavier than its predecessor. It features a bright 2.5-inch color TFT screen that provides 65,000 colors and a 320 x 240-pixel resolution, and it includes a light-sensing feature that automatically adjusts backlighting for indoor, outdoor and dark environments. Like the BlackBerry 8800, the Curve includes a trackball navigation system located on the top of the QWERTY keypad, and it also features an integrated spell checker with a customizable dictionary to help maintain accuracy while on the go. It has 64 MB of internal ROM memory, and is expandable using MicroSD memory cards. The battery provides up to 4 hours (240 minutes) of talk time and up to 17 days (408 hours) of standby time.

You can snap vivid photos (though no video) using the 2-megapixel camera on the back of the Curve, which also features a 5x digital zoom, built-in flash, self-portrait mirror and full screen viewfinder. It can capture images in up to three picture quality and size resolutions that can be shared instantly by email, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger, or even uploaded to your Flickr account with the Yahoo! Go service. Photos can also be immediately set as a unique caller ID or Home Screen image. You can edit photos and create albums within the Curve using the PhotoSuite application. Pictures can be cropped, rotated and straightened, and flaws can be fixed by removing redeye or changing the brightness, contrast, and saturation levels.

Listen to your favorite music and watch downloaded videos using the included stereo headset, or use an optional wireless headphone thanks to the Curve’s support for the Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP/AVRCP). The Curve is compatible with a wide variety of file formats, including MP3, WMA and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ audio and WMV, MPEG4 and H.263 video. Dedicated volume controls are conveniently located on the side of the handset.

With the Voice-Activated Dialing (VAD) feature, you can initiate a call just by telling the Curve who to call from your contact list–either via the integrated speakerphone or using an optional Bluetooth wireless headset. Other advanced phone features include advanced sound technology that cancels out background noise and echo, dedicated volume and mute keys, and the ability to customize the Curve with polyphonic and MP3 ringtones.

Vital Statistics
The Blackberry Curve 8320 weighs 3.92 ounces and measures 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 408 hours (17 days) of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars A Giant Leap Forward if you are not used to Smart Phones
I resisted a Blackberry for years because I didn’t want my email following me everywhere. Finally broke down and got this Curve 3 weeks ago. It truly lives up to its name as a “smart phone.”

The Good:

1–The preloaded applications. I LOVE having mapping and search technology right on my cellphone! No more wondering where the nearest Wells Fargo or Pinkberry is. No more wasting time in the doctor’s waiting room. I can check/respond to email or better yet, play tetris or brickbreaker.

2 –Multi-Tasking. If you are in the middle of one app (e.g., entering an address) and a call comes in, when the call is finished, the screen goes back to what you were doing instead of losing all the data you just entered. Coming from regular phones, this is a HUGE time-saving improvement for me. Also, if you are on the phone with someone and you want to look up a number or an email or a calendar event on your phone, you can click a button and search for the info, all while continuing your convo with the caller. How novel that technology should actually work the way common sense dictates. I uploaded a software called Mobile Tracker that works with a GPS to track my movements (which I can later upload in a file and watch on Google Earth) and the tracking is done in the background all while I continue to make and receive calls, check email, etc. Love that!

3–The Keyboard (Characters). I love that all the letters, numbers and common symbols are on one keyboard instead of my having to scroll thru multiple screens like most other phones.

4–Phone quality. Speakerphone is crisp and clear. Phone can hold a signal even in certain dead spots.

The Bad:

1– Battery life is not great. Requires daily charging but I use it quite intensely. Easily solved with a car charger.

2– Browser is sometimes a little too slow for my taste. This may be the phone or it may be t-mobile. I haven’t tested to know whether wi-fi makes the browser go faster than being on the EDGE network. Also, could be slower when there are multiple applications working in the background.

The Ugly:

1–The keyboard (surface). Not crazy about the texture. I prefer the feel of the Bold’s keyboard but I’m not going to switch carriers for it.

2–So incompatible with Mac it’s not funny. After 3 days of trying different alternatives (the free pocketmac from blackberry froze my computer), I had to pay $40 for Missing Sync software to make the phone play nice with Mac, and even then there are issues. If you have a windows pc, you won’t have this issue. If you have a Mac, be prepared to accept less than accurate syncing.

3–The manual. It’s beyond useless. Doesn’t tell you anything about this phone which has menus within menus within menus. There are a lot of features and you really need to take it out on a date and get to know it intimately. I have started to create my own little “how-to” file to keep track of how to do everything on this phone.

If you are new to smartphones, you will really enjoy this phone, not just for the email but for the constant access to the internet which is great for having information at your fingertips when you’re away from your computer.

NOTE: A week or so after getting the phone, I also experienced the problem mentioned by the reviewer below with the phone locking up and the interminable hourglass. When I went in to each of the programs on the phone I had opened (maps, browser, weather channel, missing sync, brickbreaker, etc) and selected Close or Quit from the menu, this problem went away. I guess what makes this a smart phone is that hitting the back button on the phone just takes you to the previous screen but it doesn’t automatically close out the application you are working in. You have to do that manually.

