Blackberry Pearl 8120

release date: October 2007
colours:
 
blue
 
titanium
 
red
Blackberry Pearl 8120

RATING

4 stars

Pros

  • 3.5 mm audio jack
  • Memory card slot
  • Wi-Fi
  • Push email

Cons

  • Small screen resolution
  • No 3G

SUMMARY

Decent Wi-Fi phone with push email. No 3G, half-QWERTY keyboard, expandable memory and 3.5 mm jack. If you text a lot, you might prefer a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard.

Review

The Blackberry Pearl 8120 is a quad-band candybar phone with QWERTY keyboard (2 letters per key), 2 MP camera, Wi-Fi and microSD memory card slot. There's no 3G (GPRS and EDGE only). The Pearl series is supposed to appeal more to non-business users.

The Pearl 8120 is available in 3 colours in the UK - blue, titanium and red (as of April 2008). Other colours are available in other parts of the world.

Pearl 8120 vs 8110 vs 8100

The 8120 is the 3rd phone in the Blackberry Pearl series. All 3 phones have the same design - each has slightly different features.

8100: No Wi-Fi, no GPS, only a 1.3 MP camera, no video capture, no 3.5 mm audio jack.

8110: Same as 8120, except there's GPS, but no Wi-Fi.

There are also likely some software tweaks. Blackberry say the 8110 and 8120 have slightly better talk-time (4 hours) than the 8100 (3.5 hours).

Design

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.

Keypad: Wavy keys.

Pearl 8120 Keypad

Features

SureType

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

Wi-Fi

Download file from the Internet / browse the Internet. Connect to a public Wi-Fi hotspot or connect to your local home (or office) wireless network.

QWERTY keyboard

Not a full QWERTY keyboard - there are 2 letters per key. SureType tries to guess what word you're typing. Press each key once, and SureType will the suggest word. If you prefer, you can use 'multitap' - tap the key twice to select the 2nd letter.

Typing is not as quick as a full QWERTY keyboard, but it is faster than a standard alphanumeric keypad.

Web Browsing

EDGE only - slow Internet download speeds. No 3G. 2-inch screen with small resolution (240 x 260). Not great, but OK for small tasks. Use a Wi-Fi network for a better experience.

2 MP Camera

2 MP camera with video capture. Flash, 5x digital zoom, low-light mode, white balance, quality, size, colour effects. No autofocus or macro mode.

Facebook Application

Do whatever you do on Facebook, on your mobile phone. Contact "friends", "hug requests", poke people, quizzes, invitations, "applications" ...

Summary

You can buy the Blackberry Pearl 8120 for under £250 on PAYG (April 2008), or get it for free on a pay-monthly contract.

If you're going to text a lot, you might prefer a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard such as the Blackberry Curve 8320.

Features / Specifications

* confirm features at manufacturer's Web site.

Release Date
October 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
 
blue
 
titanium
 
red
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
OS
RIM OS

In The Box

Blackberry Pearl 8120 phone, charger, battery, 1 GB memory card, case, earphones, CD, USB cable, user guide.

Connectivity

  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • USB 2.0
  • 3.5 mm jack

Camera

  • 2.0 MP Camera

  • features: Video capture, Flash, 5x digital zoom, low-light mode, white balance, quality, size, colour effects. No autofocus or macro mode.

Messaging

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

Entertainment

  • Music Player
  • Video Player

Internet

  • HTML Web browser

Installed Applications

  • Facebook, Blackberry Maps, RIM wireless modem, Corporate data access
  • Document viewer
  • PIM: Organiser tools - calendar, world clock, alarms
  • Voice recorder, voice dialling

Prices

Prices coming soon.