Why the BlackBerry Pearl keys suck

by Ryan Block, posted Sep 25th 2006 at 8:52AM

Ever used a Pearl? Well, yes, it's thin, it's sexy, it's much more easy on the eyes than the rest of the BlackBerrys out there. But the keypad -- dear lord! RIM got so wrapped up in that stupid "Pearl" of theirs that they forgot how crucial the typing experience is on a mobile communicator with a QWERTY (or in this case SureType) keyboard. They're smushy, mushy, wobbly, and weak. Know why? Because they're just keys glued to a thin, flexible rubber film beneath. Seriously, we kid you not -- more pictures after the break.

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, T-Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Tags: 8100, blackberry, features, keys, pearl

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Thomas @ Sep 25th 2006 10:08AM

I love how these are all the exact same picture, but at a minutely different angle

Neutral

Neil @ Sep 25th 2006 10:18AM

When does the key pop off? Come on, that is what everyone wants to see!

Neutral

SLVRMUSTANG @ Sep 25th 2006 10:32AM

anothe reaon i'll stick with my Treo for now. The 650's keyboard isn't the best, but i cant pull the keys out with a scribe like that

Neutral

Ari Newman @ Sep 25th 2006 10:54AM

Are you complaining about the keypad in general, or did a key actually come lose in some way after a short time? I could take the same picture with other keypads...can't argue that the soft/gel keys have a flimsy feel but is that the only complaint here?
Your pictures are actually impressive if you can pull a key that far out and it doesn't break off.

Neutral

jalapeno @ Sep 25th 2006 11:23AM

Did we really need 4 pictures of that? Give me break.

Highly Ranked

rvinny @ Sep 25th 2006 11:27AM

The keys feel pretty good to me. I don't get this complaint. I would b**^&$ more about how easily this thing scratches. I already picked up 2 and no idea how. Reminds me of a nano. But still, the Pearl rocks.

Neutral

goneyukon @ Sep 25th 2006 11:33AM

This is a post I'd expect from BBHub, but not Engadget... come on guys, is this really newsworthy?

Neutral

Grant @ Sep 25th 2006 11:34AM

Very weak "article". Come on now, I know you can make up better things then the keyboard to make fun of...the not ringing thing was great but this is just lame. 0/10.

Neutral

doyouflip @ Sep 25th 2006 11:40AM

I have a BB 8700 and played with a friend's Pearl. I didn't notice anything wrong with the keypad and thought it felt fine. I don't see what the big deal is with this though, you can do that with computer keyboards which I spend infinitely more time using than phone keypads. and as Ari said, the images actually make it look like the keypad can take more abuse than the most other phones I've seen. Even so, I'm all over the 8800 when it comes out.

Neutral

Mark @ Sep 25th 2006 11:42AM

I suspect that if you pick at ANY keyboard with a sharp steel punch, you will succeed at removing the keys....

Neutral

Cingular Guy @ Sep 25th 2006 11:59AM

Careful, if Blackberry is anything like Samsung, you may want to wear gloves so they cant scan your fingerprints off of the pictures and sue you pearl-hatin' self.

Highly Ranked

Adam @ Sep 25th 2006 12:21PM

Slow news day?

Neutral

Jon4Lakers @ Sep 25th 2006 12:31PM

wow, what a waste of a post. I bet if you shove a screwdriver in any phones keys you'd have the same reaction.

Neutral

Jim @ Sep 25th 2006 12:36PM

I agree with the post. It is quite important the quality of the keyboard if this kind of devices.
The best one I have seen is the HTC Excalibur.... this is a really nice device with very high quality... not like this....

Neutral

badonkadonk @ Sep 25th 2006 12:38PM

Umm... that's the same keypad technology as on both the 7130r and 7100r/t. what's the point of this article again?

Neutral

Sage MAS90 Guru @ Sep 25th 2006 2:40PM

You're kidding - a quality keyboard isn't included witha phone that can be had for $49 after rebates? Quick, get me Mike Wallace on the phone - there's a story here somewhere.

Neutral

Wayne @ Sep 25th 2006 2:44PM

I'll stick with my full QWERTY keyboard on the Cingular 8125, thank you very much.

Neutral

JT @ Sep 25th 2006 2:46PM

That's pretty much how all blackberry keyboards are.

Older models use a thin sheet of plastic formed into the keys that sits on top of a set of plastic stubs embedded into rubber membrane, pretty much the same as every membrane keyboard out there these days. take apart most of the keyboards shipping today and you'll see something similar unless it's one of those retro buckling spring deals.

The 8100's tight on space so they probably skipped the separate layer for the keys this time.

