Skip to content

TechRepublic

Trending Now

Digital globe on a black background with ransomware woven through the continents
Image: Adobe stock
Article

Kaspersky report identifies new ransomware trends for 2022

support staff accessing a desktop remotely
Image: Adobe Stock
Article

TeamViewer vs. Remote Desktop

businesswoman checking her phone in an airport.
Image: Adobe Stock
Article

When to meet in person: 3 good reasons for business travel

AI can assist business users.
Image: AdobeStock
Article

AI for business users: a glossary

  • Developer
  • 5G
  • Security
  • Cloud
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Tech & Work
  • Mobility
  • Big Data
  • Innovation
  • Cheat Sheets
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • CES
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • Developer
  • 5G
  • Security
  • Cloud
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Tech & Work
  • Mobility
  • Big Data
  • Innovation
  • Cheat Sheets
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • CES
  • See All Topics
  • Newsletters
  • Forums
  • Resource Library
TechRepublic Premium

Account Information

Join or sign in

Register for your free TechRepublic membership or if you are already a member, sign in using your preferred method below.

Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

Join or sign in

We recently updated our Terms and Conditions for TechRepublic Premium. By clicking continue, you agree to these updated terms.

Welcome back!

Invalid email/username and password combination supplied.

Reset password

An email has been sent to you with instructions on how to reset your password.

Welcome to TechRepublic!

Username must be unique. Password must be a minimum of 6 characters and have any 3 of the 4 items: a number (0 through 9), a special character (such as !, $, #, %), an uppercase character (A through Z) or a lowercase (a through z) character (no spaces).

Loading
Mobility

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

By Bill Detwiler November 15, 2006, 11:52 PM PST on Twitter billdetwiler

Image
1
of 66
Previous Next

37379.jpg
37379.jpg
BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Front

Front

The BlackBerry Pearl is a sleek, stylish phone, with plenty of multimedia features. If I was choosing a smartphone for personal use, I would give the Pearl serious consideration. Business users should be more cautious of the Pearl.

It’s easy to be sucked in by the unit’s small size, slick styling, and vivid LCD, but the cramped keyboard and highly-limited Office viewer will frustrate heavy e-mail and Microsoft Office users. In the following photos, I’ll show you why.

By Bill Detwiler

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Keypad and pearl trackball

Keypad and pearl trackball

Just below the LCD screen, the Pearl has a new trackball and Menu and Escape buttons. These controls replace the right-side trackwheel and Escape key that many BlackBerry users are accustomed to.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Too small for my thumbs

Too small for my thumbs

The Pearl’s SureType keyboard features a traditional QWERTY layout, but two letters are assigned to a single key. The keys are small and make text entry very difficult for my thumbs. I found it nearly impossible to simultaneously use two thumbs, as I would with a Palm Treo.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

SureType and cumbersome keyboard make text entry difficult

SureType and cumbersome keyboard make text entry difficult

As you begin to enter the letters of a word, SureType provides a list of possible letter combinations or words based on context. The premise sounds good and the technology works for common words, but try to enter a proper name or anything with an apostrophe and SureType falls apart. I found SureType more a hazard than a benefit.

The white box is blocking the full address of the POP3 e-mail account I used to test the phone. I’ll talk more about my e-mail tests later in the gallery.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

LCD Screen

LCD Screen

The BlackBerry Pearl has a 2.25-inch TFT screen that displays 65,000 colors at a resolution of 240×260-pixels. The screen provides a sharp, clear display with bright colors.

Here, I’ve created a contact for myself and add my own photo–taken with the Pear’s camera.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Back - battery cover

Back - battery cover

Depress the thin silver latch near the Pearl’s base to remove the battery cover.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Back - battery cover removed

Back - battery cover removed

BlackBerry rates the Pearl for 3.5 hours of talk time and up to 15 days of standby time.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

SIM card

SIM card

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Micro SD Flash memory card

Micro SD Flash memory card

Removing the Micro SD card is a delicate, but not a difficult, operation.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

SanDisk Micro SD flash memory card

SanDisk Micro SD flash memory card

Our test unit included a SanDisk 1.0GB Micro SD card. You can see just how small the card is against my thumbnail.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Don't drop the Micro SD card

Don't drop the Micro SD card

I actually dropped the card when removing it from the phone. If lost, the card’s tiny size could make it difficult to find.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Keypad Lock

Keypad Lock

Before tossing the Pearl into your purse or pocket, you should lock the keypad or place the unit in standby mode. My unit once called the last-dialed number while the phone was in my pocket. Mark Kaelin, my colleague and fellow editor, was treated to a conversation between me and my daughter will I placed her in the car seat.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Voice dialing

Voice dialing

I was surprised by how well the Pearl’s voice dialing feature worked. You press the voice dialing shortcut key on the phone’s left side, say “dial”, and then the number. The phone sill normally provide you a choice of numbers if it’s not absolutely sure and you answer “yes” to dial the appropriate number.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Voice dialing error

Voice dialing error

Although the voice dialing system works well, it’s not foolproof.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Bluethtooth

Bluethtooth

The Pearl supports bluetooth.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Instant Messaging (IM)

Instant Messaging (IM)

The Pearl can use BlackBerry’s own messaging service, BlackBerry Messenger, or four other popular IM services.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

POP3 E-mail setup confirmation

POP3 E-mail setup confirmation

The Pearl support up to 10 separate POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail accounts. Businesses who want to integrate the Pearl with Microsoft Exchange will need to use BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

As we don’t use BlackBerry Enterprise Server, I setup a POP3 account to test the system. The setup of simple and straightforward. I received this message shortly after configuring the e-mail account.

