Features and Design
First and foremost, this is a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) EDGE/GPS world phone, usable wherever GSM service is available (all of Europe, for example). It's also a BlackBerry, with full push/pull enterprise and POP email services, along with Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, or ICQ instant messaging.
As noted, the Pearl offers both a music player compatible with AAC, AAC+, MP3, MIDI, and WAV files and a video player compatible with most MPEG-4 Part 2 formats such as DivX, AVI and QuickTime, and stereo Bluetooth (Bluetooth 2.0). There's a 1.3 MP digital camera with flash, support for real music ring tones, HTML Web browsing, voice dialing, and the usual array of PIM functions. The T-Mobile version also supports the carrier’s myFaves feature.
Aside from these sterile specifications, the petite Pearl (4.2” x 2.0” x 0.6”, a bit wider than Motorola's KRZR) is a pretty polished phone. It has shiny jet black plastic with metallic silver highlights, smooth lines, and a Zippo lighter-like gestalt. And at 3.1 ounces, it's surprisingly lightweight. Pearl's 2.2-inch screen is bright, with better blacks and contrast than the BlackBerry 8700c.
To accommodate its restrictive screen real estate, however, BlackBerry's multitudes of options are listed, requiring lengthy scrolls. There's an "organize applications" option that lets you re-sequence the list and determine which five options appear on the home screen. One option you'll need at the top of your list is the otherwise buried keypad lock, especially if you plan on carrying the Pearl in your pants pocket.