BlackBerry is the industry standard when it comes to mobile email. Research In Motion (RIM) may dominate a very valuable business market, but it wants more. The company wants everyone to use a BlackBerry (RIM estimates a market of 40 million in Europe alone), even if your normal working day doesn’t include flying business class to Frankfurt for a sales meeting.

So how do you make a BlackBerry sexy and appealing to the iPod generation? Look at the photos here and you have your answer. RIM has shrunk down the size to make the 8100 (or Pearl) ultra-thin, while combining shiny black plastic and chrome to make it less like a typical business tool and more like an iPod nano. There’s a large screen on the front and a megapixel camera with flash on the back (you can just hear those camera shy corporate giants grinding their teeth). If that isn’t enough, there’s a media player for music and video. It’s easy to forget that the main feature is email.
For storing all this multimedia data, the Pearl has a microSD card slot and also functions as a USB drive for file copying from a PC or Mac. You can also charge the phone via USB, although it’s not something you’ll need to do very often. RIM claims 15 days of standby time, and while this wasn’t achieved in my testing, I did get a whole week - that’s a full seven days, not a working week. Not bad for something that’s constantly retrieving email, even when it isn’t doing anything else.
To further improve battery life you can shut down the device overnight. The screen brightness also adjusts automatically, further reducing power consumption whenever possible. The 240×260 pixels screen is big enough, but the best feature is being able to select both font type and size. Although any BlackBerry user will be used to this ability, it’s sure to impress any newcomers too.

Gone jogging

If you have used a BlackBerry before, you’ll also know that it can be controlled from the jogwheel on the right hand side. In order to keep the thickness down to a near Motorola SLVR level, you now get an illuminated rollerball on the front instead of the jogwheel. This resembles a pearl, hence the name, and the sensitivity of movement can be adjusted. Some people aren’t going to like the change, but the thinner design means it can still be used with one hand. It’s certainly easier to get used to than the SureType keyboard, which has two letters on every key, laid out like a QWERTY keyboard.

The more SureType devices I see, the more I try to get used to it and maybe, just maybe even begin to like it. RIM hasn’t helped by twisting the keys into a triangular formation, but given enough time you can enter text at a reasonable speed and it’s quite intuitive. It will capitalise sentences and insert punctuation automatically, plus consult emails and phonebook entries for names and email addresses. After a bit of usage it can begin to learn words pretty well and there’s a training wizard to fully explain how it works to the complete novice. Once you’ve set up a new BlackBerry email address, you can also set it to poll existing POP3 accounts every 15 minutes, with new mail being sent automatically. Sending a message is instant and because attachments are converted to text for quick viewing, you won’t miss the lack of 3G or Wi-Fi (although, it does support EDGE).

Multi message

It’s not just email either, as Instant Messaging fans can chat to friends using Google Talk, BlackBerry messaging or Yahoo! Messenger. You can also use the Pearl as a SatNav with applications like Wayfinder (see p53). If the Pearl does take off, you might see the range of software increasing, although it’s never likely to compete with Windows Mobile or Symbian devices. For the usual functions, like calendar, tasks and notes, the BlackBerry already has everything you need including synchronisation with common email software, like Outlook. The media player is quite intuitive too, and video playback is smooth. The integrated speaker (with a dedicated speakerphone button at the top) is loud, but stereo headphones are included in the box for proper enjoyment.

You can make calls by pressing the numeric buttons on the main menu, or pressing the voice key to speak a name, individual digits or ask for a status update that speaks to tell you the current battery level and if you are in network coverage. This works best when used with a Bluetooth headset.

On the other side of the phone is a button for the camera, a 1.3 megapixel job that takes acceptable pictures but won’t be competing in any of our cameraphone tests anytime soon. It’s useful to have, certainly, but if you need images of a high quality, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

The Pearl is a perfect convergence of work and pleasure, with the emphasis more on pleasure. It retains all the functionality of the ordinary BlackBerry models, but looks like something you wouldn’t mind taking with you for a night out. It’s reliable, responsive and the battery won’t die after a day. The problem is, as always, the SureType keyboard, which does reduce the speed at which you can enter text. You’ll probably find yourself opting for simple replies to messages, and RIM could easily have gone with an existing predictive text system such as the excellent T9.

However if you’re not typing long emails and want a decent, highly specified phone with the best push email service around, you can probably survive with the keyboard and perhaps get more used to it than I can. In the end I only had one real problem: the limited number of downloadable themes or applications on offer at BlackBerry’s website. Still, if this is the only problem I can find, RIM doesn’t have much to worry about.

Buy Blackberry 8100 Pearl at Carphonewarehouse

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