1 Star Dont buy Blackberry
Blackberry does not honor their warranty. If you must get one, buy insurance. The USB connection breaks because of poor design. I have had two fail. One had insurance, the other did not. Blackberry claims that this does not happen and WILL charge you $180. There is no escalation. I got the device back with a broke screen and no battery (new one too). Poor design, poor software, and the worst customer support. You have been warned.

2 Stars Do not bother
The curve is a downgrade from previous models. WiFi and gps barely work. You need a very strong signal for wifi. No 3G. The most annoying part is that you will have to change all your chargers and adapters because they changed the connector. The old mini-USB cable was very handy because it is shared by many manufactures so it was very easy to find someone to help you out in case you run out of battery on the road. Not anymore. Do not waste your money.

5 Stars very please with my blaclkberry.
I to am please with my black berry. its my first and a upgrade from my regular phone and I love it I can access my email while relaxing, I love to send and recieve text it,s easy to do before with my regular phone I didn”t know how on my regular phone to complicated. it takes beautiful pictures, I’m learning how to use more technology with this blackberry. thanks t mobile.

5 Stars Perfect
I love this phone. It suites all my needs, has a camera, calender, MAPS, email, voice recording, it also has facebook already installed & you can download the myspace application later. I also love the color. I’m very satisfied

Buy/More Info

BlackBerry Pearl 8110 Phone Red ATandT

Stay connected wherever you roam and keep yourself on track for your next meeting with the GPS-enabled BlackBerry Pearl 8110 from AT&T, which is compatible with the new AT&T Navigator turn-by-turn driving directions. You’ll also enjoy push-to-talk (PTT) capability–an AT&T exclusive–as well as music downloads from AT&T Mobile Music.

The Pearl 8110 continues to offer all the communication features that you’ve come to expect from Blackberry smartphones, including email served up by the BlackBerry Internet Service and a full menu of messaging options (SMS, MMS, and IM). And it’s easy to type emails and messages on the go using the Pearl’s SureType QWERTY keypad, which provides word completion, advanced editing, and the ability to learn new words. Other features include a 2.0-megapixel camera with video capture, Bluetooth for both communication headsets and stereo music streaming, MicroSD expansion, digital audio player, speakerphone, and voice-activated commands and dialing.

Nicely compact and lightweight at just 3.2 ounces and 0.55 inches thin.

AT&T Service
This quadband phone operates on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks and can handle high-speed data connectivity via AT&T’s EDGE network, with availability in more than 13,000 US cities and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. It also offers global voice roaming in over 190 and data roaming in over 130 countries.

Among the unique features of the Blackberry Pearl 8110 are AT&T’s Push-to-Talk (PTT) service and AT&T Navigator GPS direction service. AT&T Push-to-Talk boasts the largest push to talk coverage area in America. PTT features on the Pearl 8110 include “availability” icons, quick group calling, and the ability to easily convert a PTT session to a regular wireless voice call. You can use your Pearl 8110 to Push-to-Talk to communicate with individual colleagues or friends, or set up groups for broader communication. In addition, the AT&T service offers such standard PTT features as call waiting, contact alerts, as well as text, picture, and voice messaging to anyone in their contact list.

Get turn-by-turn directions from AT&T Navigator.

You can also take advantage of the AT&T Navigator GPS software and service, a full-featured premium navigation application that includes audible turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates and re-routing options, and 3D moving maps (additional charges applicable). AT&T Navigator offers several other features to make your commute more enjoyable and reliable, including mobile access to Yellowpages.com. Additionally, AT&T Navigator is the only mobile phone-based GPS service that provides integrated speech recognition for address entry and points of interest search.

The Blackberry Pearl 8110 delivers the legendary BlackBerry email experience. With BlackBerry service plans from AT&T, you can receive emails instantaneously from up to 10 email accounts (personal and enterprise). With BlackBerry push technology, you don’t need to retrieve your email. BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, allowing you to be discreetly notified as new email arrives. Support is also built-in for viewing email attachments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, and PDF formats).

If your company has a BlackBerry Enterprise Server installed, you can also take advantage of the power of wireless calendar synchronization. Your calendar events are exchanged wirelessly and automatically so that your desktop calendar and BlackBerry handheld calendar are synchronized. All your Outlook meeting requests, changes, and updates are instantaneously synchronized instantaneously with your desktop. Make meeting requests, invite new attendees and more, all on your Blackberry Pearl 8110. Users without BlackBerry Enterprise Server support can manually sync with their desktop calendars and contacts via Bluetooth or USB using the included BlackBerry Desktop Software.

Quickly and accurately type messages thanks to the SureType enhanced predictive text typing technology.

