Customer Reviews

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Phone, Red (T-Mobile)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been using my new Blackberry 8220 flip phone for about a week now. Here are my impressions about this phone... the pros and cons. Keep in mind that this is my first Blackberry phone, so I do not review it in comparison to any other blackberry. Instead, I compare it to other flip phones I've had. My last flip phone was the Motorola KRZR K1. This phone eats it up, and spits it out.

Pros:

-Call quality: sound quality while making and receiving calls are good. There doesn't seem to be a difference in quality between making a wifi call or network phone call (see wifi)

- Wifi: This phone has a built in wifi receiver. This means that if you have a wifi connection at home (or any unsecured wifi signal) you can browse the web with this phone (for free). The pre-installed t-mobile browser is lame (it doesn't let you browse any website you want unless you sign up for the data plan). Download the free browser "Opera" for this phone, and you can cruise any website you want.

-Wifi calling: When you are connected to a strong wifi signal... you can make calls over the wifi connection, thereby not using up your minutes on your plan... very cool!

-web browsing: Web browsing is as good as it gets on a 240 x 320 resolution screen. Again, I recommend downloading a free copy of the Opera browser. When used with a fast wifi connection, loading time for pages is surprisingly fast.


-Built in mp3 player: The mp3 player works well and sounds good, but the layout/interface could be better. (tip: use button #4,#6 to skip songs instead of using trackball) For example, when the phone is closed... you can only access volume controls. The built in standard 3.5mm headphone jack is fantastic, though! All phones should have this... I absolutely love not having to carry around an annoying adapter just to listen to my music in the car or over headphones. It's also cool that it has the ability to display album artwork :) This phone comes with a handsfree headset/stereo headphone... very cool! The included headphones sound surprisingly good too... about as good as a typical $30 set of Sony headphones.

-Screen: The screen is small but gorgeous... colors look saturated and images look very sharp.

-Camera: For a 2 megapixel camera... it works well and does a good job of automatically adjusting shutter and exposure. Color saturation and contrast could be better, though. Even on the highest resolution... images lack high contrast and sharpness. Built in flash is a nice extra.

-mp3 ringers - I really love the fact that you can use any mp3/sound file as a ring-tone, alarm tone, alert tone... etc.

-Texting: At first, I really hated the button configuration for texting. It's totally different from most phones. But once you get used to it, texting on this phone works very well and the intelligent word suggestions are pretty good at guessing what word you're typing. The ability to add your own words to the custom library is great, too. I love that when a text messagecomes, you can preview the first few lines of the on the front screen... very useful! Also, there are special status lights on the front of the phone that blinks Red on the front of the phone when you have an unread text.


-Picture texting: Photo texting seems to work relatively well, but the only limitation is that you can only add a few words of text along with the image. I'm not sure if this is a limitation of the 'mms message system' or phone.

-expandable mini-SD/mini-SDHC. This is awesome for storing tons of images and music for the mp3 player... very cool! Right now, you can expand it up to a 16GB micro SDHC card and essentially have a 16gb Mp3 player in addition to a phone.


Cons:

-Battery Life: Sadly, the battery does not seem to last very long... even when the phone is only used for texting. For example, I noticed that the battery drained down to about 40% capacity from just one day of texting (no phone calls). To be fair, I do text a lot in one day (perhaps 50 a day?) Sadly it's a phone you'll probably have to charge every day even if you don't use it very often throughout the course of your day. If you're listening Blackberry, please release a Hi-capacity battery for this phone!

-Non-standard USB connector: I don't like that it has a non-standard usb connection. If you loose the cable, you'll have to get one especially made for the blackberry. They could have easily made it the standard min-usb to USB connection (but they didn't... GRrr!) Oh well, at least they got the standard 3.5mm headphone jack right.

- The whole phone is very prone to fingerprint smudging... so it ends up looking oily and kinda gross, if not cleaned like... everyday.

