A BlackBerry made for those who want some something more pocketable, the 9105 Pearl 3G skips the trademark BlackBerry front keyboard and replaces it with a regular phone style numeric keypad, making the phone feel like a regular phone rather then a BlackBerry. RIM have wisely kept everything else the same, with the same sublime email handling and messaging, FaceBook & Twitter integration.
What’s in the box
BlackBerry 9105 Pearl 3G
Battery
Mains Charger
Data Cable (microUSB)
Carry Case
User Guide
BlackBerry 9105 Pearl 3G Specification
Processor:
Speed: 624Mhz
Battery:
Talk Time: 5.5 hrs
Standby Time: 432 hrs
Music Playback Time: 30 hrs
Capacity: 1150 mAh
Display:
360 x 400 pixels/2.2"
TFT
Camera:
3.2 mega-pixels (auto-focus)
2.5 x Digital Zoom
LED Flash
Video:
Video Recording
Supported formats: MP4, H.263, H.264M WMV
Video Streaming YouTube
Music:
Supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC, WMA, Flac, Ogg Vorbis
Messaging:
SMS
MMS (with video)
E-mail (POP3, IMAP4, Exchange, BlackBerry)
Twitter Instant Messaging (BlackBerry Messenger)
Memory:
256 (RAM)
256MB (internal)
microSDHC (memory card)
Call Features:
Hands Free
Caller ID
Voice Dialling
Smart Dialing
Connectivity:
2G: 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz (Quadband)
3G: 800/900/2100 (Tri-band) WiFi (802.11 b/g/n)
HSDPA (3.6Mbps)
Bluetooth (2.1)
microUSB
3.5mm Audio Connector
Navigation:
AGPS
BlackBerry Maps
Sensors:
Light Sensor
Features:
Web Browser
Office Document Viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
PDF Viewer
BlackBerry App World Application Store
Media Sync (iTunes Sync Client)
Optical Trackpad
Lets look at the hardware
On the left side is the 3.5mm headset jack and the MicroUSB charger / sync connector, the other bulge is a quick access button.
On the right hand side you can see the volume up/down protrusions and again another shortcut button.
The top of the 9105 has media playback controls, which is a nice feature.
On the back is the camera lens and flash and the look is definitely a more industrial type design.
The front has the usual Blackberry Menu and back buttons plus the phone call and hang up buttons and below the screen you can see the two letter Sure Type keyboard. Also instead of the trackball you now find a small trackpad to move between icons on the screen, it works very well.
Review:
The Blackberry Pearl 3G 9105 certainly looks the part, it is housed in a jet black plastic casing that looks the part and it’s small form factor makes it a very pocketable size.
The keyboard however is not for me, after coming from using a full QWERTY getting used to typing on a half QWERTY is difficult however having said that I am sure with a lot more use it could become second nature so I am not going to say that it is a bad thing.
The keys are nice to use, responsive and clicky but the biggest problem is typing non standard words and email addresses and the like, it all becomes a little fiddly for me.
The menu system on the Pearl is icon driven and using the optical trackpad, you can quickly flick through the icons on display, clicking on the one you require.
Like on all BlackBerry devices web browsing is not the best. The recently announced Blackberry Torch has a new browser built around the open source web kit standards and as such is head and shoulders above this device. It is functional but that is about it, its not by any means a browser that you would enjoy using for anything more than a quick Google search.
Lets face it, Blackberry OS Smartphones are designed for communication and this is where they excel, I am not going to bore you with all the details as they have been well documented before but if your after a small device that handles push email, calendar appointments and SMS plus the added benefit of Twitter and Facebook you will not be disappointed oh and I almost forgot one of the most enticing parts of Blackberry, BBM (Blackberry Messenger) this seems to have taken off massively with the younger generation so maybe this is where this phone is directed.
Within the menus you will find an icon for BlackBerry App World. This is where you can download apps to your BlackBerry. There are a good selection of free and paid applications.
The camera is a rather lowly 3.2 Megapixel although simple to use for the odd shot here and there and also there is a built in AGPS for a bit of Sat Nav action although bare in mind the small screen size.
Conclusion:
The BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 is a well made tried and tested phone formula, sure there is additional 3G but with a poor web browser and the already efficient data management on the device I am not sure it really needs 3G.
As a messaging device it is right up there, well as far up there as you can get with the compromised Sure Type keypad in lieu of the full QWERTY but if you can get used to it, the reduced width of the phone could be a big win.
Available now Sim Free from flagshipfones
|
|
|
|
|
 |