BlackBerry Pearl: All it's cracked up to be?

As many people probably know, I recently managed to acquire a BlackBerry Pearl 8100. After about 2 weeks of extensive use, I have determined that, unless you do a lot of email, web browsing, or are a business man, it's not exactly the best phone for your average person. Like me.

It's laggy. When taking pictures, managing ringtones, and other stuff involving media, it tends to hang a lot and do that little rotating hourglass for several minutes before working again. It feels overall slower than most phones. The worst thing about the lag problem is it sometimes lags when getting a phone call, so it won't start ringing until it's almost too late.

It's too expensive! Even though I already own one, if it were to break, I'd probably be used to it and spend my days longing for another one. But I can't pay for a new one! Unless you have the money to buy and maybe replace, avoid.

However. If you are willing to invest time and money in a Media Card and hunting down 3rd party applications and games, it can actually be a really cool device. I've tricked mine out, and now I'm starting to like it.

Bottom line: If you are a simple person, this phone is probably not for you. If you are a tech geek like me with a lot of extra time on your hands, sure, why not, get one.