Ever slip your Blackberry into your pocket, unlocked, only to have it dial the last person you spoke with, who's then regaled with your idle chatter? Avoiding such snafus might be one reason to consider the new BlackBerry Flip 8220 (click on the image at right for a closer look), the first BlackBerry that folds—thus minimizing accidental activation.
Available exclusively from T-Mobile for $150 with a two-year contract and with rebates included, the Flip is a relative to the Blackberry Pearl 8120, a recommended model in our smart phone Ratings. (Both links are available to subscribers.) The Flip's essentially a Pearl with a cover on it, with two displays not one, and with a slightly larger keyboard. Measuring 4.0 in. x 2.0 in x 0.8 in., it's slightly thicker than the Pearl 8120 when closed, and a tad heavier, too, weighing in at 3.6 ounces.
The Flip features one of the newer BlackBerry operating systems. As on two other new BlackBerrys, the Storm and Bold, the OS enables you to edit and create office documents as well as support Web browsers that can stream video. The phone's 1.9-megapixel digital camera has a flash, a rare camera-phone feature.
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We recently reviewed the Blackberry Storm here on the Electronics Blog. And watch our video of the Storm for our first impressions. (Click on the video player embedded below.)
Here's what else we liked about the Flip:
Easy navigation. The phone's trackball, menu, and back keys make getting around a breeze. Setting up e-mail is also easy; you can access a BlackBerry e-mail address and manage numerous e-mail accounts.
Fast and versatile connections. This Pearl is also one of the few phones with a Wi-Fi connection, which enables it to automatically switch from the T-Mobile's cellular network to VoIP service whenever it's in Wi-Fi range, improving your coverage. Set up was reasonably easy, and the hand-off between networks was seamless and almost imperceptible in our tests. The Wi-Fi connection also allows the fastest Web surfing, though it can't be used to swap data with other devices. And the Flip doesn't support high-speed 3G networks.
An e-mail powerhouse. The Pearl supports multiple e-mail accounts on either BlackBerry Exchange or Microsoft Exchange servers. And the supplied Intellisync software allows you to sync with either Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes. E-mail readability is excellent, as is the Flip's ability to handle attachments.
A decent phone. Though not outstanding, the Flip's phone performance should suffice for most people. Voice quality when talking was very good, though only fair when listening—on a par with most other T-Mobile phones. The 5.25 hours of chat time is adequate, and actually higher than what you'll typically get from a Verizon or Sprint phone. It also has a very good mixture of controls and features for making and taking calls. And we had no trouble reading the keypad under most lighting conditions.
Quibbles: Despite its larger size, the Flip's condensed keyboard crams multiple letters, numbers, and symbols on a single key to save space. With this layout, composing and editing text and e-mail messages is a bit more awkward than with a full keyboard. And, like the Pearl 8120, the Flip doesn't have preset text messages. Nor can it create custom preset text messages.
Bottom line: The Flip packs lots of smart features into a relatively compact package and performs very well. The Wi-Fi connection comes in handy for surfing the Web and downloading large files, though you must balance that advantage against the Flip's lack of 3G support. Also, the condensed keyboard may be cumbersome for some users.
—Mike Gikas
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