Getting a new smart phone (Part 3)
When I started seeing ads for the BlackBerry Pearl, I was sold. The form factor is just way too cool. Admittedly, while it is not the ultimate solution, the Pearl is worthy of a two-year contract signed with T-Mobile.
To recap, this journey started in 2004 when I suddenly needed a smart phone with a good e-mail client that could also sync with a Mac. Being terribly picky about compactness and ease of use with the BlackCoat-T, the only phone that I liked and would work was the BlackBerry7100. For $29 I got PocketMac for AddressBook and iCal syncability. Though PocketMac was a little buggy, this scenario did the trick for 15 months until it broke down and I switched to legacy mobile technology – the SMT 5600.
Why the BlackBerry Pearl? Did I mention the form factor is way cool? This little beast balances the right amount of performance, utility and good looks. Although the marketing is cheezy (Small. Smart and Stylish. So you can live large.), it meets most of my likings. Here is a run down:
Pros:
Style:
It needs no repeating; this phone has sex appeal! Black face with chrome trimmings – I like. Sure beats the robo man and rather cheap plastic feel of other RIM BlackBerries. Interestingly, the size/weight ratio gives this phone a great feel.
Performance:
The phone switches between applications in a snap and offers a MicroSD slot for added memory. This is a quad band phone and can be used anywhere in the world. The Pearl packs a 1.3 mega pixel camera with flash offering good overall photo quality. The media player (MP3 and video) is pretty good and I can see using it (songs you burn from CDs into iTunes can be transferred and played on the Pearl). You can designate any song as your ring tone for cheap and easy personalization.
Utility:
RIM still offers the best push e-mail on the planet. The small form factor makes this little guy easy to pack. (It works great with the BlackCoat-T, especially if you use a Bluetooth headset). Navigation is a breeze with Pearl’s GUI and luminescent track ball. Crisp and bright, the GUI is very pleasing with which to interact. There are four basic theme layouts to choose from depending on how you use your phone (I like the T-Mobile Zen theme because it offers a generous screen image and only my top 5 apps). Pearl has a sensor that changes the screen’s brightness depending on the lighting, which is a nice feature when viewing the phone outdoors. Yes, it syncs with iCal, AddressBook, and e-mail via a free PocketMac download now distributed via BlackBerry. It’s free and you get what you pay for (more on this later). Pearl will mount on your Mac so you can easily transfer files (NOTE: My Pearl mounted only when I added a 1GB MicsoSD card). Can you use Pearl as a modem for your Mac? Indeed you can! Using the phone as a Bluetooth modem is really easy and very useful for those times when you can’t find a WiFi network. Click here for more information on how to set it up. Bonus – the phone has a sweet little Maps application that provides super easy to read directions and can sync with a GPS device. Lastly, the web browser works well with T-Mobile’s edge network. Google has a mobile login page so you can get important RSS feeds, check the local weather, and much more.
Cons:
Style:
While Pearl’s stark detailing is nice, there is a more minimal feel that could be brought to the form of the device. For me there are a few abrupt transitions on the sides and face that make the phone feel less refined. The metallic look is good, but it’s not real metal. I’m from Cleveland and metal as color only is sort of cheap.
Performance:
The keypad sounds disappeared randomly when inserting and disconnecting the headphones? PocketMac is really buggy. Be sure to get a copy of SuperDuper and do a full back up. You should do this anyway. I lost ALL contacts in my AddressBook upon the initial sync! Because we have a few backup systems running, one of which is SuperDuper, I was up and running in minutes. T-Mobile’s Edge network is not nearly as fast as Sprint’s 3G and web access has some latency. Quite honestly it’s not that bad, but faster is better.
Utility:
For me, I had to make sure the Mac overwrote the phone on first sync with PocketMac. After that, it worked pretty well for iCal but not address book. When I had my Pearl and Mac sync with each other, the phone added dozens of duplicate groups for no reason. Very weird. Oh, you might not want to install the Safari bookmark tool – it didn’t work for me and crashed my Mac :-(.
(I can’t wait for Apple to add BlackBerry to iSync. This would solve everything!)
Overall, the BlackBerry Pearl works well, but is still a little buggy for those who want to sync it with their Mac (pretty much everyone). Although there will always be trade offs when getting a mobile device, I love my Pearl and it gets a lot of compliments. It’s by far the best mobile phone I have ever owned. And for $149 bucks, what’s not to love!
Cool! Loved the review!! Im getting on based off of your review, Please keep it up.
Matt
Whoops! thats one not on.
How can you upload music and movies into the Pearl? I tried and I couldn’t.
Hi Pawel,
It depends on how you are uploading and how you are trying to connect. I assume you connected your Pearl to your Mac via USB? Also, do you have an expandable MicroSD card installed? In my experience, the Pearl would not mount on my Mac until the MicroSD card was installed.
