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(More customer reviews)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 :)
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BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 Phone, Red (T-Mobile)Enjoy all the communication and connectivity features you've come to expect from a Blackberry phone--including email served up by the BlackBerry Internet Service and a full menu of messaging options (SMS, MMS, and IM)--in a new clamshell form factor. The Blackberry Flip from T-Mobile also brings support for T-Mobile's Hotspot @Home service, which enables you to make calls from the GSM cellular network and then seamlessly transfer them to your Wi-Fi network.
The Blackberry Flip features the SureType hybrid alpha-numeric/QWERTY keyboard found on Blackberry Pearl phones, which makes typing messages and dialing numbers fast and easy. It also includes a 2-megapixel camera with video capture, Bluetooth for handsfree devices and stereo music streaming, microSD memory expansion (up to 16 GB), EDGE data connectivity, voice-activated dialing, and up to 4 hours of talk time.
T-Mobile Service With T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, you'll effortlessly transition between Wi-Fi calling and T-Mobile's wireless network while you talk. You can get unlimited nationwide calls over Wi-Fi--at home via your wireless router or at any U.S. T-Mobile HotSpot. You can also use the HotSpot @Home service via most open, or unsecured, wireless routers, as well as any secured wireless router for which you have access to the password from the owner. This phone is compatible with the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi standard as well as with Wi-Fi security protocols including WEP ,WPA and WPA2. Whenever you're not using a Wi-Fi network, this phone works just like a regular mobile phone, using your Whenever Minutes under your T-Mobile voice plan.
Additionally, this mobile phone operates on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks and can handle high-speed data connectivity via T-Mobile's EDGE network (which stands for "Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution"). This high-speed, mobile data and Internet access technology is fast enough to support a wide range of advanced data services (with average data speeds between 75-135Kbps), including full picture and video messaging, high-speed color Internet access, and email on the go.
This phone also includes compatibility with T-Mobile's myFaves service, which allows you to call up to five of your most common contacts--on any network, even landlines--without using any of your minutes. Learn more about myFaves from T-Mobile.
Download cool new games, HiFi Ringers (real songs by today's hottest artists), MegaTones (instrumental versions of songs), and wallpapers quickly, as well as stay connected via the Web, instant messaging, and email.
Phone Features The BlackBerry Flip presents a sophisticated look with a sleek design and a chrome-finished frame surrounding its smooth, luminescent face. Weighing 3.6 ounces, the Flip has two light-sensing LCD screens--an internal 2.3-inch 65K-color screen (240 x 320-pixel resolution) and an external 65K-color screen with a 128 x 160-pixel resolution. The external LCD makes it easy to preview incoming emails, text messages and phone calls without opening the handset. It can also display currently playing music track information, and the screen darkens after a pre-assigned time-out duration. The phone has an internal 128 MB memory, which can be expanded via microSD/microSDHC memory cards up to 16 GB in size.
Opening up the clamshell reveals the Blackberry Flip's unique alpha-numeric keypad, which has been brough over from Blackberry's popular Pearl models. Each button on the keypad shares two letters and the unit automatically determines which letter is the intended one based on what it predicts you are trying to spell. This unique predictive text technology, known as SureType, makes the Blackberry Flip's diminutive size possible. SureType also learns the words you use most often, further enhancing your typing speed.
With BlackBerry push technology, you don't need to retrieve your e-mail. BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, allowing you to be discreetly notified as new e-mail arrives. Support is also built-in for viewing e-mail attachments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, and PDF formats).
You'll be able to easily access up to 10 supported personal and work email accounts, send and receive text and instant messages, and connect on popular social networking sites with friends, family and co-workers. The DataViz Documents to Go software suite is also preloaded, allowing you to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset. The BlackBerry Flip is supported on BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which provides tight integration with corporate email systems.
Surf the Internet with the BlackBerry Browser, which includes a "Page View" option that displays a full web page on the screen along with a magnifying glass that allows the user to quickly and accurately point and zoom in on a specific area of the web page. It also provides quicker access to Bookmarks and History.
This phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity, and includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, audio/video remote control, and sending of vCard calendar and contact info. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. With Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), you just say the word and the 8120 can initiate a call with anyone in your contact list. Plus, you can use VAD along with the built-in speakerphone or with a Bluetooth headset for hands-free dialing.
With an advanced media player for displaying pictures, listening to music and watching videos, the Flip is the perfect on-the-go entertainment center. Videos play smoothly on the large internal display, playlists can be managed directly on the handset, and there's an equalizer with 11 preset filters. The BlackBerry Flip also works with the new BlackBerry Media Sync application that makes it easy to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone. It's compatible with a wide range of music file formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and AMR-NB as well as MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 video clips.
The 2-megapixel camera features a 5x digital zoom and flash as well as your choice of three picture sizes and qualities and white balance settings. You can also capture video clips in two formats--normal and small for sending via MMS.
Other features include:
Instant messaging via popular services including AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Live, Google Talk, and Blackberry Messenger
SMS text and MMS picture/video messaging
Support for IMAP/POP3, SMTP email
Integrates with an existing enterprise email account
Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g)
Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry Enterprise Server
Ringtones: polyphonic, MIDI, and MP3
USB 2.0 connectivity
Downloadable BlackBerry Maps application provides directions and maps while on the road.
3.5mm headphone jack
Bluetooth version 2.0 with the following profiles: A2DP (stereo music streaming), AVRC (remote control), HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), DUN (dial-up networking), PBA (transfer contacts)
Vital Statistics The Blackberry Flip weighs 3.6 ounces and measures 2.0 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches. Its 900 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 360 hours (15 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies as well as Wi-Fi 802.11b/g networks using the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service.
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