I look after the blackberrys for our company, the people with the curve are very happy. The few people with the Pearl make fun of the people with the curves
Very mac v. pc ish
The full keyboard curve is not really an issue vs the pearl 2 letters per key qwerty keybaord. As a matter of fact, take in the larger keys, and predictive text on the pearl, and some people actually type faster on it then the curve. The bigger screen on the Curve is the real kicker, less scrolling while reading, and more message on the screen at one time.
The curve's camera is nicer then the pearls and it plays audio via a regular 3.5mm headset or stereo bluetooth where as pearl does 2.5mm custom jack and mono bluetooth at the moment, that may change shortly.
The pearl is definatly a nicer form factor from an telephone perspective, feels better, and you can type easier with 1 hand then you can on the curve. Thats a nice feature for reading CP on the deerfoot or the 401.... The 8310 with the GPS is fun to play with on the highway too...
Blackberrys' not gonna be cheap, as in with data plan and voice for sub 40.00 not gonna happen. I think the smallest data plan is the 7mb for 25.00 a month now, and whatever voice package you can get, which will likely be 35.00 ish... so your looking at 60.00 Minimum I'd say... I'm not a rogers rep, but I likey go though as many phones a week as some of them do....
Data is the killer, go over your 7mb and you're looking a 5 or 7 dollar a Mb overage charges, so you'll have to be careful. Good luck with your phone, personally I like the pearl to use, but the curve from a techno gizmo point..