RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130

Permalink: RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 by Franz Bicar

Let’s deviate a little bit away from camera phones right now. Well, actually, I have been deviating a little bit from camera phones in some of my entries here. What I’m trying to do is get you readers to appreciate other types of handsets that are out there. Well, the phone that I’m featuring on this phone does have a camera, but its not labeled as a camera phone, it is what professionals call a smartphone.

Research In Motion’s Blackberry Pearl 8130 has made its mark in the mobile phone market. With competitors like Apple’s iPhone or Nokia’s N95, the Blackberry has stood its ground and proved to everyone that it has its niche in the mobile phone world.

The 8130 maintains the same compact and sexy design of its predecessor yet manages to pack in even more features that users will definitely love. This may be one of the things that makes the 8130 a very popular smartphone. The iPhone may not be considered (as of the moment) as a smartphone, but even with its popularity, users stick to phones such as the 8130 because of its wide array of features that seems practical (and useful) for people always on the go. My point here is that, a devices’ popularity does not make it the best for each individual user.

So given that, let’s go right to the point. The 8130 includes features such as a built-in GPS, added video-recording capabilities, and an improved Web browser. In addition, you get EV-DO support and a 2-megapixel camera.

The Pearl 8130’s hardware specification is quite similar to the original Pearl. But, there are slight tweaks and upgrades that will be highlighted later on in this article. As mentioned, the Pearl maintains the same slim profile, measuring a slight 4.2 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep, and weighing 3.4 ounces. Keeping the phone in your pocket or just holding it feels very comfortable and usable. The silver chassis may seem ordinary to some, but it’s sleek and attractive.

At the front part of the phone, you’ll see the 2.25-inch non-touch screen that displays 65,536 colors at a 260×240 pixel resolution. Text and images are displayed with vibrant and sharp colors. It features a light-sensing technology that will automatically adjust the backlighting, depending on your environment.

At the bottom of the screen, there is the navigation and the SureType keyboard of past BlackBerry Pearls. You get Talk and End keys, a shortcut to the main menu page, a back button and, of course, the pearl-like trackball navigator that started the whole Pearl revolution. All the controls are easy to use, and you can be changed to adhere to the user’s preferences.

At the side, you will find the difference between the Pearl 8130 from the original GSM version. On the left spine, you’ll now find a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can plug in decent headphones, and the microSD expansion slot has been relocated from behind the battery to the exterior of the phone for easy access. A mini USB port is added, a customizable quick-launch button on the left and a volume rocker on the right. The top of the device has a Mute button, and the camera lens, the flash, and the self-portrait mirror are located on the back.

As mentioned earlier, the Blackberry Pearl 8130 is packed with a lot of features that users will find very useful. I’ll just mention some of them here with the important ones more detailed. It’s the first device from RIM to offer video-recording capabilities and the first Pearl to have built-in GPS, not to mention the EV-DO support and improved Web browser.

Voice features on the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 include a speakerphone, voice dialing and commands, conference calling, text and multimedia messaging, and call-audio enhancement, which lets you boost the bass or treble. The address book is limited only by the available memory (64MB flash), and each entry can hold up to eight numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail and Web addresses, company information, and notes. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a photo to a contact as well as a group category–business or personal–or one of 45 polyphonic ringtones. The Pearl also supports MP3 and MIDI ringtones.

Blackberry highlighted the new and improved web browser of the 8130 Pearl. Before, Blackberry web browser’s are definitely more inferior when compared to browsers on Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Palm devices. It requires a lot of scrolling up and down with the trackball or scroll wheel. However, now you get an onscreen cursor that you can move in any direction and place on any part of the page where you can click a link. In addition, there’s a Page View option that enables you to easily zoom in on part of a page.

Other wireless options on the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 include Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS. You can use Bluetooth to connect to mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, hands-free kits, and dial-up networking.

The built-in GPS enables you to use the Pearl as a handheld navigation device. The device comes preloaded with the BlackBerry maps application that can provide text-based driving directions and search for local businesses.

The camera for the 8130 also gets an upgrade to a 2-megapixel lens (from 1.3 megapixels before). This is not much though specially when compared to camera phones out there. But then again, this is a smartphone with focus on features and business applications - an all-around device.

The 8130’s camera can now record video–a first for a BlackBerry. For still images, there’s a 5x zoom and flash, as well as three picture sizes and three quality options. You also get white-balance settings and several color effects you can add to the photo.

Video options are limited with just two video formats (normal or multimedia message), three color effects, and a video light. Picture quality was pretty good for a camera phone. Objects were sharply defined.

Other than these new capabilities, the BlackBerry Pearl retains many of the same features that has made BlackBerrys popular, such as e-mail. The smartphone can sync with your company’s BlackBerry Enterprise server, with support for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise, to deliver corporate e-mail in real time. It also supports up to 10 personal/business POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail accounts. Instant messaging is limited to the proprietary BlackBerry Messenger client.

For mobile professionals, an attachment viewer opens popular file formats, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more. You can also view tracked changes and embedded images and zoom, and rotate documents, but you can’t edit documents out of the box, though third-party software is available that allows this functionality.

The built-in media player remains pretty much the same. You can listen to MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI music files, and MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 video clips. For music, you can create playlists as “folders,” and shuffle and repeat songs within a certain folder. It also displays song titles, the artist, and album art, if available.

In video mode, you get the option of full screen, replay, and repeat. Other applications on the Pearl include a calendar, a task list, a memo pad, an alarm clock, a password keeper, a calculator, a Brickbreaker game, and a voice recorder.

The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 is rated 3.6 hours of talk time and up to 9 days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Pearl 8130 has a digital SAR rating of 1.48 watts per kilogram.

Sources:
http://www.brighthand.com
http://www.phonearena.com
http://review.zdnet.com