When you plug in the BlackBerry (with the MicroSD chip) into your Mac via USB, you should get a message asking you to turn on “Mass Storage.” Choose “Yes.” This will mount the Pearl and give you access to the MicroSD card. Also, when you install the MicroSD, BlackBerry creates a folder structure for Pics, Vids, Music, etc on the MicroSD. You should be able to drag and drop from there.
I can not get my Pearl to sync with my mac. How did you do it? I have tried using Pocketmac already.
Hi Rachel,
NOTE: Be sure to back up your AddressBook and iCal before syncing. I lost my entire AddressBook on the initial sync.
Go to PocketMac and select the BlackBerry icon. Choose the Connection tab and make sure “USB” is selected.
Plug in your BlackBerry Pearl. It may ask you if you want to use your BlackBerry for “Mass Storage” on your BlackBerry. Select “yes.”
You should be able to sync now. If this does not work try the following:
Make sure your OS X is up to date. Go to the Apple menu and select Software Update to make sure.
Reboot your Mac and your BlackBerry Pearl (remove the battery from your BB).
Run PocketMac, plug in your BlackBerry and run the sync program.
You should see a screen on your pocket mac showing a BB tethered to a laptop. This means your BB is syncing.
I don’t know why, but the initial sync can be really buggy.
Again, be sure to back up your AddressBook and iCal!
Hope that helps.
I tried that. When I plug in the pearl to my computer, I get a message on my phone: USB charging currens is not sufficient. Verify that your handheld is connected to a powered USB charging source that that the proper USB driver is installed. Any other suggestions? Thanks so much
Great review, Jay. I purchased mine a week ago and agree with everything you say here. T-Mobile actually allows you to add basic contact details from their website – a simple solution if the whole sync thing seems like too much.
Rachel: I had the same problem. Try a different USB port (assuming you have more than one). On my MacBook Pro, the left USB would not work, but the right one did. Possible not all of the USB ports are created equal.
Actually, you can back out of the error message and it still should be able to sync. Also, I think there is a USB driver out there downloadable from Apple’s website. I will search for it to see if I can find it.
When I hook up my Blackberry Pearl to my new MacBook Pro it says that it doesn’t have enough power to charge. And to make sure the proper driver is installed. Do you know what that driver is?
Can I sync using Bluetooth instead of plugging in to my Mac? How exactly is the sync performed…Through PocketMac or isync or both?
Help!!! Ever since my Treo died (and is no longer carried by T-Mobile, I’ve been looking for a device.) I love my Pearl but have yet been unable to sync it.
Lori
So first let me say, thank you all very much for posting to this site, as I’ve been dying to get some help with my BB Pearl (which I love!) but have until now not found any help.
That aside, I am still getting that same alert that Rachel is seeing “Not strong enough current” which doesn’t really make sense. I went through the “mass storage” route and was able to download a bunch of music an pictures onto the 1GB memory card I just installed, but still was unable to access the phone and my contacts.
Any Ideas?
Also, Does anyone have any tips on how to utilize the video portion of the Pearl? I’ve tried downloading videos from my desktop (Quicktime files), but when I try to play them it shuts down the machine.
That, and, Has anyone had any luck streaming video (like YouTube)? That would make this device incredibly cooler.
Well, for the life of me I can not find the darn USB link? Hopefully someone else will find it!
As far as Bluetooth connectivity is concerned, I was only able to do so as a modem and not for syncing.
Good luck.
I changed USB ports and it worked! Thanks everybody!
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Will any microsd flash memory card work? Are they all pretty much the same? I have found some pretty reasonable 1-2GB cards on the web but for some reason SanDisk’s site doesn’t show Blackberry as a compatible manufacturer.
Anyways, I just ordered a Pearl and stumbled upon your site – I’m an avid mac-freak. Thanks!
Mick http://www.ipodresq.com
I am pretty sure that any Micro-SD card will work. The one I am using is a SanDisk. Be sure to get the Micro and not the Mini. Good luck!
If it holds a 1GB card do you think it will hold a 2GB card? There doesn’t seem to be a capacity limit in any of the specs I am reading..
Thanks again.
Hey Mick,
While I am not technically an expert on BlackBerry I can not make any guarantees. That said, If I really needed a 2GB MicroCD I would have no reservations buying one from SanDisk for use with my Pearl. It’s the same phyisical size so it will definitely fit. Again, just make sure you are getting a MicroSD and not a MiniSD.
Enjoy!
UPDATE: No, the 2GB MicroSd is not currently supported by the BlackBerry Pearl. I guess I would have been a sucker thinking it could work. Yet another little bug uncovered.
I’ve read on the web in various places that the 2gb will NOT work with this device 🙁
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your e-mail. Indeed you are correct. Here are a few threads on the MicroSD NOT working in the BlackBerry Pearl.
