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BlackBerry Kickstart

The BlackBerry Pearl Filp Has Been Officially Announced

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It’s official… The BlackBerry KickStart BlackBerry Pearl 8220 BlackBerry Pearl Flip has been announced by Research in Motion, and, said announcement came a day earlier than we thought.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip is actually a BlackBerry 8220, so, maybe we shouldn’t have struck that name out, but, I think you get the point.

The new BlackBerry Pearl Flip provides flip phone fans with all the power of a BlackBerry smartphone in a fun and familiar design. One quick flip of the handset opens up a world of possibilities with the industry’s leading mobile messaging solution and a wide range of impressive Internet and multimedia capabilities, all in one powerful yet approachable smartphone. You can send a message to your friends or family, make a call, browse the web, snap a picture, watch a video or listen to your favorite song. It’s all in your control with a simple flip.

You can read the full press release here, but, if you want to go to the official BlackBerry Pearl Flip homepage with the really annoying background music, you need to go here…

RIM To Announce The BlackBerry Pearl 8220 Tomorrow At CTIA

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Douglas Soltys from BBCool, who just happens to be out in San Francisco for CTIA, bumped into a few of his old industry buddies who, after a bit chit chat, were able to confirm that Research in Motion will officially announce the their first flip phone form factor device, the BlackBerry Pearl 8220.

Even though the design never really hit home with me, the code name, BlackBerry KickStart actually did, as it did with many many others. We learned that the BlackBerry KickStart would be officially named the BlackBerry Pearl 8220 a little over a month ago, however, I wonder if RIM will use the name Kickstart in some way when marketing the device because of the popularity of the code name?

I guess that we will find out Wednesday.

Rogers Is Advertising The BlackBerry Pearl 8220

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Normally, a wireless company advertising a BlackBerry that they are going to carry isn’t a big deal. Rogers, on the other hand, advertising the BlackBerry Pearl 8220, formerly known as the BlackBerry KickStart, isn’t exactly par for course as I can’t recall a time when a wireless carrier started to advertise a BlackBerry before RIM officially announces it.

Rumor has it that even though you are seeing Rogers BlackBerry Pearl 8220 advertising now, the device won’t be available until October 4th. I think it is probably safe to assume that RIM will announce it between now and then.

Will The BlackBerry KickStart Come With Just A $50 Price Tag?

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Word on the street is that the BlackBerry KickStart, the first clam shell / flip phone from RIM, will cost just $49.99 on T-Mobile. It would appear that Apple is not the only smartphone maker that Research in Motion is paying attention to

With all the problems that Palm has had of late, the Centro has been a nice little surprise to the smartphone industry and a big hit for Palm. The $100 price tag on the Centro undoubtedly played a big part in it’s success and it looks like RIM is saying “Whatever Palm can do we can do better!”

I am guessing that if on day one the BlackBerry KickStart hits T-Mobile with a $49.99 price tag it will be a matter of months, or less, before the price is completely subsidized. When you can get a BlackBerry for free, or, darn near free, I don’t think it matters how ugly those little buggers are, the BlackBerry KickStart will fly off the shelves.

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The BlackBerry KickStart Flip Experience

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Crackberry.com got its hands on slides detailing the upcoming BlackBerry KickStart’s “Filp Experience” which highlights how the new BlackBerry will work as a flip phone. The BlackBerry KickStart functions pretty much like any other flip phone when it comes to incoming calls. Messaging, on the other hand is where RIM put some real though into how a BlackBerry flip phone should operate.

Messaging – Matching BlackBerry “Holster” Experience

  • Extends to Email, IM, SMS, MMS,
  • Opening the flip auto-opens an incoming message
  • The external LCD lets the user know WHO messaged them and provides a brief preview of the content (if enabled) – allows the user to decide if the wish to open the flip to deal with the message
  • Opening the flip allows the user to deal with the message – just like retrieving a Candy-Bar BlackBerry from its holster
  • BlackBerry Address Book provides Sender Picture, Name, etc… if available
  • Closing flip will be extended to also close/mark read any open messages (same as the BlackBerry when holstered)

To make a long story short, if someone sends you some type of message their picture shows up on the caller ID screen followed by brief snippet of the message. If you open the phone you go right to that message.

I’ve always been a fan of flip phones because of their compact size and I’ve never used a holster with any BlackBerry that I’ve ever owned. I know that the BlackBerry KickStart is first coming out on T-Mobile, but, I will go ahead and ask the question now just to get it out of the way. How long before something like this comes out on Verizon?

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