BlackBerry Pearl 8130- Quality phone at a good price

I purchased a BlackBerry Pearl about 6 months ago.  My needs were staying connected through email and social networking sites (namely facebook).  I was also interested in having my calendar from Outlook available on my phone. 

The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 has meet my needs regarding staying connected and my schedule.  I am utilizing their BlackBerry Enterprise Service through my company, and have only experienced 2 delays in receiving emails during the six months I owned the phone.  Also the phone came loaded with a program to get connected with Facebook, and I get notifications for my Facebook messages on my phone.  Cellular reception has been very good.  I have also been impressed by all of the extras the phone offers.  The 2MP camera and the video recorder have come in very handy for taking pictures when I forget my camera at home, and the quality is surprisingly good for a camera phone. 

Aesthetically, the phone looks and feels like a high quality handset.  I am very rough on phones and quickly found that the finish easily scratches and dents.  I am now using one of the rubberized cases, and that has helped somewhat.  I have accidentally dropped the phone at least 15 times on to surfaces ranging from cement to hardwood.  I have noticed my phone has developed a few scratches on the screen which may pose an issue over time.  Finally, the trackball is more comfortable than the thumbwheel but I have needed to have it serviced and cleaned out an a few occasions because dust or lint was getting under the wheel and causing it to be less responsive.  It reminds me of the older style computer mouse with the ball that needed to be cleaned out routinely. 

***An Important Note-I have discovered that it is really important to use at least a 1 GB memory card in the phone.  I have found that without that memory card the phone will do some odd things like erase your call list, or freeze up.