Blackberry 8100 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: The Pearl squarely targets the business/consumer market which every other vendor in this space long ago recognized as hugely important. Still, better late than never. With its innovative user interface, sleek industrial design, Swiss army knife versatilit

Verdict: Pearl's screen is another definite plus. It measures about 1.5 x 1.6 inches (240 x 260 pixels) and displays up to 65,000 colours. Menu icons and text show up with excellent contrast, even in fairly bright light. Photos, though naturally very small, show u

Pros: Tidy design; memory expansion; music playback; easy mobile email

Cons: No Wi-Fi; 2.5mm headset jack; smallish screen; average camera; memory expansion slot under battery

Verdict: The Pearl is the first consumer-grade BlackBerry and it certainly looks the part. You should steer clear if you want a smart phone with every flashy feature, but if you've been tempted by a BlackBerry before and felt the devices were too chunky, staid or

Review summary: Our review model came with many applications, including Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and RIM's own BlackBerry Messenger.

Verdict: RIM's new BlackBerry 8100 Pearl squeezes full email features into a more compact phone format

Review summary: While Medion's buy-in-bulk-sell-for-cheap business ethos will frustrate smaller computer manufacturers looking to put their stamp on the market, consumers will see its...

Review summary: RIM's new BlackBerry 8100 Pearl squeezes full email features into a more compact phone format

Verdict: The Pearl is a light, compact smartphone with all the usual BlackBerry features. Travellers who use email a lot will prefer a full-keyboard model, but the Pearl will appeal to other staff thanks to its smaller format