On Sunday, I sat down with my son to watch the first episode of Transformers: Prime on Teletoon, in Canada. He loves Transformers and, as a father should, I take part in his interests. Okay, who am I kidding? I think I may have been a little more excited about it than he was. There’s nothing like a little of the standard father–son-Autobot-Decepticon time. Between scenes of robots kicking ro-butt, we also saw the introduction of three human characters, as well. At one point the Jack Darby character was talking to his Mom on his cellphone, I caught a quick glimpse at its keyboard and realized it looked just like a BlackBerry Pearl Flip. Again with the third character, Miko, got a call from her parents, this time the Pearl Flip was in plain sight – in pink. It was hard to see which phone the second character was using though. So maybe I shouldn’t pay that much attention to detail when watching a cartoon. Maybe I shouldn’t have been watching at all. That being said, I think it, out of all of the devices out there, the Pearl Flip was their choice. Perhaps they are trying to say that even with the Pearl Flip, there is “more than meets the eye”.

Check out the episode at veoh.com

In some not so shocking news, this glimpse of Big Red's system shows their End of Life Devices. These devices are listed as "Current devices with limited or no remaining shipments from the vendor." Among the soon to be dead are the BlackBerry Storm 9530 as we noted the other day, the Curve 8330 (no surprise), the 8830 (which I didn't even know was still around) and last but not least, the Pearl Flip 8230. I feel sort of bad for the Pearl Flip getting phased out as it almost feels like it was never properly phased in. Plus there are people out there who still love that form factor. I wonder if RIM will ever release an updated BlackBerry in the flip form factor or if that's all Waterloo wrote on that one.

So, once the end of the line hits for these guys, it looks like Verizon will be left with the Tour 9630, Storm2, Curve 8530 and the Tour2 Bold (something) on the horizon. No specific date for when the supplies will be gone completely, so if you have a sense of nostalgia you better pick up one of these devices before they're gone.

[ GizmoFusion ]

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.  

Read More »

Ok Ok...I know there's probably a larger contingent of Verizon subscribers reading this that would rather see Verizon issue the press release about the BlackBerry Tour 9630 over the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230, but today it's the 3G-enabled Flip that gets the spotlight. It's going to hit stores on June 19th. See full press release below. Anybody out there going to pick this baby up?

Press Release

Verizon Wireless Customers Will Flip for the New 3G-Enabled BlackBerry Pearl Flip Smartphone

Verizon Wireless Delivers the Full Power of a BlackBerry Smartphone in a Popular Flip Design

BASKING RIDGE, NEW JERSEY and WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 4, 2009) - Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) announced today the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 smartphone will be available on the nation's largest 3G broadband network beginning June 19. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 features the industry's leading mobile e-mail and messaging solution combined with rich multimedia capabilities and the high-speed connectivity of Verizon Wireless' broadband network in a popular flip design.

Read More »

It seems the BlackBerry Pearl Flip may soon be making an appearance in all white. The picture above was snapped (by me) from a powerpoint slide that made its way into a RIM presentation on BES 5.0. Looks good!! One more slightly zoomed in shot after the jump. Apologies on the blur factor... I think I need to invest in a better camera soon!

Read More »

Ahh..gotta love it. I walk away from the computer and ignore my BlackBerry for an hour to hit the gym only to come out and find that member BlackBerryInsider has posted in our forums the first live picture of the not yet released CDMA BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230! Along with the image comes these words:

I just received my Verizon Flip Pearl (81230 Flip). I don't think Verizon has annouced it yet, but if not it should be coming soon. Not sure what the color options will be, but mine came in Silver. I personally like the Black (T-Mobile Version) better. I will be testing it over the next few days and let you know how it does. 

This particular Verizon unit is in silver. No doubt this will make its way around to all of the CDMA carriers, so more color options will likely crop up. Once the first photo leaks you know more info is just around the corner. You can jump into the CrackBerry forums to follow the discussion!

[ Hat Tips ]

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 >>  

Read More »