The Verizon BlackBerry Pearl which was launched online last week wasn’t supposed to be in stores until this coming Thursday, Nov. 8th. RIMarkable, however, has received several reports of the device being in some Verizon stores and for sale already.
I stopped by a Verizon store yesterday afternoon and they didn’t have it in stock, however, the Verizon employee that I was talking to said they expected their November shipment of devices in today or Monday.
It makes sense that some Verizon stores would receive their BlackBerry Pearls before the 8th to be ready to sell them on the 8th. If you want to get your hands on one a bit early you may just want to stop by your local Verizon store before the 8th and ask.
Guess it didn’t matter if I ordered it online or not, can still get one before Thursday. Nice.
I ordered mine online Sunday and will arive on Tusday Nov.6
I just got back from trying a Verizon rep’s Pearl…I was incredibly disappointed. As a current 700p user, I am used to simple, user friendly interfaces. The Pearl was anything but. The trackball seems less than responsive, even when sensitivity is adjusted. The menus are plain, and laid out strangely. The sure type is everything one hopes it wouldn’t be: too small and though the predictive input seemed workable, its no match for a full keyboard (not even close). The web browser was almost unusable, it was simply unintuitive. Just accessing basic features eluded both myself and the rep, who had been using the Pearl for at least a few days; she was disappointed as well. Too bad, I was really looking forward to the small form-factor (great) and the email (Blackberry, so of course great). Go get an iphone instead.
I have been waiting to get this phone for weeks!! Spoke to a rep at the store that put me on a list so that he could call me when it came in. Didn’t hear anything so decided to call today to find out the status. The rep on the phone said they’d probably come in later today and to check back in a few hours. When I called back, the “manager” asked who had given me the info and that customers weren’t supposed to know that a few phones would be coming in early (before the Nov. 8th launch) and that they hadn’t arrived yet. I don’t know what kind of game these people are playing, but I just want my GD Pearl!! Guess the “manager” hasn’t read the thousand or so blogs that say that some Verizon stores have the Pearl in stock.
Robb: when you will be getting your VZW Pearl and publishing your review?
I pre-ordered on Thursday and my Pearl arrived today. I’m activated and good to go. There is a glitch though and I hope someone knows how I can reset my Call Log. I was poking around and hit something that has messed up my Call Log. When I “click” on the Call Log icon I get the following message: “No Voice Application Instance” with a big red “OK” box. The only way I can get to the actual call log is by switching from another application….. Help?
Lawrence,
Sounds like you don’t like the verizon UI, are there other theme options on the verzion 8130 that you could try? Also u seem to have some problems with the hardware Iayout too? IMO the stock RIM OS and theme is well laid out and easy to work with. The trackball I find is a step up from our old thumbwheel. The Pearl and the iPhone are completely different beasts. My iPhone is no replacement for what I do with my BB. I can appreciate the great work Apple has done so far with the iPhone, but my BB Pearl is currently my workhorse, while the iPhone gets to take it easy at home. Here are some of my comments on the iPhone from experience
http://www.rimarkable.com/time-magazine-names-iphone-invention-of-the-year#comment-106467
Now back to the Pearl, IMO there is no other phone as packed with features in such a great form factor. Suretype does takes some time and faith to get used to but it again IMO is best of class, but RIM still makes qwerty BB’s for good reasons.
With your 700p your using more than one hand the BB OS and Pearl needs just one hand to operate and hold the device. Suggest before you give up on RIM and their BB’s you try a few of Pearls brothers from the 8800 and 8300 series and from different carriers which allow other themes.
Saddly its typical that a simple BB pearl would confuse a verizon rep. maybe the “can you hear me now” idiot can try to help mcwiress’s rep’s understand smartphone devices.
RIM’s trackball and suretype at least so far are truly mightier than the finger.
Yes Robb, I echo Thought’s post, you got to have a 8130 pearl by now no? Where is the review? How does the 8100 compare with the 8130? Whats the same? Whats different? What has been upgraded in the year plus the 8100 has been out? What has verizon crippled and what functions have they removed?
For those of you wondering, the $29.99 BB plan with Verizon is unlimited, unlike previous rumors that said it only goes up to 10MB. The 10MB applies to all other data plans outside the BB plan.
bluehorseshoe,
many people have been burned before, and there are plenty of articles out there saying something completely different than what your posting. Please post the proof to your unlimited claims.
hellno,
This press release is about the closest I’ve seen to suggesting that the $29.99 plan is “unlimited”; however, the statement about unlimited is actually mentioned in reference to the $34.99 data-only plan.
http://investor.verizon.com/news/view.aspx?NewsID=868http://investor.verizon.com/news/view.aspx?NewsID=868
Verizon Wireless: When we say “unlimited data,” we mean 5GB worth of “unlimited data”
http://pocket.net/blogs/pocketnet/archive/2007/11/03/verizon-wireless-when-we-say-quot-unlimited-data-quot-we-mean-5gb-worth-of-quot-unlimited-data-quot.aspx
pd’s got something about this here:
http://www.rimarkable.com/when-is-the-curve-coming#comment-106579
How can there be a wifi pearl 8120 for O2 in the UK and none for verizon 8130? anyone know the reason for this?
scott,
verizon will not allow you to have one, even if one was built by RIM. heck verizon cripples the GPS in verizon branded BB’s which have autonomous gps.
Just got my Pearl last night. Everything seems to be going good. Had it ordered through a corporate program. Thinking there maybe a problem with the trackball, having some issues navigating, but it’s workable now and I’m happy to say, off my Motorola Q. Interested to see other comments on product issues when you get your Pearl.
I got mine in the mail yesterday afternoon. Had an issue setting the browser up, my gmail doesn’t seem to be syncing correctly and the battery life leaves a lot to be desired (but is somewhat expected for such a small bb).
Do gmail users on bbs always get a copy of the email sent in their inbox a few seconds later, and why if I delete an email in gmail on my computer will it not delete automatically on the bb?
I’ve had mine since Monday and it’s been great! No complaints so far. I have the same issue as you billy with sending emails from gmail. I get a copy sent to the bb as soon as it’s sent out…that’s a little annoying. Anyone know how to fix that?
Billy, gmail does not currently have 2 way reconciliation if you’re on bis. Yahoo is the only major provider that I know
of the gives you that.
If you want to stop the sent items from going to your BB, simply set up a filter on the Verizon bis website to prevent sent items from being sent to your handheld. If you have questions on how to do that, check out blackberryforums.com, there’s a tutorial there on how to do it. Enjoy!
So can anyone tell me if this thing can EDIT word doc’s?? I’m actually waiting for this to come out to Sprint (Nov. 23rd), but I’ll assume both 8130’s are essentially the same. The Sprint press release states, although perhaps vague, that it will have the ability to view and edit (not previously) compatible doc’s. I”m hoping to not have to buy a third party app. Here’s the pdf: http://www2.sprint.com/mr/cmastaticfiles/non-landing/documents/NewsRelease/BBPearl8130FactSheet.pdf (third bullet point from the bottom of pg. 2)
hey i have my bb pearl for a few weeks once you get used to the fetures they are all good but the key board is still a pain in the butt. as for emails they take sometimes 20min for them to come in and vzw said there is nothing they can do about it…
update not all email accounts work instant i know yahoo is not to bad works great for me