Overall, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is promising yet disappointing. RIM has built some solid hardware here. But I can’t recommend a phone that’s this buggy until the kinks have been worked out. Check back to see if software updates fix the many problems I encountered. But for now, if you’re a T-Mobile subscriber looking for a device with similar capabilities, stick with the tried-and-true BlackBerry Pearl 8120, the BlackBerry Curve 8320, or the Nokia E71.

I’ve personally used this phone at the retail store. I don’t recommend you buy this because it’s definitely true that the web browser is far from proficient. The other BlackBerry’s have worthy browsers but for now the iPhone, in my opinion, has the best web browser.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will likely be another winner from RIM—that is, once the company works out its many bugs. Don’t be a beta tester; wait until software updates make this phone work correctly.

The Good- Spacious, comfortable keyboard. Excellent camera. HTML e-mail. Six instant-messaging clients. Includes DataViz DocumentsToGo for editing Office documents. Music sounds good.

The Bad- Very buggy. Web browser has serious issues. Call connection errors.

Specs:

• Price as Tested:
• Service Provider: T-Mobile
• Operating System: BlackBerry OS
• Screen Size: 2.3 inches
• Screen Details: 2.3″, 320×240, 65k-color transmissive TFT LCD main screen; 1.7″, 128×60, 65k-color external screen
• Camera: Yes
• Megapixels: 2 MP
• 802.11x: Yes
• Bluetooth: Yes
• Web Browser: Yes
• Network: GSM
• Bands: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• High-Speed Data: GPRS, EDGE
• Processor Speed: 312 MHz