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I am taking Tim’s title for his iPhone post and using it for my experience with the Blackberry Pearl 8110. This was announced last week on AT&T’s network and I thought it would be a good time to give it a spin. This will be my 1st experience with a Blackberry device. I am going to document my experiences as I use this phone for a week. Unfortunately, it’s not starting out good for email for me. Of course, I am new to RIM, but I am trying. So, let’s get started.

I received the Pearl 8110 in the mail yesterday, did a video unboxing, comparison, etc, but I wanted to wait to complete the video until I had time to play around with the UI so I could get familiar with it. Since I don’t know this OS, I didn’t want to take anything from it by not at least familiarizing myself with it. So far, so good. It’s a really easy to manuever UI. The “main” screen has 4 default layouts to pick from too. I like the BB Dimension Zen layout personally.

 
Image from blackberrycool.com. Reverse the icons from right to left, and that is what I am using.

So far, I haven’t done much more than try to get my Exchange server working with this. Unfortunately, unless I can get someone to point me in the right direction, I am going to give up on this. For the 1-2 weeks I will be using this phone, the cost to get set up isn’t worth it.

I already have an exchange solution in Sherweb and I know that they have a solution for Blackberry users to, so I can them a call. To my dismay, the cost is an initial $29.99 start up (RIM’s Cut) plus an extra $9.99 a month on top of my current rate. No biggie, I guess I can handle that. So, I added the feature. Sherweb told me that I would need to contact AT&T and get their package to allow for Blackberry services to run, so I did. Unless I asked for the wrong thing, here is another $25/mo extra. That is $25 more than my current data plan. So, to test exchange functions on a phone I will only be using for a week or two, it was going to cost me $29.00 up front to RIM, then an additional $35/mo between Sherweb and AT&T. Not a good start for me. I guess if I worked for a company that has a Blackberry Enterprise Server, this would be a non-issue, but I am a small business owner than has merely hosted exchange access. This works wonderfully on my desktop, laptops, and Windows Mobile Phones. So, to make a long story short, I will be carrying two phones during this eval. I have to have my exchange server support, this is not negotiable.

1st Impressions
I really like the hardware, it’s really sleek and feels great in my hand. It doesn’t feel too frail, but it’s not bulky either. I am not too keen on the keyboard, but I guess a full qwerty would be hard to fit in this form factor. There have been Windows Mobile phones with trackballs before, but I thought they were all gimmick. The Pearl has one too, but I really like it’s implemetation. It works great, lights up when in use, and is not jerky as I would expect.

Even though I am lost in the OS right now, it is very strait forward and I have been able to pick up the general usage from just fumbling around. It’s quick too, for the most part. I did have some slow downs when changing themes and such.

Over the next week or so, I will chime in on something I like or don’t like about the Blackberry Pearl 8110. If anyone reading has suggestions or find an error in my finding, let me know as well. This should be fun, A Windows Mobile MVP using a Blackberry for the 1st time.

Chris Leckness (3571 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.