Conclusion: The positive features greatly outweigh the few negative things about this phone. This phone has an impressive array of features... considering how small the device is. It's really a tiny computer in addition to a phone, and it does most things pretty darn well. If you're into flip phones, and want one that does more than probably any other one out there...then this one may be the phone for you. I just wish that the battery on this baby lasted longer! Oh well, even tiny computers take lots of juice I guess :)

Fun tip: You can get the game Pac-man for this phone for free online :)

I am a big fan of the BlackBerry. I've never had a problem with the straight design in all of its versions, but when I heard that they'd released a flip version of the Pearl, I knew I had to give it a whirl. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip has a gorgeous design. It has two displays -- an internal and an external -- and both look great. The phone is rather long in dimensions (as opposed to Sprint's LG Lotus, which is thick and short), but it's not as big or as heavy as I thought it would be. When flipped open, it is a little thicker than the Motorola RAZR, but not by much. And it comes in two colors -- black and red. I love the red one.

The Flip, like all other BlackBerrys, has Push e-mail, web browsing, GPS, a media center, and you can download applications to it. It runs with RIM's latest OS, so you get the newest features. The internal display isn't as impressive as the one found in the BlackBerry Bold (AT&T), nor is it as fast and user-friendly, but it's good nevertheless. This is a Pearl, which means you get the short-type keyboard. It works the exact same way as the classic BlackBerry Pearl, so no renovations there. It has a 2-MP camera and a headphone jack. The design is quite sleek and beautiful, and it's very comfortable to hold to your ear while talking on the phone. The trackball is smaller than earlier versions of the BB Pearl, and you may or may not like this change. I for one had no difficulty using it. The web browser is middling in this phone. Definitely not as refined as the one found in the Bold.

The phone itself is great. Business types as well as idle fans will very likely enjoy using this. The one big problem I see with this phone is its carrier. T-Mobile still runs on Edge. They have GSM and 3G capabilities, but in very few areas, which does not include mine. I live in Western Massachusetts, not far from Connecticut and New York, and Verizon, AT&T and Sprint run fast and reliable 3G networks. T-Mobile, however, has yet to step up on the plate. Well, at least it has wifi, and it works well at home and at local hotspots. The aforementioned carrier also sets some limitations in terms of features and capabilities. I am not impressed with their media software. They are also not very friendly with Mac users. I was not able to sync my music, photos and videos on this phone, which is a big dealbreaker for me. I want my smartphone to work for me, not the other way around.

So, in a nutshell, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip is beautiful and possesses the ease of use well known from RIM. As far as functionality goes, it is either a hit or a miss. As for me, it is a miss. This isn't a great area for T-Mobile subscribers. I need my 3G network for when I'm on the road, and I'm not getting that here. I also need my media, which neither the phone nor the carrier allows me to install on this phone. I'd say be careful, do your research, and then decide if T-Mobile works well in your area and if this phone is the right one for you.

With T-mobile for several years; decided to stay. Bought the 8220 "not through" T-mobile so I didn't have to extend my contract. Put SIM from my prev. phone in, called T-mobile, added the required data plan; T-mobile was very courteous and quick and helpful.

What I was looking for in a phone:
1 - Good text keyboard for e-mails and texts - ideally qwerty - with buttons big enough for my large thumbs. Normal Blackberry keys are far too small and annoying for me.
2 - Small form factor. Normal Blackberrys and touchscreen smartphones are simply too big for me; I have no interest in "touch", and I don't watch videos, browse the web, or play games on my phone. Nor do I care about thousands of time-wasting "Apps".
3 - POP3/SMTP/IMAP e-mail. I have several of my own personal/business e-mail accounts, and need a phone that can handle them instead of constraining me to the phone company or the "big three" (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo)
4 - Ability to tether to my laptop for internet access where there is no wi-fi
5 - 3.5" headphone jack and decent music storage
6 - Bluetooth stereo
7 - Wi-fi capability
8 - Sync contacts and calendar with Outlook 2007 on my laptop
9 - Voice dialing

