BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Review : Best buys for BlackBerry Phones UK : BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Reviews

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 SmartPhone Overview

Expected UK Release Date: Available

Key Features
QWERTY Keyboard with Backlight
Wi-Fi®
RIM® Wireless Modem
Dual Colour Screens
2 Megapixel Camera
Wireless Email with Attachments
Media Player

Design

87%

Usability

77%

Features

81%

The above ratings are average figures, which have been generated from submitted mobile phone reviews.

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 SmartPhone Review

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is a flip opening Smartphone which is ideal for either business or personal Smartphone users. The Pearl Flip 8220 is perfect for the user who is on the move & wants a compact Smartphone for carrying purposes. The overall size of the casing is 101mm by 50mm by 17.5mm which allows the user to use their new handset in a single hand & also carry their handset in their jacket or coat pocket. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 weighs a total of 102 grams which is not ultra lightweight but it certainly will not weigh its user down when carrying & the weigh gives the Smartphone the quality feel it deserves. The user can enjoy viewing information on the external screen without having to open the handset constantly. The external screen is a TFT LCD type screen which provides the user with an external colour screen for viewing information when the handset is in its flip closed position. The user can view call information & message information in an instant. The user can view a larger screen when opening the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 which comes with a stunning 2.6 Inch colour screen with a screen resolution of 128 pixels by 160 pixels. The internal screen allows the user to view high colour moving footage, the Internet, emails & many more features on a clear colourful display. The Pearl Flip 8220 is a member of the BlackBerry Pearl range which includes other popular & business featured Smartphone's including the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 & the BlackBerry Pearl 8120.

The Smartphone comes with an easy to use navigation control which is on the form of a TrackBall key allowing the user to glide though the menus with ease when changing between phone features. The keypad is a numeric keypad as well as a QWERTY keypad which allows the user to flip open their Smartphone to enjoy a full QWERTY keyboard when entering long amounts of text input. This flip opening Smartphone supports SureType® keyboard software & the keyboard comes with a subtle backlight which highlights the keys. The user can ensure all their phones information is safe by using the security password protection feature which only allows the user with the password to access the handset & the Pearl Flip 8220 comes with a keypad lock which ensures that the user does not accidentally select a feature or make a call when the handset in being carried or stored. A built in wireless email service allows the user to enjoy sending, receiving & storing email complete with document attachments on the Pearl Flip 8220. The user can also create MMS picture messages which can be shared between compatible MMS contacts & is a quick way for the user to share their pictures with others. A SMS text message service allows the user to create a message which contains text & symbols which can then be sent to any SMS compatible contact in the user phone book. The Pearl Flip 8220 also supports & instant messaging service which is just like the instant messaging service on the user PC but this service is mobile. The user can enjoy communication using text & symbol to any contacts that are online at the same time as the user. The Pearl Flip 8220 comes with all the everyday business features to keep the user ahead of the game like a built in organiser, calendar feature & a clock with alarm settings.

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 SmartPhone Front View

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 SmartPhone Open View

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 SmartPhone Placeholder

This amazing handset comes with one hundred & twenty eight megabytes of flash type memory which is built in memory. The user can extend the phones memory further by inserting a MicroSD™ memory card & the Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220 supports up to eight gigabytes of external memory. This Smartphone supports Wi-Fi® technology which allows the user of the Pearl Flip 8220 to connect their new handset to the Internet via a wireless connection via a local WLAN or a nearby hotspot. The Wi-Fi connectivity gives the user the freedom to connect wirelessly to the Internet whether the Smartphone is being used as a business or pleasure tool. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 supports a USB cabled connection & a Bluetooth® A2DP wireless connection which allows the user to chose their connectivity option when connecting to other devices such as a printer, PDA, computer etc. The built in EDGE technology allows the user to enjoy high speed transfer rates when transferring files between the Smartphone & other devices. The user can view documents in popular document formats including Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® Word, Microsoft® Excel, Microsoft® PowerPoint & PDF format on their Smartphone. The handset works on a quad band network which covers World Wide roaming but the coverage is dependent on the network provider. A fitted battery is fully rechargeable via the mains adapter & when fully charged will provide up to three hundred & thirty six hours of standby battery time or up to four hours of GSM talk time.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Smartphone comes with an integrated media player which plays popular video & music files for the user to enjoy some entertainment features on their Smartphone. The user can enjoy listening to their chosen music files over the built in speakers or use a set of headphones for a personal listening experience. The user can play back video files which can be viewed on the internal colour screen & stored on the phones memory for a later viewing experience. The desirable flip opening handset supports high quality sound & ringing tones including MP3 & polyphonic sound ringing tones. An integrated two megapixel digital camera provides the user with a digital video recording tool & a still image capturing function. The user can capture their memories just the way they want to & either share their memories with others or just store them on their handset for personal viewing. The camera lens can be found on the back of the handset & the Pearl Flip 8220 has a well positioned camera function keys which allows the user to use their handset as a portable digital camera. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is impressive to look at & comes with impressive features to match its overall design.

