The handset also comes with a 2-megapixel camera and the option to shoot video – which are exclusive features to the BlackBerry pearl – as well as a voice recorder.

One downside to this little gem (or should that be pearl...) is that the new tiny size seems to somehow limit its power – despite it housing the same technology as the BlackBerry 8800 we remember so fondly! Whereas the 312MHz processor and 64MB Flash memory in the big, fat BlackBerry handled pretty much anything you wanted to do, instant messaging on the Pink Pearl was frequently interrupted by the annoying hourglass logo. We did also have one evening where IMs sent by friends didn’t appear onscreen. The device could see the person typing, knew that a message had been sent, but wouldn’t display it for us. This was despite them being able to read our replies...

Over a period of use we also noted a more alarming trend, as our email count drastically dropped until our whole Inbox disappeared quicker than Darren Day after a proposal. At one point Facebook also dropped out of the loop and we stopped receiving notifications. Neither the missing emails nor the Facebook data ever returned to the device, although new messages did start building up again. Sure our trusty PC had all those lost items stored if we wanted to access them later, but isn’t the BlackBerry supposed to be the PC-replacement in your pocket?

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