CrunchGear

I have before me a Blackberry Pearl from Cingular and a TeleNav GPS Receiver. Individually, the Pearl is one of the most desirable phones on the market. Packed within its ultra-svelte casing are some genuinely dynamic features.

Although it’s small and attractive, it maintains Blackberry’s acclaimed productivity suite. I’ve used plenty of smartphones and I continue to find something incredibly appealing about Blackberry. It might not have every single feature that WinMo phones have, but what features it has, it does flawlessly and I’m left to wonder whether additional features are truly necessary. Indeed, the Pearl does essentially everything I could ask of it.

One of the few drawbacks of the PEARL is its lack of a QWERTY keyboard—granted that’s also one of its biggest advantages. Nevertheless, the Pearl integrates RIM’s SureType technology creating the best typing experience I’ve ever experienced with a standard phone keypad. It’s not quite as quick as a QWERTY, but it’s damn close.

My calling experience was extremely positive. It received excellent reception throughout New Orleans and seldom succumbed to interference or dropped call shenanigans.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Pearl is its setup and interface. The phone uses the standard Blackberry screen where all programs and are laid out on the main screen. It’s so incredibly convenient that I question why not all phones are setup like this. There is no need to click through 100 screens just to get somewhere because everything is laid bare in front. The Pearl uses a scroll ball which is a progressive and attractive addition to a device of this nature. The ball reduces time and effort by allowing you to operate the phone quickly with one hand, even permitting you to scroll diagonal through menus and such. Cool stuff.

The other major drawback of the Pearl is that it only has EDGE. I’ve bemoaned and besmeared EDGE on more occasions than I can count and believe its worth every shred of my negativity. I’ve never achieved anything I would consider “mobile broadband” with an EDGE enabled device and this one isn’t really much different. Browsing the web is still utterly slow, but given the sum of all the Pearl’s positives I find difficult to besmirch on account of a sub-par wireless technology. The EDGE actually performed well for email and such, which is what Blackberry’s are mainly about.

So if it isn’t clear to this point, my experience using the Blackberry Pearl from Cingular and the TeleNav GPS Receiver in tandem was extremely positive. The intuitive device and service make this a winner for essentially anyone. This would be particularly useful for anyone who moves around a city a lot during the day. New Orleans is so small and familiar to me that I’m sure I didn’t realize the full potential of this setup. I’m quite excited to give it a try during one of my forthcoming trips (San Francisco next, then Austin, Chicago, New York, etc.) as I know it will completely change the way I move around those less familiar cities. I plan to follow-up on these devices as I travel, so I’ll give you all some updates in the next month or so.

The Blackberry Pearl is available now through Cingular (and T-Mo) for $199.99 with the standard two year and a $50 mail in rebate—or you can get it for $399.99 outright. The TeleNav GPS Receiver is available through TeleNav and cellular providers for $99. It then requires a monthly subscription. For instance, with Cingular you can get 10 routes a month for $5.99 or, the much better option, unlimited routes for $9.99. Also, if your phone has a built in GPS chip, you don’t have to get the receiver.

Based on the selling-points, ease of use and overall attractiveness and ingenuity of these devices I’m giving them a Best Bytes rating. Quite pleased really.