Digital Trends

There are times when smaller is not necessarily better, such as when cell phone makers try to shoehorn every conceivable technology into their cell phone despite all of the restrictive geographic logic. Not only are ergonomics compromised but trying to locate, program, and control all of the varying features becomes a nightmare, to say nothing of the pinhead-sized buttons. While the BlackBerry "Pearl" 8100 — available from T-Mobile for $349.99 or Cingular for $399.99 ($199.99, with the usual contract stipulations from both) — makes a noble effort to implement the BlackBerry service including a QWERTY keypad, camera, and music and video playback into a device about the size of a business card holder, finding, programming, and operating both simple and advanced functions can be headache- inducing.