By: J. Shuck

J. Shuck — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:01:17 +0000

Although I didn’t end up keeping this Pearl, my complaints were with T-mobile and not the 8120. It was tough to gauge the reception of the phone because, in my area at least, T-mobile was mediocre. However, as a smartphone, it was very nice; my only complaints were regarding the WiFi and the keyboard. First, I didn’t sign up for UMA and hoped to use WiFi just for data when around home or a hotspot; it didn’t work very well and I ended up using the EDGE connection all of the time. The SureType keyboard was pretty decent for what it was; it was certainly better than T9. It simply isn’t a full keyboard and though it tries to act like one through a T9-like dictionary, I ended up choosing a Curve the next time.

PROS:

Size – for someone who would like a smartphone that is small and is willing to trade a full keyboard for it, the size is really nice

Call Quality – Voices were loud and clear

Build Quality – the phone was quite solid, though the complaint of others that the battery door feels loose is accurate; it simply didn’t bother me

Battery – I’m not a “power-user” but the battery lasted for several days for me with moderate IMing and web use

Screen – bright with ambient light sensor that dims the screen when a room is dark (I should mention that the extra width of the Curve screen is nice, though)

CONS:

T-mobile service – This is the singular reason I didn’t keep the 8120

Keyboard – if you’re going to write a lot of emails, you may want to opt for the Curve

WiFi – If you’re thinking of the 8120 since the WiFi would make up for the phone not having 3G, it really doesn’t

Rating: 4 / 5

Comments on: BlackBerry Pearl 8120 Phone, Frost

By: J. Shuck