10 Months with a Blackberry Pearl (8100)

I've been carrying Blackberries for several years now, and although I love the convenience and productivity that the devices provide, I always hated carrying a brick on my belt. When RIM announced the Pearl (also known as the 8100) in 2006, I was immediately interested, and after playing with one at my local T-Mobile store, I was hooked. I didn't buy one immediately, however--I waited until my contract was up and got a smoking deal on a new Pearl back in January 2007 ($50 after rebates, credits, etc).

Since that time, I have been really pleased with my Pearl. The device combines an extremely attactive size and weight with high functionality and usability. It has all of the features that I've always wanted in a Blackberry:

• Traditional cell phone size and weight: 4.2" long, 2" wide, .5" deep; 3 ounces



• Quad-band GSM coverage (works in 100+ countries) and EDGE data connectivity. Coverage on the T-Mobile network has been very good in my experience, and I've used it all over the US.



• Beautiful color screen



• Polyphonic ring tones, includng the ability to use MP3 songs as ringtones



• Bluetooth headset support



• Full support for Blackberry Enterprise Servers (BES)



• Trackball (provides x and y navigation)



• Audio and video playback, including the ability for phone calls to pause and restart music playback



• Camera: 1 megapixel camera, including a small flash



• Voice dialing: surprisingly accurate voice dialing feature makes placing calls without looking at the keyboard much easier



• Memory expansion (up to 2GB via flash chip)



• Customizable ringer profiles (you can assign custom ringers to different people)



• Good battery life: 15 days standby, 3.5 hours talk time

Those are the strong points of the unit. As you might guess, there are a few things I don't like about the Pearl:

• Battery life: the unit is 10 months old, and the battery rarely lasts more than 2 days on standby and 2 hours of talk time. I suppose this is to be expected, but buying a new battery every year is a pain.



• Lack of stereo Bluetooth support: the unit does not support the Bluetooth profiles that allow the new crop of wireless stereo headsets to work. Rumors have it that RIM will be adding support in a future release of the operating system.



• Proprietary headset jack: even though RIM provides a stereo headset (two earbuds with a microphone), the quality of sound reproduction is awful. Unfortunately, you can't just plug in any headset--the Pearl's headset jack is a proprietary 2.5mm design, which means that you have to buy an adapter.



• Keyboard: in order to fit all of the keys required into the small form factor of the Pearl, RIM developed a system called "Suretype" which allowed them to double up most keys (for example, both the A and the S are on a single key). The Pearl intelligently guesses which word you are typing--for example, if you type 'hello', you actually press a single key for each letter (GH-ER-L-L-OP keys), and the phone figures out which word you mean. In practice, this system works pretty well, but it's still no substitute for a full keyboard.



• Camera: I'd actually prefer not to have a camera on the phone, as certain companies and government installations will not permit camera phones on premise.



• Memory: it would be great to be able to put more than 2GB into the phone; since it can play movies, you can use up that amount of storage pretty quickly.



• EDGE: while EDGE data rates are much better than the old GPRS system, it's still painfully slow. Support for the new UMTS standard would provide close to broadband speeds (although carriers in the US are very slowly adopting UMTS, so it's probably a moot point unless you live in a country that has support).



• Web browsing: even with a "real" browser installed (I've been using Opera Mini), browsing the web is still a painful experience. This is due in part to slow EDGE data rates and also because of the lack of support for things like Java. The built-in Blackberry browser is OK, but I seem to have a lot of problems with timeouts when I'm using it.

In summary, I'm definitely pleased with my Pearl, and I would highly recommend it to anyone that wants the functionality of a Blackberry with the convenience and size of a regular cell phone. I have tried some of the newer, slimmer, full keyboard models (like the Curve), and I actually prefer the Pearl's keyboard--the newer units have such small keys that I think they're really hard to use (I have big fingers!). Nice job, RIM--keep up the good work!

5 Big Reasons Why I Won't Buy an iPhone

A number of friends have asked me why I haven't already jumped on the bandwagon and purchased an iPhone like the other 700,000+ people that have already taken the plunge:

1. Price: I don't want to strap $600 to my hip, just ready to drop into the toilet, in the street, etc. My Pearl cost me $50 after rebates, 2 year contract, etc....and who knows--I wouldn't be surprised if there are stories of iPhones being stolen right off of people's belts!

2. Blackberry server: my Blackberry automatically syncs everything (email, contacts, calendar, etc) over-the-air with a server in our corporate data center. That means I never have to sync it with Outlook, and if I do drop it into the toilet, it takes 15 minutes to get the new one operational. The Blackberry server also allows me to do cool things like create/accept meeting invitations, look up anyone in the company directory, and lots of other cool features.

