14 DAY TRIAL // Verizon Wireless announced on Thursday that Research in Motion's BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 smartphone would become available on the carrier's airwaves starting with June 19. The handset comes to the market with leading mobile e-mail and messaging capabilities, as well as with a nice range of multimedia features, in a flip design complemented by the high-speed connectivity offered by Verizon's broadband network.
The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 will come to the carrier's shops in silver, sporting two high-resolution color displays, a 2.0-megapixel photo snapper that features flash and video recording capabilities, a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space with support for up to 16GB of memory, a SureType QWERTY keyboard, media player for music, videos and pictures, voice dialing and speakerphone capabilities.
The feature list of the handset includes access to Facebook, MySpace and Flickr, support for popular instant messaging services such as Yahoo! IM, AIM, Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger, support for the BlackBerry App World, where users will be able to find a variety of applications for personalizing the device, including games, sharing and social networking apps, productivity or news.
At the same time, the smartphone also comes with BlackBerry Media Sync, offering users the opportunity to easily sync music collections to the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, Visual Voice Mail or support for VZ Navigator, which delivers audible turn-by-turn directions and a database of more than 15 million points of interest, while also allowing users to share direction with others.
According to the wireless carrier, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 smartphone will feature a price tag of $129.99 upon the signing of a two-year contract agreement and after a $70 mail-in rebate. The VZ Navigator comes for a $9.99 monthly access fee, while Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 per month. The handset will become available at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online on the company's website.