Verizon BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230

With the release of the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 (for GSM carriers), RIM marked a milestone with its first-ever flip phone.  Fast forward a few months and the device began showing up on CDMA carriers in North America and has finally come to Verizon. Positioned as an "entry-level" smartphone, the Pearl Flip is geared towards new BlackBerry users and Pearl 81xx converts. It appeals to those who value a mobile phone that's small to carry around and steers clear of the power users that prefer a full QWERTY device such as the Bold or Curve to get the job done (or in the case of Verizon, the soon-to-be released Tour 9630).  The device is solid and easy to learn, which makes it a great starter for those jumping into the BlackBerry world for the first time.  SurePress greatly resembles that of predictive text (or T9) found on standard phones, so users can more easily adjust to the typing style.  

The Web's First Review of the BlackBerry KickStart 8220.

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax! It's time for another hands-on review of a yet to be officially announced or released BlackBerry smartphone. We were the first to get our paws on the BlackBerry 9000, and we're doing it again with Research in Motion's BlackBerry flip phone, aka the KickStart.

While the last few weeks in CrackBerry nation have been primarily focused on the release of the BlackBerry Bold and the development of RIM's upcoming touchscreen device, rewind less than three months back to April 30th and it was leaked images of the KickStart that shocked the smartphone world and pushed RIMM stock up nearly 5% on the news and for good reason - it showed the world and investment community that RIM wasn't afraid of reinventing and targeting opportunities outside their norm. No, the KickStart doesn't feature the same high-end hardware and all-in-one functionality of the Bold nor have the same allure that a touchscreen BlackBerry proposes, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't get excited about this device. It may not be something that existing BlackBerry or other smartphone users will flock to, but if it hits store shelves at a reasonable price it should be a top pick for flip phone lovers and feature phone upgraders, which should mean CrackBerry nation is about to get a whole lot bigger, and that is exciting.

As with our BlackBerry Bold review, keep in mind the device we're working with here is pre-release. While the hardware of our KickStart seems to be pretty close to (or perhaps actual) production caliber, and the OS is "close", it's possible (and in the case of the OS version guaranteed) things will change-up a bit by the time you can walk into your local carrier store and buy this device.

We're going to break this review down into a few parts. Today we'll focus mainly on the hardware and initial impressions after having used the KickStart for a few hours and in the days ahead we'll dig deeper into the KickStart's operating system and device features.

Read On For My Initial BlackBerry KickStart Impressions >>