BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint)

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint) Summary

With the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 smartphone, you can do all the things you have to do so you can do more of the things you want to do. Surf the internet, view email attachments, text message, and stay on track and on time with the organizer. You can even take pictures and video with the built-in camera and then instantly send them to your family and friends. It is like having the whole world in your hand.

Stay Connected

Wireless E-mail: Send, receive, forward, and reply to messages, and view attachments in popular file formats. Add up to 10 supported personal and work email addresses to your BlackBerry® smartphone. Each mailbox is automatically updated whenever you send, delete, file or read messages on your smartphone.
Instant Messaging: You can use Instant Messaging to connect with your IM contacts using popular applications like BlackBerry® Messenger, Yahoo!® Messenger, Google Talk, AOL® Instant Messenger for Blackberry® Smartphones, and many more. Instant messaging (IM) applications on BlackBerry® smartphones keep you in touch with your IM contacts—no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Enjoy many of the instant messaging features you already enjoy on your computer on your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130, including: a familiar user interface, availability status, contact access and management, notifications to tell you when you receive a new message, and emoticons that help you express yourself.
SMS and MMS: Short Message Service (SMS) and Multi-Media Messaging Service (MMS) allow you to send text messages and images to your friends quickly and easily. Use the SMS feature whenever you can’t pick up the phone to call someone. You can also take pictures with the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 and send them right away to any of the contacts in your phone.
Advanced phone features: The speakerphone is perfect for hands-free calls and convenient conference calls. Voice Activated Dialing (vad) allows for you to just say the word to initiate a call with anyone in your contact list. Plus, you can use VAD along with the built-in speakerphone or with a stereo Bluetooth® headset for hands-free dialing. User-definable convenience keys and dedicated Send, End and Mute keys make the phone more user-friendly. Personalize your device with downloadable ringtones, or create your own from songs stored on your smartphone. Conference calling lets you easily initiate a call with multiple people at once. The BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 is also stereo Bluetooth® enabled allowing you to enjoy hands-free dialogue via headsets and car kits.

Liven Things Up

Media Player: With the Media Player on your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130, listen to your favorite songs and watch video clips anytime. Play video and music files in vivid color and rich sound. Use wireless stereo Bluetooth® stereo headphones or speakers to enjoy your music. Shuffle your songs or enjoy your favorite playlist while you reply to messages. Watch news or sports clips while catching the train to work. Transfer you desktop iTunes music files to your BlackBerry® smartphone using BlackBerry® Media Sync. Or, you can use Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry® smartphones for quick CD ripping, converting, and transferring your music and video files. With the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130, you can use a microSD card for more memory to store an abundance of music and video.
Camera and Camcorder: The BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 features a 2.0MP built-in camera so you can capture the moment and share the pictures with your friends, family, and contacts right away via email or MMS. There is also a mirror next to the camera for self-portrait assistance. Another way to capture the moment is to record video clips with your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130. You can instantly share them, or simply enjoy watching them on your smartphone’s high resolution display. Feel free to transfer pictures and videos between your smartphone and your desktop computer easily using the USB cable that comes with the Pearl™ 8130, or via Bluetooth® technology.

Gathering Information

Browser: The BlackBerry® browser is designed to deliver on-the-go Internet service that can keep up with your busy life. Navigate and browse websites with a roll and click of the trackball. And with streamed mobile media you can view videos, music, news clips and more from mobile sites. The BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 is Evolutionary-Data Optimized (EV-DO) providing users with faster downloads and internet speeds of about 2-3 times that of dial-up. Browse the full Web when and where you want it on your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130. Search for the information you need using Google, Yahoo!® and many more. Access your favorite sites for news, sports, weather and entertainment updates. Set bookmarks and view your history. Click a link in email to launch a website. For an easy way to access the newest links and hottest downloads, check out mobile.blackberry.com from your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130.
Organizer: Sync and store your calendar data, address book and more with the Organizer. Using the calendar you can manage and schedule appointments while on the go. The address book gives you access to all of your important contact information wherever you are. Task lists let you add, edit, delete, and mark tasks as complete while you’re away from your desk. There is also a memo pad for quick notes and a calculator for those pesky calculations on the fly.
Blackberry® Maps and GPS: View maps and receive directions on your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130. This application allows you to find businesses, restaurants and more by entering addresses and viewing their locations on maps, quickly and conveniently from virtually wherever you are. BlackBerry® Maps can also provide a visual route and step-by-step instructions to help you get to where you want to go. Use this feature for while in parts of North America, Asia, Europe, and South America. Blackberry® Maps is also good for your business by empowering enterprise users with mobile access to maps and directions. This application adds fully optimized location-based services (LBS) with fast loading times to the core functionality of BlackBerry® smartphones, helping to increase efficiency, productivity and competitiveness in the field. Use the GPS capabilities to get where you’re going with ease by pinpointing your geographic location or accessing turn-by-turn GPS navigation. You can Plan your route and view it on your BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130, build a list of your favorite locations for easy reference, receive step-by-step driving directions to businesses, restaurants, or wherever else you’re going today, and get more out of social networking sites and location-based mobile games.
Corporate Data Access: Through wireless connectivity, businesses can extend their enterprise applications, providing their mobile workforce with access to corporate data. The BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution leverages the same proven, push delivery architecture used for BlackBerry® smartphone email to provide mobile users with access to data from applications and systems, such as customer details, pricing data, order information and inventory updates.

