BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 13, 2008 by Eric M. Zeman
RIM takes on the clamshell form factor with the Pearl Flip. Is it worth flipping out over? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Quite a nice phone
I'm surprised by the comments of the other reviewers. In spite of what they said, I went out and got a Pearl Flip and I really like it so far (I've had it for about five days).
Here's what I like about it better than the Pearl I had before:
1) The flip cover precludes the need to lock the keypad to avoid accidental dialing (but you can still lock it if you want, and now there's no message "Hey thief, here's how to unlock this keypad" if you do lock it).
2) Screen is bigger and sharper.
3) Camera is higher resolution, and that makes a big difference in image quality.
4) It can do video recording.
5) It can play videos.
6) The keypad is bigger and considerably easier to use.
7) It has Wi-Fi
In fact, the only thing this phone doesn't have that might be nice to have is GPS, but I have GPS in my car so I don't need it at all and won't miss it.
Some people say this phone is flimsy, but I don't think it's any flimsier than my Pearl (which I had to replace because some little parts broke from dropping and the back cover could no longer stay on without tape). Do I wish both phones were more durable? Yes. But is the Flip less durable than the Pearl? I haven't seen any evidence of that yet.
In summary, in my view this phone is far superior to the Pearl, a big improvement. I was going to wait for the Bold or the Storm, but it seems like those are taking a very long time to reach the US market, and maybe even longer to reach T-Mobile, and now after having the Flip I think I might actually like this one better anyway because of its small size (it's only slighter thicker than the Pearl and otherwise is about the same small size).
I Hate It
I have to say that this is by far the worst phone I have ever owned and I've had my fair share of bad phones.
At first I loved it the Wi-Fi worked great I didn't have any problems...then the warranty wore off.
It seemed as soon as I had this phone for 90 days It started crapping out on me. Not only on me but on my wife as well. she got the same phone as I did and we've both had the same problems.
First, the battery life is practically non-existent. Second if I'm not getting an error on the screen the phone doesn't recognize the card. and when either of those happen I have to take off the battery to reset the phone and there goes 5-10 minutes of my life just waiting for the phone to boot up. I've had Tandy computers that boot up faster.
I wouldn't usually complain about these things and I would probably just chalk it up to bugs but when something happens every day then it's more than just buggy.
I will say however that it is a damn good Wi-Fi phone still. But that is the only reason I still own this piece.
Disappointing Phone
This phone is disappointing in my opinion. It's a nice first try but misses the mark in several ways.
1) The connection for synching/charging is now a "micro" port, so all the Blackberry accessories we long-term fans have won't fit. It's like starting over, and that's both expensive and inconvenient.
2) The processor is so SLOW that is can't even keep up with the timer while talking on the phone. It "clocks" and then zips through the seconds catching up when it can. Not the end of the world, but a phone should at least have enough "juice" to keep up with the call timer
3) Many applications we Blackberry fans use are not supported yet, just one case in point being I travel so much...WorldMate Live, and excellent tool, gives an error message... application is not supported on this model".
The Graphical interface (GUI) is great looking, although there are no additional themes available, and even the T-Mobile page for downloads, checking your minutes, etc., doesn't format correctly on the screen.
I don't know if it was rushed to market or what, but several of the finer details I've come to expect from Blackberry are missing.
Horrible Idea
This phone was a horrible idea i have had it for a couple days and it freezez and resets its self DONT BUy
I actually hate this phone.
Bad phone, worst $350 I ever spent. This phones processor is really slow, and lots of time the phone is either frozen or lagging. The one good thing about the phone is the form factor and it's SureType keyboard. Other than that I can't say much about it... The build quality is also not good. It feels really cheaply made, and plasticky.
--Pros--
Form factor
Keyboard
Blackberry software
--Cons--
Slow/Sluggish
Bad Camera
Bad battery life
Lack of applications
Price
Screen resolution
No Mac software
Just not worth the money folks, can't wait till I buy the 8900!!
tremenda decepcion
en primer lugar lo que mas me decepciono de este aparato fue algo tan simple como borrar todos los contactos de la agenda, esta opcion no existe le pregunte a varios amigos que tambien tienen blackberry y no supieron contestarme. hay que borrarlo de uno en uno. los menus son muy simples no te facilitan orientacion solo se muestran letras. esta muy poco trabajado. Eh tenido muchos moviles de diferentes marcas y esta peor que la lineas de motorola, siendo este pearl flip mi primer equipo blackberry.
la camara es muy pobre en todos sus facetas, la pantalla frontal muestra siempre un reloj analogo mostrando muy poca informacion. al abrirlo y utilizarlo al hablar se hace muy incomodo por la forma que tiene debido a que sus dimensiones y curvas no congenian con la cara. es muy grande abierto.
los materiales de construcion son de plastico se hacen ver muy baratos y de poca calidad, la tapa hace crujidos cuando esta abierta. el panel negro brillante es muy facil de rallar y ensuciar con las huellas.
el software es muy lento para marcar un numero telefonico, y cuando se prende toma serca de 2 minutos.
de las pocas cosas que encontre buenas es su fuerza de la señal entodos lados nunca me fallo y su bateria es muy duradera. para concluir le falta mucho a este equipo para ser un buen movil, no importa cuantas caracteristicas tenga cuando falla en lo pequeño.
creo que volvere a utilizar mis antiguas marcas como samsung.
Reception problems kill this phone
Just want to add two big problems I had with this phone; reception and outlook exchange.
Reception is weak and phone is not clear even where coverage is strong. That includes UMA. Calls were choppy and unclear.
Also experienced constant problems with corporate emails. When deleting from outlook server they would not delete from the phone. Constantly would have to resend service books to correct phone and within a day I would have the same problem.
Simply not acceptable.
Kind of annoying to tell the truth.
Well I am stuck with it now, seeing as the darn thing cost me $350, and I am BROKE. There are a few good things about this phone, but not enough to really make it a worth while investment, and I think $350 dollars defiantly is an investment.
--Pro's--
-Decent sound quality
-Camera takes nice photo's
-Really nice easy to use keyboard
--Con's--
-Extremely slow
-Feels really plasticky and cheap.....
-Prone to lots and lots of scratches
-When data is used, it quickly drains battery
-USB 2 charger? No one has these...
-The vibrate function is a joke. You can hear it better than you can feel it.
-Web browser is horrible and SLOW
-Slow EDGE data connection. Sometimes makes me wish I had ATT's fast 3G XD
Out of the 21 cells phones I have had in my life, I have had worse but I have also had better. Can't wait to get an iPhone.
No, thank you.
I go through phones a lot. I got it, then got rid of it the same day.
What made me ditch it?
The charging port. I don't like this type. I've had problems with this type of charging port on two other phones (The Q Global and the Treo 800w), and didn't want to deal with it.
It power cycled on me three, yes three, times in 60 minutes.
The battery is crap. Yes, I use many features, but the Curve can handle it.
It, like other RIM phones, takes FOREVER to turn back on!
Why I almost kept it:
Good camera.
Nice applications
Excellent e-mail, which is RIM's bread and butter.
I may check out the new curve, as I feel I should give RIM one more chance (as long as those issues don't carry over to that phone). But for now, it's back to the Wing. It's slow sometimes, but does what I need it to do.
