Blackberry Pearl 8110

release date: September 2007
colours:
 
black
 
blue
 
pink
Blackberry Pearl 8110

RATING

4 stars

Pros

  • 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Memory card slot
  • GPS
  • Push email

Cons

  • Small screen resolution
  • No 3G
  • No Wi-Fi

SUMMARY

Good email-centric phone with QWERTY keyboard (2 letters per key). GPS satellite navigation, but no 3G or Wi-Fi.

Review

The Blackberry 8110 is a quad-band GPS candybar phone with QWERTY keyboard (2 letters per key), microSD memory card slot, 3.5 mm audio jack and 2 MP camera. The 8110 has the same design and specifications as the Pearl 8120, except this phone has an inbuilt GPS receiver instead of Wi-Fi (which the 8120 has).

The Blackberry Curve 8310 also has GPS, and also has a full 35-key QWERTY keyboard (the Curve 8310 is 1 cm wider). The BlackBerry Pearl is aimed towards both business users and consumers.

Design

Available in numerous colours - black, pink, blue, red, titanium. Same design as the Blackberry Pearl 8120. Much like the Blackberry Curve series, Research In Motion (RIM) launch the 1st edition, then launch 1 Wi-Fi and GPS version in quick succession.

Keypad: Wavy. A straight line would be better.

Blackberry Pearl 8110 Keypad

Front: Earpiece, 2.2-inch 240 x 260 pixel screen.

Right: Volume buttons, camera key.

Left: 3.5 mm jack, miniUSB, microSD card slot.

Back: 2 MP camera, LED flash, mirror.

Trackball: Navigate around the screen using the ball.

SureType

SureType - single-handed or two handed operation, spell checker, dictionary, word-completion.

Features

GPS

Blackberry Maps is installed. Find places of interest, postcodes, step-by-step guide, visual routes. It integrates with other Blackberry features - email, MMS etc. You have to download the maps over the mobile network.

If you get the phone on Vodafone, TelMap Navigator GPS mapping software is installed - branded Vodafone Sat Nav - TelMap. A 12-month subscription is included. T-Mobile and O2 use TelMap GPS software too.

GPS Mapping

2 MP Camera

Simple. OK quality. There is flash, 5x digital zoom, low-light mode, white balance, quality, size and colour effects.

Trackball Navigation

Navigate the screen with a trackball (a small ball housed in a socket - like the bottom of a mouse (not the mammalian type)). It works well.

Internet Browsing

No 3G and no Wi-Fi. There is EDGE. The resolution is nearly square - 240 x 260 pixels. The Web browser is adequate - nothing great.

QWERTY Keyboard

The phone is 50 mm wide - there's no room to fit a full QWERTY keyboard, so there are 2 letters per key - 4 rows, 5-columns. Much like T9 predictive text, simply tap each key once (no need to multi-tap to get to the correct letter), and SureType (BlackBerry's predictive text software) will suggest a word.

It might take you a little while to get used to it, but after a while you should be able to type reasonably quickly. You might prefer a full QWERTY keyboard, but a 2-letter per key predictive text combination can be pretty fast.

If you haven't used a Blackberry, then it's a smart move to dance on down to a high street store and give the keyboard a whirl. The keys are cramped - some/many? don't like the cramped keys.

Organiser

Calendar, address book, task list, memopad, calculator. Synchronize with desktop software.

Summary

A good little QWERTY keyboard GPS phone. If you want a BlackBerry phone with full QWERTY keyboard, take a look at the Blackberry Curve 8310. View the latest GPS phones.

Fun trivia: When coming up with the name "BlackBerry", a "naming expert" thought the miniature buttons looked like "the tiny seeds in a strawberry". The word "straw" sounded too long, so they decided on "Black".

Fun trivia 2:The Blackberry Curve 8100 was the first Blackberry device to feature a camera and media player.

Features / Specifications

* confirm features at manufacturer's Web site.

Release Date
September 2007
Size
107.0 x 50.0 x 14.0 mm
4.2 x 2 x 0.6 inches
Weight
91 g
3.2 oz
Colours
 
black
 
blue
 
pink
Screen
  • 2.2-inch TFT
  • 240x260 pixels
  • 65000 colours
Memory
  • 64 MB phone memory
  • microSD memory card (2 GB max)
Networks
  • Quad-band (GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz)
  • EDGE
Battery Life
  • Talk time: 4 hours
  • Standby time: 60 hours

In The Box

Blackberry Pearl 8110 phone, charger, battery, 1 GB memory card, case, earphones, CD, USB cable, user guide.

Connectivity

  • GPS
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • USB 2.0
  • 3.5 mm jack

Camera

  • 2.0 MP Camera

  • features: Flash, 5x digital zoom, low-light mode, white balance, quality, size and colour effects

Messaging

  • SMS, MMS, Email, IM
  • Push Email
  • Hardware QWERTY

Entertainment

  • Music Player
  • Video Player

Internet

  • HTML browser

Installed Applications

  • BlackBerry Maps
  • Document viewer
  • PIM: Organiser tools, calendar, address book, task list, memopad, calculator
  • Voice recorder, voice dialling

Prices

Prices coming soon.