As your pictures seem to show, even when goughed with a large flathead screwdriver the key is still attached, so do you have a complaint besides the mushy feel?

Neutral

CJ @ Sep 25th 2006 3:59PM

If you don't like your Pearl that much I'll be happy to take it off your hands for a nice round number...

Neutral

CJ @ Sep 25th 2006 4:01PM

Heck, I'll even TRADE you my 7250 and all accessories for it!

Neutral

BostonE62Lover @ Sep 25th 2006 4:07PM

These Pearls are actually fools gold. For a real pearl look at the Nokia E62 available now through Cingular!

Neutral

doyouflip @ Sep 25th 2006 5:32PM

@BostonE62Lover.

I won't bash the E62. I have one and think it's pretty sweet. But it's a tad slow and until I figure out how to simultaneously and regularly pull down email from 5 accounts and have it delivered to a single inbox, I'm sticking with my 8700. I'm not saying I won't switch...just saying I haven't figured it out yet. The E62 is a good devide that I think is worthy of consideration by anyone looking into smartphones, esp WM ones. (Had an MDA/8125/K-Jam and hated it.)

Neutral

owen @ Sep 25th 2006 5:50PM

how long has engadget watermarked their pictures? afraid someone is going to claim it as their own?

Neutral

Dheera Venkatraman @ Sep 25th 2006 6:26PM

and also that sort of watermark can easily be undone to a visually good extent by some simple arithmetic on the image

Neutral

Damion Michaels @ Sep 25th 2006 10:06PM

yeah and that is not even a reall pearl they use for the roller ball. what a rip? haha

Neutral

rjt @ Sep 25th 2006 10:09PM

I love my Pearl. Got rid of my Treo 700W and haven't had any keyboard problems yet. This thing is so light that I forget I have it in my pocket. That far outweighs a slightly flimsy keypad. I haven't found the perfect phone yet, but this one is a lot closer than the other 12 or so I've had. (I still have my Cingular Razr though, because of way better coverage at my home and office than T-Mobile)

Neutral

TexRob @ Sep 26th 2006 10:09AM

Two points:

I like the way the keys feel on the pearl. It's hard to press hard buttons on such a small device, so I welcome the floating nature and soft press of the 8100 keys. The keys still engage positively, and that's what matters to me. Everyone is reporting that the exact same thing happens with other BB models, this is not something exclusive to the 8100.

Second thing is that this seems to be more of a two sides of the fence thing. Basically, there are a large percentage of BB users who hate what the Pearl stands for. The Pearl is the first device to bridge the gap between the business market and consumer market. For those of us who need a great phone and PDA, that will fit in your pocket, this is it. So my point is, there are some people who are not going to accept the 8100 or other future non QWERTY blackberries. Those people seem to be hunting down things to rag on the 8100 about. Personally, I have not had any lockups, OS crashes, button problems, etc. I've loaded about 8 apps so far, and have had zero problems. Sure, I'm not the most powerful user, but I am not just using it to make calls and check email. I don't doubt there are some problems, but I feel they have been grossly overhyped/or affect a very small percentage of users.

Just my 2 cents.

Neutral

Rai @ Sep 26th 2006 10:37AM

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with the majority here. It seems that someone is hating on something that doesn't exist. I think the keyboard feel is great for this phone-- but really Ryan, have keys actually been popping off?

Neutral

ryan libson @ Sep 26th 2006 12:15PM

Wow I had no idea that the hatred went this deep. Really this device brings out the haters. If you had the 7100 you know what the keyboard stands for. Its sufficient...no its not a full qwerty but still miles ahead of the treo. Lets not forget the reason to buy a blackberry, stability. I have had blackberrys for two plus years and can count the soft resets on one hand. With Treo and other smartphones your lucky if you can get a week without pulling the battery or reseting.

Neutral

Craig C. Chen @ Sep 27th 2006 12:59PM

These days, lots of things a glued down. As long as it is done correctly, I am not worry about the keys being glued on. Maybe you have a problem with it but not me.

Besides, the way your are treating your 8100, it will fall apart on you!

Neutral

Redcooper02 @ Sep 29th 2006 1:34PM

I've been using the Pearl for almost 3 weeks now & have to disagree on the keyboard. The keys are very responsive and feel good.

Neutral

dane @ Oct 22nd 2006 7:52PM

I think the point was to show how the key is bounded to the phone. not how far you could pull it before it pops out. lets stop bending words...

Neutral

Steven Stoll @ Oct 24th 2006 8:17PM

For the record, your side moldings on your vehicle are glued down and they generally dont come flying off while under normal use........