As in previous photos, I have blocked out the full address of the POP3 e-mail account I used to test the Pearl.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Calendar - Daily view

Calendar - Daily view

The Pearl’s calendar supports daily, weekly and monthly views.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Calendar - Weekly view

Calendar - Weekly view

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Calendar - Monthly view

Calendar - Monthly view

bbc-pi.png
bbc-pi.png
BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Web browsing

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Web browsing

The Pearl’s Web browser contains several preloaded favorites. You can also enter a URL.

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic
BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

TechRepublic gallery

TechRepublic gallery

This is a TechRepublic gallery of Firefox 2.0.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

TechRepublic gallery thumbnails

TechRepublic gallery thumbnails

Even the Firefox 2.0 gallery’s small thumbnails were crisp and clear on the Pearl.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

CNN

CNN

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Compose message

Compose message

Pressing the Menu button from within the Messages application, will let you compose a variety of new messages and perform other message-related task.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Indicator light

Indicator light

A small LED above the LCD screen lights up different colors for different status messages: blue for Bluetooth, green for wireless, red for new messages (seen here), and amber for low battery.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

You have a message

You have a message

The Home screen also shows a new message notification.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - Inbox

E-mail - Inbox

The inbox shows your latest e-mails, sorted by date and time.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail sample Word document - attachment missing

E-mail sample Word document - attachment missing

To test the Pearl’s e-mail capability, I sent an e-mail containing a Word document to the test POP3 account. The message came through in seconds, but I had forgotten to attach the Word document. Doh!

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - Reply

E-mail - Reply

I should probably let myself know I forgot the Word document. Pressing the Menu button from within and e-mail message, bring up the menu shown here. From this menu, I can reply to the message.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - New reply message

E-mail - New reply message

I can now enter text into this blank reply message.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - Text entry

E-mail - Text entry

When I begin typing, SureType provides a list of possible letter combinations or words. As before, I found SureType cumbersome and annoying for anything but common words. Here, I’m trying to enter the letter I, but the U and the I are located on the same key. Seems logical that I would press the key twice to enter the second letter, but that’s not how the system works. You press the key once then have to use the trackball to select the correct letter–very annoying.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - Complete reply

E-mail - Complete reply

Finally, my reply is ready to send.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - Reply indication

E-mail - Reply indication

Here, my Inbox shows that I replied to the message.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail - New message with attachment

E-mail - New message with attachment

A new message has arrived. This one has the attached Word document–denoted by the file and paperclip icon. I must have gotten my message.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail with Word attachment

E-mail with Word attachment

I’m not sure why the e-mail shows two attachments as it only has one.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Opening the Word attachment

Opening the Word attachment

Pressing the trackball or the Menu button allows me to open the attachment.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Word attachment

Word attachment

Before actually opening the attachment, the Pearl lets you look at a table of contents. I didn’t really like this feature. Perhaps it would be useful for very long documents.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Word viewer - Receiving more data

Word viewer - Receiving more data

Once you choose to open the attachment, the data is sent to the phone.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Sample Microsoft Word document with text and a diagram

Sample Microsoft Word document with text and a diagram

Here’s a screenshot of the document in Word. It has a heading, body text, and a diagram.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Word viewer

Word viewer

The heading and body text display correctly, but the diagram is totally lost.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail with Excel attachment

E-mail with Excel attachment

I also tested the Pearl’s ability to display Excel spreadsheets.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel attachment

Excel attachment

Again, I’ll open the full attachment.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Sample Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Sample Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Here’s a screenshot of the spreadsheet in Excel. I created a quick example with formated cells and formulas.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel viewer - Normal view

Excel viewer - Normal view

The Excel spreadsheet displays correctly, although the numbers are difficult to read as the columns are shrunk to fit the Pearl’s screen.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel viewer - Menu options

Excel viewer - Menu options

Pressing the Menu button from within the Excel viewer, brings up a variety of options.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel viewer - Edit cell

Excel viewer - Edit cell

By clicking the trackball, you can edit individual cells.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel viewer - Expand columns

Excel viewer - Expand columns

You can expand the columns to fit the contents.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel viewer - Expand all columns

Excel viewer - Expand all columns

You can expand a single column or all columns in a spreadsheet.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Excel viewer - All columns expanded

Excel viewer - All columns expanded

Here, I have expanded all the columns in the spreadsheet. It is now possible to read the numbers, but the spreadsheet now extends beyond the screen’s edge. You can use the trackball to scroll the sheet.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

E-mail with PowerPoint attachment

E-mail with PowerPoint attachment

Lastly, I tested the Pearl’s ability to display PowerPoint presentations.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Attachment