Simplify Your Life

Memory: 64 MB built-in and expandable memory by way of microSD card which is only limited by the size of the card you purchase.
Stereo Bluetooth®: Allows you to make hands-free calls with ease. Bluetooth® is a short-distance technology designed to wirelessly connect electronic devices while maintaining the high level of security you expect from the BlackBerry® platform. While many phones offer headphone support only in Mono, 8130 users will receive stereo sound for louder and more understandable conversations.
Screen: 2.25 inch non-touch, High-resolution, 65,536 color, 260x240 pixel, light-sensing screen
SureType®: keyboard technology that combines a traditional phone keypad and a familiar QWERTY-based keyboard to create an efficient and familiar typing experience. It allows you to quickly and accurately dial or type without the limitations of traditional phone keypads. Since the software understands what you're typing, you can concentrate on composing your message rather than on the input method. You can also easily switch to the multi-tap input method when desired. It includes a word list of over 35,000 words and the ability to increase that list based on the frequency of use.
Enterprise friendly: For larger corporate and government organizations, the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server to provide users and IT managers with advanced security and easier access to corporate information. Unlike traditional mobile phones, the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8130 can be centrally managed and supported by IT departments using BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. Wireless push delivery of email and data, remote address book look-up, and single mailbox integration are just a few of the features available.

Average Customer Rating: 4.1 ( Be the first to review this phone. )

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint)

SureType® QWERTY keyboard
EV-DO High-Speed Technology
2 Megapixel Camera/Camcorder
Stereo Bluetooth® Capable
Dedicated Send, End, Convenience, Power, Mute, trackball navigation and ESC key
64 Mb Flash Memory/32 Mb RAM
Embedded RIM® wireless modem
BlackBerry® 4.3 Desktop Software. Integrated Email, Phone, SMS, Browser, Calendar, Address Book, and additional organizer applications
Polyphonic and MP3 ring tones

Included Accessories

Lithium ion battery
Compact wall charger
Stereo earbud headset
USB data cable
Leather pocket

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint) Description

Call quality: We’re happy to report that call quality is the best we’ve experienced to date on a BlackBerry. Callers were extremely loud and clear and they said the same of us. So we only needed to lower the volume using the side keys. We were even able to hear clear in windy environments. We also appreciated the speakerphone since we were able to speak simultaneously and callers weren’t cut off mid-sentence. Additionally, there was no degradation in call quality when we used a Bluetooth headset.

Audio Quality: While the playback of music on this cell phone is acceptable it’s far from stellar when played back over the cell phone’s speaker. There were occasions when we found the audio quality to be a tad tinny. However, quality should improve when using the included stereo earbud headset, but if you want to listen to music without the wire you can always get a stereo Bluetooth headset.