Reasons for choosing the 8220:
1 - The SureType works really, really well and the keys are nice and big. A+ for the 8220.
2 - Awesome. Can put it in my pocket without distending my pants, and don't need to lug a large "corporate drone brick" on my belt - yet still get all the Blackberry features.
3 - The 8220 (and all Blackberries, I think) handles up to 10 such e-mail accounts.
4 - T-mobile allows this as part of the regular Blackberry data plan. Verizon requires an addiitonal $30/month just to do this. The "IP Modem" option is right in the Blackberry Desktop software main screen.
5 - Yes, got it.
6 - Yes, got it.
7 - Not only does it do Wi-Fi (I hooked it up to a SSID-concealed, WPA-PSK, MAC-filtered wireless network in a minute after adding its MAC to my router - so that part is easy) but it does UMA, which means your calls go over wi-fi so you don't use up your minutes. The 8220 can be told to prioritize mobile or wi-fi networks in either order in case you're on a bad wi-fi signal.
8 - Downloaded Blackberry desktop software. Sync worked perfectly, immediately - and much faster than Windows Mobile sync with my previous (Windows Mobile 5) phone, same laptop.
9 - Voice dialing worked immediately. After I synced contacts, tried voice dialing (shortcut button on left) and it immediately recognized the name I said and dialed them. Works really, really well - actually I love this, much easier to do this one-handed than dialing numbers or scrolling through contact list.

I did a lot of research and considered the iPhone and Droid, but went with the 8220 for a couple of reasons:
- Tethering is impossible or really, really expensive with those phones/carriers
- Phones simply too big
- Droid feels rough and unfinished to me, and apparently will not be compatible with future major-version Android OS upgrades (only minor ones)
- 3G was not a factor to me, since I don't browse the web on my phone; this phone "only" does GPRS/EDGE and wi-fi
- T-mobile customer service has always been great: responsive reps on the phone, flexibility about you "doing your own thing" with phones procured through non-T-mobile channels, etc.; I have heard lots of bad things about the other carriers (and have experienced the absolute hell that is being a Sprint customer - never, never again); I did not have incentive to switch away

There is more that the 8220 does, but this was my "need/want" list and the 8220 got 'em all.

Some people here and elsewhere complain that the 8220 is slow, or that it is low-quality. I haven;t had it long enough yet to judge the quality (i.e. things start failing), but after having a couple of the normal Blackberries incl. a Bold 9000, it is definitely cheaper-feeling - but I don't care. As to the speed - again, I came from a Windows Mobile 5 phone, compared to that the 8220 has been lightning-fast. It is a bit slower than the Bold 9000 - but you know what, it's livable with. It boots quickly enough (much faster than my WinMo), commands and clicks get responded to within a second, and voice dialing etc. were certainly snappy enough to not get me tapping my feet - and I am a *very* impatient person.

It's too bad RIM is phasing out the 8220 form factor. I do hope they will come out with an improved flip phone, because I know lots of people besides me who just do not want to carry around a large slab of scratch-me-please; we want small, useful devices, not status symbols or keys designed for midgets. In fact, if they *do* come out with a "better" Flip (though again, I like this one fine so far) then I will definitely get it after this one unless they do something really dumb.

If you - like me - don't want to commit to 2 more years of contract, are comfortable buying open-box or mildly used to save hundreds of dollars, can switch a SIM, and have a need/want list similar to mine... I can only recommend the 8220.