PowerPoint viewer - Attachment

Again, I’ll open the full attachment.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Sample Microsoft PowerPoint presentation

Sample Microsoft PowerPoint presentation

The sample presentation uses one of CNET’s standard PowerPoint templates and contains 3 slides–a title slide and two charts.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Sample Microsoft PowerPoint presentation - Chart

Sample Microsoft PowerPoint presentation - Chart

Here is a screenshot of the first chart slide.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Whole document

PowerPoint viewer - Whole document

The Pearl’s PowerPoint viewer automatically displays all a presentation’s slides stacked in a single view, which you can scroll through.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - First slide

PowerPoint viewer - First slide

Using the trackball, you can select any one of the slides and open it in the full screen.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Chart

PowerPoint viewer - Chart

Looking at the first chart, the colors, and overall structures are visible, but the axis headings and scales are nearly impossible to read.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Chart 2

PowerPoint viewer - Chart 2

With less information, the second chart is slightly better than the first.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Options

PowerPoint viewer - Options

You can view each slide one-at-a-time or in a slide show.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Zoom

PowerPoint viewer - Zoom

If you can’t read a particular slide, the Pearl provides a Zoom feature to enlarge the slide.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Zoom Slider

PowerPoint viewer - Zoom Slider

When active, the Zoom feature places a slider bar on to the left of the screen. Using the trackball, you can zoom in and out on a slide.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Zoomed in

PowerPoint viewer - Zoomed in

Unfortunately, even when I zoomed in on the first chart, I couldn’t clearly read the headings.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Enhance

PowerPoint viewer - Enhance

The Pearl’s PowerPoint viewer also has an Enhance feature. I assumed this would try to improve the image’s quality and tried it.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Enhance receiving more data

PowerPoint viewer - Enhance receiving more data

When activated, I assume the Enhance feature pulls more data into the phone.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

PowerPoint viewer - Enhance not working

PowerPoint viewer - Enhance not working

Unfortunately, the enhance feature displayed merely a blank screen.

BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

Camera zoom

Camera zoom

If you can hold you hand very, very still, the 5x zoom does an OK job.

The camera is adequate for quick snapshots, but it won’t replace a digital camera.

  • Mobility
  • Account Information

    Share with Your Friends

    BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal

    Your email has been sent

Share: BlackBerry Pearl lacks hardcore business appeal
Image of Bill Detwiler
By Bill Detwiler
Bill Detwiler is the Editor for Technical Content and Ecosystem at Celonis. He is the former Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and previous host of TechRepublic's Dynamic Developer podcast and Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show.
  • Account Information

    Contact Bill Detwiler

    Your message has been sent

  • |
  • See all of Bill's content

TechRepublic Premium

  • TechRepublic Premium

    Software Procurement Policy

    Procuring software packages for an organization is a complicated process that involves more than just technological knowledge. There are financial and support aspects to consider, proof of concepts to evaluate and vendor negotiations to handle. Navigating through the details of an RFP alone can be challenging, so use TechRepublic Premium’s Software Procurement Policy to establish ...

    Published:  April 14, 2022, 5:00 PM PDT Modified:  April 16, 2022, 1:00 PM PDT Read More See more TechRepublic Premium
  • TechRepublic Premium

    How to recruit and hire a Security Analyst

    Recruiting a Security Analyst with the right combination of technical expertise and experience will require a comprehensive screening process. This hiring kit from TechRepublic Premium includes a job description, sample interview questions and a basic want ad that you can customize for your business to find, interview, recruit and hire the best candidates for a ...

    Downloads
    Published:  April 14, 2022, 5:00 PM PDT Modified:  April 16, 2022, 2:00 PM PDT Read More See more TechRepublic Premium
  • TechRepublic Premium

    How to recruit and hire a DevOps engineer

    Recruiting a DevOps engineer with the right combination of technical expertise and experience will require a comprehensive screening process. This hiring kit from TechRepublic Premium includes a job description, sample interview questions and a basic want ad that you can customize for your business to find, interview, recruit and hire the best candidates for a ...

    Downloads
    Published:  April 7, 2022, 5:00 PM PDT Modified:  April 9, 2022, 1:00 AM PDT Read More See more TechRepublic Premium
  • TechRepublic Premium

    How to recruit and hire a video game quest writer

    Video game writing jobs are in demand. Recruiting a video game/quest writer with the right combination of technical expertise and experience will require a comprehensive screening process. This hiring kit from TechRepublic Premium includes a job description, sample interview questions and a basic want ad that you can customize for your business to find, interview, ...

    Downloads
    Published:  March 31, 2022, 5:00 PM PDT Modified:  April 2, 2022, 8:00 AM PDT Read More See more TechRepublic Premium

Services

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • RSS Feeds
  • Site Map
  • Site Help & Feedback
  • FAQ
  • Advertise
  • Do Not Sell My Information

Explore

  • Downloads
  • TechRepublic Forums
  • Meet the Team
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • Resource Library
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • TechRepublic
  • TechRepublic on Twitter
  • TechRepublic on Facebook
  • TechRepublic on LinkedIn
  • TechRepublic on Flipboard
© 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Property of TechnologyAdvice