Menu/phonebook: If you love the BlackBerry interface, you’ll be happy to know not much has changed in the Pearl version of the popular device. Everything is like the old BlackBerry only a little bit more attractive. You can choose between a few different views: either have a few icons lined on the bottom or the left hand side of the screen; or you can have all applications appear on the screen for easy scrolling through applications. Don’t like the preformatted arrangement of icons, no worries, you can easily rearrange the icons to move the applications you use most to the top of your list. You can use the included software to easily sync contacts, calendar and e-mail between the Pearl and your computer. However, unlike the Treo, you can’t color-code your calendar entries. The Pearl comes with a miniUSB-to-USB cable so you can connect it directly to your computer or you can always use Bluetooth if your computer has that functionality. Finally, the alarm is great on this cell phone; it will continue to sound even if the cell phone is turned off. This is a good and bad thing. The other key feature with the BlackBerry 8130 is that it comes loaded with maps, so you can get directions to just about anywhere.

Messaging: The reason most people buy a BlackBerry is for the messaging; and, rightfully so, it really has messaging perfected. But before you get too excited, if you’re getting the BlackBerry Pearl for work e-mail, it’s not that it can’t do it out-of-the-box it can if your company has the right server. If your company doesn’t you will definitely need to consult your resident IT guy, he’ll have to set it up for you.

Another bonus is that you can send/receive e-mail from multiple accounts. Since the whole point of BlackBerry’s is to sync your e-mail on your computer with that on your cell phone, a copy of messages (even if it’s on your computer) is automatically stored in the device’s memory. Additionally, with the latest enhancements in this model and the BlackBerry Internet Service, you can now have a separate folder for text and multimedia messages and the text messages will not be included in the message folder which receives all messages. Nice!

Camera: The BlackBerry Pearl has a 2-megapixel camera and a flash. Overall, picture quality is pretty good when snapping pics using the Pearl. There’s also a tiny mirror next to the lens, which you can use to snap self-portraits. Now you can even delete pictures immediately after taking them by scrolling to the trashcan icon and press the scroll wheel down. Yet, our favorite feature is the integration of the trackball with the camera application. Once you’re setting up a picture you can scroll around to zoom or change the size of the picture. We admit it, it’s just plain cool! We should note that unlike previous Pearls, you can view and record videos on this cell phone.

Music: As noted, the Pearl has a music player as well. You can listen to songs stored in MP3 format. Music isn’t the Pearl’s strongest feature. As such, there really aren’t any options in the player to adjust audio quality. You can create playlists on the cell phone, as well as shuffle, and repeat songs. However, we should note that you can save tunes stored in your cell phone as a ringtone. But you’ll really need to get an extra MicroSD memory card if you want to put any music on the device because there’s simply not enough space on the Pearl to store more than a song or two at the most.

Bluetooth/Connectivity: You can do a lot with Bluetooth on this cell phone. Besides easily being able to connect to a Bluetooth headset (we found call quality was great when we used the Motorola H500). You can also take advantage of the high-speed EVDO data speeds by connecting the BlackBerry 8130 with a laptop computer and turn it into a data modem. This is a pretty good use of an unlimited data plan.

Look and Feel: Let’s get right to heart of this BlackBerry, the Pearl (that’s the white trackball in the middle of the cell phone). It’s just super fun to use. We think the side scroll wheel typically found on the side of BlackBerry’s is a bit more functional, but this option is just much more enjoyable. Besides it really adds to the overall style of the Pearl. There’s no denying this is one of the more stylish cell phones we’ve seen from BlackBerry and is arguably one of the more attractive work-centric handsets currently available. Plus it comes in a plethora of fun colors including amethyst (basically navy), silver, red, and pink (it’s more of a baby pink than a Pepto-Bismol type pink).

The display is easy to view in most lighting conditions and really pops in dimly-lit rooms and you can change the brightness setting, a good idea to maximize the battery life. We should not that the button with the dots on it on the left-hand spine of the cell phone is a little too sensitive. If the Pearl isn’t locked and jostling around in a bag or purse, it will constantly ask, “Say a Command.” This can be extremely irritating, so we recommend disabling the key or changing it to launch a different feature entirely. We would also recommend getting in the habit of locking the cell phone even when it’s secure in the black sleeve that comes with the cell phone. There were a couple of times that we didn’t lock the smartphone when we put it in the sleeve and inadvertently launched random applications. Finally, there’s a slot on the spine of the cell phone where you can add more memory via an external MicroSD card.