I spent a lot of time researching cell phones when my contract at T-mobile was up.
I decided to stay with T-mobile, and I was most impressed with the Blackberry Flip 8220.
After about a month of ownership, here are the features that I commonly use and my comments:
1- Voice recorder --> I can record for as long as I have memory. I've recorded for more than 5 minutes with just the standard memory card that came with the phone. It's great.
2- Calculator --> nothing special, but it works well. Also, I was able to set-up the phone so that a single button takes me to the calculator.
3- Bluetooth --> I have an iMac (purchased new Aug07) and I was easily able to download songs, pictures, and voice recordings to my Mac. All I had to do was turn on the Bluetooth and it found my computer. I then set a password/key and it worked. This was my first experience using Bluetooth, and it was great.
4- Phone --> All calls have been clear and crisp. It works great.
5- Battery life --> No troubles at all. I probably charge it once every 3 or 4 days. I do not use it to browse the web, but I use almost every other application.
6- Operating system --> It does have a little lag as you scroll thru menues, etc... but this is not a big. You just get used to it. It was also not immeditately intuitive. Finally, I found the HELP materials that came with the phone very poorly organized. However, after several weeks, I felt that I was familiar with all of the menus and knew how to get to the options I knew existed.
7- Music player --> works great. I do need to get a larger memory card so that I can hold more songs. But it's worked great, though the "shuffle" feature does seem to repeat certain songs a lot. I love the std headphone jack. I do wish that it had some external fast forward controls, but I can live without them.
8- Camera --> Standard pics look better than I'd have thought for close-ups. The zoom is pretty much a waste of time. I like the flash. But it takes the best pictures in natural light. The color is good at the end of the day, but very washed out with the flash. Overall, I'm satisfied, but I see room for improvement.
9- Ringtones --> I've been able to use any music as a ring tone, including what ever I voice record. Very satisfied with this.
10- Durability --> I was worried at first, but it's been great so far. I'm not worried about it being scratched or "delicate". It's in my pocket almost 24 hours a day, and no problems so far.I ride my bicycle to work, and still no problems.
I would whole-heartedly recommend this phone. It's been everything that I need. I have NOT yet used it on Wi-Fi - I plan to try that soon.

I bought this phone for my wife (I use an HTC Touch Pro 2). After a few months of use, it's safe to saw we are both very pleased. She wanted a phone that was easy to use but could support web\e-mail without being too complicated, play music, all while being 'pretty.' The Blackberry Pearl Flip was the perfect choice. This is a sleek and sexy looking phone from the burnished red exterior (which reminds me a a lot of Samsung's 'Touch of Color' monitors) to the excellent lcd screens. It is also a very light phone, and not too big for a woman's jeans pocket. It's not a bulky phone at all, something that she really appreciates.

Functionally, the phone works very well and is super intuitive for the non-nerd. I didn't even have to help her get the phone up and running with the exception of setting up her POP3 e-mail settings. Web browsing is easy to navigate using the scroll wheel and keypad. The keypad itself is a bit strange, using a QWERTY layout but with 2 letters per button. It took a little getting used to coming from a standard cell phone keypad, but she is now able to type at a reliable 20 words a minute--more than suitable for brief e-mails and texts.

We live in Chicago, and T-mobile 3G coverage is pretty good here, so no complaints on coverage.

If you want the feature set of a blackberry without the weight and size, this is a great option. My wife loves and considers me a hero for having picked it out for her.

T-mobile's price for a second line is very reasonable. Not sure what else to say or how to review a second line. It works. Nothing else to say.

Mac users should stay away from this phone!! I purchased the phone through T-mobile because I wanted a smart phone that would work as a pda and mp3 player. First I checked to see if the phone was compatible with isync. It is not. However, apple points you to the "PocketMac Sync Manager" application. I got my the pearl flip and loved the way it looked, the way it made calls, and the wi-fi features. I thought this was going to be so awesome.

My first sign of trouble was trying to connect through bluetooth. I installed PocketMac and paired my phone with my MacBook Pro. I could not sync up wirelessly. I did get it to sync once via USB cable with PocketMac. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the application trying to fix the trouble. It was then I learned that PocketMac doesn't sync with bluetooth. PocketMac would no longer open.

I called T-Mobile who patched me through to Blackberry support. After two hours even their tech was frustrated and admitted that PocketMac is not a good solution for Mac users. Bottom line, some people get this to work but they have far more free time and patience than I do. I'm returning the phone and wishing I didn't have a contract with T-Mobile.