Startups was lucky enough to attend the launch of the brand new BlackBerry Pearl 8110 the other day, and it's hard to be sure whether it’s because we were press or because a waiter managed to unceremoniously dump a tray of strawberry bellinis over half the team, but either way, we are now the proud owners of shiny new BlackBerrys.
Dear reader, after years in mobile limbo, I'm living the dream: I can read emails, send photos, look at spreadsheets, check Facebook – heck, I could even be writing this – all on the move.
All very exciting, but is this, one of the first BlackBerrys to come out since the iPhone made its explosive debut, all it’s cracked up to be? And more importantly, what can it do for business customers?
Actually, the Pearl is BlackBerry’s attempt to get the ‘man on the street’ market – it’s smaller and more phone-shaped than the traditional BlackBerry, and has done away with the scroll wheel altogether, replacing it with a white ball that looks a bit like a pearl.
They’ve added a mediocre two megapixel camera, as well as multimedia functions that are actually pretty cool – and the headphone jack takes ordinary headphones, which, compared to all the low-grade headphones you get with other mobile phones, is almost revolutionary.
It still has BB features like a qwerty keyboard, but with two letters to every key, which takes some getting used to – as does the sheer number of applications. Having only really used Nokias up until now, the idea of ‘voice dialling’ having a whole icon to itself in the main menu seems nothing short of extravagant.
Setting up email to work with it was a doddle, as was getting online – although I did spend several frustrating minutes trying to make wi-fi work – until, that is, someone pointed out that the 8110 doesn’t actually have wi-fi.
I actually think BlackBerry’s attempt to appeal to the masses won’t work as well as they hope: ordinary people don’t need email on the go – or if they do, they generally have a gmail or hotmail account and can download the relevant application to their phone. They want five megapixel cameras, not business email capabilities.
For small business owners, though, it’s ideal. Unlike other BlackBerrys, it’s available free on a contract from T-Mobile (apologies for the plug: they gave us free phones. It seems polite to show our gratitude), and while you can set it up with your business email and go online, it’s far less complex, and far less flashy, than a traditional BlackBerry.
My only problem now is those pesky early morning email cravings. As my other half said, shaking his head in pity as I clawed at my phone at four o'clock this morning: 'They don't call it a CrackBerry for nothing, dear...'