3. Capacity: the biggest iPhone only has 8GB of storage. My Pearl has 2GB that I rarely use, as I rely on my 30GB iPod Video for entertainment purposes. It plays music and video, but the iPod Video is still superior for entertainment.

4. Size: my Pearl weighs only 3 ounces and is 4"x2"x0.5" in size. The iPhone weighs nearly 5 ounces and is 4.5"x2.4"x0.5" in size. I really, really like the small size of the Pearl.

5. Battery: the iPhone has a permanently installed (soldered) battery that is not replaceable in the field. In contrast, it takes about 5 seconds to replace the Pearl's battery.

I'll wait for a while and see what develops. I like a lot of the features of the iPhone, but at this point the Pearl satisfies all of my main requirements.

How to use a normal stereo headset with the Blackberry Pearl 8100

I purchased a Blackberry Pearl about 3 months ago, and have been really happy with it--with one big exception: the device has a proprietary headset jack, and the stereo headphones (earbuds) that ship with the device don't have the best audio quality--music is muffled and they don't have the greatest high-end range.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to use one of the new Jabra Bluetooth stereo headsets with the Pearl, but the Pearl doesn't currently support the required Bluetooth profile (A2DP) to make them work (hopefully a device update will fix this problem in the near future).

In the meantime, the best solution is to purchase a $15 adapter from eAccess Solutions that will convert the proprietary 4 conductor, 2.5mm Blackberry jack into a standard 3.5mm headset jack. The adapter has one other cool feature--it also has a microphone and answer button, allowing you to take calls when they come in with the same headset.

This adapter will be on my list of "must have" accessories until such a time as I can use a wireless stereo headset!

How to get out of your mobile phone contract without paying termination fees

I found out about Cellswapper.com today, which is a service that matches people that need to get out of their cell phone contracts with people that want to get into a shorter-term contract than is normally offered by the carriers. In addition, most people getting out of their contracts also throw in their phone for free.

CellSwapper does this by exploiting a little-known fact about mobile phone carrier contracts: that most carriers will waive early termination fees (which generally range from $150 to $200) if the subscriber can find someone willing to take over the contract for the remaining period of time (that way they're guaranteed that someone will pay off the contract). The company plays "match maker", matching people that want to get out of a contract with people that want to get into a contract--and charging modest fees for the service -- either a "success fee" of $14.95 after the person successfully finds a contract buyer (charged afterward), or a $9.95 "posting fee" if the contract holder pays up-front.

I checked out the Cellswapper service, and they had contracts listed from virtually every carrier, including both individual as well as shared minute plans. Some people even offered a cash bonus (like $50) if someone takes over their plans, plus free shipping for the phone. The contract lengths varied from 4 to 20 months (I'm not sure why anyone would take over a 20 month plan, especially since the person didn't offer any other incentives other than a free phone).

I think this is a great idea--I've been stuck into mobile phone contracts before, and neither the prospect of having to pay $50+/month until the contract is up or paying a ridiculous early termination fee were very attractive. It's great to know that there is another alternative. I'm interested if any of my readers have used CellSwapper--please post your experience with the service as a comment.

Apple Unveils the iPhone

OK, so I missed the date of the iPhone announcement by a day--but other than that, many of my prognostications about Apple's much awaited iPhone came true--with one big exception.

Steve Jobs announced the phone at the Macworld Conference today in San Francisco, describing it as three products in one: "a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device." OK, so I got two out of three right--I didn't see the Internet communications device coming, whatsoever.

First, the phone is indeed a quad band GSM "world phone" with high-speed EDGE data connectivity (OK, I nailed it so far), but it also offers WiFi connectivity (I totally missed that one!). Apple inexplicably partnered with Cingular, so you'll need to be a Cingular customer to buy the phone, and I would imagine that it will be next to impossible to get an unlocked version of the iPhone (that could be used on other carrier's networks). I believe that this is a poor move on Apple's part--even though Cingular is the largest wireless carrier in the US, an exclusive relationship automatically cuts out T-Mobile's ~23 million subscribers as potential customers (Cingular has around 42 million subscribers). If Apple had instead chosen to go with a carrier-neutral strategy, it would therefore have had access to a whopping 65 million potential users--and that's just in the U.S. The total GSM user base, world-wide, is over 2 billion subscribers in 212 countries!

