Review: RIM Blackberry Pearl 8100 mobile phone

Blackberry is the undisputed king of the corporate email market – they don't call it the Crackberry for nothing. But, until now, it was yet to capture the heart of the consumer.

The Pearl is RIM 's push at the man on the street; no more bulky designs or confusing numeric nomenclatures. It comes with a cool name like Chocolate or Razr and style worth showing off.

This is like a Blackberry, only better. The thumbwheel is gone, replaced by a white rollerball below the 2.2in bright 65k colour screen. The ball lights up when you use it and looks a bit like a pearl. As a method to find your way around menus and web pages it's actually very good.

Despite its flash looks, this is a Blackberry through and through. Setting up mail is a doddle and once you've tapped in your details via the web, email will flow through like text messages.

It's got a traditional Qwerty keyboard, but split over half the number of keys. With two letters a key, a predictive text-type application guesses what you want to say.

This takes a bit of getting used to, but it's far more accurate than standard mobiles and after a week you won't want to go back.

It's also the first Blackberry to incorporate a camera – albeit only a 1.3megapixel model, which is the bare minimum in these multi-megapixel days. The resulting snaps are passable, and there's a built-in flash for capturing images in the dark.

Once you're bored of the standard comprehensive set of applications, which stretches from diary and to-do list to media player and messaging, you can install your own applications.

If you want a Blackberry but have been put off by their appearance, this is the model for you. But beware – after a week with it, you won't be able to return to a standard mobile.

Our review model was supplied by T-Mobile and is available from free with a contract.

Also consider:
Nokia E61 smartphone
The Nokia E61's Qwerty keypad and email support make it a clear rival for RIM's Blackberry

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