Neutral

Henry Fok @ Nov 13th 2006 3:10PM

I tried out the Pearl a couple of weeks ago. And the first impression I got was "how come the keys are so mushy?" Could it be just the floor model? Turns out other users made the same comment. So it is not just one case.

Neutral

Alex @ Nov 16th 2006 11:36PM

I've owned pretty much all of these devices: Treo (100 series, 200 series, 600, 650), Blackberry (7100, 8700 and Pearl) and Moto Q/Dash. I'm sticking with the 8700 Blackberry as the BEST device to send and receive email from multiple accounts. There is no comparison on the market period, especially with sophisticated autotext and email filtering. I can type faster on that device than on my desktop--with the autotext shorthand that I create.

I tried the Pearl and wanted to love it. Voice-activated calling was really lacking on all the Blackberries. But the keyboard was not good for me. I've grown up on SureType, esp with the 7100, but the Pearl keys seem more wobbly, less flush. I found myself hitting the wrong key often. It seemed OK to type a few sentences but became a chore, as compared to the elegance and ease of the 8700.

I tried the T-Mobile Dash (same form factor and software as the Moto Q). Looked silly at first, but really an elegant device. Push technology was great. Multimedia and richness completely beat out anything else on the market, period. (Higher resolution than even Pocket PC). Voicetags are great. Audible Air, lovely. Bluecasting of live radio--wow. However a few issues really got me upset. 1. contacts took a while to come up (Blackberry is super fast by comparison) 2. can't search contact by name AND company and 3. I can't receive email on one email account and forward via another account (say you don't want to send email via a work account). Then there is a complete lack of autotext and email filtering.

So, in summary, the 8700 is the best pure-play email device on the market. Can't beat it. Dash/Q is the best email-light/smartphone on the market.

Now if I could get voice-tags or voice calling on the 8700 I would be all set. It forces me to consider the Pearl (voice calling) but can't lose the full keyboard.

Neutral

bradyo @ Dec 2nd 2006 11:41PM

I tried the Pearl, returned it, and went to the Samsung SGH-T719. I've never looked back. The 719 is the first clamshell with Blackberry Connect. It's actually a little bit smaller than a RAZR, and does everything the Pearl does: Blackberry e-mail, contacts sync and calendar sync. It's quadband--I've used it in five European countries now. BTW, the keyboard is terrific.

Neutral

BiGd @ Jul 8th 2007 1:54AM

I have a T-Moble PEBL, people complained about the way the Number Pad would break in a weak. I've had it for a year and it's in perfect condition with no problems. I think this guy just doesn't like the phone.

Neutral

Glenn @ Dec 14th 2007 9:58AM

Yes I agree

Neutral

Robert @ Feb 7th 2008 4:07PM

I bought my daughter a Pearl for Christmas last year and about two months ago the menu button fell off--Just fell off and she didn�t know it at the time so the button is lost.

My service is with ATT (yes they are back�YUCK) and I had a warranty on her account for over a year and they are saying that Blackberries' are not covered. Blackberry has no workmanship warranty on their hand held devices, so basically they want $195 to repair the phone or ATT wants $250 to exchange it. Both companies have horrible customer service, and outside the convenience of email Blackberry is more like a �Dingleberry� as they are often referred to. Who in their right mind would format a cell phone keyboard after a traditional computer keyboard, that�s ludicrous do they think a person is going to use two hands?
To top it off they wouldn't even send me the one little button to fix it myself. BAD BUSINESS!

Neutral

Anonymous @ Jun 13th 2008 9:11PM

I just extended my T-Mobile contract for another 2 years and because I've been a Tmo customer for 7 years they give you a VIP status so I only paid 50 bucks for the newest BlackBerry Pearl 8120. The suretype keyboard isnt as good as a full blackberry keyboard, but its miles ahead of regular keypads. It took me about a day to get used to and within a week i was texting and typing emails with speed that rivals that of my computer typing skills. The integrated wifi helps indoors and the media player is alot better than i expected, its comparable to that of a fifth-generation ipod with album art and basic track info showed via id3 tagging. After wanting an iPhone for so long, I gotta say i think thisll keep me happy for a while.

And btw, I have owned a treo 650, but while it was nice, the pearl is much more of a daily phone and media/productivity device that overall is much sexier than anything else out there... besides the iphone

Neutral

Willie @ Nov 13th 2008 9:12PM

I am the owner of a Pearl and my wife also has one. My return button came off and I found it in my case. In checking with Blackberry they acknowledged the problem but said I needed to take it up with my carrier. This is not hating but try talking to your carrier and that's when the hate begins. My phone is not abused, dropped or pried on.

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