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Specifications & Features

Screen
Internal 2.6 Inch TFT LCD 65k Colour Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)
External TFT LCD Colour Screen (128 x 160 Pixels)

Imaging
2 Megapixel Camera
Flash
Zoom
Dedicated Camera Keys
Video Clip
Video Player
Video Recorder
Picture Wallpaper
Screensaver

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Wireless Email with Attachments
Instant Messaging
Predictive Text Input

Sound
Media Player
MP3 Ringtones
Polyphonic & MIDI Ringtones
Microphone
Built in Speakers

Entertainment
Embedded Games
Downloadable Games

Organiser
Phone Book
Organiser
Calendar
Alarm Clock
Memo Pad
Task List
TrackBall
QWERTY Keyboard
SureType® Keyboard Software
Keyboard Backlight
Document Viewer (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF)
Document Editor
BlackBerry Maps™
Security Password Protection
Keypad Lock

Connectivity
Wi-Fi®
Bluetooth® A2DP
USB
GPRS
EDGE

Network
Quad Band Technology (GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)

Internet
HTML
RIM® Wireless Modem

Memory & Talk Time
128 Mbytes Flash Memory plus MicroSD™ Memory Card Support Up To 8 Gbytes
4 Hours Talk Time
336 Hours Standby

Weight & Size
102 g
101 x 50 x 17.5 mm

Mobile Phone Best Buys

Your BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Reviews

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Reviewer: Kev - Stafford, UK
Date: 16th Jun 2009

This phone is a real letdown. The camera is very poor quality, & there is no way of changing the text tones, the manual is very poor.

Design

70%

Usability

50%

Features

60%

Reviewer: Francisco - Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Date: 15th May 2009

- Go to Profiles,
- Advanced, highlight the profile you're interested in changing,
- Click on the Menu button,
- Go to Edit,
- Highlight SMS Text,
- Click in,
- Highlight the ringtone,
- Click in & you'll have alternative ring tones.

Design

85%

Usability

85%

Features

85%

Reviewer: E - US
Date: 28th Apr 2009

I've never had a BlackBerry so it was very exciting & new. I had seen a friend's BlackBerry with the ball & really wanted a phone like that. I love to scroll with it. It's like a mouse. I also wanted a flip phone to protect the keys because I used to have a RIZR & hated it because I would push unwanted buttons.

Overall I like the phone. I am slowly getting used to the texting. It's a totally new the way the texting is set up & it frustrated me at first. I realized though it predicts words very well.

The biggest frustration right now is I can't change the texting ringtone! It's stuck on some lame ringtone & I really hate it! Can someone please help? :).

Design

95%

Usability

70%

Features

95%

Reviewer: Zee - UK
Date: 20th Apr 2009

Very smart looking phone, I am only using it on PAYG so I can't access email or multimedia messaging, however all in all it's a mobile I would definitely recommend.

Design

90%

Usability

85%

Features

80%

Reviewer: Francisco - Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Date: 12th Feb 2009

There were three reasons why I chose my phone.

- There were very few reports of problems with it on this & other sites.
- It's a flip phone.
- It has email.

How has it worked out?

On the reliability front, In the 3 weeks that I've had it it has crashed 3 times. On two of those occasions I had to restart the phone. On the other occasion I had to kill the text message I was trying to write & just start another text message. These problems did make me rethink my decision but the prevalence of problems with other phones (look up the reviews yourself) & the memories of my previous phones suggested that, in this day & age (though that shows just how unreliable phones have become), that's not too bad.

On the other functionality.

The big surprise was the email system. Email was very easy to set up but you cannot set the check interval or manually check for email, it just checks at its default interval. After I got over that culture shock, I realised it actually performs quite well. It did have a couple of nice surprises in that it automatically checks all the email accounts registered with it & there is icon to check read all mail whatever account it's for (however, there are icons for each account as well).

The screens are clear & bright. I like the fact that you can program the combination of vibration, tone & flashing LED for each alert (though that can take a while to set up due to the number of options).

I like the predictive text system (at least for writing texts). It works better than other phones because there are only 2 characters per key. The one thing that puts this phone above my previous phones there is that it has more place names programmed in. It also, if it thinks you may have mistyped, includes words in its suggestions for keys neighbouring ones that you have used.

There is a feature which is useful but can be a pain, You can program the phone to require a password every time the keypad is locked. That is a good security feature but is annoying when you're trying to use it in cold temperatures.

I do like the two user programmable buttons.

I've found that the battery tends to last about 3 or 4 days. If your phone is off & you have it on charge a green LED flashes. If you have the phone on the outer screen stays on whilst charging. I did find this irritating as I am in the habit of charging my phone overnight but, as it only takes 1 to 1.5 hours to charge, you don't have to wait until the evening to charge it. If you do then I suggesting leaving it on because it's easier to cover the flat bit (with the outer screen) then the LED which points at an angle.

There are things I don't like about this phone.

To send a text to multiple people you have to first create a contact for all those people. The user guides are very basic & you have to use the Help Application for full instructions. In the default configuration the icon to access the text message application is not on the first page (that can be changed). Whilst it's generally fast, it does insist on playing tones to you if you even stop rolling the trackball for a split second whilst picking your tones.

The voice dialling system still needs a bit of work & leaves me looking back fondly to the phones that you had to teach your voice to. This illustrates the problem.

Say a command.
Call X.
Did you say Call X?
Yes
Which number, Home or Mobile?
Mobile
Calling home. at which point it dials the number.

Overall it's good phone but with some annoyances. I do recommend the phone.

Design

85%

Usability

85%

Features

85%

Reviewer: Ian - Southampton, UK
Date: 27th Dec 2008

Right OK, read away.

The way I got around it is I had a media card so my device showed music, pictures & what not.

- Go to profiles.
- Then go to advanced.
- the select the profile you want to change.
- Press the blackberry key & go to edit.
- Look for SMS.
- You change it in & out the holster.
- Go right to the top of the list & click browse.
- Select Media card & there you go.

Design

100%

Usability

100%

Features

100%

Reviewer: Derek - US
Date: 15th Dec 2008

Good phone, but I have no clue how to change my text tones. Anyone know?

Design

95%

Usability

75%

Features