Anybody have the Blackberry Pearl Flip? Any good?

[pinkoos]

Hi,

Costco has a good deal on Tmobile Blackberry Pearl Flip phone for basically $30 ($80 out the door and then $50 mail in rebate). Deal ends on December 7 I believe.

My wife and I have a two line family plan and we are out of contract. This deal would require a 2 year renewal, so I thought to check if it was worth it.

We currently both have Samsung T719s which are flip phones that have the Blackberry Connect software, so we get our email on our phone (we pay Tmobile $10/month/phone for this feature which they apparently don't offer anymore).

The Pearl Flip would be similar in that it doesn't have a full QWERTY keyboard, but what they call a Sure Type keypad which is okay. However, the Pearl flip has wireless which would allow web browsing when we are in hotspots.

I'm not sure how much of a "pleasant" experience browsing would be on this, but I thought I'd check to see if anybody has one and if you are happy with it.

Thanks.

[macphanatic]

Try out the TruType before you buy it. If you are used to a "full" keyboard, you may not like. Two of my colleagues got the 2 letters per key Blackberry and hate it.

[rgG]

My daughter has the non-flip version of the T-Mobile Pearl and loves it. We had to replace her flip Nokia and chose the Pearl because we needed a Wi-Fi capable phone to work with our T-Mobile HotSpot@home Wi-Fi calling. We are in a fairly dead zone at home and Wi-Fi calling is about the only reliable option.

If you get a Wi-Fi capable phone, you might want to consider the HotSpot@home $10 month add on, because all of your Wi-Fi calls, whether at home or any HotSpot are free. Also, if you start a call as Wi-Fi and it switches off to cellular, it is still a free call.

She doesn't use the Pearl for web browsing, I don't pay for that add on, so I can't comment on how well that works.

[pinkoos]

macphanatic wrote:
Try out the TruType before you buy it. If you are used to a "full" keyboard, you may not like. Two of my colleagues got the 2 letters per key Blackberry and hate it.

Our Samsungs are TruType and they are okay. A full QWERTY keyboard would be great, but there is no deal on the Blackberry Curve with Tmobile right now.

[pinkoos]

rgG wrote:
My daughter has the non-flip version of the T-Mobile Pearl and loves it. We had to replace her flip Nokia and chose the Pearl because we needed a Wi-Fi capable phone to work with our T-Mobile HotSpot@home Wi-Fi calling. We are in a fairly dead zone at home and Wi-Fi calling is about the only reliable option.

If you get a Wi-Fi capable phone, you might want to consider the HotSpot@home $10 month add on, because all of your Wi-Fi calls, whether at home or any HotSpot are free. Also, if you start a call as Wi-Fi and it switches off to cellular, it is still a free call.

She doesn't use the Pearl for web browsing, I don't pay for that add on, so I can't comment on how well that works.

If the Pearl has wifi, then can the web be accessed through a wifi hotspot without any paid add-on feature?

[rgG]

pinkoos wrote:

If the Pearl has wifi, then can the web be accessed through a wifi hotspot without any paid add-on feature?

Great minds think alike, but sadly, no. I tried this with our Pearl and HotSpot@Home the day she got it, and while the Wi-Fi works for the calls, you can't browse the web.

I haven't tried it at a T-Mobile HotSpot, but I think the result would be the same. You could call T-Mobile customer service to double check, but I think they have figured out this would be too good a feature to allow you to use it for free.

[pinkoos]

rgG wrote:
[quote=pinkoos]

If the Pearl has wifi, then can the web be accessed through a wifi hotspot without any paid add-on feature?

Great minds think alike, but sadly, no. I tried this with our Pearl and HotSpot@Home the day she got it, and while the Wi-Fi works for the calls, you can't browse the web.

I haven't tried it at a T-Mobile HotSpot, but I think the result would be the same. You could call T-Mobile customer service to double check, but I think they have figured out this would be too good a feature to allow you to use it for free.
I googled a couple of reviews and it seems that wifi is not just for hotspot@home. It works as any other wifi device, apparently

[rgG]

pinkoos,
The Wifi works for making calls at all HotSpots, and also works with most open WiFi networks, that don't need a password, but the web surfing I haven't tried at any HotSpot other than at home. Free WiFi Web Surfing is what I'm not sure will work at a T-Mobile HotSpot. The Web access seems to be restricted even while using WiFi, unless you pay for that data plan from T-Mobile.

I thought that you might be able to access the web through the WiFi, but it didn't work for me, at home, only the WiFi calls. I have used her old phone to make free WiFi calls at HotSpots and other open WiFi areas.

[wurm]

You'll want to confirm this, but as I understand it (from T-Mobile) if you want to get a Blackberry (or a G1 or a Sidekick), you have to get either the $24.99/mo. or $34.99/mo. data plan.