AT&T's BlackBerry Pearl 8120 gets reviewed
Now that BlackBerry Pearl 8120s are trickling into AT&T's retail channel, so are the reviews, and it looks like we have a worthy (if not modest) successor to the original 8100 on our hands. PC Magazine's quick look at RIM's latest "fashion" phone (we use that term very loosely here) reveals that the 8120 continues RIM's tradition of handling business tasks with aplomb while stepping up its personal game in a big way; the external microSD slot had no trouble taking an 8GB microSDHC card, and let's be honest, there really isn't anything to not like about a 3.5mm headphone jack. Sound quality is apparently quite good -- another RIM trademark -- and the web browser has mercifully improved over what the 8100 brought to the table. Sadly, the WiFi apparently doesn't do much good; browsing with it doesn't yield much of a performance gain over EDGE for some reason (a problem seen on T-Mobile's Curve, too) and the lack of VoIP support is a bummer. Kudos to AT&T for protecting its voice revenues, we guess. Overall rating? 4 / 5, which we figure should be enough of an endorsement to swing a few BlackBerry faithful headlong into the 8120 boat.













Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cing Emp @ Mar 21st 2008 12:08AM
I hate to say you guys have got it all wrong, but you do. ATT is releasing the 8110, not the TMOBILE 8120. The phone will have GPS and not WIFI, because we all know ATT has almost 0 use for that particular feature which they cannot even make money with. GPS nets the new telenav rebranded ATT Navigation. This can be confirmed via insurance limitations set forth on ATT internal systems. There is no record of an 8120, but plenty of references to the 8110. Hats of to you guys again for making me actually post a comment. I reaffirm my commitment to offering you my prose and writing services with ACCURATE info : )
Chris Ziegler @ Mar 21st 2008 12:23AM
Huh?
Chris
A.J. @ Mar 21st 2008 4:21AM
Well, the K850 has been on that insurance list for a while, so has the Vu.... the K850. Has been cancelled. Perhaps a similar fate has been brought to the 8110. Two pearls, one with WiFi one with GPS wouldn't make sense... So while I have no doubt it may have been on there... it's probably not coming out, and the WiFi one IS the one we are selling...
^ (AT&T COR RSC, NJ) ^
pretya @ Mar 21st 2008 6:26PM
http://tinyurl.com/2ak4te
Come again?!
66sweep @ Mar 21st 2008 12:29AM
Hey Cing Emp,
You better check those outdated insurance limitations again. The at&t Pearl 8120 is currently for sale on my Premier site with wi-fi not gps.
Cing Emp @ Mar 21st 2008 12:53AM
The 8110 is being offered with insurance as of 3/16/08. Is that not up to date enough? I have never seen or heard of an 8120 being offered excpet here on engadget. Perhaps we will be offering both, GPS for the regular folk, and a WIFI redundancy to enterprise as with the 8820.
Doug @ Mar 21st 2008 1:20AM
I rarely post inflammatory comments (I rarely post at all, actually), but what are you talking about?? A quick Google search will yield a dozen links to sites (with no affiliation to Weblogs, Inc.) referencing AT&T's 8120 with WiFi, not GPS. And how are you going to argue with someone who can actually see the device on their premier site. (I can see it too, by the way.)
Daniel @ Mar 21st 2008 1:22AM
Cing Emp: Check out the Premier Site and AT&T's press release. It's the 8120 not the 8110.
BlissX @ Mar 21st 2008 4:49AM
I think you're thinking about the Blackberry Curve, not the Pearl.
8310 Curve - AT&T - GPS
8320 Curve - T-Mobile - WiFi
8120 Pearl - AT&T - Wifi
Derek @ Mar 21st 2008 9:30AM
"the external microSD slot had no trouble taking an 8GB microSDHC CARD..."
Fixed.
shawn @ Mar 21st 2008 10:12AM
Hey cing emp I can't imagine how you can say the 8120 is not coming to at&t.. If you want I'll take pictures of my at&t 8120 that I have had since last Friday...
Chris Ziegler @ Mar 21st 2008 11:14AM
Nah, it really did take a microSDHC slot! Honest!
Fixed, thanks. ;-)
Chris
Tre S. @ Mar 21st 2008 10:34AM
actually, it looks like at&t is in fact going to release both the 8110 and the 8120. the 8110 just showed up on the pricing list.
Cing Emp @ Mar 21st 2008 5:54PM
Well someone has my back, the 8120 Shouldnt've been released maybe? Who the hell wants wifi unless u can make calls or ATT could make money? Anywho, it appears i was a bit hasty in my commenting, but at least someone else can confirm that the 8110 in fact will be coming to our fine ATT stores, and again, who CARES about wifi..not me
Gib @ Mar 21st 2008 12:32PM
Why the hell am i with Verizon again? Can someone please remind me?
elgee02 @ Mar 21st 2008 1:46PM
Since you're making this post on an article regarding AT&T's pearl... you do know VZW has a pearl right? Has a 2.0 megapixel just like this one, a 3.5 mm jack just like this one too. VZW's has 3G which is a definite plus since the review on this phone states WiFi browsing on this aint much better than EDGE. And granted it's locked down to only VZ Navigator but the VZW version does also have GPS.
Gib @ Mar 21st 2008 2:15PM
Yeah i know....I have it. Just being a little sarcastic :)
MBN @ Mar 21st 2008 12:53PM
As a current Curve user on T-Mobile, It's really annoyed me that Wi-fi browsing is not noticeably faster than EDGE browsing. This is even the case when I force a wi-fi connection by shutting off the EDGE radio. Can someone please tell me why that is?
dave @ Mar 21st 2008 1:06PM
is anyone as mad as I am that RIM is including these worthless 'Sleeve' cases instead of hip-mountable solid cases like they used to.
My users are new Pearls and Curves, both AT&T and Sprint, and the cases that they're including are worthless.
Jason Peterson @ Mar 21st 2008 7:30PM
Cing Emp is correct. The insurance list shows the Pearl 8110. That being said, insurance goes through a company called Asurion, so it may be a typo.
ATT Emp @ Apr 17th 2008 12:00PM
Hey Cing Emp, you have a bad case of rectal-cranium fusion, 8120 is out, so where is this 8110 you say is being released, no sign yet, but it is coming in the near future to an AT&T store near you.