Project PDA

Like a true pearl, it packs elegance, sheen, status, beauty and impact in its tiny world. The BlackBerry Pearl 8100 the world's smallest and lightest smartphone is out to sweep the consumer market with a unique blend of incredible style, outstanding list of features and impeccable classiness.

Unveiling the latest mobile miracle, Research in Motion (RIM) is all geared up to conquer the business hunks as well as the style-obsessed hipsters. The stunning features and the irresistible look moves to break new grounds smartphone technology.

The BlackBErry Pearl has rolled out an array of features and functionality listing basic phone facility, email, text messaging (Short Messaging Service and Multimedia Messaging Service), instant messaging, web browsing, camera, Media Player, audio and video playback in a whole range of formats, push-to-talk, integrated address book and multi-faceted organizer, BlackBerry Maps, speakerphone and voice activated dialing, Bluetooth and a flurry of more.

This new feature gadget is now available in two colours – stunning piano black and shimmering pearl white. The new white version is stylistically complemented with white accessories comprising of a stereo headset, a travel charger and a USB cable.

The new BlackBerry flaunts an enviable vital statistic measuring 4.2-inch x 1.97-inch x .57-inch, and weighing a meager 3.1 ounces. It is the new portable style statement that T-Mobile offers at $199.

The Pearl is designed to charm with a brilliant black finish and silver side bezels teamed up with an extended ultra-bright, high resolution (240x260 pixel) display made powerful with the built-in technology of light sensing that adapts the brightness of screen and keypad while in indoor, outdoor and dark environments as well.

Replacing the regular QWERTY keyboard, RIM this time has used the Sure Type System functioning in Pearl. The marked difference here is that each key handles two letters, displaying a list of possible words that can be spelled with the key combination, on hitting to compose. Though its sounds cumbersome, typing on Pearl is precisely choosing from a list of options, manually. This typing needs practice on the users' part to reach a comfort level and consumes about 30 percent more time compared to the regular QWERTY keyboard.

The new BlackBerry baby is attached with a more flexible scrolling trackball. This trackball offers the facility to move around and select options on the screen with a tiny roller-ball helping in speedy vertical and lateral scrolling. Alternating the D-pad system, this new implementation surely spells convenience as a more intuitive and sensitive navigation tool coupled with dedicated 'menu' and 'escape' keys, flanking both sides of the trackball.

The Pearl keyboard is studded with additional buttons on both the side panels, which are self-explanatorily termed ' Convenience Keys'. Their applications can be altered as per preference.

Serving the basic, primary front of making calls, the Pear is an undisputedly dependable. Voice calls can be initiated through several options like pressing the phone against one's ear or switching on the speakerphone mode inviting multiple talkers or employing a wired or a wireless headset.The call management features that are incorporated include smart dialing, conference calling, speed dialing, and call forwarding.

The organizational elements of BlackBerry are carefully chosen and put into action, considering its diverse clientele and versatile functioning abilities. The Desktop Manager synchronized via Bluetooth 2.0 handles contacts, calendars, memos, operations of Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes and Organizer, Novell Groupwise and Sage ACTI software.

The function coined 'myFaves' enables non-hassled, single-touch access to the selection of favourite contacts like friends and family members. This competence is also extended for texting, sending instant messages and emails with just the click of a button.

The new BlackBerry Pearl can boast of a dynamic multimedia front making provision to play both audio and video files. Its audio section can equate itself with an MP3 player. However, the video player is supposedly a failure with heavier and more complex files. The image storing capacity and display quality on the other hand is commendable with pan and zoom qualifications. For those who have a fetish for ringtones, the smartphone accommodates polyphonic, MP3 and MIDI tones. But this multimedia storage can be enhanced and better utilized with a microSD card.

The web browser installed by this contemporary model of Black Berry Pearl is decent in terms of functionality. It reformats regular web pages for the 240x260 pixel screen. Though not the fastest in cellular networking, the service offered is well suited for light web browsing.

Staying connected through email has always been easy with BlackBerry smartphones. The Pearl is naturally no exception. Setting up an account is a simple maneuvering, accommodating up to 10 addresses. The Internet Service, Enterprise Server and Exchange options are the major corporate machines. The user can also work with Microsoft Office documents like Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Acrobat formats received as email attachments. However editing or transferring them to a folder is still not possible on this device Pearl supports quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE network on 80/900/1800/1900 MHz allowing international roaming within North America, Erurope and Asia Pacific.

For the shutterbugs, the new Pearl is well equipped to capture candid moments with the 1.3 magapixel camera. This cameraphone from BlackBerry carries a built-in flash but no a very powerful one. The mechanism adapts itself well in low-light situations, not requiring a flash.

Pros

• Removable and rechargeable Lithium C-S2 battery with 15 days standby time and 3.5 hrs talk time.
• A small phone with a strong performer to boot.
• The phone is empowered with a suit of Personal Information Management (PIM) application including address book, calendar and to-do list.

Cons

• The Sure Type Pearl keyboard is a little cramped.
• The data connection is reliable but not speedy enough for general surfing.
• The Pearl's camera is missing the feature of video support and is unable to record movies.

The Pearl smartphone is definitely a step forward for the RIM with advance feature. However, the multimedia attributes need to be refined and initiate a better access to Microsoft Office files.