I have always been intrigued with "Crackberry" devices. Oh, yeah, I meant to say I have always been intrigued with Blackberry data devices. I call Blackberry devices "Crackberry" devices because the folks that own them always seem to be fiddling with them no matter where they might be.
Once upon a time the cell phone was this large black leather bag that weighed 25 lbs and took up the front passenger seat of your car. Cellular telephones disconnected us from land line telephones and gave us a new freedom while being mobile. We could be on the road and still communicate with loved ones, co workers, vendors and clients. Never in our wildest dreams did we dream that the telephone that used to be solely an audio voice device would turn into so much more.
The RIM blackberry's primary feature that attracts so much attention is the ability to send and receive corporate and pop3 e-mail. Any business can install a Blackberry Enterprise server and seamlessly integrate the business e-mail communications and send and receive this e-mail on the Blackberry device. If the Blackberry Enterprise Server is too costly of a solution you can download a Blackberry redirector that integrates into Outlook and forwards whatever e-mails you want to your Blackberry account.
I can also set up to ten e-mail accounts on my Blackberry Peal that will forward to my device and I also have my own Blackberry Email address that I can give others.
One of the nice e-mail functionality that I love is the ability to filter out all of the e-mail or spam that I do not want to receive on my Blackberry device.
Now that we have briefly touched on the e-mail functionality of Blackberry I would like to touch upon some of the unique characteristics of the Blackberry Pearl.
- The Pearl is half the size of all the other Blackberry devices
- The Pearl is a Data device that combines telephone , e-mail and data services
- The Pearl features a very nice Audio player
- The Pearl gives you Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk clients
- The Pearl has a micro SD port that allows you to increase your ability to save data such as music and pictures
- The Pearl has a very nice Digital Camera with flash
- The Pearl provides stereo headphones that allow you to listen to the Audio player as well as talk on your telephone.
- The Pearl provides VAC or voice activated calling
- The Pearl comes with a mini USB data cable that utilizes the RIM desktop manager to synchronize your data.
Now that I have briefly touched on some of the features that stand out with regards to the Pearl I have a couple of comments about usability. I like the ability to be on the bus listening to MP4's that I loaded on the mini SD card. I also like the ability of getting a phone call while listening to music and the music automatically being muted while I handle the call. Once the call is ended the music continues.
One of the biggest learning curves that I had to overcome was how to use the keyboard to tap out messages. The keyboard is not a full QWERTY keyboard which means that it has keys (buttons) that combine two letters instead of one. I really felt clumsy and frustrated trying to learn how to type using this keyboard.
The first typing method is called "Multi tap" which means you find the key that has the letter you want and you tap either one time or twice depending on which order it appears on the button.
The second typing method which is very difficult to wrap your brain around is called "Sure Type" . If you have been typing for any length of time either on a personal computer or doing text messaging on your cell phone you are used to pushing a button and inputting the appropriate letter, number or symbol.
SureType technology works best if you just start hitting the keys where the letters are that you want to use to construct the words in your message. As you type the SureType technology learns what you want to say by putting together different combinations of letters that you chose from. The longer you use this method the more accurate it gets. Not only that but the SureType technology saves a custom word list so that when you type in a specific key combination it already knows what you want to type and completes it for you. I have been very amazed at how well this actually works.
Ok, what are you waiting for? Go to your cellular provider and tell them you want to put your hands on one of these data devices and give it a test drive. Be sure to click the link below this blog review to see a nice flash video of this device.
BlackBerry Pearl - Small, Smart and Stylish. Explore The New BlackBerry Smartphone
