Cell Phones & Plans

What’s Good: Integrated WiFi for Web, Email, and HotSpot@Home UMA Calling; Trackball is easy to use; Integrated IM Clients; Second-to-None Push Email; 2MP Camera with Flash; 3.5 mm Headphone Jack; Compact Size

What’s Not Good: OS Menus and Fonts Remind me of 1989; SureType QWERTY board will be too small for some; Video capture quality is mediocre

Bottom Line: T-Mobile’s new Pearl takes a good thing and makes it better by way of integrated Wi-Fi networking for data access and T-Mob’s HotSpot@Home service.  A few other minor improvements make the handset’s media player and keyboard a little bit better.  Pearl’s still too small for my hands, but it packs smartphone functionality and money saving features into a great device that looks and feels like a phone — not a brick.  RIM’s gotta overhaul their user interface soon, though.  The icons and fonts feel more and more dated every day.

Specs:
Make/Model: RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120
Network: GSM
Data: - read full review