On May 16, 8:04 am, "PCs Rule" <nos...@swbell.net> wrote:
> "RMZ" <Jeremy.De...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1179287767.872591.38120@w5g2000hsg.googlegrou ps.com...
>
>
>
> > Here's a snap shot into my frustration. This is not an uncommon
> > problem and not the first time I've experienced these kind of woes
> > from a cell phone, however it's the first time I've had these kind of
> > problems for a phone that's gotten such rave reviews and praise, The
> > Blackberry Pearl.
>
> > So I got my new Blackberry Pearl home and started checking out all its
> > options... I immediately noticed the things others have said, this is
> > a very attractive, relatively fast, phone that is user friendly. That
> > was until I tried the web browser that comes with the Blackberry
> > Pearl.
>
> > I immediately started to miss the Opera Mini browser. So I went over
> > to Opera's website and was happy to see the Blackberry Pearl is
> > supported. I downloaded Opera Mini and then proceeded to use the
> > Blackberry Desktop Application manager to load Opera Mini into the
> > phone. The process takes a long time, a very long time as it was
> > install Opera Mini I noticed it was removing quite a few other
> > applications (I had not requested to remove anything), about 10
> > minutes later (yes, it took that long), the phone sort of rebooted
> > itself. I discover the Opera icon is now available, but the browser
> > that came with the phone is now gone.
>
> > I try to use the Opera browser and no luck... it runs, but it can't
> > connect. I comb this newsgroup and other on-line resources only to
> > find that I need to change from WAP to ISP, that sounds familure as I
> > had to do it on an old SmartPhone I had, the difference here is that
> > BlackBerry does not have documented how to do this....
>
> > So I'm thinking, well this really sucks what next? I call Cingular/
> > at&t and they are unable to help me, not only that they are rude... So
> > next I turn to the Blackberry website.... Blackberry.com has lots of
> > support documents, of course none of them help me and if I want to
> > contact support for anything I need some kind of subscription
> > account....
>
> > Suddenly I realize: this is what I get for buying a consumer phone
> > from a company that is entirely geared for corporate products. RIM
> > (company that produces the Blackberry line of products) has no option
> > for me.
>
> > At this point, I just want back the applications the phone came with,
> > so I uninstall Opera Mini, it uninstalls just fine, but unfortunately
> > the Blackberry Browser is gone, and gone are a few other Internet
> > related apps on the phone.
>
> > It's apparent the "Blackberry Desktop Manager" running on Windows XP
> > is the responsible for this problem as I saw it removing the
> > applications as it was installing Opera, I questioned then what the
> > hell it was doing, but I had no choice but to let if finish.
>
> > Disgusted, I look for a way to "hard reset" the Blackberry Pearl to
> > get it back to the condition it was in when it came out of the box.
> > This option is available on all phones, but not the Blackberry Pearl.
>
> > So now it appears due to software engineering problem (the Blackberry
> > Desktop Manager for Windows removing pre-installed "firmware" from the
> > handset when using the Application Loader) and a hardware engineering
> > problem sense the phone has no reset.
>
> > To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. Blackberry has an outstanding
> > reputation in the corporate world and this phone has gotten a lot of
> > positive press. I suppose if you're the kind of person who will never
> > install applications like Google Maps or Opera Mini, this phone will
> > make you happy, but I find lack of a "hard reset" feature and lack of
> > any kind of support from the manufacture a real problem.
>
> Let's see, I'm running Opera Mini, Google Maps, Telenav mapping, and a few
> others on my Pearl with no problem. Off-hand, I'd have to say you're
> experience is maybe from user error (I said maybe). Do some research, onhttp://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/f78-blackberry_pearl_8100.htmland onhttp://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=221and you can probably get
> your issues resolved. Good luck.

Thanks. However, I would have been inclined to agree with you,
except.... This morning the same thing happened to my wifes Blackberry
Pearl. This time around I was able to see more clearly exactly what
happened

The problem is definitely in the Blackberry Desktop Manager software
that came with the phone, my wife is running this app under Windows
Vista, I am running it under Windows XP (SP2), two separate installs
of apparently the same version of the software. Here's what it did:
When she tried to use the Media Manager to transfer a few mp3 files
into the Pearl the Desktop Manager proceeded to remove: TeleNav Map,
Browser, MEdia Net and the e-mail setup icons from the device (these
are the same applications that were removed from my Pearl when I used
Application Loader to install Opera Mini).

It appears after downloading the current version of Blackberry Desktop
Manager helped to correct my problem, however this has not helped her,
so I am unsure exactly what I did. Before she tried to install the
mp3s, she first performed a "back up" operation using the Desktop
Manager and I perfromed a restore from her backup instance, to my
surprise this did not bring my icons back either.

An an engineering perspective I see RIM's failure here on two parts:
1. They apparently have released bundle software with a critical flaw
into the mainstream (we just got our phones yesterday, so my guess
you'll hear more about this problem soon). 2. They provide no means to
"hard" reset the Pearl device back to its virgin state.

I know someone else provided a link to an article on how to perform a
"Handset Wipe", this does not restore the applications on the phone,
it does not even truely wipe the registry on the device. RIM has
confirm in support articles that there is no "hard reset" for the
Pearl and that could make the difference in sending the phone in for
service and paying for it or being able to sole a problem yourself.
I'm sure former Treo and Windows Mobile SmartPhone users will echo
this, it's really beyond annoying, the lack of the feature is forcing
me to return an otherwise very nice phone.

I'm to the point now where I hate cell phones and PDA's, it's seems an
impossible engineering task for a company to build "the perfect"
phone. I know you can't please everyone, but the truth is the
Blackberry Pearl seems to be very close, but then I find this one
critical engineering flaw. You can't help but wonder what they were
thinking when the competition does allow this.

Regarding the Desktop Software bug, I'm a little more inclined to
forgive it, simply because it's something they can (and apparently
have) corrected, but still these sort of bugs would never end up
customers hands if RIM was doing proper Quality Assurance testing and
when the two issues are combined a customers handset is rendered
"damaged" beyond repair. I'm seeing lack of support, lack of QA. I
don't know what RIM does for corporate clients, apparently they are
pretty good, but there's no excuse for these sort of problems, in my
opinion the failed badly.