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It seems the BlackBerry is atop everyone’s list this year. The BlackBerry Curve topped handset charts in October and December, beating out the “hipper” iPhone each time. Now it’s PC World’s turn. They’ve rated the 10 best smartphones, and guess which comes out on top? If you read the headline, you’d know it’s the BlackBerry Pearl 8210. After the jump, PC World’s rationale, plus other BlackBerry entries in the top 10.

The main thing the PC World folks liked about the Pearl 8120 is T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home service, which allows customers to place home calls over a Wi-Fi connection. Yes, they’re free, and they even work at other T-Mobile hotspots. Plus, the 2 megapixel camera, SureType keyboard, and multimedia features didn’t hurt.

The Curve 8320 — also with Wi-Fi — checked in at number four. The rationale was the same as the Pearl. This I just can’t agree with. I mean, I agree with the rationale, but I don’t agree with the Pearl over the Cuve. Call me what you will, but I’d take a full QWERTY over SureType any day of the week. Plus, the display is bigger on the Curve.

Checking in at number seven was the Bold. I don’t get the rationale here, though. PC World cites “an unimpressive camera” which impedes “its potential to compete with the Apple iPhone 3G and the Android-based T-Mobile G1.”

Update: Aaaaaand I’m an idiot. The Bold does have a 2 MP camera (why did I think 3.2?), equivalent to the iPhone.

Finally, at number 10 is the BlackBerry Storm. Says PC World: “We found the Storm awkward to use for everyday data-entry tasks, and its clickable touch screen made typing feel like a lot of work in a way that typing on a hardware keyboard (or on the iPhone’s software keyboard, for that matter) never did.” Eh. It seems everyone has a complaint about the Storm.

The iPhone checked in at number six, one behind a personal favorite smartphone of mine, the T-Mobile G1.

So the BlackBerry represented 40 percent of the list. Not bad at all, especially when you consider the competition. There were some serious smartphones on the list, and it’s great to see the BlackBerry honored among them.

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