We've seen lots of QWERTY email-phones, but not many in a flip-phone design. RIM flips its way into consumer territory with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220.
We've been raving about Nokia's E71 as one of the slimmest, and simplest to use QWERTY email phone around, but now BlackBerry has caught our attention with the Pearl Flip.
As you can see from our photos, not only is the Pearl Flip 8220 relatively tiny when closed (and large when opened), it's also one of the few QWERTY flip phones you're likely to see. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 weighs just over 100grams, compared with 127g for the E71 and 133g for the iPhone 3G.
The Pearl Flip, available from Optus from the end of October, not only shakes things up design-wise for QWERTY smartphones, but it also represents a crossroads for the brand as RIM tries to bust out beyond the world of corporate customers. In the US, RIM claims over 50% of the smartphone market - a number that's much smaller here in Australia. With the BlackBerry Bold, RIM talked up the usefulness of its devices for music and movies, as well as keeping tabs on your work email account.
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| The Pearl Flip, flipped close. The outside display shows a clock, and alerts you to incoming messages |
The Pearl Flip adds a fuss-free alternative to the mix - rather than packing on features, the Flip pares things down, with a basic 2MP camera, external microSD slot (expandable to 16GB), SureType keyboard (instead of regular QWERTY) and relatively smaller (but still useful) 240x320 pixel display.
It's a logical option for those that want serious messaging capabilities for work or home (the Blackberry has Exchange connectivity, BlackBerry push, and the ability to send from any number of private email addresses), without the over-the-top feature list, and size, of larger devices like the all-sing-all-dancing iPhone 3G, or the HTC Touch Pro.
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| The Pearl Flip display |
WiFi, but no 3G
The big thing missing from the Pearl Flip, which may deter some heavy Web browsers, is the 3G data capability. Fortunately there is WiFi, missing from some other entry level smartphones. We'll be interested to see how the experience rates for applications like Facebook and Google.
QWERTY, but not like the Blackberry Bold
To the uninitiated, the Flip's curvy QWERTY will take some initial getting used to. Rather than give a separate button for each letter, the Flip keyboard adopts a two-letter-per-button approach, with the BlackBerry's SureType prediction system making sure there's no confusion about which letter you're actually after. It sounds complicated but isn't - in practice SureType works well, giving you word suggestions that speed up texting and emailing just like predictive text.
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| The Flip keyboard adopts a two-letter-per-button approach, with the BlackBerry's SureType prediction system making sure there's no confusion about which letter you're actually after. |
Interestingly, Flip users can actually switch between SureType and the regular "multi-tap" approach - meaning you can press each button multiple times, in a similar way you would on a 1-2-3 style candy-bar keypad.
Simple to use
Like Nokia, one of the best things BlackBerry has going for it is its simple to use operating interface. Menus are fast and responsive, there's no stylus or touchscreen to grapple with. As an example, searching via Google loads a specially coded Google interface, rather than loading the Google page via a browser.
Optus only, for now
The first carrier to offer the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will be Optus. RIM was reluctant to call this an "exclusive" arrangement (though Optus was touting exclusivity in today's press release), so finger crossed we see the device offered from other carriers soon.
Music and movies
As we said, this isn't the iPhone, but it is MPEG4 capable, and takes up to 16GB via microSD/SDHC cards. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack, and BlackBerry's Media sync app claims to easily sync from iTunes.
The Flip will be available from Optus from the end of October 2008, on a business or consumer BlackBerry $79 Cap plan.