14 DAY TRIAL // Recently launched 8220 Flip Pearl, previously known as Kickstart, didn't seem to get that much attention, to the point that you could even say it was somehow neglected - a thing that could be easily explained by the fact that everybody is raving about Storm (Blackberry 9530). While the 8220 is BlackBerry's first clamshell phone, 9530 is BlackBerry's first touchscreen phone, and it seems the latter had the bigger impact. Yet, there are plenty cool features on this one as well; even more, it seems the price for it won't be too high, rumors saying it goes for around 150-170 USD. This means you can have a slick phone for less so, O2 and T-mobile users, if you want a BlackBerry that's nothing like the others, here's your chance to get one.
Users should know about this mobile that its clamshell design makes it look really neat, but it also includes some features that are not that attractive. Nevertheless, in my opinion, overall, the phone is well worth even more than what it's priced for.
Let's take a quick look at this clamshell phone. It has an external display, which is a real strong suit, since you can actually have access to some phone functions from it, like reading your messages. When you flip it open, you get to see a 240 x 320 pixel, 2.6-inch display and a new interface that will apparently be on all the future models. Another striking detail is the keyboard “Next Gen” SureType type, which has the keys twice as large than the ones on other Pearl models. The thing that requires some getting used to is the trackball that's deep into the phone. This is the feature the least appreciated on this phone and with which I agree. Another downside is the fact that the exterior buttons seem a bit cheap.
Anyway, if you think that this Blackberry comes in cheap, you can't expect all that much from it. Back to the specs: you get the BlackBerry OS, and you also get multimedia features like MP3/WMA/AAC+ player, DivX/WMV/XviD/3gp video player. This way you can play videos and listen to music to your heart’s liking, especially since it supports a microSDHC card with up to 8 GB of storage. Or, if you get bored of that, you can pretty much surf the Internet with no troubles thanks to the improved HTML browser that has been added to the device.
