I have had both phones and i would vote for the blackberry pearl. It is a great phone for the first time blackberry owner. I really like the smaller size and it still has all of the functions of the other blackberry devices. The only thing I didn't like about the pearl is the sure-type feature. The pearl does not have a have full keyboard so if you are a big texter it takes some time to get used to this feature I kept the pearl for about 2 months and then I moved up to the curve 8330---- larger screen and full keyboard