Gizmodo
BlackBerryForums
Both suggest that an OS upgrade might be coming that could take care of this.
Thanks you guys! I just canceled my order in the nick of time!!
-Mick ipodresq.com
Hooray for my 8100! The BT modem setup took 10 minutes, including google time! The only hard part was moving contacts over from my Sidekick II, not fun! I’m heading out to get a 1gb micro sd card now.
Thanks!
p.s. I love my Slimmy, and nice WP site work!
GREAT REVIEW!
You said:
Can you use Pearl as a modem for your Mac? Indeed you can! Using the phone as a Bluetooth modem is really easy and very useful for those times when you can’t find a WiFi network. Click here for more information on how to set it up.
–The link was invalid. Can you email it to me, pretty please?
I formatted my sd kingston one gig card in the beganin when i bought it. and was able to upload info music, videos ect. but now since i formatted it again it wont read my sd stored info that i put back onto it.. it tells me that it can’t read media card , try formatting it. its an endless loop of misery dealin with this retarded thing!! excuse me….. But u guys understand how complicatin this can get. I know its nothin wrong with my SD card cuz when i hook my pearl to the USB port on my computer it shows the files i loaded on to the chip. i can view them and play the music… so it has to be phone its self. i even went as far as wiping the phone and it still trippin!! (messing up) if anyone can help me it’ll be worth a thousand thank you veddy muches
Does anyone know of any programs that will allow you to view PP docs, Wav attachments, .pdf attachments etc.
And how do you download it to the pear?
Creole – Man, that sounds like a doozy. I think you might want to call T-Mobile on that one.
JD- Here is a link that might be helpful or at least give you a place to start. Best of luck.
hey just in case none of the tips you googled helped. i just found out how to sync my new pearl with my imac. for some reason instead of usb i had to select serial port and Blackberry 8100 was one of the options. This of course was after a day an a half of restarting, reinstalling and all other sorts of mess. thanks all for the tips though. i almost gave up!
I just got a pearl last night, and it synced fine on the 1st try this morning. I followed the directions on this site: http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2006/10/20/so-you-just-got-a-blackberry-pearl-and-you-have-a-mac/
It seems to be important to fully charge the phone 1st. I downloaded the PocketMac software from Blackberry [link on cited site], and no other drivers were required.
Next I’m going to get a microSD card, see if it will mount properly, and try dragging some unprotected songs over.
Thanks for your review. I agree with just about everything.
I am a Mac user who has just switched from Treo 650 to BB pearl about a week ago. Overall I am very happy with the switch.
Another positive is that the Pearl has built-in voice dialing software from Voice Signal. On Palm, this was 3rd party software and was buggy. On the Pearl, it has been flawless so far. I also find using a BT headset much better with the Pearl and the headset can activate voice dialing.
I agree that syncing through PocketMac is the main drawback. Although I have synced, it appears to be hit or miss whether a Pearl-entered event will make it into iCal after a 2-way sync. If anyone has discovered any tricks about syncing to iCal, any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
hi, Just got the phone 5 hours ago, and it wont read the damn sd card. tried formatting it but says the same thing. PLEASE HELP ME! i’ve been on it for hours tring to get it alll going but people at blackberry had to make it so damn complicated
Jon,
What is it saying? Are you having problems reading the SD card from your phone or your Mac?
Are you using a 1GB or 2GB card? 2GB cards may not yet be supported by BlackBerry.
did everyone’s first sync on the Blackberry from Mac take a long time????? Its been an hour and its still syncing!
I heard from some people that the pearl does not ring on many occasions and you need to remove the battery to reset it.Does all the phones have this defect or has it been fixed.
To the lady asking about the USB zonnector who gets the insufficient current warning. When you get the message, unplug the cable from the computer, NOT the phone, then plug it back in. Should work fine.
I ordered a pearl and when i put the battery in the light blinks red. I have been charging it but it still blinks red and wont turn on. WHat is the problem? do i need to charge the battery for 24 hrs for the phone to turn on or what?
Great review.
I ran into an issue when sync’n -> duplicate contacts! I have doubles of all my contacts from my address book on my MacBook Pro. How do I get rid of them?
PocketMac managed to reset my phone (time, settings, deleted my messages) the first time it sync’d.
