Hands on with the Blackberry 8100

This afternoon, the friendly neighborhood UPS man delivered my new Blackberry Pearl 8100. Sure it has been out on the market for a while, but this is my first real cell phone. I got my first cell in September 2006. It was a basic Samsung model that came with my 3 year contract. Sure enough, this week, after much shopping around, I extended my contract again and picked up the Blackberry. Rogers is currently offering a great promotion to get it for $99, and have unlimited e-mail for $15. Word to the wise: Telus currently has a considerably better deal with the phone being free, and unlimited e-mail AND unlimited data for $15. If it wasn't for the $400 termination fee, they would have had one new customer.

Anyways. Upon opening the box I was very impressed with what the phone came with. In addition to the expected phone, charger and usb cable, the package contained universal adapters, headphones and a case. Although I will probably never use the universal adapters, I thought it was a nice touch.

The phone was easy to get set up. Pop the SIM card from my previous phone into the back, add a battery and power on. The phone had a comprehensive set up program that provided information on the many available features. It took almost no time to adjust to the QWERTY keyboard from my old T9 phone. This let me set up my blackberry messenger, e-mail addresses and contacts quickly and easily. The phone almost seems fool-proof. With just a bit of technical knowledge you can easily grasp every feature.

I went through and tested every feature I could find immediately and was very impressed. The calendar fits perfectly with my outlook scheduling, the camera took clear photos and the blackberry messenger allowed me to chat back and forth without any problems.

The finaly test was syncing to my computer. Although it took some getting used to (and a few trips to crackberry.com) getting synchronization to work was pretty much painless. Once my schedules, tasks and contacts were on the phone, it truley felt complete. It is now time to see how it handles after a week of use.

Overall, on first impressions I consider it a very worthwhile investment.