iPhone may have trodden on the Blackberry's toes, but RIM still has a trick or two up its sleeve

Although Apple's iPhone stole the limelight last year with its elegant GUI, the stalwart BlackBerry soldiered on, with its maker, RIM, continuing to refine and tweak the device that's loved and hated in equal measure.

The latest incarnation of the Pearl, the 8120, retains the pocket-friendly form of the 8100 and the trackball device that gives it its name, but adds a couple of refinements, including a better (2.0 megapixels) camera, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, video recording, better battery life and Wi-Fi connectivity - so you can avoid GPRS data charges if you're in a hotspot. And it comes in a smart blue or funky red, as well as the more corporate "titanium".

All models of the BlackBerry come with assorted apps, including a clunky web browser, rudimentary PDA functions and an IM client. You can add myriad apps from the internet, including one for Facebook addicts. But push email remains the BlackBerry's killer app, and while the interface can only be described as utilitarian, it does what it says on the tin very well. You can set up any number of corporate, POP3 or IMAP accounts, which deliver both into separate inboxes or one that collects all your email and SMS messages in one place.

Text input on the Pearl takes a little getting used to, as it has a Qwerty keyboard which places two letters on each key. But once I'd got used to it, I found it faster and more accurate, and indeed struggled a bit with my Sony Ericsson's old-school keypad.

For those who prefer a more traditional Qwerty keyboard, the BlackBerry Curve is perhaps the device for you. It takes the original chunky BlackBerry form and offers one or two additions to the Pearl, including GPS, which, combined with a mapping application (if you get the Curve on Vodafone, there's one bundled with the device) makes it a very useful, multifunctional piece of kit. Unfortunately GPS does eat battery power, so remember to quit out of the application when you're done.

The downsides of any BlackBerry device are the inelegant software used to sync it to your own PC (and the Mac option isn't much better), and the fact that compared to the iPhone - and also when compared to the work being done by Microsoft on its Windows Mobile operating system, which offers similar functionality - the BlackBerry looks distinctly corporate rather than cool. But it still remains the mobile device of choice for many, and deservedly so.