Introduction
BlackBerry PDA phones have become so synonymous with on-the-go email over that terms like "BlackBerry Thumb" (a form of Repetitive Stress Injury) and "BlackBerry Addiction" (a form of, well, addiction) are becoming part of our cultural lexicon. Ask around and odds are you know at least a few people who own BlackBerries, and at least one who feels utterly naked without theirs.
BlackBerry has recently introduced it's first "consumer model," the T-Mobile exclusive BlackBerry Pearl 8100. The Pearl is not only the smallest BlackBerry ever, but it's also the first to incorporate multimedia features generally deemed unnecessary by the traditionally corporate BlackBerry clientele.
With a 1.3 MP camera and media player in its corner, can the Pearl win the masses over to the BlackBerry way of life? Maybe. The Pearl is an eye-catching phone that packs a ton of functionality into its shiny little body. But it's half-dialing/half-typing keypad is tiny and evidence of BlackBerry's corporate roots abound in the Pearl's somewhat unfriendly user interface. Is that enough to sway would-be users towards towards other mobile messaging solutions?
Design
At first glance, the Pearl looks like a cross between a Motorla SLVR and BlackBerry's 7100 series business phones. The SLVR part is due to the Pearl's wonderfully small form factor: at 107 x 51 x 14mm the phone is slimmer than a folded-shut RAZR, and at only 89g it's one of the lightest smartphones you'll ever hold.
The resemblance to the BB 7100 series is due in large part to the candybar form factor and SureType keyboard found on the Pearl. SureType is BlackBerry's predictive text solution that combines software that learns your favorite words with a keypad that spreads a QWERTY layout over an extended dialing keypad.
In the case of the Pearl, the keypad houses some 20 buttons is a space barely wider than that of an average candybar phone's 12-button dialing pad. The result are keys that are rather small - somewhat uncomfortably small, at least for my thumbs. The alphabet is spread over 15 keys, two letters per key save for "L" and "M," which get their own buttons. Unlike the two letter per button keypad on Sony's m600i, on which buttons can actually be pressed to the left or right to select different characters (i.e. left for E, right for R), the Pearl's buttons only press in one direction each. Which character a button activates is controlled by the SureType software or, in MultiTap mode, the number of times you press the button 
A grey T-Mobile logo is centered below the keys, which are black with grey lettering and accents. Above the keypad is a row of four larger buttons - Call, Menu, Menu Return, and Hang Up/Power - flanking a center mounted, white, backlit pearl of a trackball. The clickable trackball is central to navigation on the Pearl, and is quite comfortable to use (even with my big thumb). Of minor note is that the trackball only moves the cursor in four directions, and not diagonally.
The 2.25" screen lies above the trackball and beneath a grey BlackBerry logo, and above that are the earphone and, in the right corner, a single LED indicator. The top panel is part black and part chrome and houses the Mute button, while the all-black bottom panel shows a single circular cutout for the microphone.
In a move meant to give the Pearl a hip, flashy look, the side panels are finished in mirror chrome plastic that wraps around to form slim vertical borders on the front and back of the device. The back panel around the camera housing is also mirrored silver plastic. Recent slider phones made by Samsung for T-Mobile have also featured this chrome accent. Many reviewers like the Pearl's "sleek, sexy" appearance. Personally, I find the fake chrome look rather cheap and not at all sporty or hip. On the Pearl, this is only exacerbated by the fact that the entire phone is obviously made from plastic; it's far too lightweight to have a metal frame.
A 2.5mm headphone jack, USB data/charger port, and single soft key adorn the left panel of the Pearl, while a rocker switch volume control and "camera/convenience key" are on the right. The back panel houses the camera sensor, flash, and self-portrait mirror and slides off to reveal the battery, SIM, and microSD memory card slots. The microSD slot is located beneath the battery, which makes it both non-hot swappable and difficult to access at all.
As you might guess from my comments on the chrome accents, I'm not entirely fond of the overall look and feel of the Pearl. On the one hand, the device packs quite a bit of functionality into a small package, and the trackball (like the one found on the Sharp Sidekick 3) is wonderfully functional. On the other hand, the Pearl's keypad is cramped and the plastic chrome makes the phone look and feel cheap — at least to my tastes. Why an all-black plastic body might make the same device feel wonderfully lightweight instead, I have no rational justification for other to say that the chrome says "not metal" to me where solid black plastic on featherlight phones like the Samsung D900 says "so nice and light!"
4.3 out of 5
4.5 out of 5