Keypad: If you’re a veteran BlackBerry user and have become all too accustomed to the integrated keyboard and fear that it’s just not going to be the same strictly using numeric keys, don’t worry. True, it’s not quite the same as two-handed typing, but it is pretty easy due to the predictive text application installed and the FastTap keypad, which puts a maximum of two letters on each key. This application not only guesses the word but provides a few options so you can make sure the predictive spelling stays on the right track. Plus, the keys are spaced far enough apart. We should also note that on the 8130 the keys are bit more spacious then those found on the original Pearl, which helps keep misdials at a minimum. Another nice feature is that the keys are slightly raised and curve making dialing in the dark pretty doable.

While many improvements have been made to this BlackBerry, there hasn’t really been a huge bump in battery life. This is because if you look at other full keyboard BlackBerry devices, you’ll notice it can support a much larger battery than the one found on the BlackBerry 8130. That said, this is what we found. If you use the cell phone frequently to make calls, to text and send/receive e-mail you’ll probably only be able to last about two days before needing to recharge. However, if you’re thinking of the Pearl primarily as a cell phone and less of a messaging device you’ll get about three to four days of battery life from it. We should note that Bluetooth doesn’t significantly drain the battery. Another plus, it charges quickly (within an hour).

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint) Product Features

Operating System
Operating System	Not Available
Operating System Release Number	4.5

Cell Phone Design
Phone Style	Bar
Phone Size	Small
Dimensions (H x W x D)	4.2 x 2.0 x 0.6 in
Weight (w/standard battery)	3.4 oz
Keyboard Type	Not Available
Touchscreen	No
Screen Size	Yes
Display	320 x 240 pixels, 65k Colors
Mil-Spec/Rugged	No
Push To Talk (PTT)	No

Camera & Video Features
Camera Resolution	2.0 megapixels
Front Camera Resolution	1.3MP
Camera Flash	Yes

Advanced Features
HDMI port	Not Available
1080p HD Video	Not Available
3D Camera/Video	Not Available
Wi-Fi	No

Cell Phone Specifications
Processor Name	Not Available
Processor Speed	528 MHz
Onboard Memory	96MB
Removable Memory Card - Type	Micro SD Card
Maximum Memory Card Capacity	32GB SDHC
Removable Memory Accessibility	Under Cover
Photo Caller ID	Yes
Expandable Memory Slot	MicroSD
External Volume Control	Yes
Service / Support	1 Year Warranty

Accessibility
Hearing Aid Compliance	N/A
Digital TTY/TTD	Yes

Battery Specifications
Talk Time	Up to 220 mins
Standby Time	Up to 216 hrs
Battery Type	Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)
Battery Milliamp (mAh) Hour	800

Connectivity
Micro USB	Not Available
Web Browser	Full HTML
GPS Type	S-GPS
Bluetooth	Bluetooth v2.0; Mono/stereo headset, hands-free and serial port profile supported
USB Port Type	Mini-USB

Early Termination Fee
Early Termination Fee - Initial Amount	Not Available
Early Termination Fee - Monthly Declining Amount	Not Available

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint) Demos, Guides & Tips

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 (Sprint) Customer Reviews

Customer Rating: 3.8
by Tiffani -- April 30th 2009 -- West Branch, MI

Customer Rating: 5
by Alwood -- April 22nd 2009 -- Appleton, WI

Customer Rating: 4.3
by Tosha -- March 3rd 2009 -- Berrien Springs, MI

The only bad thing about the BlackBerry 8130 is the ring volume. It does not turn up loud enough to use a song as a ringtone. The only one that I have found that is loud enough is the classic phone ring, which is boring. I love everything else about the phone. I don't think that I would buy it again though because I like to have different ringtones for different people and it is necessary to hear it ring.

Customer Rating: 4
by Lacy -- October 28th 2008 -- Marquette, MI

The BlackBerry 8130 has an occasional ticking noise in the background during calls. There are a few dropped calls here and there. A "roaming triangle" shows up when I travel, even if the phone is in an Alltel area. It is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I really enjoy this phone. I wish there was some way to know on the home screen if the phone is actually roaming. The internet can be very slow at times.

Customer Rating: 4.8
by Warren G. Smith -- October 22nd 2008 -- Gary, IN

I absolutely love this phone. I recommend, however that you be very sure that you will use all its features before you buy this phone. It's not your typical playgames and buy ringtones phone (although you can do these oporations), this is a great phone for people who email, use the calendar, text and use the features that the phone has. I needed this kind of phone because I would always forget appointments, or run late because I remembered at the last minute. Not a problem anymore!!!!!! Terrific phone.

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