Phone Features
Weighing just 3.38 ounces and just 0.55 inches thin, the Pearl 8110 manages to fit a QWERTY keyboard onto the handset’s slim frame. Each button on the keyboard shares two letters and the unit automatically determines which letter is the intended one based on what it predicts you are trying to spell. This unique predictive text technology, known as SureType, makes the Pearl 8110’s diminutive size possible. SureType also learns the words you use most often, further enhancing your typing speed.

It sports a large 240 x 260 screen that supports over 65,000 colors–plenty of real estate to view your e-mails, Web browser content, messaging sessions, and attachments. The venerable BlackBerry trackwheel has been replaced on this model with an innovative four-way trackball placed below the screen. On the rear of the handheld, you’ll find a 2.0-megapixel camera and a self portrait mirror. The handheld’s MicroSD memory card slot is located inside the device, behind the battery. There’s also a standard 3.5mm headset jack that can be used with the included headset, as well as a mini-USB port for data connectivity.

The Pearl 8110 features an updated visual interface and integrates a new font rendering technology that displays characters with enhanced legibility at even the smallest point sizes. The BlackBerry Browser is further improved with a new “Page View” option that displays a full web page on the screen along with a magnifying glass that allows the user to quickly and accurately point and zoom in on a specific area of the web page.

This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity, and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, audio/video remote control, and printing. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. The integrated media player allows you to create and edit playlists right on the handset. The Pearl 8130 also features a 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and enhanced flash. The new camera also supports video capture in two resolutions: 240×180 or 176×144 for sharing via MMS.

Other features include:

• Phone as Modem Capable: Use the included USB cable to connect to laptops for a wireless modem, or choose to run this capability via Bluetooth with no USB cable requirement.
• Voice Command and Voice Activated Dialing: Built-in speaker independent voice command allows users to look up contacts, place phone calls and access key information from the device.
• Voice Notes: Make a voice note and send as an email .wmv file attachment.
• Productivity Tools: View and update your calendar, schedule appointments, checks your task list and more while you’re on the go. Also includes a calculator, alarm clock and memo pad.
• Notification: Polyphonic, MIDI, MP3 ringtones plus vibrate mode
• Rating for hearing aids: M3, T3
• 64 MB internal memory
• 3.5mm stereo headset capable
• Built-in speakerphone

Vital Statistics
The BlackBerry Pearl 8110 weighs 3.2 ounces and measures 4.2 x 1.97 x 0.55 inches. Its 900 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4.5 hours of talk time, and up to 240 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Too smart for me
I recently purchased the BlackBerry 8110 Smartphone from AT&T, and am still learning how to use the equipment. In fact, after a month I am going to an AT&T store to show me how to put in voice mail messages. I love the phone and it will help me keep organized as soon as I figure it out.

1 Star Do Yourself A Favor… BUY A DIFFERENT PHONE!
My personal experience with my phone – I have had my phone a little over a year now. From the very beginning I’ve had problems. My first Pearl was slow, (and slow is an understatement, the thing took 15 minutes to turn on, and once it was on the hourglass came up everytime I tried to scroll) the internet barely worked, it didn’t recieve all my emails or texts, and that’s the reason I got a smartphone in the first place, to get emails and go online. So I finally got a new one sent to me from the warranty department. Fine it’s all good. Except that the one they sent me had a broken hinge for the memory card. I was able to get the thing in, and now I just deal with it and avoid taking my SD card out as much as possible because I didn’t want to deal with the customer service people anymore. That was last year, within the first two months that I got the thing. It worked fine for several months besides all the usual stuff Pearls do. But now I suddenly have problems with recieving my emails, texts, and sometimes even my phone calls. I’m not happy with my phone.

Blackberry Pearl in general – Overall, a cute little phone. It gets the job done. When it works. All the people I know who own Pearls have had issues with theirs, even the girl who sold mine to me. Even when they do work, they are sluggish, the browser is pretty slow, and I’m not too crazy about the software in general. It’s a nice size I will admit. And while the keyboard is hard to get used to, now that I’m used to it I don’t think I could go back to the old system. The music playback is pretty good. The camera is decent. I don’t like that when I’m playing a game and someone calls me it won’t interrupt my game for the call. The scrollball is hard to get used to at first, but when you’re used to it it is nice. I must warn you that if you don’t get the data package, this phone is pretty much useless. So if you want a cool phone but don’t want to spend $30 a month, get a cheaper phone that actually works.

AT&T – This is the worst part of the deal. If you have a choice, choose a different carrier. I live in a small town, and there is really only one part of town where I get good reception. I tried bigger cities, and those are almost worse. Not to mention AT&T’s customer service reps are not friendly. And if you need to cancel for any reason, you will be charged a ridiculously high penalty. Even if you cancel a few minutes before midnight the day your contract expires. This isn’t everyone’s experience, but in my experience the dealer who sold me my phone lied to my face to make a sale. So do yourself a favor, buy a different phone, and choose a different carrier.

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