Cell phones, email and internet. It is 2007 and obviously everyone has access to these technologies. The question is, how well can you access them from one single device? It used to be that you needed a cell phone, PDA and computer. That has been changing, but usually at the cost of something. Some of the PDAs that turned into cell phones were so big, you couldn’t throw them in your pocket. They were also quite expensive. You didn’t want to carry them with you everywhere because they were bulky and for fear of losing it or having it break.
I believe there is finally a solution. I’ve been using a Blackberry Pearl for a couple of months now and love it. I think they have finally found the right combination of size and functionality. It is almost the exact same size as my RAZR phone. The Pearl is roughly 4” X 2” X 0.5” and weighs only 3.1oz. The screen is big enough to read full emails. I think most people are scared off by the QWERTY keyboard with each key being multiple letters. Not to worry. The key to typing on the key pad is the predictive text. It is more than solid. You rarely, if ever, need to worry about whether you are typing an “e” or an “r” (which share the same key), etc. It is actually surprisingly good at proper nouns as well. I don’t even have to correct it on a name like “McInerney,” which is reason enough to make the investment. Web-browsing is also quite good (both WAP and HTML). The full web-pages load impressively quickly. The battery life (in two months) has been not failed me. The navigation is made easier than other Blackberry devices by the introduction of the trackball.
I’m two months into the use of this Blackberry Pearl and I’m still searching for a negative aspect to it. The biggest reason of all (aside from the fact that it can predict McInerney accurately) to purchase a Blackberry Pearl might be the price tag. I believe they are roughly $150, potentially less with activation and service agreement.
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