The iPhone will be released in June, feature flash memory capacities in either 4GB or 8GB increments, priced at $499 and $599 respectively (no word on whether these prices will be with a contract or not--if not, then subtract a couple of hundred dollars from the price, and all of a sudden the iPhone starts to look much more appealing!). It will also feature a 2 megapixel digital camera, will send and receive email and surf full-size web pages. The big news is that the iPhone will also sport a touch screen--a first for Apple--and a beautiful 3.5 inch high-res screen. Another interesting tidbit is that the iPhone actually runs OS X - the Macintosh operating system - and not the iPod embedded OS.

My analysis of the announcement? Probably one of the most awesome engineering feats that I have seen in mobile phone handsets. Clearly targeted at consumers (no support for email attachments, for example). Severely limited market through the exclusive partnership with Cingular, by pricing the device so that it will appeal only to the high end of the consumer market. I think this actually makes sense--Apple doesn't want to sabotage their core iPod market (particularly the high end iPods).

That said, there is no doubt that legions of loyal iPod users ready to line up to get the latest and greatest gadget from Apple--and I very well may be one of them!

One more wrinkle--Cisco actually owns the trademark on 'iPhone'--expect a lawsuit to be filed in the next couple of days. Apparently Apple has been trying to negotiate the use of the name with Cisco, and ran out of time--and now they're going to have to get it through litigation or change the name of the phone. This will be an interesting case to follow.

The Apple iPhone - Why I Think it's the Real Deal

Rumors have been circulating for months (years?) that Apple will be announcing an 'iPhone' in the near future (perhaps as soon as next Monday, January 8). I believe that the time is ripe for an announcement for the following reasons:

1. Steve Jobs himself hinted last summer that some sort of phone was under development.

2. Rumors have circulated for some time of a number of iPhone prototypes that have been commissioned; one potential design appears below:



3. Apple is in a perfect position to capitalize on the convergence of entertainment devices and mobile phones, and the integration of the iPod, which already has many PDA-like features (including a calendar and contact list), with a phone is a natural. I believe that very few companies other than Apple could successfully pull this off, but Apple's history of stellar design (hardware, software and user interface), coupled with the tremendous brand pull-through of the iPod line, could very well create another smash hit.

4. Apple has already dabbled in this market with 2005's partnership with Motorola that produced the ROKR, which was the first mobile phone that could play music from iTunes. An iPod it was not, but clearly Apple was testing the waters to see if that sort of device would "play" (pun intended) in the market. While the ROKR was basically a failure, I don't blame Motorola--Apple intentionally handicapped the ROKR's music storage ability so that it would not compete with the iPod line.

I do have some tripidation about the design of the iPhone, however. Hopefully Apple thought of the following:

1. Global coverage: the iPhone should be a quad-band GSM "world phone", which will provide a global market. There are rumors that Apple may enter into an agreement to resell another carrier's service (much like Virgin Mobile, which resells Sprint)--I think this would be a serious mistake on Apple's part. They should focus on making the best darn phone they can--and let the mobile carriers do what they do best--running wireless networks and selling handsets.

2. Audio: of course, the phone needs to have audio playback capabilities. Since the device will be in constant motion, a flash device (similar to the iPod Nano) would be a necessity. Capacity should be at least 4GB, and 8-10GB would be even better.

3. Video: a screen that's at least able to display some video (vis a vis the iPod Video) would be desirable. While the device would not have a lot of memory to store video, this would leave the door open for streaming video--particularly with 2.5G and 3G data network adoption finally on the uptake.

4. PDA: the ability to store calendar and address book entries is a necessity. Since the iPods already do this via iTunes, this shouldn't be a problem. One more PDA function that the iPods lack is "memo pad" capability--the ability to store free-form notes, and ideally sync them with email programs like Outlook, would be a really good feature.

5. Connectivity: Bluetooth is a must, both for wireless headset support as well as the ability to use Bluetooth for synchronization with iTunes. Ideally, the iPhone would support the latest Bluetooth profiles, which include support for the latest generation of combined stereo headphones and headsets like the Jabra BT620S .

6. Size and weight: based on the success of the Motorola RAZR, smaller is definitely better--and so is thinner. An iPhone should have a similar size and weight to a PDA phone, such as the Blackberry Pearl.

7. Battery life: this is of the essence. Obviously, iPhone buyers will want long talk time coupled with long listening time...and the phone should have some sort of mechanism that would prevent audio/video playback from completely draining the phone to the point where it is unusable.

8. Price: this is crucial. If Apple can price the iPhone such that the total price, with a 2 year contract, comes in around the $300 mark, then they will capture the attention of people that are considering the purchase of an iPod (and have budgeted the money).


We'll see how close predictions/advice come to reality when Apple (hopefully) announces the iPhone next week! If Apple can pull this off, the iPhone (or whatever they call it) could wind up being the hottest mobility gadget since the cell phone first hit the market!