 With the BackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, RIM has another winner on its hands, and after spending some time with the new polished interface on this lightweight flip phone, we have to say we like it even more than the standard candybar Pearl, which is a tall order. The phone isn't the prettiest, in fact we found the shell to be a bit goofy looking. But as soon as we turned it on and so the rich contrast on the bright screen, as soon as we typed on the wider, more solid SureType keypad, we knew that this would be a compelling device. The interface is still bogged down with long, textual menus, and the Web browser won't win any iPhone converts, but T-Mobile has endowed this phone with a great feature list, including Wi-Fi calling and more messaging options than you'll find almost anywhere else. Plus, it upholds the BlackBerry's great battery life reputation, though we would have given up an hour or two of talk time for some 3G networking. Release: October 2008. Price: $50.
Pros: Great new BlackBerry user interface. Lightweight phone. Good battery life. Great messaging features, especially for IM fans.
Cons: Interface improvements don't go deep enough (especially in the calendar). Poor Web browser for a modern smartphone. Call quality could be better.
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