Bleh. I have Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D ports on my Series 60 OS Nokia 3230. Nokia is way better than Blackberry. Plus you can get Duke Nukem 3D if you have a UIQ OS phone like the Sony Ericsson M600i… beats the hell out the rubbish available for the Blackberry.
to get the pearl to charge via usb to mac, make sure you charge fully by plug once. that should fix it.
as far as i can tell pocket mac is hell. it has different bugs for different users (some lose contacts, i lose calendars). the thing should be abolished. sadly, the old version of pocket mac that i used with my BB7100 worked great but i lost it in an upgrade and don’t think it works with the pearl.
my two bits on the pearl is that it is a dreamy little piece of technology. i found a way to get it to act as my modem for my computer here: http://www.fibble.org/archives/000508.html and am in heaven carrying around such a compact bit of technology.
now if i could just get a sync working. if anyone has a surefire way to sync please let us know. and yes, get isync working for us!!!
cheers,
damali
I just got the Pearl 8100 and am at a loss as to how to get my google IM to work. Blackberry Messenger is impossible to configure. I tried to go directly on the phone to the google website but didn’t have Active X working so it wouldn’t download the IM client. Any ideas? I’m on the Cingular network and on a mac, so I don’t have access to the desktop software, which may be a good thing! What works?
Thanks
Will
to use Pearl as modem on Mac, and fix USB charge issue, and Mass Storage Device access:
http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/script-for-using-the-blackberry-pearl-as-a-bluetooth-modem-on-a-mac/
No ring????
Andy, just like you, my BB Pearl phone would not ring for some reason. The temp fix is to remove battery, replace, and restart. But that’s only a temp fix. After calling T-Mo, they told me it was a software issue. The only solution that they could offer was to download the patch from their website using the BB’s Desktop Manager… Duh! I’m using a Mac and cannot use the BB Desktop Manager software! So there’s NO fix for this, at least none for Mac users.
Thankfully, I asked to speak to a supervisor. After a 4-min wait on hold, the original operator came back and offered to send me a new phone, free of charge. Said the “Supervisor had a similar problem with his BB Pearl”.
The next day I got it! Super good service if you speak to the right people. But I wonder what woul’ve happened if the Supervisor didn’t have a probem w/ his Pearl….
-Caid
So i just got the pearl yesterday and its awesome. Only beef i have is that when i enter a number into they keypad and hit save, it saves it as a work address. now this is annoying if its not a work number (and most of the ones i have aren’t) My question is: is there a way to change the default save pattern or am i stuck with “work” Thanks guys in advance!
Hi Dave,
I can’t seem to figure that one out from a pre-set perspective. Here is a work-around:
This is not the most ideal way to do this and it just goes to show how darn buggy the Pearl is. Can’t wait for the iPhone!
Just got my blackberry pearl in red, and I agree it looks awesome and works great! I believe The Missing Sync is the best way to go for mac users right now! 🙂
ugh, i just have the new blackberry pearl and a mac…i am trying to put MP3s on the phone by using the USB line. I drag the songs from itunes into the music folder and they go in, but they do not show up on the phone!?! please help!
ok, i just got my pearl red in today, im starting from scratch.. can someone step by step explain to me how to upload music from my itunes to it? plz… my e-mail is paulmiyahira@yahoo.com thanks.
paul
whenever im looking at my pictures or listening to my ringtones, it’ll come up and say ‘unable to display file.Device Memory/home/user/ringtones.lsu.mp3’ it started doing that right after i took some pictures off of it one day & put them on my computer. i dont know how to fix it!
Lynnsie, That’s weird? You might want to:
1) Get the software upgrade from T-Mobile (I am assuming that’s your provider).
2) Try resetting you BB by removing the battery.
3) Call 611 for tech support as there may be something wrong with it.
If you are a T-Mobile customer and you are eligible for a new Pearl under warranty, be sure to put the one you are sending back in a zip lock bag, take a picture of the white sticker behind the battery (pink means you have water damage), and watch your bill.
T-Mobile pulled a fast one on me and charged me for the new phone that was supposed to be free under warranty claiming that my phone had water damage. This was not the case.
When they asked me to send my phone back to them, it was loosely stored in a box they provide, with no back cover or battery (they instruct you to keep these for the replacement phone. For all I know, water damage could have occurred during shipping.
I was very disappointed to say the least.
Hope that helps.
Jay
Yeah so ive had my blackberry pearl for a couple of months and it was working fine and all of a sudden it shut off. the light blinks red then it looks like it tries to turn on, the screen becomes white and it has the loading icon then it goes back to the black screen and red light. it repeats this endlessly
I have recently been given a Blackberry 8310, much better option for me from the 8700 I had been using for a couple months.
I have been able to use my USB cable to connect my 8700, but when I try with my 8310 I am unable to connect and the message I get is that there is insufficient charging current. This is a little irritating as I do not want to charge my new phone but rather transfer all my numbers! I am super confused! I’ve tried to connect via blue tooth but to no avail. Feel a bit like a dimwhit actually, and cursed with technology.
If anyone can offer any advice, I’d be really grateful!
thanks,
Sarah
I recently got my BB pearl and is unable to receive songs from my friends through bluetooth. It just says Sending failed. Any conclusions?